Xtreme Signal HDB8X 8-Bay VHF/UHF HDTV Bowtie Antenna

I would really like to give this product 5 stars, but I can only go 4.I purchased and installed this antenna about a month ago. I live about 25 miles away from my city's 6 TV transmitters (all in the same direction). Four of them transmit in the UHF band and two in High VHF (9 and 13). The terrain in between is flat. The antenna is installed in the attic and is just above the level of the trees that are in the direction of the transmitters. Both panels face the same direction. I installed it to replace 2 rabbit ears (don't laugh) pointed in different directions and combined with a splitter.On the plus side:- The design is excellent and construction is sturdy. It's apparent that a lot of thought went into the mechanical design of the element panels, frame, and mounting hardware. The panels are preassembled and just need to be connected together with the 2 hinged bracket-arms that are provided. This is a no-tool assembly, except for mounting on a mast. They even pre-install tiny rubber grommets on the end of bolts so that a wing-nut doesn't come off accidentally when you're up 40 feet on a roof. There is no mast provided, so I attached mine to a 1" piece of pipe and some brackets, but may replace that with a good quality J-pole, since I have a hipped roof with angled beams in the attic.- UHF reception is excellent. Signal strength (measured from a menu item on the TV) on 2 UHF stations and their subchannels improved slightly over my previous setup. Those 2 stations have the strongest signals and are rock solid with signals in the 80s on a 100 point scale. The signal levels of the other 2 UHF stations went up from the low 20s to the mid 40's. Those stations used to fade in and out, but not now.On the minus side:- The instructions could be a little clearer, however, by carefully comparing them with the pictures on the Amazon page, installation is fairly easy. More pictures would be helpful.- My biggest complaint is that the antenna is advertised as VHF/UHF and in my case, doesn't do very well on VHF. The stations that broadcast on channel 9 and 13 (broadcast frequencies, not virtual channel numbers), still fade and pixelate. I had to add a set of rabbit ears (don't laugh) and combine it and the HDB8X with a splitter to get a good signal on these 2 channels.- Maybe not exactly a minus, but I lost a UHF PBS channel about 60 miles to the north that I used to get with rabbit ears because this antenna is very directional.Reception might improve if I mounted it on the roof, but I live in hurricane country and would prefer to keep it in the attic. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the results of the HDB8X.

I purchased this to replace my Mohu Leaf which has been working almost like a champ for over a year.My NBC station is around 56 miles from me. I found unless I positioned the Leaf just so on my window and positioned the coax cable just right (yup, if the cable moved 1" either way I would lose signal for just NBC) it did the job. But with summer storms in Florida the signal would get choppy.I got this in and mounted it in the attic and ran the coax down to my computer. I use Windows Media Center as a hub to stream OTA signals to my Xboxes in the house. Anyway, mounted it, pointed it to the Northeast and BOOM...got full signal on all the stations I want. Before with my Leaf I would get full signal on most but less on others. So the antenna performs very well.The antenna itself is very well constructed and doesn't have that cheap feeling that some other antennas have. I would say that the instructions should be a little more descriptive. I'm one of those guys that normally opens something and puts it together without looking at the instructions. This antenna took me a bit to figure out exactly how to put it together. Reflecting back it isn't that hard, you just need to know exactly which way to orient the braces (I had to take them off twice to get it right). Also, the instruction sheet states you receive 3 cable boots but only one is in the package. You do in fact get three. The other two are already mounted on the black boxes on the antenna.I would recommend this antenna. I was originally looking at the DB4e but Amazon was back-ordered so I ordered one from Newegg. Had to send it back (open box with missing items issue). So I looked at the DB8e and while I was researching that antenna stumbled on this one for far less.Antennas are going to function differently for everyone because your location and environment. I can say for me it works extremely well.

I bought this unit based on other reviews. We installed it at my brother's rural home outside Lumberton, NC. The nearest TV stations are not close, but this antenna brought in stations from as far away as Raleigh, NC and Florence, SC, which are respectively 90 miles and 55 miles away. We had to play with the configuration. The antenna has two "wings" which may be configured flat or at an angle to each other. We tried it in both configurations, and used a compass to point it at the stations we were after. In flat mode, it pulled in stations from farther away, but it eliminated some stations "to the side." So we ended up with the antenna in a "V" configuration. We mounted the antenna on a metal antenna pole, with ground wire. After a couple of days of messing with it (gradually rotating it with someone outside manipulating the antenna and someone inside testing the channels) we now get 33 channels. Not every single channel is rock solid (I'm guessing weather conditions impact the reception). But most of them are reliably watchable and clear. Since everything is broadcast in digital, there is none of the old "snowy" channels. They either come in or they don't. If the signal is weak, some channels will start to pixelate, and you may get a message that says "weak signal." But in our experience, that's the exception. We were astounded with how many channels this unit picks up given its reasonable price. My brother who is retired and doesn't feel he can afford cable or satellite, is in heaven. He has multiple news sources, PBS, weather, and all the major networks. Keep in mind, this is not an indoor unit, although you could probably put it in your attic. It's fairly large and has to be properly mounted, but once you get it set up, it will do the job.