Top antennas testing results Price No. of channels (NYC) No. of channels (LA) No. watchable test channels (out of 14) Antennas Direct Clearstream Eclipse 40 104 70 11 Btfdreem Smart TV Antenna -- Amplified 29 81 104 11 Channel Master Flatenna 29 98 86 11 Gesobyte Amplified HD Digital TV Antenna -- Low 30 92 116 13 Mohu Gateway 35 104 128 11 Mohu Leaf 35 102 131 12 Ultra Vizion HD Digital TV Antenna 44 104 69 10
We've tested dozens of antennas over the past 10 years with a view to finding the best performance and ease of installation for the least amount of money. Compared to a live TV streaming service, OTA TV does have some restrictions, namely, it is usually confined to a single television, and the broadcast signal from an OTA TV antenna won't work on phones or other devices. Thankfully, you can kick it up a notch with an OTA DVR with networking capabilities and dedicated apps. Our favorite right now is the Tablo 4th Gen.
When you're buying a TV antenna the two things you desire most are: the most number of channels available, and the best reception or picture quality. In our tests, we wanted to find the antennas which were able to pull in more channels than the others, and which also delivered stronger, clearer TV signals, even on "problem" channels. Using the TiVo Edge as our test machine, we hooked up each antenna in turn and tested how many total channels we could receive in both our LA and New York locations. The Edge lists the signal strength of each channel, and while a signal strength reading of 70% usually means it's watchable we watched all of the predetermined test channels (below) to determine the signal quality. In deciding a winner, we tried to find the antenna which had the best performance with both line of sight and without.
Testing an antenna by searching for channels using the TiVo Edge Ty Pendlebury
With that in mind, we tested seven different indoor antennas with prices ranging from $29 to $50 (all much less than the most basic cable TV service). Here are the seven TV antennas we looked at:
Antennas Direct Clearstream: $40
Btfdreem Smart TV Antenna: $29
Channel Master Flatenna: $35
Gesobyte Amplified HD Digital TV Antenna: $22
Mohu Gateway: $25
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