Home > Consumer Reviews > RCA ANT1500 Large Multi-Directional Digital Flat Passive Antenna (White)

Let me start by saying you need to take all these reviews with a grain of salt, as each circumstance is unique - and may or may not apply to your situation. There are SO many variables, you just never know whether a product will work for you.

I have an HDTV and an old bedroom TV, both currently using amplified antennas with mediocre results. I bought the ANT1500 for a basement TV, based on good reviews, hoping that it might possibly work. I was not terribly optimistic, based on the fact that that analog signal in the basement produces a grainy, less than satisfying picture.

Imagine my delight when I placed the ANT1500 as high as I could between some floor joists and two galvanized heat ducts, connected it to a converter box and wala! 11 channels, locked in as good or better than my TV's upstairs.

I was stunned, and have ordered another to see if it can improve the other TV's. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I got this antenna as a test to find out if I should get an outdoor antenna. I was amazed at the channels I received, and now going to order the db4 and get rid of my dish network. What people have to understand is you can not just buy any antenna and think it will work great. There are many considerations. antennaweb.org will help greatly, the more yellow you see, the better off you are, please check this site before you even consider an indoor antenna.

I bought this antenna for its appearance. It is compact, easy to place, and unobtrusive. I placed it flat on a shelf near the HDTV and no one notices it (it has a handy bracket if you wish to stand it upright). To my great delight, when I turned on the TV the picture was crystal clear -- all that HDTV/digital TV is supposed to be, and without cable boxes or ugly rabbit ears. It has strong stable reception for digital tv stations as far as 35 miles away, so I strongly recommend it for urban areas. I would not recommend it for stations more than 40-miles distant. In short, this antenna is a great combination of function and form.

I live in an apartment and we're not allowed to mount anything outside. I first bought RCA rabbit ears for 9.99 from Best Buy to work with the Dtv box (GE 23333 which has a smart antenna interface from Target $54.99) and picked up 22 channels...not including ABC and PBS. PBS signal would fade in and out. I then purchased another RCA product for 39.99 from Best Buy Indoor Amplified antenna (ANT1251). I picked up 23 channels, but couldn't pick up ABC and PBS at all, regardless of how much I played with it. I just bought this antenna from Best Buy anf it picked up 28 channels right away, including all ABC and PBS channels and sub-channels. I just ordered another one from Amazon. I am going to try out the smart antennas as soon as Best Buy gets them in stock so that I can see if there's any difference.

After helping a few people convert to digital set-ups, this antenna has turned out to be my indoor workhorse of choice.

Probably most useful for those who currently have set-top loop/rabbit ears and are having trouble with some digital stations breaking up as a function of time, weather, or movement of people in the room.

In 3 of 4 cases (in two different suburban broadcast markets), the RCA ANT1500 eliminated the fluctuations, producing stable results over time, once positioned. The 4th case, a basement TV, has always needed a roof/attic antenna, though the ANT1500 came close, providing stable OTA DTV reception for all but one channel.

In each 100% successful case, DB4 (Antennas Direct) and Winegard SS3000 models were tried first -- I have been trying to get rid of them ever since they didn't work for my personal set up. And I still have not found a situation where the SS3000 provided viable performance.

The ANT1500 always worked slightly better (and at least never worse) than the larger, bulkier DB4, probably to a large extent because it was easier to place.

For example, one site has solid reception on all available channels when the antenna is propped up on the floor against the wall behind a couch. Everybody is delighted with the "invisible" solution. No problem for the ANT1500 ... but not a chance for such a placement with the comparatively gangly DB4.

Some say the ANT1500 is style over substance, but when a couple feet of positioning makes a huge difference in reception, the practical ability to blend into a room can be worth a couple db of gain measured in the lab.

The ANT1500 always turned out to be an improvement over loop/rabbit ears in terms of stability and placement options, eliminating the problem of reception changing when you stopped touching the loop/ears after adjustment.

The coax that comes partly built in to the ANT1500 is fairly short at about 6 feet; if your first try isn't satisfactory, you may want to invest in ~25 feet cable and a cable-connector to extend placement to different areas of a room. Also, before you hammer something into the wall to mount it, you might want to see if you can non-destructively fix it in place for a few weeks to be sure reception is stable before you commit to hole-making.