The Winegard FlatWave Amped HDTV Antenna might be the last refuge of the cord cutter. But as far as last refuges go, it's a pretty nice one.

Aereo, the online TV and DVR service that took free broadcast TV from the airwaves and delivered it to your computer and smartphone, famously said it had no "Plan B" if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the American Broadcasting Companies, who were suing the startup over its controversial business model, which was based on unlicensed, unpaid, retransmission of broadcasters' content.

But that's precisely what the Supreme Court did, and despite Aereo's recent attempts at legal maneuvering around the court ordered injunction, cord-cutters who still refuse to pay cable or satellite companies for television now need a Plan B of their own.

With all of the technology buzz (understandably) based on revolutionary new streaming services, smartphone apps, internet-connected TVs and set-top boxes, and other high-tech gadgetry, it's easy to forget that in most locations in the U.S., the major broadcast networks and dozens of other channels are freely flowing through the airwaves. All you need in order to get these free, digital "live streams" into your living room is a peripheral gadget your parents used to hook up to their televisions called an "antenna."

Of course, broadcast TV and antennae technology has evolved since the days of rabbit ears, so we did a hands-on test with an antenna that brings its own kind of 21st century style and high-tech design to your entertainment center: the FlatWave Amped HDTV Antenna by Winegard.

Afterwards, we spoke with Winegard's Grant Whipple about cord cutting and the ironic retro-future prospect of digital-savvy consumers returning to an old standby, featured in Part 2.

Hands-On With the Winegard FlatWave Amped HDTV Antenna

First Impressions

First off, Winegard's "FlatWave" antenna is appropriately named: the antenna is razor thin, about the thickness and heft of a sturdy sheet of construction paper or poster board.

The white coaxial cord, which is over 18 feet long, is attached at the bottom of the roughly one-foot square antenna-sheet with a relatively unobtrusive casing. The permanent attachment means you won't be able to switch out the cable for a longer or differently-colored coax at the source, but Winegard gives you pretty much all the cable you're likely to need for most setups, and you can always buy another coaxial cable and attach it with an extending adapter.

Embedded in the antenna's cable is a small power box with a USB slot for power, and a normal-length USB cable and wall adapter (in case your TV doesn't have full powered USB port) is included in the box. Also in the box: two cute little 3M adhesive strips, which we'll get into more in a bit.

With its slim, sleek design -- light years away from the rabbit ears, mini satellite dishes, or big, awkward black slates that you normally expect from indoor antennae -- Winegard has done a great job appealing to the modern cord cutting consumer. And making the actual antenna alternately black and white on each side, you'll probably find a way to make the FlatWave look good, or at least discretely blend into your entertainment setup.

Installation

Setting up the FlatWave was no big deal, but I did try two different configurations with two distinct outcomes.

First, I plugged in the FlatWave antenna into the back of my TV. The end of the FlatWave's coaxial cable has a small and loose screwing mechanism, which thankfully made threading the coax cable onto the TV's input a breeze. Seriously, the vast majority of screw-on coax cables turn the simple task of plugging something into your TV into a colossal headache, especially if you're reaching behind the TV by feel alone. The FlatWave has the best screw-type coaxial attachment I've ever used; sometimes it's the little things that count.

The next step is hooking up the USB cable to power the antenna's preamplifer. I plugged it into my TV's USB port, which I usually use to power my Chromecast. For some reason, this tickled deep parts of my modern, tech and gadget-obsessed brain: "Sure, it's essentially just an antenna," my unconscious mused, "but this one doesn't look like any others, and it needs USB power, too."

After that, I placed the FlatWave flat down on top of my TV stand and ran the TV's "scan for channels" feature.

Then I waited to see what I'd pick up.

Performance

I should now note that my hands-on assessment would be one of the more technically challenging test cases for an indoor antenna. I live in a remote midwestern college town where seemingly the only local TV broadcast is the university's single public station. The nearest large city is slightly more than 50 miles away -- the maximum signal distance Winegard advertises that the FlatWave Amped can pick up -- with hilly, wooded terrain in between.

My first test, with the super-lazy on-the-table setup, was still surprising. I picked up 15 channels -- far more than I thought were even in the air. The FlatWave picked up the local public TV channel in full, beautiful HD, along with 3 digital sub-channels. Then there were the other 11 channels, each with their broadcast originating from who-knows-where. Some were lo-fi religious stations, some Spanish-language, and one was broadcasting "The Terminator" (notably, only available online right now through rental, purchase, or with a cable subscription) in 720p.

For good measure, I then set up the FlatWave the way Winegard recommends -- flat against a window, using those 3M adhesives I mentioned earlier.

After rescanning, I was able to get another 7 channels -- two of them being major broadcast networks from the city, along with a couple UHF channels of probably the same origin. And once the FlatWave picked up a channel, the picture quality barely wavered, even for broadcasts from the maximum distance.

Of course, your mileage may vary, but this was very impressive. For a better sense of the range of a FlatWave Amped antenna, here's roughly the maximum distance I successfully tested in terms of the New York City broadcast area.

If you lived in Princeton, New Jersey, you could, in principle, get all of the NYC broadcasts, Philadelphia's stations, and everything in between.

Verdict

Yes, the Winegard FlatWave Amped is, fundamentally, just an antenna -- not a multi-faceted gadget that will change the way you do everything.

But as antennae go, the FlatWave Amped is probably the hippest-looking and most flexible indoor antenna to compliment a modern entertainment system. It generally costs between $70 and $90, but that's a one-time expense for free broadcast HDTV in perpetuity.

And, excluding outdoor amplified antennae, which of course require a more intensive installation process, the FlatWave Amped is unlikely to be bested by any others when it comes to range, quality, and indirect line-of-sight reception. The FlatWave Amped pulled in far more channels than the FCC's official Digital TV Reception Map tool indicated was even possible. We definitely recommend it.

Postscript

The FlatWave Amped is perfect for cord cutters left out in the cold after Aereo's shutdown, but they're likely to want more than just live broadcast TV. I found that the free, live, over-the-air signals had about the same ratio of interesting-to-useless channels as cable and satellite TV bundles (about one in four). But my inability to record programs made this cord cutting setup feel incomplete, while the lack of an on-screen guide left me bewildered at times.

We'll get more into cord cutting, the Aereo case, and other topics in Part 2 -- in conversation with Winegard's Grant Whipple.