The Mohu Leaf HD Antenna Review

Here I am one week before my anticipated date to cut the cable. I just received my Mohu Leaf HD antenna in the mail today. It came super quick with free shipping from Amazon. This is an antenna that is only available online through Amazon and the Mohu store directly. I could not find it any brick and mortar stores, nor their online stores. I compared it to other antennas on the market and found this one to be the best price for the features and results.

I ordered it over the Labor Day weekend and it arrived at my door step only 3 business days later. Considering I wasn't expecting it until about a week later, it's arrival was a pleasant surprise. I immediately unboxed the antenna. I found the packaging very simple to get through. The quick guide was right there on top. If you've never setup an antenna on a TV is might be worth reviewing. Even if you dealt with rabbit ears, this is a little different. You don't need to have junior stand in the corner holding a piece of foil touching the antenna to get a decent signal.

At first glance I felt like I overpaid for it. The antenna looks like black and white laminated construction paper with a clip holder and a wire. Albeit, the actual antenna was not flimsy. It was pretty rigid with a slight bit a flex. Don't bed it, though. I couldn't believe something so simple looking is one of the highest rated antennas on the market. I pressed forward not letting the looks deceive me.

I hooked up the antenna and just placed on the wall and initiated a channel scan. I have a white brick wall, so I placed the white side out. The instructions say it doesn't matter which side is out. As my channel scan ran I watched how many channels were discovered. I was shocked at the results. According to the FCC HD TV reception map, I should be able to get 18 channels. The Mohu Leaf HD antenna brought in 81 channels! Several of those channels were Spanish and will not be staying in my favorites list. Except for maybe the Spanish soap opera channel. Those shows get pretty hot!

I noticed some of the channels were a better picture than what I get through my DirecTV. I talked about this in my Taking the Cable Cutter Challenge post. I am excited to see that people were right and that I got to experience it, too. I went through all of the channels that were discovered and found that about half of them will be worth keeping. Most of those are in HD. I found some treasures, too. There were a few channels broadcasting older shows I remember from my younger days, like The Ropers. There was another channel showing TV shows from the 50s, too.

Between the channels I get on my Mohu Leaf HD antenna, my Western Digital TV Live box, Hulu, Netflix, and an MLBtv subscription I am set to cut the cable. My monthly bill will go from about $95/mo before discounts, to around $12/mo. I am not including Netflix as I would have Netflix regardless of having a cable or satellite provider. Talk about savings! The only drawback is football. I won't be able to watch Monday Night Football, and I may not always be able to catch the Cowboys play. I won't pay $350 for the season to watch them, either. That's more than I care to pay to watch a few games. I'd rather save up my pennies from my savings and go catch a game live at Jerry Land, aka Cowboys Stadium.

The Mohu Leaf HD antenna brought it in way more channels than I knew were out there. It's very lightweight and easy to install. It came with some hook and loop tape circles to hang the antenna anywhere I want. The cable length is about 6 feet, but is easily extended with a coax extension cable. The video quality is in full HD and the audio was crystal clear through the TV. It brought in a ton more channels than I had anticipated. It has a range of up to about 35 miles. I live within 10 miles of nearly all of our broadcast antennas. For those that live further outside a metropolitan area, there is the Mohu Leaf Plus HD antenna. It has a built in amplifier that can be powered by a USB port on the TV. The Mohu Leaf HD antenna is a very reasonably priced antenna at less than $40. The Mohu Leaf Plus HD antenna is about $75. If you're way out in the suburbs go with the Mohu Leaf Plus.

The Hidden HD TV Signal

I'm getting ready to cut the cord at home. No more Satellite and Cable TV subscriptions. I'm already taking advantage of my Western Digital Live TV Media Player, and I am cutting out my Satellite subscription in September. That's when the termination fee is less than what I would pay for the months I have remaining on the contract.

I do have Cable Modem at home and get a some pretty good speeds on it. I had heard long ago that people could sometimes get Cable TV channels on a Cable Internet line just by splitting the cable before it connects to the cable modem. So, I gave it a shot this past weekend.

Lo and behold I pulled in about 45 channels. Out of those, I think only about 10 to 15 or so were actually worth watching. But, there were quite a few coming across in HD. Yep, full 1080p video and Dolby Digital sound. Not bad! I don't think I will be utilizing it, because I couldn't get all of the local channels. I had heard some lower channels were reserved for other purposes and that canceled out two of my favorite local channels. I was able to catch 3 different broadcasts of the same network, though. Here they go by WFAA, but there were three different broadcasts of it and two were in full HD. I thought that was somewhat fascinating. I knew networks broadcast different information depending on the market, but since this is a local network, it seemed odd to have 3 different broadcasts.

In a couple more weeks I will be trying an HD antenna and see what I get over the air. I'm excited to try this cable cutting thing. It has real potential to make an impact in how people watch TV, how networks respond to the trend, and what cable and satellite providers are going to do to keep their customers.