RCA ANTD8E indoor TV antenna review: Powerful and pretty

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The RCA Multi-Directional Amplified indoor TV antenna (model ANTD8E) is an unusual-looking indoor TV antenna that’s best for areas with strong to good signal reception. Its stylish design—it resembles an upside-down home plate covered in a charcoal-covered woven fabric—distinguishes it from other indoor antennas. The signal reception it delivers is at least on-par with other good indoor antennas we’ve tested.

If you’re looking for easy reception of major local channels, and you live in or near a metro area, this could be a good pick. If your home is in a more rural location or a far-flung suburb, and you want to pull in distant stations, you should consider an outdoor antenna you can mount on a mast—or at least one you can install in your attic. Those types of antennas will always deliver a better signal than any indoor model.

Specifications

The RCA ANTD8E is designed for reception of VHF high band and UHF TV stations, which are broadcasting on channels 7 to 36.

Since the switch to digital broadcasting, the channel numbers in the names of TV stations often no longer match the channels they broadcast on, so check a site like Rabbit Ears to see the channels used in your area. Click on the “Market Listings” page to find your TV market and look at the “physical channel” column.

As its name suggests, the RCA Multi-Directional TV Antenna comes with a small signal amplifier to aid reception. This is built into a small box that can be connected to the antenna cable near the television, and it requires USB power. I connected it to one of the unused USB ports on my television. Needless to say, your TV will also need to have an onboard TV tuner, either ATSC 1.0 or ATSC 3.0 for NextGen TV. The antenna has a 9-foot cable that you’ll connect to the TV tuner’s coaxial input.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

Before we go much further, let’s tackle all the irrelevant slogans you’ll encounter in the antenna’s advertising. The first is its “65-mile range.” As we’ve said before (and as RCA acknowledges in tiny type on the bottom of the box), there are so many factors that go into broadcast reception that a claim like this is meaningless; so, don’t count on it.  

This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best TV antennas.

The box also advertises compatibility with NextGen TV, the new TV broadcasting format slowly rolling out in the U.S. with the capacity to deliver content in 4K and even 8K resolution. I’ll let you in on a trade secret: an antenna doesn’t care about broadcasting formats. If the signal is there, even your 1960s rabbit ears will pull in NextGen TV. The same goes for 4K and 8K resolution, and it’s worth noting that such broadcasts don’t even exist at present.

Design

One of the main differences between the RCA antenna and other indoor antennas–including the Winegard—is its industrial design. While the Winegard and a lot of other antennas are flat or very thin, RCA makes a little more of a statement. The ANTD8E is shaped like a three-dimensional pentagon with six raised panels on its face.

The antenna is wrapped in woven fabric on the front, where most competing indoor antennas are just bare plastic. That makes this antenna more pleasing to look at than much of the competition, which might be something to consider as it will be sitting inside your house, preferably near a window (if its 9-foot cable won’t reach, you could consider extending it with a barrel connector and a second cable if it doesn’t compromise its performance).

The antenna sits on a stand that allows a small degree of movement, or it can be wall mounted using nails or screws.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

RCA has also thought about cable management and there’s a clip near the base of the antenna to keep the cable tidy and a hole in the base through which it can be fed to make for a neater arrangement than many of its competitors.

Performance

So, with all that out of the way, how did RCA’s model ANTD8E TV antenna perform?

One of RCA’s boldest claims is “worry-free antenna placement” thanks to “360-degree reception.” Antennas usually need to be orientated towards a broadcast transmitter, so this is a bold claim. I usually place whatever antenna I’m testing in front of a window, facing the direction of the transmitter. But I started with this one by placing it on a shelf next to my TV near the window. It did OK there, but the number of channels I received—and the signal strength of each—increased when I moved it in front of the window.

Martyn Williams/Foundry

In use, the RCA ANTD8E performed reasonably well for an indoor TV antenna. It delivered stable, break-up-free reception of most of the local high-power TV stations in my area, but a couple of them did suffer from occasional break up. It wasn’t constant, but frequent enough that it would probably be annoying if I tried to watch a show on the affected channel.

Those channels usually come in well, so I compared RCA’s offering to the Winegard Flatwave Amped, which is one of our favorite indoor TV antennas, and it performed about the same, so it probably isn’t an issue with the antenna.

The RCA ANTD8E didn’t do well with any of the local low-power TV stations, and it didn’t manage to pull in any stations from the neighboring market. But this is about what you can expect from an indoor antenna.

Should you buy an RCA ANTD8E Multi-Directional TV Antenna?

If you’re only concerned with the reception of the local major network affiliates, and you live relatively close to their transmitters, this antenna will probably work for you. Ignore the range on the box and check the Rabbit Ears website to determine what channels you might receive.

If you’re concerned about how an antenna will look in your home, this is a strong candidate for one of the least visibly intrusive.