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The HT Guys
HDTV and Home Theater Podcast - Podcast #489: MOHU Paper Thin HDTV Antenna
by The HT Guys on July 28, 2011 Categories: Broadcast, Digital (DTV) Transition

Today’s Show:

MOHU Paper Thin HDTV Antenna

We’ve been talking about cutting the cord quite a bit lately.  One of the primary components required is a TV antenna so you can pick up all the free digital goodness flying through the airways. If you are those lucky enough to live within 30 miles of your TV Transmitters then we have discovered probably the best thing you’ll ever plug into your HDTV. Its the paper thin HDTV antenna made by MOHU and it goes for $44 (Buy Now) and its made in the USA.
The Mohu antenna looks like a lamented piece of paper with cable connected to it.


It is designed for indoor use only. If you use it outdoors it will eventually deteriorate.

Specifications:

  • Dimensions 9 X 11.5 (inches)
  • Cable Length 6 feet
  • Connector 75 ohm F connector
  • Pattern omnidirectional reception

Since the HT Guys live about 70 miles away from the TV towers for Los Angeles our tests we performed in Fresno CA. Ara’s in-laws live 20 miles from the TV towers which is right in the sweet spot of the antenna’s performance range.

Performance

We placed the antenna high on the wall behind the TV and then we connected the cable to the TVs antenna jack and hit scan.


The scan took about three minutes and found more than 50 digital channels.

It even found 6 analog channels which surprised us.

According to the MOHU instructions the antenna needs to be positioned with the cable pointing towards the floor. We found that this was the optimal as far as number of channels it could receive. However since Ara’s in-laws didn’t want the antenna hanging on the wall he simply threw it behind the TV and hoped for the best.


As it turns out, most of the channels still came through. Now Ara can watch football in HD when he visits his family.

Stress Test

For fun we did try to see if we could pick up any signals from our homes in South Orange County. We didn’t have high hopes so we weren’t disappointed when we only got one channel and that was from San Diego.

Conclusion

We have tested plenty of antennas, both indoor and outdoor, in our six years of doing this show. Many have made claims of being the best. Let the HT Guys be the first to tell you that the MOHU Paper Thin Leaf HDTV antenna is THE best indoor antenna we have tested!

 

Download Episode #489


Posted by The HT Guys, July 28, 2011 11:58 PM

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About The HT Guys

The HT Guys, Ara Derderian and Braden Russell, are Engineers who formerly worked for the Advanced Digital Systems Group (ADSG) of Sony Pictures Entertainment. ADSG was the R&D unit of the sound department producing products for movie theaters and movie studios.

Two of the products they worked on include the DCP-1000 and DADR-5000. The DCP is a digital cinema processor used in movie theaters around the world. The DADR-5000 is a disk-based audio dubber used on Hollywood sound stages.

ADSG was awarded a Technical Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2000 for the development of the DADR-5000. Ara holds three patents for his development work in Digital Cinema and Digital Audio Recording.

Every week they put together a podcast about High Definition TV and Home Theater. Each episode brings news from the A/V world, helpful product reviews and insights and help in demystifying and simplifying HDTV and home theater.

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