HDTV Reviews

How to Choose the Best HDTV Antenna

There is no such thing as a HDTV antenna, so don’t be a naive target for marketing people who want to sell antennas. However there are certain antennas that work well with a HDTV. There are things to know before you buy an HDTV antenna to get a quality picture, however. Considering the expense of your HDTV, you might as well take the trouble to find the best receptor for it. Outdoor antennas are going to provide a better picture than the indoor variety, especially if you are some distance from the nearest transmitter, so get ready to do some positioning for the best reception. Indoor antennas are popular, but can’t get the reception of a well-placed outdoor model.

Outdoor and multi-directional antennas

Putting your outdoor antenna in just the right spot can be difficult when you have to deal with many transmitting locations. This can be partially solved by an outdoor multi-directional and directional varieties of outdoor antennas. Directional antennas can pick up transmissions from greater distances, but once aimed at a certain transmitter they don’t provide the same reception to other transmitters in other locations. You may want to consider more than one directional antenna to solve the problem, aiming each at the transmission points available to you. In some areas, stations concentrate their transmissions from a single point, like the top of a mountain or hill. If not positioning directional antennas aiming at each station transmission point is an inconvenient, but useful, alternative. Multi-directional antennas have the advantage of picking up signals from different locations, and might work best in your area if you aren’t too far away from the transmission stations and don’t have to deal with tall buildings or natural obstructions.

Distance and Color Zones

The Consumer Electronics Association has designated seven zones by color that categorize reception quality. They are yellow, green, light green, red, blue, violet and pink. Yellow areas have the best reception, pink the worst. The CEA makes recommendations about antennas for each zone. Once you find out what zone you are in, you’ll be able to choose an antenna for your HDTV that maximizes reception quality.