I have an 7 yr old tv, use a converter box to receive over the air broadcasts. Have a decades old outside antenna. Recently started having pixelating problems and dropped a few channels altogether. Contacted the broadcaster--they were repairing their transmitter. But after their repairs were complete, we still couldn't get a decent signal. Got this amplifier and, ta-da, the channels were back, no pixelation.Does not come with cables however--I spent another $17 at radio shack for 2 cables. You might be able to get the cables for less money if you shop around, but I was tired of waiting and wanted to see if the amp worked or not.It may be that my converter box is going bad, but this seems to be a great fix for now. Certainly worth a try if you are having pixelation/weak signal problems.