Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simple, low cost way to get HDTV for free, December 20, 2007
If you subscribe to satellite or cable you may be surprised to learn that in many area, over-the-air digital TV offers better picture quality and may offer some unique channels not found on your cable system. But getting great over-the-air TV requires a good antenna. Over the years I've tried the following:
-Traditional roof antenna with rotor: Works great but antenna must be turned to get stations in different directions.
-Simple indoor bow-tie or loop antennas: Very cheap to buy, but only pick up the strongest channels. Very prone to interference that can cause picture freezing and break-up.
-Indoor rabbit ears with UHF: a little better than the cheapies, but still difficult to adjust and prone to interference.
-Radio Shack Double Bow-Tie antenna: This one is no longer available, but it is legendary. It looks like a gold screen on legs, with two gold bow-ties mounted in the front. (Very '50's in appearance.) This is a very good indoor UHF antenna (and all the digital/HD channels in my area are UHF.) It provides good, stable reception on most of my local channels, but sometimes has problems with the handful that are in a different direction. It's not a very pretty antenna, but at about $16 it was pretty cheap.
Recently I got a new TV for the bedroom and after looking around, I decided to give the Philips MANT940 a try. It fit my criteria:
-Relatively inexpensive (I paid just under $40).
-Small and unobtrusive
-Can be used indoors or out.
-Got mostly good reviews from consumers in online reviews.
I put the antenna on the top shelf of the bedroom closet. The included 20 cable was plenty long enough to reach the TV.
So far I'm very pleased. This is the best antenna I've used so far. All of my local stations come in clear and stable without making any adjustments to the position of the antenna. I'm even getting a station from the next town over that previously only came in with a broken signal. I'm very pleased and would recommend this antenna to anyone living within 20-to-30 miles from the TV stations they want to receive. I'm not sure how well it would work at greater distances.
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great indoor antenna for strong signals, February 5, 2008
I have tried five or six compact antennas that can be used indoors, as I live in an apartment. The best performing of those models (a very basic UNpowered Philips model)could get four of the six strong stations in my town, and none of the four or five weaker stations. And, getting those stations required moving the "rabbit ears" back and forth whenever the signal went out.
This model was designed for OUTDOOR use, but I simply placed it on a window sill that faces in the direction of the six major stations in my community. After moving it left and right a few inches, I found a location on the window sill that locked in an absolutely perfect signal on all six of the strong stations and on two weak stations I had never been able to get before.
How good is the resulting picture? It is the sharpest, clearest picture I've ever seen on any TV, far sharper than the picture provided by cable television service. Because each channel offers multiple "sub-channels" (two, three or four programs per channel), the eight stations I am getting are showing a total of about sixteen programs at any given time.
So, for $50, I get a choice of sixteen programs with an ultra-clear digital picture without having to pay one dime to the cable company. People who have never seen a TV program from an "over the air" digital signal are always shocked by the quality of the picture...just amazingly sharp with zero ghosting or noise.
The included cable is short, but it works well, as my TV is just six feet from the window where the antenna is placed. To use the antenna mounted outdoors on a wall, as the directions suggest, would require buying an additional length of cable.
To use just ONE antenna with multiple televisions would require using a splitter and running cables from that splitter to each TV, which might weaken the quality of the signal.
I'm guessing that putting the antenna outdoors, high on an outside wall facing the broadcasting towers might bring in a few more of the weaker stations.
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great for indoors!, April 27, 2008
I purchased this for my sons' TV in his apartment. I tried it on my set first, because I was curious to see how it would perform against my DB8 Multi-Directional HDTV Antenna. I put it on my main set and did not mount or took the antenna outdoors. It perform great for just being in the house and not on a long cable run. On my other antenna I cannot receive my local PBS channels well due to where I live, but this unit brought it in well when I found the right spot in the house. I am curious now to see how well it will perform mounted on a mast outdoors.
Now in my sons' apartment I mounted the antenna on a speaker floor stand. It performed well and was able to find 7 digital and 5 analog after trying several places in the room.
I do recommend this antenna. Works well in an indoors setting, but keep in mind that where and how far from the stations transmitters you live will affect the receiving abilities from any antenna. If you are mounting in or outdoors with a long cable run, be sure to install a cable like RG6 or better.
UPDATE 8-13-08 - I had to return this unit. Stopped working. It would bring in channels then lose them again. Mounted outdoors also with no luck. Work great for a little while, but not a long term item.
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