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: 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.
Customer Review: The best I've tried - I'm using it indoors
Summary: 5 Stars
I have tried many different antennas to get DTV, and besides this type none were really better than plain rabbit ears.
I purchased this same brand antenna DB2 (half this size) and have been very happy with it. Hands down the best I thought - - until I saw this one. And now this model DB4 is about the same price, so it's a no brainer.
I had good results with the DB2, but would sometimes get channels cutting out or interference. I thought about getting a signal booster, but then I saw this model for $40 and had to get it. I purchased two of these and use both inside my apartment in different rooms. I set it in the corner facing the general direction of my broadcast towers and I haven't seen a single box or skip in my channels yet! I even have a channel that comes from a tower about 120 degrees off from the rest, and that channel still comes in perfect. **Perfect reception since I installed this.** I live in an apartment surrounded by large mature trees, so I have a lot blocking the line of sight, and I am about 20 miles away from antennas.
If you are having problems getting a strong signal, I very strongly recommend this model. If you are really far away from the towers I suggest to stay with the same brand and get their model DB8. Antennas Direct DB8 Multi Directional HDTV Antenna(twice the size of this one) If you are looking for a good antenna that isn't so bulky and you're near your towers then I suggest the DB2 Antennas Direct DB2 Multi Directional HDTV Antenna (half this size)
All my antennas from this company have arrived in perfect condition, with just very minor assembly required (2 bolts). I am using it inside, and it is a little bulky, but it looks like it would be very weather resistant outside and last a long time.
Customer Review: DB4 is a good rooftop antenna
Summary: 5 Stars
Summary: DB4 provided outstanding signal strength (90+%) when mounted on my roof and aimed directly at stations 25 miles away. The antenna does seem to be highly directional however.
Detail: I live between Boston MA and Providence RI. The Boston transmission towers are 25 miles to the north east and the Providence towers are 7 miles to the south east. There are no mountains or valleys to contend with (towers are line of sight). I first tried using various indoor antennas and found them to be essentially useless for the Boston stations (25 miles). I then received the DB4 as a Christmas present. I initially placed the antenna in my attic and aimed it at the Boston transmission towers and got decent signal strength (70+%) for the majority of stations. When the weather finally broke I placed the antenna on my roof (four feet above the roof peak, approximately 35 feet from the ground) and aimed it at the Boston transmission towers. Mounted outdoors and aimed at the Boston transmission towers 25 miles away I now get 90+% signal strength for the majority of Boston stations. I also pull in some of the weaker Boston independent stations, such as WLVI and WSBK with 70+% signal strength that I could not get with my attic mounting. The Providence stations, 7 miles away have signal strengths of 70+% - so aiming of the antenna is obviously critical. All these signal strengths are at the end of 50 feet of RG6 coax cable with no splitters and with no signal pre-amplifier at the antenna.
For an antenna mount/mast, I used a 1 ¼ piece of EMT (conduit) which I fastened to the side of the house. A 10 foot length of EMT should cost you somewhere between $10 and $15 at a big box home improvement store plus a few extra bucks for brackets to mount the EMT tube to your building. I found a good resource for aiming the antenna to be http://www.antennaweb.org.