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Well the first thing I did when I went to do the install was try the setup on a TV to make sure it works. Their house is fairly new so it is wired for internet and tv in all rooms which is routed to one central location in the house. Wow. Then the geek in me wanted to see if I could network the antenna signal throughout the house by plugging it into the main hub.
I'm sure there are a lot of houses out there that are told to buy unnecessary equipment when there is a simpler solution, like what I've described above. So 2 antennas and 2 receivers would go right back to the store for a return saving them over $100. The amplified splitters are $10-$20 at most so that's an easy investment to make.Each TV would still need the converter box next to the TV to change channels, but luckily 2 out of the 3 tv's my parents have are fairly new so they didn't need the converter boxes. So I told them to go to the store and get an indoor antenna and digital converter box. The sales rep sold them 3 each of this GE 24775 indoor antenna and a RCA converter box for all the rooms they wanted TV in. More surprisingly, they now had more Korean channels then before when they were paying $80+ for cable. To my surprise, one of these GE 24775 antennas were strong enough to get great signal and quality on 3 tv's at the same time, all in different rooms of a two story, 3100sq.ft house.
The moral of the story is that this antenna signal is quite strong in our geographic location (even inside a 2-story house closet) and with a little extra know-how and time, you can save some money while getting what you want accomplished. My parents were spending $80/month for cable tv service just to get korean channels. Sure enough, it found 80+ channels and the quality was quite good. I will point out however that I had an amplified cable splitter (one-to-three) so that may have increased signal enough to be split so far.
It got less channels than my old rabbit ears which I went back to. This antenna had NO digital reception for my new HDTV. I am highly disappointed.
The antenna now only works similarly to rabbit ears antenna, but it no longer makes a difference if it is plugged in or not and we have lost most of our basic channels (NBC, ABC, WB, CBS). Make sure to keep a receipt because you will need it to use the 1 yr warranty. We bought this Amplified Quantum Antenna from Target almost 5 months ago and the amplified part no longer works. All that works are PBS channels and even then they only SOMETIMES work.
Only picks up about 1/3rd of the available stations no matter where I put it. I have an unamplified antenna from RCA that does better.
BEWARE,it is a complete waste of hard earned money. Our antenna is at TV height and when you walk between antenna and the tower, the signal freezes. Do not expect too much from this antenna. We are about 20 miles from the transmitting tower. I will soon be tossing it out and installing an outside antenna that I should have done in the first place.
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