Terk HDTVa Indoor Amplified High-Definition Antenna for Off-Air HDTV Reception
by Terk
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Terk HDTVa Indoor Amplified High-Definition Antenna for Off-Air HDTV Reception
Customer Review: Pretty Sad when a 10 Dollar Antenna beats a 40 dollar one
Summary: 3 Stars
I live in Vancouver, Washington & like most people here, I read the reviews... the good, the bad, and the ugly and then decide to take my chances or not. I did take the chance and bought this, roughly 30 days ago so I've had a chance to use this before writing this review. This review does contain both praise and rant but I'm giving an honest review because if I can help you make a better choice then that's great. For the record, I am a tech/geek guy who does know how to setup things and troubleshoot things - so you know where I stand.
Out of the box, it was pretty simple to put together. Surprisingly, the cord from the antenna is not very long, maybe 5 feet and it's not something you can swap out with your own coaxial cables... it's built into it. So you're stuck with hooking it up close to your tv or tivo. It does have a space age look which is pretty cool but after a while, it will wear off. I was a little disappointed that it's not very stable because of a design flaw. There is a groove under it for the cable but when you try to have the cable in the groove, it wants to fall over. Extend the rabbit ears and it's a guessing game if it's going to fall over or not. Truth be told, I had to use duct tape to secure it in one place. Why?
Well, if you've read the other reviews, you'll know it is very directional ~ meaning you have to point it in a certain direction for it to work. The antenna has rabbit ears that I thought were useless because of the pitch that "everything's going to go digital and rabbit ears wont work. Don't buy that load of BS because at the end of this review, I have news for you. Okay, the rabbit ears - I found when fully extended they really make a difference so don't discount them with helping you get a good signal.
I bought this along with a Tivo Premiere to kiss Comcast's outrageous prices & monopoly Good Bye! I'm glad I did because with this antenna I did get incredible HD channels (ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX) ALL CRYSTAL CLEAR FOR FREE. However, here's the kick in the pants. I found that Best Buy has an RCA Rabbit Ears Antenna for $11 bucks! I read in the reviews that some people are getting signals of 90 and above. With this antenna, I was only getting 74 on a PERFECT day (out of 100 & averaged 58 to 60) and on some channels, it dropped down to 51. (If you're wondering where I'm getting my numbers, Tivo has a signal strength meter that measures the signal coming from the Antenna.)
Trust me when I said I tried almost everything in trying to boost my signal past 75 and I got fed up. Remember I've had it about 25 days to play with it and it does work, but I'm 9 miles from the antennas, I should be in the upper 80's on most channels. Being in the Pacific Northwest, where it does rain a lot, I waited till we had clear skies to see if that made a difference... Not really. There is a signal amplifer that comes with it that you DO have to plug in (which I was under the impression that this antenna didn't have anything you had to plug in, which I thought was a plus. Turns out I was mistaken, you do.)
That little booster does make a difference that without it, you're going to get a lot of choppy signals... at least that's what I observed on my end. I live by the river that separates Oregon & Washington so for the most ideal conditions, I got a pretty good deal but some channels wont be as good as others. This is where you have to decide what channels have higher priority vs others. (You shouldn't have to). In my case, you can have a certain number of channels that are real good quality but some others will almost not work and it's frustrating to watch every few words drop. It does get old when Tivo records a show you want to watch only to find "And The Murder Is...... (blank) ~ Well that solves the case. Good job" -- WHAT?!!? ARRGGHH. (Some show you watch depend on good diologue and dropped words because the signal comes in and out can be frustrating.
It got to the point where I decided to spend 11 bucks at Best buy on their RCA - Indoor Off-Air HDTV Antenna. Sadly, It worked even better than my $40 dollar one I'm reviewing. ALL my channels are in the mid 70's to 80's AND STABLE on the signal meter with no compromise of channels and they are all HD QUALITY. Keep in mind, it's down pouring outside so I can only imagine this on a sunny day. So I'm saving $29 bucks without the hassle of pointing the antenna or compromising what channels in favor of others.
Now, does the Terk HDTV antenna work? Yes, with beautiful channels, even better than Comcasts HD but where I live, not all the channels come in the same strength and remember, I'm 9 miles away from the towers, unobstructed. Your results will vary, but I hope by telling you my experiences with having to tape it down to secure it, and pointing it, short cords, etc that you'll be better informed to make your own decision. If money is tight, there's always a local Best buy that you can have your antenna today by driving down and buying it and you'll probably have better luck.
What I would liked to have seen:
Wider Base for better support
Stronger Amplifier
My recommendation: Go to Best Buy first and try their $11 RCA - Indoor Off-Air HDTV Antenna first. If that doesn't do the trick, you can always go higher. The Terk Antenna I bought here is on its way back to Amazon. Thanks... but no thanks.
As they said when I grew up... "And Knowing Is Half The Battle"
:-)
Customer Review: Absolutely fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a review of a few antennas and why I finally settled on the Terk HDTVa. I only tested them with ATSC signals, so I can't comment on any analog reception.
I just ordered this from Amazon.com and I can say without a doubt that it's the best antenna I've ever used. I'm about 25 miles away from most TV transmitters, and it picks up all of them. I was extremely surprised and very happy to see that it also picked up NBC and FOX, both VHF channels here, at full strength, something I was never able to do with my other two antennas.
I ran a longer coax cable and put the antenna on a window sill, I never have to fiddle with the rabbit ears or move it around to get a clear picture. This is on the window sill of a first floor (3 floor building) apartment that is surrounded by other apartment buildings. Also, the UHF element can be mounted with the blades oriented horizontally or vertically, perfect for putting it on the window sill and still being able to close the blinds.
The only con I can think of is that the VHF elements aren't as freely moved as they are on a lot of other antennas, like on an old pair of bunny ears. Basically, if you want to aim them horizontally, they have to be pointing in the OPPOSITE direction of the UHF element, or straight up, or tilted slightly forward. Aiming them horizontally in the same direction as the UHF element is impossible. This is only a minor issue, since the reception is so damn good I could aim the VHF elements however I wanted to and still get a clear picture; this isn't even enough of a nuisance to take one star off for. DEFINITELY get this; it's the best indoor antenna you'll ever use.
This is also the only antenna I've ever used that didn't lose signal on every single channel, both UHF and VHF, when someone was using a cell phone. Definitely a good perk.
GE 24775 Quantum Indoor HDTV Antenna
Mediocre, at best. This is one of the only antennas I've seen with ONE VHF element, which isn't exactly a problem in this market since most of our DTV stations are UHF, but don't count on being able to receive more than one VHF station with this setup. You'll find yourself moving the lone bunny ear around a lot if you've got 3-4 VHF stations you want to watch, even when the transmitters for these stations are on the same tower!
The UHF panel design is a gimmick at best, it does help if one station is in a different direction and you only want to aim one panel at it, but the reception for some reason is not consistent. The FIXED LENGTH power and coax cables are the nails in the coffin.
This antenna would be great at $10, maybe $15, not the $30 GE is trying to sell it at. For some reason, this antenna is also very limited in how many ways you can aim the VHF element; I'd prefer being able to aim the VHF element in whatever direction I want and have limited range on the UHF element since receiving those signals is much easier.
It did seem to like being placed in as high a location as possible; I'm on the first floor so it's not easy to get it very high up. When held to the ceiling reception did improve greatly, and as soon as I figure out how to staple it to my ceiling I'll find a use for it. Right now it's chugging along fine in the living room.
This antenna is definitely a good choice if you're in a tall building or out in the boonies away from any other buildings. WiFi, microwaves, and cell phones only bother it on certain VHF stations, but it can barely pull those in anyways.
Philips High Performance Amplified Indoor Uhf/Vhf/Fm/HDTV Antenna
I used this antenna for the longest time, all while being mildly annoyed by it. First off, it pulls in UHF signals like nobody's business, regardless of how it's oriented or where it is placed. It doesn't seem to mind multipath interference at all. VHF stations are a completely different story; it takes hours and hours of messing with these rabbit ears to get any picture, unlike the other two antennas reviewed. And then when you DO finally have the picture, heaven forbid you start to move around the room or even move on the couch, the picture will drop out.
I had this antenna at my old 3rd floor apartment, and tried it in two locations in my new 1st floor apartment. In the living room, I really couldn't pick up anything useful with it, so I moved it to the bedroom and tried with a Pinnacle ATSC tuner. When I finally had the rabbit ears set up right, for some reason I could no longer tune the strongest UHF signal in the area, go figure.
On the third floor, the only thing I had to worry about was the fact that it was VERY susceptible to RF interference. Is anyone in a nearby apartment using a microwave or making a cell phone call? Signal drops out. Get a text message? No TV. On the first floor, you can only sit in certain spots while watching TV or you've got no picture. This was especially annoying since it was being used to record shows while I was away, the signal would get weaker without someone in the room.
It just might have been my unit that was poorly shielded, but the more I turned down the amplification, the less susceptible it was to RF interference
Customer Review: One of the worst choices I've made
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this antenna because I wanted to ensure reception quality when switching to digital TV, & wanted something that would be good for an indoor antenna. From the comments on a variety of antennas, I thought this would be a good bet. I lost that bet! For the most part, this thing has proven to be a useless piece of ****.
My reception SHOULD be great. I'm right across San Francisco Bay from the primary TV tower. And my place is on somewhat higher ground than the "flats" at the edge of the bay. So one would think my reception would be the best. But with this antenna my reception has been lousy!
I'm constantly having to jump up, to turn & move the thing, trying (sometimes a hopeless task) to get an adequate signal for even the major stations that should be easy to get (& which i got fairly well with my prior super-cheap antenna, before i switched to digital).
When i finally get the best position possible (often having to turn the damned thing on its back or balance it precariously at an angle, since that sometimes is better than the upright position it's designed to be limited to), I still often get the signal cutting out so often that it's impossible to get an entire TV program. And every time i switch channels, i have to spend a lot of time trying to move the thing every which way, just trying to find a position where it pulls in the signal well enough to watch the program without it cutting out over & over & over again.
Before this, i had a simple, cheap antenna ("bowtie" type), without any amplification (& not made specifically for HDTV, as this one is advertised). Just a very basic antenna. This seems not one bit better, just more cumbersome; &, of course, more expensive.
The ultimate insult (misrepresentation??) is that the "amplification" does nothing whatever, as far as i can tell. When i'm having trouble with reception, i've tried switching it on & off a couple of times. Each time I can't tell any difference between the amplified & unamplified reception.
Finally, what would be a very minor problem has proven to be a pain in the butt, because i'm constantly having to try to reposition it: The design seems made to look catchy, rather than being designed for ease of use. The front edges of the body are rather sharp corners. This would be NBD if one just had to set it up & leave it. But having to grab it constantly, to try to get a position that will work, it's uncomfortable to always be grabbing sharp edges. Additionally, the cord comes out the bottom, straight down, not to the back, & must be bent to the back or front. But the design is lousy, since the cord keeps slipping out of its track, bulging below the foot of the unit, making the whole antenna precarious & often falling over if i don't pick it up yet again & mash the cord back into its slot. (The design SHOULD be a clever way to be able to have the cord come out the front OR back. It's just not designed well enough to accomplish this well.) This just creates more of a nuisance, every time i need to reposition it, & suggests to me a "quick-&-dirty" approach to design, caring more for a sharp look (pardon the pun<g>) than quality & practicality.
I've been using (fighting with) this for months, so it's not that i haven't figured out what works best. I've tried everything i can think of, in many places & positions & conditions.
And it's been long enough that i almost forgot: The quality of workmanship is bad enough that i almost returned it when i first tried to assemble it. One must put the flat metallic part into the body. Seems simple, & apparently should just snap in place. But the construction quality was bad enough that every time i tried, i simply could not get it in far enough for the conductor to connect. The instructions are of no help, making it sound easy. The reality was that i spent a long time trying to get this simple procedure accomplished, & only was able to do it when i got so frustrated that i smashed it in, figuring i would break the thing in my upset at this lousy product, but at least i'd get my revenge on it. That, ironically, was what proved to be necessary to get the parts to fit together -- brute force. Not the sign of a quality product.
I hate to give this only one star, but given that (1) it's done such a poor job at the only purpose it has, & (2) both the design & production quality seem less than what one should expect for even a cheap product, & (3) the "amplifier" seems to do nothing whatever, i can't think of anything positive about the product. Admittedly, i don't yet have anything to compare it to (except the cheap, unamplified antenna not meant for DTV), but one shouldn't need to run tests on a dozen different antennas, to get decent reception in my near-ideal location, i would think. I'm disgusted with this.
Customer Review: Set it up Right
Summary: 5 Stars
My setup: Older Toshiba 50" Projection TV (SD) with a AccessHD converter box and signal strengths listed below are based on what this box reports on a scale of 0 (weak) to 100 (best).
My location: over 20 miles from Chicago Broadcast towers, SW in Woodridge, 1st floor in NW corner of 2 story building.
I was not too sure an indoor antenna would do any good, it had been over 10 years since I had any OTA TV broadcast as I had used either cable or satellite during that time. I was hoping in that time that antenna's and TV Broadcast had improved and that it would be relatively easy to grab the OTA transmission. I even was going to buy the HDTVi (no amplifier) but it was out of stock at TigerDirect where I purchased this one.
First impression was just ok as the signal seemed weak. I turned on the amplifier and for some channels it made all the difference while others were still disappointing. Then I noticed this red line on the UHF antenna while making an adjustment trying to find the right spot. The directions say to insert the antenna up to that mark, I initially had not because I didn't want to damage the "needle" connector in the antenna (it attaches to the base). I pushed a bit more and it went in and I started getting better pictures and a better signal.
The next day I removed the UHF antenna from the vertical position and replaced it in the horizontal position - again inserting to the line and it seemed to actually "fit" better this time. Now my UHF channels (most) have 100% signal and the ones that don't are actually in the other direction (not in Chicago) so I would probably have to point the antenna differently to get them (but I prefer to leave it as it is since I get the major channels). I think there's really only one I don't get (channel 23) but I get a lot more than I knew existed! I didn't know NBC, ABC, WGN and others had additional channels! I can get good signals even without the amplifier now that the antenna is completely connected and pointed in the right direction.
As with all antenna's, it's going to depend on your location and setup for your results but I am very happy I have this antenna although I could have probably used the HDTVi the amplifier may come in handy in the future I guess. I'll try to update this with the channels I get and perhaps even a Video review to help demonstrate the antenna's usefulness.
I should also mention the VHF channels come in good (not 100%) but I haven't really tried to optimize those yet (mainly CBS & ABC) since I didn't want to fully extend or move the "rabbit ears" portion of this antenna. I still can watch these channels and the picture is fine so there really isn't any pressing reason to mess with it. The rabbit ears are extended a bit and in a "V" configuration and signal strength is typically mid 80's to low 90's.
Bottom line is I can now watch "nothing" OTA instead of paying to watch "nothing" on cable or satellite :)
*** Update: Here's the channel list I receive (with notes):
2-1 CBS VHF
5-1 thru 5-3 NBC, Nonstop and NBC5US UHF
7-1 thru 7-3 ABC(WLS), Livwell is on 7-2 and 7-3 and all three channels repeat on 44-1 thru 44-3
9-1 and 9-2 WGN and 9-2 shows "Antenna" and is a different program so I'm not sure if it's a WGN channel or not
11-1 thru 11-4 WTTW channels in HD, DT and one broadcast in Spanish
20-1 thru 20-3 WYCC HD, SD and 20-3 show MHZ and is a different program
23-1 thru 23-3 MeTV All show same program
25-1 HSN
26-1 thru 26-5 WCIU, UTOO, MeTV (same as 23-3), MeTOO and THIS
32-1 FOX
38-1 thru 38-3 ION, QUBO (children's channel), IONLIFE
40-1 WESV_LP Spanish channel that sometimes I didn't get sound on
44-1 thru 44-3 same as 7-1 thru 7-3 above
50-1 WPWR My50
57-1 WDCI
60-1 and 60-2 WXFT Spanish HD & SD
61-1 thru 61-3 WCHU, WLFM (music only?) and 61-3 shows WCHU but there is no picture or sound
62-1, 62-2 and 62-4 WJYS, MCTV and PRISM
66-1 WGBODT Spanish
Hope that helps!
Customer Review: Excellent reception in challenging conditions
Summary: 5 Stars
After hooking up my government-subsidized DTV converter box I quickly realized that the future of television, in my house in a post-2/17/09 world, would be dim. Actually, it would be mostly black, with some very sharp, colorful moving images. Although I live a scant 12 miles or so from my local broadcast towers, where the Currier-and-Ives analog-signal image of my UHF stations was at least 60% watchable all the time, I found that the digital signal was non-existent 40% of the time. Before digging out my library card just yet, though, I decided to give the Terk amplified HDTVa antenna a try.
I was immediately disappointed to find that the Terk was actually *worse* than my rabbit ears, I received no signal at all! But then I plugged in the tiny transformer attached to the coax cable and boy what a difference! I started watching all my favorite channels, sans snow. Sure the antenna comes with a slim little instruction booklet, but I bought the thing so that I could watch more TV, not do more reading.
The antenna is directional, so you do need to point it towards the broadcast towers. Fortunately for me most of my local stations have towers in the same general area, so I don't need to get out of my chair and re-point the antenna when I change channels. My DTV converter box also has a signal-strength meter feature which made it relatively simple to find the optimal orientation.
After watching beautiful high-def signals cropped and downscaled by my converter box to fill my 20" 480i tube TV for a couple weeks I decided to put this antenna to the test and move it out of my second story and into my ground-level rec room, a no-man's land for analog TV reception. Instead of essentially pointing out a window, downstairs the antenna was clad in a brick-lined room and pointing through the trunks of trees in an urban woodland (the trees are full of leaves as I type). But the Terk pulled in a watchable signal on every channel I had identified upstairs! As long as a helicopter didn't fly over and nobody walked between the antenna and its source.
It was only as I went to move the antenna back to my upstairs TV that I noticed a little on/off switch on the "power injector" widget. It turns out that I hadn't even turned the amplifier on! Sure, it is all spelled out in the one-page instructions, complete with a little blow-up picture of the power-injector that includes a pointer to the on/off switch, but hey, if I wanted to read would I have been watching 40% snow all these years?
After switching the amp on I tried another channel scan with my tuner, and lo, 8 new channels were detected! And reception on the original channels was more tolerant of people walking past the antenna (still waiting for a helicopter fly-over). So now from my Falls Church, VA, home I get not only the Washington, DC, channels, but I also get Maryland public television, which as far as I can tell is coming from Annapolis, MD, or Owings Mills, MD, or some other place beyond my sphere of consciousness. And I haven't even done the rotate-rescan-rotate-rescan exercise I went through with the rabbit ears when I first got my DTV converter box. I used to receive about 6 analog signals, I now get those plus 3-5 more in digital form, which combined with the additional side-band channels gives me a total of 20+ broadcasts.
There are contracting rabbit ears -- "VHF Dipoles" in fancy owner's-manual-speak-- that you never see in the promotional images. When they are extended they can make balancing the unit precarious, but I don't bother extending them, I don't need them. And after taking 73 seconds to read the owner's manual I found it wasn't even completely accurate: their URL for helping you find the broadcast towers in your area didn't exist (see why I gave up reading?). But none of these things affected the performance of this product for me.
The reception of this antenna is so good for me that I just purchased a second one.