How to pick the Best Indoor TV Antenna
Indoor TV antennas are a perfect choice for everyone who’s overwhelmed by expensive cable bills or guys who are simply looking for a way to supplement their cable or satellite subscriptions. With a TV antenna, you should be able to view a wide variety of free over-the-air channels, some of which are never even available on certain cables. What makes TV antennas a worthy investment is that for less than $100, you can get an incredible indoor TV antenna that should provide you with free access to some of the popular TV shows, live sports events news and much more.
Indoor TV Antenna Buying Guide
- Signal Strength and Quality
Indoor TV antennas are available as amplified or non-amplified antennas. Amplified TV antennas have a bigger range as compared to their non-amplified counterparts. These are a great choice for everyone living in rural or suburban areas where signal strength is usually not very strong. Sadly, amplified antennas are usually quite costly.
On the other hand, non-amplified TV antennas are not as expensive as amplified ones, but they do have a limited range of approximately 20-miles. This means that non-amplified TV antennas are better suited for individuals that are living in urban areas with strong signals.
In summary, the choice of whether you should get an amplified or non-amplified TV antenna will hugely depend on where you are located.
When it comes to signal quality, I will always encourage you to go for antennas that support Full HD picture quality with crisp audio. The good news is that the best and latest indoor TV antennas are engineered to deliver just that while others can even give you 4K UHD picture quality.
- Channels Available
The best indoor TV antennas are capable of receiving Ultra High Frequencies (UHF) and Very High Frequencies (VHF) signals. Of the two types of signals, UHF broadcasts most channels, but having both of them in your indoor antenna helps to make sure that you can access all the channels available within your area.
- Range and Direction
The range of your indoor antenna is very important, especially if you are far from broadcasting towers. In that case, you will need to get an antenna with the biggest range as it will help to increase the number of channels that you can watch.
The direction of the broadcasting towers is another crucial factor that must be considered. In some cases, you might get the towers of all the channels you need are located in the same direction while in other instances, the towers might be in completely different sides. If the channels you need are broadcasted in the same direction, the type of antenna you are buying might not matter a lot. However, if the channels you need are coming from different directions, you’ll need to invest in a multi-directional antenna. This will not just increase the number of channels that you are receiving, but it will also make the installation very easy.
Our Top Picks
Which is the best indoor TV antenna? The best Indoor TV antenna is the Mohu Leaf 30. This multi-directional antenna has remarkable image quality and a massive range that’s more than capable of receiving all the popular over-the-air channels. Oh, and the antenna is paintable, and hence you can customize it to match with your décor.
The following is a review of the Mohu Leaf 30 Indoor Antenna and various other alternatives that will help you cut-the-cord and reduce your utility bills drastically while still keeping your favorite shows, live sporting events, news, kids programs and much more within your reach.
1.Mohu Leaf 30 TV Indoor Antenna
The Mohu Leaf 30 TV Antenna is one of the best-selling indoor antennas in the market today. This omnidirectional antenna is designed with advanced US military tech allowing it to receive channels within a 40-mile radius in Full HD (1080p).
The antenna boasts of offering some of the best digital channels to make sure that you are never out of content to watch. With the antenna, you can watch CBS, ABC, PBS, Fox and NBC and their numerous subchannels. This basically means that you will have unlimited access to your favorite TV shows, sports, kid’s programs, and news channels and the best part is that all of them are delivered to you free of charge! Remember that 96 of the 100 most viewed TV shows are broadcasted over-the-air. Of course, the number of channels and type of content that you can access will ultimately depend on your specific location.
The Mohu Leaf 30 comes with a 10FT coaxial cable and a multi-directional digital antenna. This means that the antenna can pull channels from different directions, making sure that you can access as many channels as possible. The multi-directional nature of the antenna also reduces the hassle involved in looking for the perfect spot needed to get the most channels. The antenna is also reversible and paintable. In case you feel like the color of the antenna doesn’t suit your taste, you can repaint it to match your preference or home décor.
Other features
- 40-mile range
- Come with 10 ft. long cable
- Easy to set up and use
- Full HD quality
2. 1boyne Digital Amplified Indoor HD TV Antenna
How much money do you spend annually on cable or satellite? Now, take a moment and imagine what you could with all that cash if you didn’t have to pay for your cable! The 1boyne Digital Amplified Indoor HD TV is here to help cut the cord and save you hundreds of dollars, and you won’t have to miss out on anything as far as entertainment is concerned.
With this HD TV antenna, you can enjoy various channels available in your specific locations in Full HD or 4K! How many antennas out there can get you 4K UHD video quality for free?
The 1Boyne HDTV antenna features an intelligent integrated circuit chip which works side by side with the CleanPeak Filter technology and amplifier signal booster to get you as many channels as possible with the highest picture quality available. This tech gives the antenna a staggering 80-mile range! The technology has also helped to reduce signal interference by insulating the antenna against FM and cellular signals.
The coaxial cable is made of premium materials that deliver high-quality images while remaining free from electromagnetic and radio frequency interferences. The cable is made using a robust PVC outer layer, three layers of an aluminum shield, dielectric insulation, and a solid conductor at the center.
Setting up the 1boyne Digital Amplified Indoor Antenna is also very easy. Its plug-and-play design means that virtually anyone can set up the antenna and scan for local channels. With this antenna, you should be able to get various HD channels such as NBC, Fox, ABC, CW, RTN, CBS, among many others. Take note that the number of channels you receive will vary depending on your location and other factors such as physical barriers.
Other Features
- 50-80 mile range
- Comes with a 20ft coaxial cable
- UHF and VHF freeview
- Comes with an Amplifier signal booster
- Plug-and-play setup
3. Winegard FL5500A FlatWave Amped Digital HD Indoor Amplified TV Antenna
The Winegard FlatWave Amped Antenna is yet another incredible indoor antenna designed to free you from expensive satellite and cable bills. This multi-directional amplified TV antenna has a 50-mile range in both directions, increasing its reception for both UHF and VHF signals. To enhance your signal quality, the antenna is integrated with Clear Circuit technology which allows you to enjoy sitcoms, live sporting events, kid programs, news and other TV shows in HD. You can watch ABC, NBC, CW, Fox, PBS and much more in 1080p for free. You can also increase the amount of content you can watch by paring the antenna with different streaming devices such as Roku and Chromecast.
The amplifier used here is ultra-low noise on at just 1dB which is much lower than you would find in most other antennas out there. This improves signal strength and quality significantly.
The Winegard FlatWave antenna doesn’t just boast crisp image quality, but it is also one of the few antennas that support Dolby Digital Surround Sound.
Setting up this antenna is very easy. You can simply hang it on a wall or window or lay it flat on a table. Connecting and scanning for channels is also super easy, and the included guide should help you get it done in no time.
Other Features
- Embedded low noise amplifier
- 50-mile range
- Dual band UHF VHF antenna
- 4K ready
- ATSC 3.0 ready