If you still rely on one of those awkward metal antennas from back in the day, you might be interested to find the category has changed, and offers a sort of fabric and textile elegance.
There’s no denying that the internet has affected everything, and TVs are definitely included. You might still use a big screen TV in the centre of your home, but these days, it’s highly possible that you don’t use the antenna anymore.
If this is something you can relate to, you’re not alone. Online catch-up services and apps that connect to these have made our reliance on antennas less of a thing, though there are some who will prefer the antenna for getting their TV each day.
The antenna could well be a line through the house directly plugged into an aerial on the top of the building, or it might be something a little local, like the bunny ears many of us are familiar with.
However there is life beyond the cartoonish look of the bunny ear antennas that sit on TVs in sitcoms, and if you use an antenna system for your TV inside your home, you have options. Australia is seeing one more recently, as One For All revamps the amplified indoor antenna for use in the home, with something a little more focused on fabric.
It comes with a name that is more number than name, the SV-9436, but you might just want to call it “the nicest antenna you’re likely to see”, because that’s more out less what it is. While antennas typically offer extendable metal polls that can be moved and arrange to match better signal strength in the home, the not-so-fantastically named SV-9436 is more like a piece of furniture, offering the frame of an antenna covered in fabric, yet capable of getting TV in HD, and 4K Ultra HD where it’s broadcast using the DVB-T2 standard, an evolution of the DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial) standard we’ve used on TVs to date.
Ultra HD terrestrial channels as far as we know don’t yet exist in Australia, though some stations have been doing trials to get the service up and running, so it could be coming. There’s every possibility that Australia will eventually just move on past the DVB-T2 standard and go straight to streaming media, since internet connections over broadband are so common, but all the same, One For All’s fabric-covered antenna is prepared as it is.
Representatives for One For All told Pickr that while streaming services have led to a decline in antenna sales, “news, sports, and popular reality TV shows are driving” free to air content, making antennas crucial for people who want to watch instead of merely stream.
In some places, antennas may be more effective for renters, providing a way for people who may not have a direct antenna connection — such as a rental renovation painting over an antenna plug (it happens) — and thus require an internal antenna to get TV broadcasts working.
It’s not the only option, either. If you still prefer the bunny ears, there’s a model with extendable antenna poles in the SV-9460, because those are still as effective as they ever have been. Like the fabric model, there’s support for Ultra 4K HD if we ever get that in Australia, and both have noise reduction filters from mobile interference.
You’ll find both in stores and online shortly, with the One For All’s fabric SV-9436 selling for $89.95 in Australia, while the renewed take on the bunny ears in the SV-9460 sells for a little less at $79.95.
