Is this TV antenna any better ...
----> http://www.cleartvkey.com/
It certainly is cosmetically better, but very expensive for a piece of wire ( if not aluminium foil !) and a F connector.
It does not appear amplified. I don't see how it can improve on rabbit ears. It receives sinewaves in the same old VHF and UHF spectrum. In fact it may be similar to a single rod antenna which manufacturers started to put on tv's, as a replacement for rabbit ears (VHF) and bowtie antenna (UHF).
There are other 'free tv' antennas advertised. I would not be surprised if they are better quality than this one. But even they might be little more than a piece of wire. I have found that my digital tv can get stronger stations on just a length of wire, stuck in the center of the antenna input.
There are two criteria, its ability to receive a weak signal and its ability to provide a 'clean' picture. Obviously, if the signal is too weak then the quality will either suffer or more likely there will be no picture at all. If the signal is strong enough in your location, the most important factor is the antennas ability to pick up a signals along a single path from the transmitter. When the signal arrives along different paths, the chances are they will have unequal lengths and because some will have travelled for longer time than others, they will be out of step. The TV sees a scrambled mix of signals and tries to make the best of it by using 'error correction' techniques but the result may still not be as good as it could be.
So the antenna needs to efficiently convert the signal to a voltage it can feed to the TV and should be as directional as possible so it only picks up along one path. The one in the advert doesn't look particularly good in either respect. I suspect more money went in the advertizing than the product development!
"Your mileage may vary" depending on your location and obstructions between you and the transmitter.
Brian.
This is the reference by which all others should be judged. If it is not amplified, it is probably not worth it.
if I was trying to receive HD tv over the air, I would probably instead buy a quality amplified antenna for set top, like Terk makes, OR a big antenna on a rotator on top of my roof if I was far away.
in practice, a separate antenna with a short length of cable will let you move the antenna around for best reception. Attaching an antenna to the back of the tv, like shown in that video, may be a bad place for the antenna to be sitting. especially if the TV set itself is made of metal.
You have to be very close to the TV transmitter for the indoor antennas to work. Take BradTheRads advice. If an indoor antenna will work then just a plain wire will also.
The ad also says so- you need to be close to the transmitting tower for this antenna to be effective. It is very unlikely that you will be close to the transmitting tower of the station you are most interested.
Strange but true, I get leakage signal from the neighbour's TV: I have the cable TV connected to the video input and just a simple wire about 1m long, just hanging from the antenna input connector. I can tune in one channel someone else is watching...
I have seen that also with cable tv in an apartment building.