I have a Clear Cast indoor antenna. It works up to a point, but it will not receive two network TV stations in my area (both on VHF DTV channels), the subchannels of which are the two stations I watch most of the time. My antenna doesn't get "hundreds" of channels, but I will admit it gets more than I can get on cable, such as ThisTV, the SD (standard definition) feed of the Cleveland CW network affiliate, and several others. I would use this antenna in an emergency, say if my cable quit and it would take several days to have the service restored, but I'd think at least twice before using it as my primary TV antenna. The main reason for this is simply because my cable TV service is part of a 3-way bundle (cable, Internet, home phone). If I downgrade or cancel any one of those services before my contract expires, the cable operator (Time Warner) will charge me an early termination fee, which at this time is somewhere in the neighborhood of $150.
I will admit, however, that one of the claims made for the Clear Cast antenna is credible: the statement that reception of local TV stations using the antenna will be clearer than the same stations received on cable. The reason is that cable TV, especially if you have multiple services coming over the same coax, compresses the TV stations' signals, thereby degrading the quality of said signals. The same signals picked up by the Clear Cast antenna are those coming directly from the stations; there is no compression or other modification done to those signals, so you get the original, unmodified signal from the local TV stations. I've tried this with my Clear Cast antenna and can vouch for the clearer reception using it versus the same signals received over my cable service.
The problems I am having with no reception from two local TV stations (CBS and FOX) in my area may simply be due to the location of the antenna. I've only tried my CC antenna in one part of my apartment; it wouldn't surprise me if moving the antenna to my bedroom, for example, brings in the two stations I presently do not receive. I seem to remember reading that DTV signals are highly directional, and that there are likely areas in any place one uses an indoor antenna which may work much better than others. Digital TV has come a long way since the first such stations went on the air in 2006, but the problem of hit-or-miss reception hasn't yet been solved, and I'm not sure it will be any time soon. Note that the outdoor TV antenna with rotor has made a comeback in the DTV era. There are probably few if any locations in the US where an indoor antenna will work anywhere nearly as well as an outdoor one; that my Clear Cast works as well as it does, even with the two missing channels, is probably a fluke. I live about 40 miles from the transmitters of the major TV stations in Cleveland, so I was actually amazed at the sheer number of stations I was receiving using the Clear Cast. My DTV reception with that antenna is even better in spring, summer and early fall when the TV bands open up; last summer, for example, I connected the Clear Cast to my flat screen, did a channel scan, and was amazed to see stations coming in from Toledo, Ohio, Detroit, and, if I remember correctly, Windsor, Canada, along with the local Cleveland stations.
The only station the Clear Cast doesn't seem to receive here, aside from CBS and FOX, is a CBS affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio, which I understand from looking at the FCC's digital TV reception maps for my area should come in here fairly well (this station is actually supposed to be a fill-in for areas which do not receive the Cleveland CBS-TV affiliate; the latter station does have a UHF translator meant for an area 30 miles south of Cleveland, but that translator doesn't reach here
). If I could get that station with my Clear Cast antenna, my reception problems would be solved as far as network stations are concerned. Again, maybe the problem is the location of the antenna. One of these days, I'm going to temporarily move my flat screen to my bedroom, hook up the Clear Cast, and see what happens. Who knows? I may get the two Cleveland stations I am presently missing, and the CBS station in Youngstown as well.