PowerQ POWERHD-100 Indoor Portable Pop-Up Digital HDTV Antenna - Get FREE TV Broadcasts!
by PowerQ Technologies
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List Price: Our Price: $56.77 You Save: $23.22 (29%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $20.00 (click here) Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of PowerQ POWERHD-100 Indoor Portable Pop-Up Digital HDTV Antenna - Get FREE TV Broadcasts!
Customer Review: Great indoor antenna, improved over my original antenna
Summary: 4 Stars
I own a Pinnacle HDTV USB Mini Stick (80e), and when comparing the PowerHD 100 with the original antenna that came with my TV Tuner, the PowerHD was able to pick up most of my channels. When I used the stock antenna with my TV Tuner I could never get a consistent picture. With the PowerHD I was able to get all of my local channels (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CW, ... public channels) with overall consistent picture. I could actually watch TV on my laptop now instead of spending half of my time getting up to adjust my stock antenna. My recordings were flawless except for maybe a half second pause in one of my 60 minute recordings.
The build quality is ok, which is why I give it 4 stars. I noticed a rattling noise when I took the antenna (which is pretty portable) out of the box, but it doesn't seem to affect its function.. It requires 2 AA batteries which are included, so you won't have to worry about getting your own. The antenna also has a clicking switch that allows it to fold open when you want to use it. The only connectors on the antenna is a standard coax connector and power plug on the back, for use with the included cables. Others noted that the coax cable was cheaply built. I personally don't notice any reduction in picture quality or anything. For me it does its job perfectly fine.
The "AC adapter" is merely a AC-USB plug type of thing, and they give you a USB cable to connect the antenna to the plug. Mind you, it's pretty short. For me I don't really use the adapter since I put my antenna high up on my bookshelf in my room.
The antenna has an on and off switch on the front. Since I don't use an AC adapter, I realized that it would be troublesome to have to turn it on everytime I wanted to watch something in order to save power. It would also force me to keep it on during the day when I am gone if I want to record something during the day. The weird thing is that my antenna still works even if the switch is off (with AA batteries inside). I'm not sure if this is like all the others, but just thought I'd share that.
Overall this antenna did its job well and it hasn't failed me yet. I would recommend this to someone looking for a small indoor antenna with a small profile.
Customer Review: Decent digital reception in a tough area
Summary: 3 Stars
When looking for an antenna to receive digital tv signals the reviews I found for the PowerQ were all great, to the point of causing suspicion, especially when the competition was priced significantly lower. However, I know Amazon's return policy fairly well, so I went ahead knowing that I'd return and only be out $6 if necessary.
Most the package is okay, but part of it is what significantly lowered my review score(from 4 to 3 stars). The antenna piece itself is fine, but has plugs only for the included USB power cable (3', decidedly short) and the F-type cable connector to plug into the tv (also short and of very poor quality). The included AC power adapter is not an AC -> DC adapter, but an AC -> USB power adapter. This means that the included USB cable is what must be used unless one owns a longer USB cable of the right variety. So for the antenna to be powered more than 3' from an outlet, either a longer USB cable must be purchased seperately, or the user will need to put up with the USB -> AC adapter -> regular extension cord chain (the USB connection can be pulled out casually and the AC adapter is bulky, so this isn't the most elegant setup). For my evaluation I settled with the antenna being only 3' from the outlet, but did use a higher quality insulated F-type coax cable.
Evaluation in use: Normal reception is no better than a regular pair of rabbit ears were. However I no longer had an old antenna to compare with for digital signals (if I did still have one I wouldn't have had to buy this). Digital reception is mostly acceptable, though there is some occasional interference (looking like pixellation of the image). This may be due to my location, which has always had bad interference from nearby tall buildings and significant trees.
So for quality of product's function, I'm inclined to believe later reviews that say that an old Terk antenna is just as good or better. For travel and hooking up to a laptop tv card, this antenna is optimal. For a stationary home installation, a cheaper amplified Terk antenna would probably do just as well, if not better, and not have the annoyance of having to use a USB power cable.
Customer Review: Great product! Does what it claims it will do.
Summary: 5 Stars
With the change over from analog to digital TV, there has been a rise in demand for digital portable TV's, because the old standby analog portable has become obsolete. People who were used to bringing one to the ballgame or the park picnic, now had to purchase an entirely new type of portable. Unfortunately, the majority of these new portables have very poor reception, & a lot of people have been doing a lot of justified complaining. It seems almost all (with the exception of a very few) brands of these TV's have supplied tall telescope antennas with their units that had also been used on the old analogue ones. The problem with this is most digital reception is UHF, & this requires a much shorter antenna to attain at least a chance of some kind of reception. A lot of these brands have then decided to include an extra "external" antenna; a magnetic-base one that when placed on magnetic surfaces is supposed to improve reception over the "attached to the unit" antenna. This does help somewhat, but there are still some bugs to work out with this new digital technology. Then along comes the Power Q!!! (Power HD-100). This is the only (as of this writing) portable AMPLIFIED digital antenna on the market! It runs on 2 AA batteries (included), but can also be powered by an AC cord, or a USB connection, both of which are also included! I must say, I was very impressed when I scanned my portable TV tuner after connecting the Power-Q to the co-axial port on the TV. I more than tripled the digital stations received! My portable unit has a signal meter, & the signal really jumps after connecting it to this small amplified little wonder! This company seems to be really ahead of the game (& the pack) with what they have come up with. Nobody else seems to have anything like it. I highly recommend this new product!!
Customer Review: Unusable and a bit of a ripoff
Summary: 2 Stars
This works to get a couple of stations okay but to call it portable with such short cables is misleading and you cannot locate the antenna conveniently to find all of the stations in your area if you live outside any metropolitan area. You only get about 2 feet of cable so you are either moving your computer closer to the best reception or purchasing longer cables incurring added expense or as a last resort having one of your kids hold it and that doesn't last very long at all either!
The item would maybe be worth something if they tripled the length of all the cables. It is nearly useless in my car or RV because the antenna cannot be placed anywhere very easily and using one hand to hold it where it gets reception is out of the question. I ended up having it dangling the first time I hooked it up and then I only got one station because of the short cables didn't allow me to place it in another location to get the rest of the ones in the area. It pulls out of the connections if you move a little too much rendering the antenna useless. Because of it's short cables I have been unable to determine how well it even works. Unfortunately I didn't read all of the product reviews prior to the purchase as I needed it rather fast for our trip and ordered it anyway. It ended up that I wasn't able to use the antenna anyway after paying for the fast delivery.
I would not recommend this item to others without the express warning that they will need to buy extra cables for it at the same time. I am really not happy with this purchase and don't understand at all why they would make the cables so short.
Customer Review: Works better than what I expected
Summary: 5 Stars
I am glad I finally tried HD antennas after watching analog on my 4 year old LCD HDTV, so you must know how that is. LOL. But I always felt that getting digital cable is just too much when I barely watch tv as it is.
I wanted to see what the rave is about and finally gave in. I went with the cheaper HD antenna route and initially bought the RCA ANT1450B Multi-Directional Digital Flat Amplified Home Theater Antenna locally. I was excited to pick up over 10 local HD channels right away and a few ones (PBS) that were intermittent. I felt that this experience could be better so I went and did more research and checked reviews and opinions in Amazon.com. Then I saw the PowerQ Antenna and ordered it 3 days after I purchased the RCA. Installed it last night and voila! The weaker signals from the RCA are now full blown clear! It's amazing how a small gadget can have stronger reception; even when it is turned off. This is probably as good or even better than most antennas in similar price range. I also like the fact that the antenna is small and easily hidden around or on the tv. And it is also mobile to take with you for use with a laptop or to use at a another HDTV.
Only downside for me is that the coax cable that comes with is is rather short but luckily I do have alot of extra longer coax cables sitting at home.
Overall I am more than impressed since it performed better than expected. So it seems the RCA is going back to the local retail store!