Terk Low-Profile Indoor Antenna (TV5)

Rating:
Summary: very satisfied
Review: Given the other reviews I bought this item locally just in case I had to return it. It was very simple to put together (<5 minutes).
The reception is a lot better than with my old RCA amplified rabbit ears. It is certanly not perfect in a few channels but I can now see all the channels I want to see. Additionally most channels reception is near perfect.

Rating:
Summary: very satisfied
Review: Given the other reviews I bought this item locally just in case I had to return it. It was very simple to put together (<5 minutes).
The reception is a lot better than with my old RCA amplified rabbit ears. It is certanly not perfect in a few channels but I can now see all the channels I want to see. Additionally most channels reception is near perfect.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't do a thing
Review: I purchased this from the local electronics superstore hoping to improve my local reception. I'm located in the burbs and don't have line of sight with the transmitter towers. After a simple hookup, I couldn't tell that the antenna made any difference in reception. You may have better luck, but, I would suggest you purchase from a vendor that provides an easy return policy.

Rating:
Summary: DTV reception w/ Terk TV5
Review: I recently bought a Sony HDTV w/ tuner. I only receive about 7 HD channels through cable tv. I checked antennaweb.com and discovered that most/all of the local stations broadcast in DTV. The primary transmitter is 40 mi from my house (in San Francisco), but is line-of-sight (I live on a hill across the Bay). No large buildings, trees, etc... in the way.

I plugged in the TV5 and didn't get a signal, but after using the auto program feature on the tv, was able to get all the local programming in DTV (approx 20 stations). I did have to max out the gain to receive all the channels(I bought the TV5 because it had the highest amplification I could find).

I wish the TV5 had markings on the base and the cylindrical mount used to rotate the antenna. It would be helpful when rotating the antenna to maximize the signal from different transmission towers.

Oh, the analog signals were just ok. Weaker stations had lots of snow. Light diagnonal lines on others. Since I was getting all the the stations in DTV, I deleted the analog stations from my program guide.

FYI - I still subscribe to cable (for the "plus" programming and premium channels).

The TV5 seems to work great for picking up the DTV signals. I can now enjoy HDTV broadcasts for all the major networks and local channels (I really bought the tv for improved dvd images).

I am very pleased that the TV5 is able to pick up all the DTV signals. (Indoor antenna purchases seem to be a trial and error endeavor. Note that I did buy from a store with a 30 day money back guarantee, just in case.)

In summary, the TV5 was able to pick up all DTV signals even though the transmission tower is 40 mi away (line-of-sight). Analog signals just ok, with lots of snow with weaker stations. DTV signals were fine (even on the stations w/ weak analog signals). The TV5 does exactly what I need it to do. It provides me with local DTV programming until the cable companies offer DTV for all local stations.


Rating:
Summary: I could not believe it worked so well
Review: I recently got rid of my cable company since they only provided 4 local high definition channels and that too was very unreliable. One of the other channels would be out weeks at a time. They did not have the ability to connect an over the air (OTA) antenna either to the receiver box.

I had the Dish Network installed, and I am using the 921 box which is a High Def Tuner with DVR. It has a coax connection for the OTA antenna. Once you plug in an external antenna, you go to the menu on the receiver and choose Local Channels and then choose Scan Digital Channels option and the receiver sets off to find all the UHF Digital channels you can receive. Then it presents you a menu of all the digital channels, you can see which ones are High Def since it will have the channel name with DT or HD next to it. I realize this is not relavent to the antenna I am commenting on, but I wish someone had told me how all this works since I spent some time on figuring this out, so I am putting this in for completeness.

Anyhow I went to Radio Shack and got the TERK HDTVi antenna which looks funky, it picked up just PBS and Fox, nothing else would come in, also it was very directional.

Next I got the TERK TV-53 which is what you install over your Dish, that did not work either. Then reading the reviews here and on the Circuit City website, I purchased the Terk TV-5 from Circuit City and right away by just placing the antenna on the floor near the TV it picked up all the High Def Channels in my area (UPN, WB, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and Fox).

Though the receiver recognized these channels, I was unable to get ABC and CBS since the signal was weak, I live over 30 miles from these stations. So I took my antenna and put it in my balcony (Yes i realize this is an indoor antenna), and plugged it into my balcony's power outlet, I connected the output of the antenna into the diplexer output that I had my Dish installer put in, this is so that you can connect an external OTA antenna into the same line that the Satellite signal is going in. Then on the receiver side I had a splitter and one went into the Sat connection and the other went into the OTA Antenna connection.

The result was amazing, the signals all came in very clear with signal strength in the 90s.

Only thing left to do is to ensure that I won't have any issues with having an indoor antenna in the balcony, perhaps I need to make sure water does not fall on it and short circuit the whole thing.

Rating:
Summary: Better off with a coat hanger
Review: I spent 50 bucks on one of these to try to cure my TV problem with 6 fuzzy channels off my roof aerial. Everybody I asked said they were wonderful. I put on the Terk, and only got 2 fuzzy channels instead. I took it back to the shop the same day. Enough said.

Rating:
Summary: A Slight Improvement
Review: I'd been using a set of rabbit ears with a UHF bowtie for local channels, which worked pretty well. I live in an urban area that gets decent reception. I bought the Terk TV5 to see if I could clear up some of the interference on VHF, and pull in a couple of stations from a little farther away.

The construction quality is good, although the cable could be longer. There is a built in bypass switch if you have satellite or cable, which is nice.

As for performance: picture quality is good, range average. This antenna did get me better reception on a couple of channels that had ghosting or snow before. But I wasn't able to receive anything that I couldn't get with the rabbit ears. If I turned the amp all the way up, I could get some of them to come in slightly, but not well enough to watch.

My advice: check your reception first with a $10 antenna from Radio Shack. If you get everything you want and just need better reception, this is a great antenna for you. It will fit on top of your TV, and really does provide a great picture.

However, if you're trying to expand the number of channels you can receive, you'll have to get something else.

Rating:
Summary: just what i needed
Review: my outdoor roof antenna fell down and i was unable to get it back up.reception when it was up wasn't all that good but when it was down i could get absolutely nothing but snow on the tv. i hung a primitive dipole antenna made out of clotheshangers and managed to get one sixty percent viewable channel. i was told i wouldn't get a thing out of an indoor antenna and suffered on with my pitiful handmade antenna for two or three months. i finally decided that if i couldn't get my outdoor antenna ever fixed again i would risk buying an indoor antenna. i live about sixty or seventy miles from the nearest broadcasting station and the only thing to block reception would be the roof. i plugged the terk in and maxed out the amplifier. i immediately got three clear stations. three or four less than with the outdoor antenna but still three more than the one by coathanger antenna. i have to say i am pleased. three super clear channels is a lot better than nothing and now i don't have to return the antenna every time the wind blows like i had to with the outdoor one.

Rating:
Summary: Great at clearing up the fuzzy channels
Review: My wife and I had been suffering through the standard un-powered antenna which required the constant adjustment per channel. Decided to bite the bullet and buy the more expensive model. Definetly worth the money. Plugged it in, maxed out the power setting (don't forget this part like we did at first), and voila, all of our channels came in crystal clear with no adjustment needed.

Rating:
Summary: Good Buy
Review: This antenna worked great for us. I bought half a dozen antenna to get the perfect reception for local channels, but non of them worked except RCA ANT 711. But this one was not worth the money. I bought a Terk TV 5 to replace the RCA, and I got same quality as RCA but with much cheaper antenna.