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: Strange Antenna, But It Works Great!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been through a couple of indoor HDTV antennas. None came close to the performance of this one. I am in a notoriously 'bad reception' area just outside of Chicago. The best antenna I had before this one was an RCA omni-directional; but I still could not get CBS 2 with it nor could I get all the channels it could receive at once. I constantly had to get up and move the antenna while simultaneously checking signal strength on my T.V.(thank God for that feature on my T.V.-Samsung ROCKS!) But it was truly a pain in the butt constantly moving it around and holding it in the air! When I got this one(in less than five days with standard free shipping I might add-thank you Amazon), I had it out of the box and attached to my T.V. within five minutes. Definitely get the 'amplified' version of this antenna, there is a difference. This is the Terk HDTVa, not 'i' - it is worth it, trust this! Go to [...] to compare. This was the third highest rated Terk antenna on their site, the other two were outdoor antennas! That and the fact that it is one of the highest rated indoor antennas on Amazon and TERK's quality were the only factors that influenced my purchase. Because it is one ugly antenna! But if you like modern art, you'll love the look too. Point is that it works well. It took me a weekend of playing around with it to find the "sweet-spot". This is when I was blown away! Not only do I get all of the UHF/VHF signals, but I have not touched the antenna in weeks. Once in awhile I get a little scramble on CBS, or some of the less powerful signals, but it is not often and it goes away. I also pick up 47 channels now! Half of them are in Spanish, but that's' O.K.; it still impressed me. Before with the RCA the best I could get was 31 - That's a big difference. Auto-scan your t.v. before you hook up the TERK! I don't know why this works, but it does; I've done it several times before and always got better results. Make sure you auto-scan your t.v. several times with the antenna attached with the antenna in different locations until you get the 'Optimal' locale in your room. The first scan I did allocated 34 channels, second scan I got 38, the third time was the 'sweet-spot' that netted me 47! Note:that I did this over a course of maybe 2 days of occasional 'fidgeting'. This just comes with the territory if you want free HDTV. The picture quality is superior to all of my friends with cable and dish(they told me this, not my words) But I agree and it is worth it. Also the rabbit ears are a lot longer than they look so extend them all the way to get the best reception on that hard to get signal - that's how I 'found' CBS. I knew this was worth it when my wife saw a food show on WTTW in 1080i and said, "My God that food looks so real I could touch it and I think I can smell it too." - Enough said.Customer Review: Excellent Antenna for my location
Summary: 5 Stars
To start off, I live in West Los Angeles, approximately 26 miles from the broadcast towers on Mt. Wilson. Anyone in a similar location may find my experience useful.
The evolution of my antenna use:
I recently purchased an LCD HDTV, and, not having cable, I wished to achieve the best over air HD possible. I started with my good old rabbit ears, which, while decent, had to be constantly adjusted and moved around when changing channels. Channel 7.1 was prone to signal loss, and 9.1 and 13.1 were non-existent. The rest of the channels came in OK. (Of course, the great thing about digital channels is that even when the signal is OK, the picture is generally perfect, with the occasional pixellation and low signal blank screen - definitely preferable to the analog snow).
Next, I tried the Terk TV5 - wrong choice. It was worse than the old rabbit ears. No amount of adjusting helped. Bye bye.
After doing some research on avsforums, i found that a directional UHF antenna would work best for me, as all the broadcast towers for LA are concentrated in the same area on Mr. Wilson. So, I picked up the Phillips Silver Sensor (basically the same as the HDTVA minus the amplification), which has received great reviews on various forums. Wow, the difference from the previous antennas was night and day. All i had to do was aim the antenna in the general direction of Mt. Wilson, and the signal strength on the digital channels was much better. I even picked up a few new channels (18.1, .2, .3 and 50.1, .2 and .3. More importantly, i was able to get 9.1, and as a Dodgers fan, this was of no small importance. The signal strength was average, but at least the picture was viewable most of the time. However, still no 13.1. In perusing antenna reviews and the av forums, i'd heard that if one lives over 25 miles from a broadcast tower, then an amplified antenna was a good idea. Well, I live about 26 miles from Mt. Wilson, and that leads me to...
the Terk HDTVA. My quest has finally ended. Basically the same as the Silver Sensor, but with a heavier base, amplification, and vhf dipoles (if you need analog vhf channels - since all digital channels are uhf, i find that i don't need vhf). The amplification is the key here - yes, i did finally get channel 13.1. Also, on every other channel, the signal strength increased by at least 10. There is hardly any signal loss. All in all an excellent choice. It may not be so useful if you live closer to the broadcast towers - in that situation it may not work any better than a cheaper unamplified antenna. But if you are in a situation similar to mine, I highly recommend this product.
Customer Review: In my NJ area, this works much better than others I have tried.
Summary: 5 Stars
I already had an amplified indoor HDTV antenna and it worked OK but I only received 15 channels and they all suffered from rain fade and even went out for a few seconds on coludy days. ie... almost daily short outages and I had to adjust the antenna for most channels. This became a pain as if I wanted to watch 3, 10, 17, 29 it was one way and 23, 61 and others another.
I was looking around and this Terk went on sale for cheap so I figured I would give it a try. I had used other indoor antennas before and was not expecting a big difference. Boy was I wrong. I hooked up this antenna and spent about 10 minutes adjusting it and after a little trial and error, the number of channels I received almost doubled to 28. I cant believe I receive channel 6 now as I have never received it before with any antenna I ever tried. 28 crisp clear channels and all for free and much much less rain fade and I have not had to adjust it at all after my initial adjustment.
READ the instructions as the two bipole antennas that come on it make a huge difference. I probably did what most do and extended them all the way and pointed them up in the air. This is not the best for the lower channels and you might not get many. I didnt get many channels until I read in the manual to shorten the antennas and dont point them up or in a "V" shape, point them horizontal. This made a HUGE difference and what got me channel 6.
I was so impressed, I ran a splitter and some cable and hooked this one antenna to three TV's and am seriously thinking of getting rid of my expensive Verizon Fios service. I dont watch a lot of TV, mostly local news in the morning and at night and then some shows like CSI, Survivor and after thinking aboout my TV watching habits, probably 90% of what I like to watch I can still watch but now for free.
I do want to add though that any like every antenna, it depends on YOUR area. You might not get 28 channels like I do and it might not make much of a difference like it did for me here in NJ. I am about 40 miles from Phila and 60-80 from NY. Also fool with the bipole rod adjustment, it can make a huge difference. Don't just pull them out and thats it. Pull them out, look at the TV, shorten them, look at the TV, position them horiizontally, look at the TV, and so on. Without spending the time doing this, I would probably be posting a review this didnt make much of a difference from my old antenna.
Customer Review: Better than expected
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this antenna a little afraid of what the result might be. It's always a hit a miss with antennas and it depends largely on where you are located, no matter how good the antenna, if you don't get good reception in your area there isn't much you can do. I live in Utah and there are mountains every where, so I was hoping this wouldn't be an issue.
So to avoid this problem (paying too much and finding out I don't get any reception) I started out by purchasing some simple $3 rabbit ear antennas. I was able to pull in several channels but only about 2 (CBS and ABC)of them came in clear (with digital broadcasts it's either coming in clear or it isn't, none of the fuzzyness you used to have to deal with), but it was enough for me to see that the signal was there on several channels so maybe with a better antenna I would be able to pull all of them in clearly.
I tried hooking up 2 rabbit ear antennas with a 2-way combiner which did improve the signal slightly, I got a 3rd channel (FOX) to come in clearly with out much problem, but to get specific channels it often required adjustment which would then cause the other channels to lose reception.
Finally I decided to purchase the Terk HDTV amplified antenna. The product arrived very quickly (Amazon Prime) and was extremely easy to assemble. I had done some research ([...]) to find where the nearest broadcast towers were and I aimed my antenna at my rough estimate and turned the TV on. To my surprise ALL of the major channels that I was hoping to receive came in perfectly and several others that I wasn't receiving before.
The UHF channels work the best with this antenna. The VHF channels come in as well, but you need to use the Di-poles which are kind of an eye sore, fortunately for me most channels come in on UHF. I have the antenna pointed directly at a wall towards the broadcast towers and this doesn't cause any problem. My TV antenna meter is showing about a 60db signal strength on most channels.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the antenna worked as well as I'd hoped. I know some areas may not receive the same results so I suggest you try a cheaper alternative first, do you're research, find the towers and determine which type of antenna (directional or not, UHF/VHF etc) will work best for you. This worked very well for me.
Customer Review: I live on the fringe and it worked for me.
Summary: 5 Stars
I haven't tried other antennas to compare this to, but I'm pleased with the Terk HDTVa. I live in Princeton, NJ, which is about halfway between Philly and NYC, 40 miles-ish from any broadcast towers. So basically, I'm beyond range for most indoor antennas and the reception websites say I probably need an outdoor antenna, but I can't do that since I live in an apartment.
Local stores had a very limited selection or were sold out, and most antennas were clearly insufficient. For instance, the Phillips models said they had a 20 mile range. The Terk says it works for 45 miles (without obstacles, but I have many large trees in my area). I read enough positive reviews of this antenna to justify taking a gamble on it.
It was simple to set up. Only came in two pieces, and was easy to connect to my converter box/TV. As expected, due to my distance, I got signals on many channels but some weren't strong enough to play reliably. They flickered on and off. But after some adjustment raising the piece higher and putting it at a window (aiming it towards Philly), with the amplifier on, I got CBS, NBC and FOX all clear, as well as numerous others (like NJ networks). I could also get some NY stations by facing it at NYC, though I didn't investigate how many or how reliable they are since I only cared about the Philly ones.
A few comments:
-The amplifier makes a big difference. If you don't think it's working, you probably have the antenna, converter box and TV connected in the wrong order (as I first did). Note that there's an "HDTVi" model without an amplifier. Be careful not to buy that by accident since it's a few dollars cheaper.
-The fishbone part of the antenna is for UHF channels, but it also contains rabbit ears on the sides for the VHF channels, though I didn't experiment with them.
-My main point here is that this antenna would be a good choice to try if you're unsure whether you're out of range for indoor antennas, and of course would work great for anyone closer to the towers. I live on a ground floor, with tall trees nearby, 40 miles from towers, and first tried it on a cloudy day, so unless your situation is worse than that, I'd predict this to work for you.
-You'll need some patience moving it around and trying to find the optimum position.