I realize that rockin' the TV signals over the airwaves without intervention from cable, satellite, or IPTV feels like something of an anachronism, but please bear with me.
Anyone have any idea what's up with the current menu of television antennae? I feel like it's the same old set of rabbit ears and overpriced Terk active units, except now all of the boxes have HDTV slathered all over them.
So if I'm looking for a cheap and reasonably performant antenna, what are the options? I suspect receiving HDTV or not probably doesn't make much of a difference (due to the band overlay), so those of you actually using these things: any comments?
I went through this same learning process when I bought my house. For starters, there is no difference between the antenna requirements for analog vs. digital TV, and the band usage is basically the same. My experience indicates that any antenna that is "made for HDTV reception" is going to cost more for no reason whatsoever. I had no luck at all with rabbit ears and indoor antennas of any kind, including ones with active preamps. If there is a particular location where the bulk of the transmitters are located, I'd highly recommend getting yourself a compact yagi (preferably one that is not "made for HDTV" and thus possibly on clearance) and putting it up on the roof. The FCC's online database has information about the location of transmitting towers for various local stations which can help you choose where best to aim the thing.
Antennae -- hmm, that just sounds awesome.
I have an indoor antenna and it works so-so. I do get all the channels I want, but not nearly as clear as they could be. (for digital channels that means that sometimes the picture gets lost entirely, which sucks). But I didn't want to watch much TV anyways so I only spend about $30 on it.
Antennaweb.org and AVSforum.com are, as usual, great sources for information on this as well.
Mouser-
Directionality is bothersome, short of having an antenna rotater. And I'm not sure we've got a good place to mount it on the roof—chimneys aren't almost ever capable of handling the force exerted by wind-loaded antenna booms, and suffer fairly significant damage over time. Since we've got overhangs on every side of the house ... yeah.
ZGerman-
Good call on the sites, but most of what I've found so far has been: 1) a bunch of self-serving commercial reviews, 2) sites that don't really work (antennaweb.org? seems to be great for reception direction, but for the antenna itself?), and 3) a bunch of reviews from people who have no idea what they're talking about.
Welcome to the internet.
--D