Antennas Direct DB4 Multi-Directional HDTV Antenna
by Antennas Direct
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List Price: Our Price: $194.95 You Save: $155.04 (44%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Antennas Direct DB4 Multi-Directional HDTV Antenna
Customer Review: Took a chance on this one...
Summary: 5 Stars
I stopped using cable mainly because all the channels provided too many distractions and took too much time. This was aside from monthly the cost. A few years ago I made the transition from cable by using a Antennas Direct ClearStream4 HDTV Antenna with a PCT 4 port signal booster (which I got off of Amazon). I thought this was a good combination until I moved about 300 feet up the street into a place where one side of my living room is a retaining wall, (which is actually great for keeping the temperature even), but it did not work well for TV reception.
I thought at first maybe it was the signal booster and I changed to a Motorola Signal Booster 484095-001-00. Although I anticipated more of a boost, I got less but what I did get was much less visible signal boost noise and thus a much clearer picture. Even so I was still left with having to move my antenna around and deal from time to time with some stations not coming in at all (even though the tower for one is maybe five miles away).
So I started looking at reviews on Amazon and found this antenna. The first thing is that it is literally half the price of the ClearStream 4. I can't say it is twice as good, because I still get some pixelation from time to time, like when the weather is bad. But the VERY noticeable thing was immediate and that was how much clearer the picture is. Where with the other antenna I would get maybe days without a signal, now I might get a few moments. I never have to reposition my antenna. It sits in a corner above a bookshelf right next to the brick wall that holds back the dirt.
This is an amazing antenna.
The picture is as near to perfect as I could imagine. When I started my search for a better antenna, I could not fathom finding an improvement, but once again trusting in the Amazon reviews things turned out great and far better than I could ever have expected.
[When I started using an antenna it was well before the digital switch. I had a 32" Panasonic CRT and went to a converter box. About 8 months after moving to this place I got a plasma, which enabled me to dump the converter. I still use the Motorola signal booster.]
Because of where it sits, it sticks out making it visible and unsightly. To counter this I went to Wal-Mart and got some fake ivy and stuck it in the steel mesh to camouflage it, and I think it actually helped the signal a bit. All things considered, not having a roof mount, but having a dirt wall, I believe this antenna has proved itself well over the four months or so that I've have been using it.
Customer Review: One of the best antenna, but not multi-directional for indoor.
Summary: 4 Stars
I gone through many indoor antennas and haven't found the perfect one yet. The DB 4 is my favorite though, but antenna strength comes down to location and direction. I am using this as an indoor antenna and it is gigantic with the j-mount (not included) stand added to it. This model is listed as multi-directional, but not really. You point it in one you get three quarter of the stations. You rotate it even ten degree and you lose some stations and add a fee more, and picks up only two third of the station now.
My location is on top of a hill five miles from downtown so I should in theory pick up most of the stations verse when I was in a valley and got like have two third of the stations. My only problem is I am on the ground level and next to a bus stop. When a large bus passes it creates major pixilation. Small car does this a little. Analog signal didn't have this problem at all. This problem still persists with the DB4, but gets better when you elevate it higher up.
I do get the most channels form the DB4 by one or two stations verse the Terk HDTVa, Terk -TV5, my Radio Shack rabbit ear and RCA ant1400. Like all indoor antenna, it comes down to direction and location. Which antenna is the easiest o used? The RCA Ant1400 is the worst, which is like a square box. You have to pick it up and move around to get different stations. The Rabbit ears from Terk and Radio Shack (RS) picks up the same reception, but the RS is a lot smaller, so it is easy to re-angle the antennas. The Terk TV5 is fun to use. It had an infinity bar and you rotate it on its swivel base, so it was the easiest to use, but the reception was a little weaker, even if it was the only one of my antennas with a built in amplifier. What I learn from the TV-5, I applied it to the DB4. Buy a stand and lazy Susan or turn table as a swivel base. This will add to the cost, but will get the best reception and the most stations. Also, place the antenna as high as you can, if you run a cable over 75' then you need to get an amplifier for your antenna.
Overall, I am happy with it, but might try out a smaller Winegard SS-3000 next time around. The funny thing is that the Radio Shack rabbit does not work really well with my LCD, but when you plug it to a Digital cover box to an old analog TV it even bested the DB4 on LCD without any adjustments (multi-directional).
Customer Review: Great Antenna Works Great In the IE!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
With the digital change over we decided to keep our antenna which was old and falling apart instead of paying for service. The digital reception on our old antenna was not good at all so we decided to get a new antenna. This multi directional antenna we get 59 perfect channels when we used to get 16 ok channels (with old antenna non digital). There is very minor interference not really worth mentioning. We live in the inland empire where we have lots of tv station antennas within 20 or 30 miles so I know this antenna works great within that distance but can not comment on longer distances. I am really impressed with the reception with this antenna I get channels from the OC, LA and IE areas perfectly. It works great but surprisingly it is a little big and showy on your roof.
I read lots of reviews before purchasing this one and tried two antennas a directional and a multi directional (Antennas Direct DB4 Multi Directional HDTV Antenna). Per notes on these two types of antennas you will be able to receive more channels with the multi-directional but may get more interference than with the directional. I do not notice much interference with the Antennas Direct DB4 but I do notice all the channels this antenna picks up. But this is something to consider when purchasing one depending on your area.
As noted in another review if you are not getting great reception with this antenna keep in mind obstacles such as buildings, hills, poor connections, splitters, long cable runs, low elevation or faulty tuners will cause problems. Two of these were a huge issue when we went digital with this antenna. We had to remove an electric splitter which was causing major interference and also add quad shield cabling. I now get perfect digital reception. It was a lot of work by well worth it as it is a lot cheaper than cable or satellite.
PS: Antenna Web suggested in that I get a large directional. I went ahead and got the large multi-directional because I wanted more channels that the directional was not able to pick up. Where I am located I don't get really any interference with the multi-directional and I get all the channels I wanted.
Customer Review: Excellent Antenna
Summary: 5 Stars
Trying to cut some of our bills we decided to take the plunge and cancel our cable subscription. We have a 50" Samsung plasma tv and had the cable with the HD box. It looked good...so when we decided to cut the cable I thought the tv would "go to waste" because the over the air channels would look grainy and dim. After reading some reviews I decided to purchase this antenna (DB4) over the DB2 because we have another tv upstairs I wanted to hook up as well. Well the antenna arrived extremely fast, like in a day or two...even before my cable was cut! Once the cable was finally cut I put the antenna together (took about 10 minutes) not too hard but the picture/directions could be a little better, I then proceed to go into my attic, look for the cable line going to my tv and connected it to the antenna. Pretty easy. I did not purchase the antenna holder/pole so I placed the antenna over some boxes we have in the attic just to get an idea of what it would look like. I did not place it in a particular direction, I figured I could tweak it after seeing the initial reception. I then ran downstairs, turned on the tv, held my breath (did a new channel scan) and lo and behold all my local channels showed up looking TERRIFIC! No delays, no grainy dim looking pictures but very bright, HD channels. I have to say some look nicer (brighter colors, clearer picture) than my HD cable channels did. Of course all channels now have 2-3 more channels i.e. channel 13, channel 13-2, 13-3 etc.. the best looking ones are the "main" channels i.e 2, 13, 11 etc.. (we are in the Houston, TX market). So overall we are VERY PLEASED with this antenna. We have a 2 story house in a typical neighborhood so if your situation is like ours and you are contemplating purchasing this antenna you will not be dissapointed!
On a side note...my father purchased the DB2 for a small 32" LCD he has after hearing about my rave reviews and his tv also looks great. He put his on top of the bookcase behind a decorative plant and it worked like a charm. He had gone through a good many antenna before this one but this one looks like a keeper.
Customer Review: A Great Antenna for DTV and Over the Air HDTV
Summary: 5 Stars
I spent more time fretting over which antenna to buy than I should have. The fact is that digital TV (DTV) and HDTV are simply a UHF broadcast. ANY UHF antenna should provide some signal. The reason for purchasing a high gain antenna (such as the DB4) is that with digital, a good signal means a perfect picture. A poor signal means no picture. There is no fuzzy middle ground.
Here is a summary of the tips I gathered while researching antennas. The more closely you follow these steps, the better your results will be.
1) Go to www.antennaweb.org and click on "Choose and antenna" to determine the distance and direction of the channels you want to get.
2) If possible, mount the antenna on the roof. Attic mounting will result in 40 - 50% signal loss.
3) Orient the antenna as accurately as possible. If you have one, use a compass and the heading you got from antennaweb.org. UHF is directional, so the more accurate the direction, the better the signal.
4) Use RG-6 (Satellite) coax cable and keep the run as short as practical. The same length of RG-59 (CATV) cable will result in much more signal loss.
That said, here's what was working against me. 1) I am a fairly distant 40 miles from all of the transmitters. 2) I didn't feel like messing around on the roof, so I mounted the antenna in the attic. If interested, my antenna mount consisted of a scrap piece of conduit and a spare conduit strap. Total cost should be less than $4. On the plus side, I did aim the antenna as best as possible and I had a fairly short length (32 feet) of RG-6.
My unscientific analysis was to look at the signal strength meter function of the digital TV converter box. It is simply a scale from 0 to 100. To my surprise, the signal strength was in the 90's for all of the channels. That is better than expected.
Basically, this is a very good antenna. Just remember that the better the installation job, the better your reception will be.