TV Antennas Review

Getting free TV with a television antenna

If you don't want or need the extra programming provided by cable TV or satellite TV services (or if you just don't want to spend $100 a month or more for these services), you can still find lots to watch with nothing more than a TV with a digital tuner (or an older TV with a digital converter box) and a TV antenna. If you have an HDTV with a digital tuner, you can also access high-def programming from networks and local broadcasters in the highest-possible quality. In addition, the digital broadcasting system has made it possible for local broadcasters to multicast -- add extra digital channels to their main channel -- and many have taken advantage of that to add new public interest or niche programming (and, of course, shopping channels) to what you can pull in for free.

However, there is one caveat. Because of the nature of HDTV and other digital TV signals, receiving them with a television antenna is more of a challenge than under the old analog system. Tall buildings, hills and other obstructions are major hurdles. In addition, the signals don't cover as wide an area as the old analog ones did. All of that means that you might need to pay special attention to your HDTV antenna to get the best possible over-the-air digital TV.

In creating this report, we found some good resources to help make the job of finding the right digital TV antenna a bit easier. AntennaWeb.org provides information on what digital TV signals can be received at any address in the U.S., and how powerful an antenna you will need to receive them, so that site should be your first stop. Non-techies might find some of the data offered at HDTVPrimer.com a little too much to digest at first glance, but straightforward advice regarding many popular antennas is also presented, as are tips in some cases on how to get the best performance from them.

We also found good single-antenna reviews and multi-antenna reports at TVConversionHelp.com, BigPictureBigSound.com, HDTVMagazine.com, ModSynergy.com and elsewhere. If you are looking for information on outdoor antennas, AntennaHacks.com is also worthwhile. EV's Indoor Antenna Round-Up, a thread hosted at AVSForum.com, is an enthusiast-written, ongoing report on the top indoor digital TV antennas with lots of feedback provided by the site's contributors. User reports at HDTVAntennaLabs.com and Amazon.com are also very helpful.

In stores, you'll see many television antennas being promoted as being designed for HDTV; however, the reality is that you don't need a special HDTV antenna design to receive digital signals. In fact, in most cases, the best antennas are those based on the same designs used for decades for analog TV reception. If you already have a good antenna you used to receive analog TV, it might be all you need.

One thing to watch for when selecting an television antenna for digital TV is that many so-called HDTV antennas are only designed to cover the UHF band (channels 14-69), which is where most digital TV signals are found. The problem is that some stations asked for and were granted permission to move back to their original VHF frequencies (channels 2-6 and 7-13) once the digital transition was complete in June 2009 -- leaving viewers with UHF-only HDTV antennas in the dark.

If there's a VHF station you want to receive in your area, you'll want to select a TV antenna that covers those frequencies as well. Otherwise, a UHF-only antenna will fill the bill nicely. If you don't know what stations you can receive, and what frequencies they actually use to broadcast on, sites like AntennaWeb.org and TVFool.com can fill you in.

Television antennas -- and the availability of local over-the-air programming -- can play a big role in deciding whether or not cutting the cord with your cable TV or satellite TV provider makes sense. As noted in our reports on video streaming and digital media players, and in this blog post, more and more people are abandoning traditional premium TV sources in favor of streaming content online from services like Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, Hulu Plus and others.

The one drawback is that while many TV shows are available not long after they originally air, there's no online source for streaming live TV programs (including local content like news) or local sports. A TV antenna can help you get those signals over-the-air, however, filling in some of the gap. You can even buy a digital video recorder like the Channel Master CM-7000PAL (*Est. $335) to gain some of the time-shifting features of a cable or satellite company DVR for over-the-air signals you pull in with your HDTV antenna. More information is available in our report on digital video recorders.