HDTV Magazine - Consumer Education Content

Product Review: Channel Master SMARTenna+ Indoor TV Antenna

Cord-cutting keeps gaining ground, and combining free over-the-air broadcasts with streaming remains the smartest move a viewer can make. Channel Master's SMARTenna+ takes a familiar thin-panel indoor antenna design and adds active electronics that scan for signals, then build seven distinct antenna patterns per channel. After two decades of antenna testing, this reviewer found something genuinely impressive: one indoor antenna that finally delivers CBS, NBC, and Fox simultaneously without dropout. The full performance data tells an interesting story.

Pete Putman • Jun 22, 2018

column

OTA HD & Antennas HDTV Broadcasting Consumer Education

Useful Gadgets: Winegard FlatWave AIR Amplified Outdoor TV Antenna

Winegard has been building TV antennas since 1954, so expectations run high for the FlatWave AIR amplified outdoor model. Field testing against competing antennas reveals strong UHF performance but a troubling noise floor that swamps low-band VHF signals entirely. With the FCC channel repack pushing more stations onto channels 2-6, that weakness matters more than ever. Whether the FlatWave AIR earns a place on your rooftop depends heavily on one critical factor.

Pete Putman • Sep 27, 2017

Columns

OTA HD & Antennas Consumer Education Budget HD

Useful Gadgets: Antennas Direct ClearStream 2MAX and 4MAX Indoor/Outdoor TV Antennas

Cutting the cord means finding the right antenna, and that question gets asked more than any other. Antennas Direct's ClearStream 2MAX and 4MAX promise strong UHF performance and improved VHF coverage for indoor and outdoor installations. Tested head-to-head against a Channel Master STEALTHtenna, discontinued ClearStream models, and a homemade 3-element UHF yagi, the results reveal where each antenna earns its price tag and where the real performance gaps quietly emerge.

Pete Putman • Aug 10, 2017

Columns

Cable HD Consumer Education Home Theater

There’s More To The Story (There Always Is!)

Chasing a maddening WAN dropout problem through spectrum analyzers, faulty ground blocks, and noisy neighbor cable drops reveals how a single cheap component can destabilize an entire cable system. Comcast's Special Operations team ultimately confirmed what the test equipment suggested: intermittent connections create standing waves that tilt QAM carriers and corrupt upstream channels. The full diagnostic breakdown, including RF measurements and fix details, surfaces at InfoComm in June.

Pete Putman • Apr 18, 2017

Columns

OTA HD & Antennas Consumer Education Budget HD

Useful Gadgets: TERK Omni and Turbo Indoor DTV Antennas

Terk has long produced eye-catching antenna designs, but striking looks rarely translate into strong performance. Testing the Omni and Trinity Xtend Turbo indoors against a classic $4.99 bow-tie antenna reveals a humbling gap: the bow tie outperforms both newer models handily. Marketing claims of 65-mile range and 4K reception sound impressive until real-world spectrum analysis exposes the truth. One half of the Trinity Xtend does earn its keep, though perhaps not in the way Terk intended.

Pete Putman • Apr 17, 2017

Columns

HDMI 4K Ultra HD Consumer Education

HDR: What’s It All About, and How Does It Affect Interfacing?

High dynamic range imaging is reshaping how televisions reproduce light, color, and shadow - but its impact on signal interfacing is where things get technically demanding. HDR's expanded luminance range and wider color gamut dramatically increase data payloads, pushing HDMI 2.0 to its limits and forcing tradeoffs in color resolution and compression. Understanding what 'HDR compatible' actually means - and what it doesn't - reveals a landscape where speed, not magic, determines performance.

Pete Putman • Feb 28, 2017

Columns

OTA HD & Antennas Budget HD Consumer Education

Product Review: ClearStream Eclipse TV Antenna

Cord-cutting is surging, and free over-the-air TV has never been more relevant. The ClearStream Eclipse antenna promises flexible, stick-anywhere convenience with a built-in amplifier, but lab tests against a classic bow tie and the Mohu Leaf reveal a critical weakness: low-band VHF reception is simply not reliable enough for viewers who need channels 2 through 6. Whether that matters depends entirely on your local broadcast landscape.

Pete Putman • Aug 11, 2016

Columns

Consumer Education 4K Ultra HD OLED TVs

“HDR” Is Coming To Your Next TV. So What, Exactly, Does That Mean?

HDR is arriving on Ultra HDTVs, and it promises a viewing experience unlike anything current screens deliver. High dynamic range reproduces a minimum of 15 stops of light, yielding dramatically brighter whites, deeper blacks, and over a billion color shades through technologies like quantum dots and OLED panels. Combined with the BT.2020 wide color gamut standard, HDR represents a genuine leap forward - but navigating competing formats, hardware requirements, and content availability means your buying decision just got considerably more complicated.

Pete Putman • Mar 7, 2016

Columns

4K Ultra HD Consumer Education Market Trends & Analysis

More Pixels + Bigger Screens = More Power Consumption

Ultra HD 4K TVs consume roughly 30% more power than equivalent 1080p sets, and a nationwide upgrade could cost Americans $1 billion annually in electricity. Four times the pixels demands more energy, but emerging IGZO thin-film transistor technology promises to claw back much of that increase. Smart shopping strategies, simple picture settings, and one well-timed purchase window could save you significantly more than just electricity costs.

Pete Putman • Nov 17, 2015

Columns

Cable HD Consumer Education Market Trends & Analysis

xFinity: “The Future of Awesome” Is Looking A Bit Less Confusing…

Six service outages, a no-show technician, and nearly 30-year-old buried coaxial cable finally pushed one Comcast subscriber to escalate beyond standard customer service. A three-truck crew eventually traced the culprit to a corroded street drop where the cable literally pulled free of its connector. A new waterproof line, upgraded junction box, and a dual-band Cisco 802.11ac router delivering 50-plus Mb/s later, relief arrived - though whether the outages are truly finished remains an open question.

Pete Putman • Sep 9, 2015

Columns

OTA HD & Antennas Consumer Education Budget HD

USEFUL GADGETS: Three Antennas and a Preamplifier for Cord-Cutters

Cord-cutting is no longer a fringe movement - Comcast now counts more broadband subscribers than pay TV customers, proving the shift is real. Free over-the-air television remains a vital piece of the puzzle, delivering live sports and prime-time hits without a monthly bill. Three antennas from HD Frequency, HD Quad, and Channel Master face off against a tried-and-true bowtie, with an Antennas Direct preamplifier adding a twist that reshuffles the rankings.

Pete Putman • May 5, 2015

column

Home Theater PC (HTPC) Market Trends & Analysis Consumer Education

EE LLC: A Million PCs and Nobody Knows Its Name

A company with a million notebook PCs under its belt operates almost invisibly. Entertainment Experience LLC's eeColor software uses multidimensional look-up tables and advanced vision models to recover color fidelity lost during Rec.709 remapping, expand display gamuts intelligently, and preserve critical memory colors like skin and sky without distortion. With Dell and Quanta already on board, this quiet innovator's approach to software-based color management may signal a broader shift in how displays are tuned.

Ken Werner • Feb 27, 2015

Columns

HD Camcorders Consumer Education

So I Bought A New Camera…

Smart phones keep improving, but they still can't match a dedicated camera's optical zoom range or low-light performance. After years of relying on Nikon CoolPix models for trade show coverage and product photography, a visit to one of the few remaining local camera stores revealed a surprising shift in the retail landscape. A hands-on comparison of several models - including an impressive Sony mirrorless - led to one clear winner that fits both the budget and a jacket pocket.

Pete Putman • Dec 1, 2014

Columns

OTA HD & Antennas OTA Set-Top Boxes (STBs) Consumer Education

Antennas, Antennas, On The Wall…Who Has The Best Reception Of Them All?

Indoor TV antenna performance varies wildly, and a rigorous side-by-side test reveals which models actually deliver reliable over-the-air reception. Tested against a spectrum analyzer and MPEG stream monitor across 11 Philadelphia-area stations, five antennas ranging from $13 to $65 compete head-to-head. Cord-cutting continues reshaping how Americans consume television, making antenna choice more critical than ever. The results expose some surprising winners - and at least one stylish underperformer you might want to reconsider.

Pete Putman • Nov 6, 2014

Columns

Market Trends & Analysis Smart TVs Consumer Education

Digital Life Matters; Displays Don’t

Hardware margins are collapsing, and displays alone can no longer sustain a business. Samsung makes the phone; Google makes the money - a stark reality reshaping every corner of consumer electronics. Companies that build the most compelling digital ecosystems, ones users find difficult to leave, are the ones that will prosper. The display is merely a window to a user's digital life, and understanding what lies beyond that glass changes everything about how we evaluate the industry.

Ken Werner • Oct 29, 2014

Columns