So, can someone explain to me what this box actually does? The best that I can tell, you buy this box, and go out and buy an external HD antenna that can only pick up signals that are already in my area (which I could do if I just went out, and bought an antenna, and hooked it to my tv…), then it has DVR functionality, but I have to go out and get an external HDD of greater than 50gb, and I have to have my Roku, and hook IT up to this thing, when I already have my Roku hooked up to my tv, and it connects to the internet, so I can access my DVR from anywhere, when I can already connect to my Roku anywhere, from any device, and I have free DVR with the Playstation Vue app already…sorry, but I don’t get it…
Do you have to subscribe to Sling TV’s Cloud DVR in order to record local antenna TV on the hard drive?
Oh how times and technology changes impact a company.
The Slingbox seems to have been all but abandoned by current owner Dish in favor of SlingTV.
Streaming services get you time and location (mostly, subject to region limitations) shifting.
The change to digital TV brings with it DRM protection over HDMI.
And what technology changes didn’t kill off, Slingbox ads killed the rest of the way.
Having said that, what purpose does this box serve that other services and devices cannot provide more effectively?
You can record and stream local channels without a subscription.
with an antenna, this allows you to put your local channels on you network. Airtv has a stand alone app (at least for Roku) or it will allow you to incorporate your locals into sling tv’s service. Add an external drive and you have DVR for your locals. I have one. Works pretty good.
airtv hooks into your network. You need a coax from your antenna and a ethernet to your network. Guarantee that Vue does not have all of your locals. May or may not be a big deal. This will work even if your internet is down as long as your internal network is up.
This is a networked TV tuner, similar to an HDHomeRun for example.
The point of AirTV is really for Sling TV subscribers who want to have their locals in one app alongside the Sling channels. It’s their way of offering the same functionality as YTTV/DTVNOW/VUE/etc without charging more for the subscription.
I bought one the last time these were offered about a month ago. There was (and still is) a fight between my service provider and a local station owned by Nexstar. Rather than buy antennas for all my sets I decided to give AirTV a try.
Overall, I’m very happy with this setup. I spend $5 on an external HD enclosure, put in a spare 500Gb drive, and can now DVR my local stations, too.
Things to know - the native AirTV app SUCKS. The only way to get acceptable performance is with the SlingTV app. If you don’t have a SlingTV account and want one that doesn’t require a credit card to sign up, go to Sling TV: Stream Live TV Channels, Sports, & News Online. This little piece of information is buried in the forums on AirTV’s site and not well advertised. This will allow full access to content from the AirTV only, but that’s what I was looking for.
Added benefit, I’m getting some great local channels that are not available from my provider.
Be aware, there is a limit of two streams at one time and only one can be outside you local network. That may be a deal killer for some, it still fits my needs fine.
Why would I buy this instead of a FireTV Recast?
Would this work with an Apple TV?
Because your not locked into an Amazon echo system.
I have 2 TVs hard-wired to my home network–both work with Chromecast (one is built-in, one has the 4K device attached, operating over WiFi). Presently, only one is hooked up to the antenna in my attic. It seems, from what I’m reading, I could then be able to watch live OTA programming routed through this device (and/or stored on any external drive I attach for DVR capability) to one or both TVs at the same time. Am I understanding this correctly?
Also, as an added bonus, is there any compatibility here with Plex?
For starters, about 200 bucks worth. I just got mine a few weeks ago. I did sub to SLINGTV but will be terminating it as I don’t need all the already or mostly free channels and I have cable tv already. I got it for for my college kids (2) who are away from home and want LOCAL and some cable channels.
It’s “ok” for some cable channels but I get like 35+ OTA channels. I also have a few 1tb external HDD’s that will work on this device. So, It’s set up for THEM to use. They can watch local tv, record and watch later, without having to pay a sub fee or a DVR fee. Not many give you free EPG’s much less free DVR service. But I’ve used it it a couple times myself and it’s nice being able to watch my AREA tv. IMO, it’s worth the $50. It’s cheaper to own than Silicon Dust’s systems.
Nope. You just go to Sling TV: Stream Live TV Channels, Sports, & News Online and you can register your AirTV to the Slingtv app and you’re done. No cost. I bought one when they did this last month and that’s all I had to do. You can even skip that and use the AirTV app if you don’t want DVR. But no fun. I connected a 2 TB USB drive i had lying around and was up in 5 minutes. Not a Tivo, but works pretty darned good.
Cheaper, especially if you mostly stream.
You want to use SlingTV streaming service and have your SlingTV guide integrated with your local channels.
You want to wait to spend real money on Recast until it supports ATSC 3.0.
Or in my case, I got both (Prime Day and Woot) so I could have more tuners and because I’m not sure when I cut the cable if I’m going to use Sling or Philo (Sling has Nascar).
Woot needs the money and it’s $50 so what the heck.
Yes.
If you want to integrate your local channels to AirTV, get this.
If you want to roll your own DVR for local channels (e.g. Kodi with tvheadend, or mythtv), then get a hdhomerun. (A dual channel like this one, starts at $5 more at amazon, a 4-channel is $120.)
https://www.amazon.com/SiliconDust-HDHomeRun-CONNECT-broadcast-2-Tuner/dp/B00GY0UB54
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078LH47CD
OK, but does it really do that? What about over a third of the reviews at the mothership being 1 or 2 star ratings? 25% 1-star.
Perhaps explains so many buyers remorse returns showing up here on Woot.
I have no idea. I didn’t buy this garbage! 