We have tested many antennas over the past 10 years to find the best performance and ease of installation for the least amount of money. Compared to a live TV streaming serviceOTA TV has some restrictions, that is, it is usually limited to a television, and the broadcast signal from an OTA TV antenna does not work on phones or other devices. Fortunately, you can kick it up a notch OTA DVR with networking capabilities and dedicated apps. Our current favorite is Tablo 4th Gen.

When you buy a TV antenna two things you want the most: the most of the number of channels available, and the best reception or picture quality. In our tests, we want to find antennas that are able to pull more channels than others, and they also provide stronger, clearer TV signals, even on “problem” channels. Using the TiVo Edge as our test machine, we connected each antenna and tested how many total channels we could receive in our LA and New York locations. The Edge lists the signal strength of each channel, and while a signal strength reading of 70% usually means it’s watchable we looked at all the preset test channels (below) to determine signal quality. To decide on a winner, we tried to find the antenna with the best performance with and without line of sight.

With that in mind, we tested seven indoor antennas with prices ranging from $29 to $50 (all significantly less than the most basic cable TV service). Here are seven TV antennas we looked at:

While most of the antennas are made by “name” manufacturers, Gesobyte and Btfdreem were chosen specifically because they are two of the highest selling antennas on Amazon, even though the latter is not currently available.

Just like real estate, how well a TV antenna works is based on location, location, location. We tested the antennas in two major locations: in uptown Manhattan, New York with line of sight to a broadcast tower six miles away, and in Reseda, California, at least 10 miles from the nearest tower (although no line of sight). Depending on your own location, for example, you may receive broadcasts from multiple antennas. In addition, hills or large buildings on the road affect the frequency range and reception of TV channels.

We put each antenna in the same place every time and connect it to TiVo Edgewhich provides signal strength data as well as total channel count. We use two metrics to determine which TV antenna is the best. The first is a raw measure of the number of channels the antenna can detect, while the second involves several predefined “problem channels.” For this, we consulted a list of channels taken from different forums, for the same test areas, and measured how well the antennas pulled each channel.

Our list of “problem” channels in Manhattan are WABC 7.1 (ABC), WNET 13.1 (PBS), WPIX 11.1 (CW — Manhattan only) and WNJB 58.1 (PBS — New Jersey only). In addition, we have added popular channels CBS 2.1, WNBC 4 (NBC), and WNYW 5 (Fox). Meanwhile, we’ve compiled a list of LA channels including KCBS 2.1 (CBS), KNBC 4.1 (NBC), KTLA 5.1 (CW), KABC 7.1 (ABC), KTTV 11.1 (FOX), KCOP 13.1 (MyNetwork) and KCET 28.1 (PBS).

While the result will vary depending on where you live and how far you are from the TV towers, in our tests the best models received the most popular channels as well as local channels, radio broadcasts and Spanish language stations.

Most TV antennas are based on the same rectangular design, but there is one important consideration: the cable. Does the antenna have a long, high-performance coaxial cable or, better yet, a detachable one? You put one of them on your window, which can be far from your TV, so it’s even better.

It should be noted that some of these antennas — the Btfdreem, Gesobyte and the Ultra Vizion Plus — come with amplifiers that increase the gain. Based on our experiences in many locations over the years, amplifiers can affect signal strength in unpredictable ways. The Ultra Vizion never works with the amp attached, while others do. The numbers printed above are the best results with or without magnification. If you cannot get TV reception with an indoor antenna, a gain amp may not help you, and in other cases, it may be your reception. even worse by overloading channels with strong signals.