Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My husband decided to ditch Direct TV after getting abused by them over several years and overpaying for channels we don't watch. $29.99 for 12 months, yea sure. Because at one point we moved and had to place our service on hold for several months, they continued to claim those months as $29.99 months, even though the service was not being used or paid for at the time. So when we reinstated the account, we were asked to pay the full 80 plus bucks. Anyway, this isn't about Direct TV (well sort of). Fast forward to why I didn't want to be impressed by this antenna. So I like watching the Food Network and I knew I would no longer have that channel. We talked about getting Hulu Plus for other shows I'd want to continue watching. I was a little peeved because my husband wanted to ditch Direct TV, but still pay for a $200 or more NBA league pass. We'd be still be saving about $700 for the year, but I thought it wasn't fair that he still got to see what he wanted and wasn't going to miss anything like I would. Whatever, I have other things to do besides watch TV anyway. SOOOOOOOO, back to the point. He gets this antenna and I think it's a joke. I haven't used an antenna for about 20 years. I'm immediately on the defense about its tacky and rather embarrassing look, I just got done "reinventing" our living room. But he placed it behind our 46" (or is it 42? I can't remember)screen so the dipoles only stuck out about 7 inches, this is at the full extension. He plugs it in and a picture takes a moment to come up. All of a sudden I'm seeing channel 13 in crystal clear 1080i HD. I tried to play it cool so he wouldn't notice I was impressed. "Well, flip the channel" I say in an icy tone. He flips it, again it takes a moment and I'm seeing channel 11 perfectly clear. We continued to look for channels but were are only getting around 4 channels. Then somehow the information processed in my brain. I remember when I got my first "Zenith" many eons ago, I was supposed to "scan" for channels to first set it up. I told him to try that and his rolodex also flipped back a couple of decades, before his face returned to looking hopeful once again. Miraculously, our HD TV had a "scan channels" section we found under the set up menu (Can't remember exactly where, but I'm sure each TV varies). So we begin the scan process and the number keeps climbing. 6 channels.....12 channels...18...25....I'm waiting for it to stop so I could roll my eyes. But no, the darn thing actually went past ONE HUNDRED channels. I couldn't believe it. After the scan was done, we began looking at what we had scored and I almost wished there was a Direct TV rep in front of me I could flip off. It was a bit nostalgic to suddenly have all these wholesome PBS channels in HD. But the really cool thing is that we got channels I had never seen or heard of when I had Direct TV. Pretty interesting classic movie channels and Japanese Animation channels. It was pretty neat. Anyway, that's my story. I hope you guys can get good results like we did. I don't think I care much for Satellite anymore. The relationship is over and I'm fine with the simplicity of local channels. My husband actually made a good point that we don't have to worry as much about what our kids watch. It's probably a little late at this point, since they are 12 and 13, but it really did take the pressure off to see Pippi Longstocking and Wild Animal family shows coming in from offbeat stations. My daughter was actually pretty happy, but she's cool with just about anything. I hate to admit it, but I kind of like this new set up. No more overpaying for TV. We get tons of channels and I'm thinking about getting one for my mom because she's over paying with Time Warner as well. They are truly sick, charging her $113 and she's a senior. These satellite and cable companies have ripped us off long enough, I'm over it. But I'm sure you guys wanted to know if it works, well for us it works perfectly and the picture is super clear. We do have an advantage though, we live in Hollywood so there are many TV stations around. But don't let that discourage you because I have no idea how we picked up a channel (clear) from Canada. I honestly don't know how that's possible but we did. Just think about it, before cable and satellite were around, everyone used antennas. SO just try it out, it's worth it. And USE THE SCAN feature or you will not be able to pick up on all the channels. I read reviewers griping about only getting a few channels, they need to do a scan, that's the key. Also, when you insert the dipoles the the base, don't be afraid of snapping them into place. It feels like they won't go all they way in and I was afraid to break it, but they're supposed to go inside so that they lock in place.