Philips PHDTV1 Silver Sensor UHF/HDTV Digital Indoor TV Antenna by Philips Accessories
|
Our Price: $279.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Philips PHDTV1 Silver Sensor UHF/HDTV Digital Indoor TV Antenna
Digital camera Review: Cheap and works great
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Philips PHDTV1 to replace a Terk TV1 rabbit ears and so far so good. With the Terk I could not finish watching a half an hour show without the signal dropping out (insanely annoying). Most of time I could not even get a decent signal on Channel 4, 5, 9 and 11. The Philips has solved all the headaches with receiving OTA broadcasts for me. I am now able to leave the antenna at a set position and receive all HDTV channels and even a few extra analog ones. As with all antennas you will have to mess around with the positioning. Oddly enough when it was on top of my 6ft entertainment center I was still getting a few dropouts. Now it is 3ft from the ground on the lower shelf, facing south and I am catching all the HDTV signals. On most channels I am getting a 65% or more out of 100 on the antenna meter, more importantly there are no dropouts. On channels 2 and 7 I am getting a whopping 98%. Depending on where you live you might get different results, I live in the lower east side of Manhattan. If I can get such great reception with so many skyscrapers and buildings around Im guessing it will work fine in other areas. Lastly the antenna does feel a bit cheap but its not a big deal. Set it and forget it, as long as it gets the job done. For the $20 it is definitely worth a try.Digital camera Review: DIDN'T DO MUCH
Summary: 2 Stars
This is a very cheaply made product that only brought in a few channels and most of those were shopping channels. Oddly enough though it only brought in 3 network affiliate channels that kept blinking in and out it brought in an independent channel from an adjoining state perfectly clear. Perhaps it depends on where you live but I am up on a hill in the Boston suburbs and expected better reception with this.Digital camera Review: Decent reception, shoddy workmanship, not worth it.
Summary: 2 Stars
I ordered two of these less than a year ago, one for me, one for my friend. My friend was unable to get much reception with it, but that's perhaps not surprising given the distance he is from antennas.
I had previously been using a cheapo RCA rabbit eared antenna. It worked well enough. This one offered slightly better reception, 80/100 for most channels, occasionally 90 for one channel, and mid 70's for another.
The unit is somewhat directional, but doesn't require constant adjusting for me. I'm less than 10 miles from most of the local antennas. Overall I was pleased with it, until yesterday.
Yesterday, I noticed one of my recordings was somewhat pixelated. I went to adjust the antenna and couldn't get a decent signal. Some channels would register 75 or 80 but still be pixelated every 10 seconds or so, and the picture would drop for a second every few minutes. I then discovered that the antenna had become dislodged from the coaxial connector where the coaxial cable screws in. I fiddled with it on and off but was unable to get a really good reception with it anymore.
I did some research online and found that this unit was among the recommended indoor models still, but a radio shack antenna (two of them, actually, but one was discontinued) was more highly recommended. I replaced this unit with the radio shack 15-1892 unit and now get 90's in all channels, much better than the zenith ever got. It also has a remote for rotating as well as sturdy rabbit ears. I'd definitely recommend that unit over this one.
I spoke with the friend, who had been using the other zenith. His had broken in the exact same spot within a few months. As such, shoddy workmanship prevents me from recommending this. It did get decent reception, but having to replace two units in less than a year is pretty absurd.
Digital camera Review: Didn't work
Summary: 1 Stars
We bought this antenna as a test to see if we could HD or any stations on a spare HD LCD tv. We live in the Boston area and there are HD and regular stations available. Followed the simple instructions and this thing didn't work at all.Digital camera Review: Digital Antenna
Summary: 4 Stars
Works well for as small as it is, not as multi-directional as I'd like, but well worth the price