AirTV Anywhere OTA DVR & Wireless Tuner Review 

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Love the fact that you share your OTA with your Dad.I'm pretty tech savvy for a senior but many folks are so confused by OTA/Cable/Streaming options.

I love the AirTV Anywhere. I had the original AirTV box a few years back and had very mixed results with it. I’ve tried this and I love it. The DVR works much better with the built in hard drive. The device works just as well hard wired as it does over WiFi. The original model always had issues with WiFi for me. I definitely recommend it for local channels in Sling TV. Great review Tyler!

Great video. I love how he smiles when he talks about his dad.

I use the AirTV 2 along with my Sling subscription. It's pretty nifty! Was able to catch my local MLS team's game across the country this way, as it aired on a local OTA station.

I just spoke to Sling TV. They say this unit is capable of 1080 resolution. You said this device defaults to 720. How do you change it to 1080?

i missed the regional sports channels, so i brought back direct tv. but last night, before, atmospheric conditions sent Utica NY ch 2 signals to my antenna, 200 plus miles away , outside Rochester. Not only 2.1 but all 3 subchannels.

I've got the regular AirTV without the built in hard drive. It works great. I do have Sling subscription as well and it works very well. I had an existing 1TB hard drive that works fine, though I have had a couple instances where I had to unplug it and plug it back in but it has been rare. I have noticed the volume is actually higher on the AirTV on recorded playback than Sling or other streaming programs so I need to make sure I lower the volume before playing back an AirTV recording. The one I have has only two tuners and not four so it's a bit of a challenge at times, but it's been fine since it's only my wife and I at home and Sling allows three more tuners. I love so far and I am using an indoor Antop HD Smart Bar AT-500SBS antenna, which I think I saw you may have recommended at one time. I do get just about all the local channels I want, though some could be better at times.

Air Tv Anywhere works spectacular with Sling. My parents are across town and are using one of my Sling devices. They are able to watch tv at their place off my antenna mounted from my place. Updating the cheap coax along with awaiting the pre amp to get a perfect signal. Thank you again for the suggestion and reviews.

I'm not sure if this is within your area of expertise, but could you do a video on how to improve car radio reception and suggest what kind of antennas would give the best reception and which ones to avoid? Thank you for all your awesome and useful videos.

Quit messing with your pops antenna dude.

The device does not work with my 2020 LG CX oled. Spent two hours with tech support to learn this. Returning it took 3 days and a dozen phone calls.

After getting my AirTV device exchanged because I was continuously getting bumped out of sling and had constant buffering when watching local channels, the exchanged device did the same thing. I ultimately determined the problem was my Roku device. I switched out the Roku, and the problem was solved. The situation was strange because on the regular sling channels it never did that. The nice thing about the air TV versus the HD homerun is I’m able to watch my locals when I travel out of town.

I'm saving up for a HDHR 4K, because a few of my local stations are in ATSC 3.0 and the channel shares are low resolution

Pretty neat setup...

Thanks for an honest review. I have the orignal Air tv 1080i channels came in 540p. Also it doesn't work well.with the new Fire tv app. You can't switch back and forth between local channels and it no longer intergrates with the Fire tv guide.

Can yo do an updated video on OTA dvr's and what's the best one. There have been updates since your last video. Thanks

Maybe because some of the areas don’t get a good ota signal. Problably the reason why people pay for local channels with cable.

Really enjoy you helping people understand TV's can still use a antenna! Been a OTA person many,many years. I downloaded Sling app to my phone. Wanted to consider AirTV to watch my local channels when away. You mentioned it was free to setup a Sling account for local channels ( video 2:30 mark). Only allows me to pick $$ services and wants credit card info. Am I missing something or have they changed?

Where is the Card you talked about having a link for about TV tuner sensitivity at 3:46 ? I'd like to check that video out. Thanks.

How about a video on the best TV's to use with an antenna?

I have the Air Tv with a wineguard antenna(another model). Airtv Anywhere works good if close to your router. Better if you plug into your router. I had issues when it had a weaker wifi signal.

Have one. Spent too much from Amazon but was otherwise not able to order one through Sling itself. Wish I had waited for the Wingard offer. $100 less and an included antenna. Great deal. Otherwise the Air TV anywhere works great. Mine has some limited video preview when fast forwarding or reversing the DVR. Does not always work however. Problem with buffering when viewing remotely over the internet on a DSL line when the local traffic is busy. Otherwise the buffering is acceptable. PC and TV apps I use do not allow access to the DVR for some reason. Android app usually works but sometimes flags an off line condition even though the app is working. Roku app works great. Android app has in my opinion the best interface. Also, the Sling content seems to only save to the free 50 hours of cloud DVR storage and not on the local 1 TB drive which is very limited. This will fill up rather quickly if you record lots of Sling content. Think Sling wants you to purchase the extra cloud storage space, $5/extra a month if I remember correctly.

Great review of a very useful product! Looks like the internal tuner beats what's in many TVs, and the bundle sounds like a very good value.

Nice call on this product, Tyler! I just hooked mine up yesterday and it does everything u said it does! Great product!

WoW this i think is what i have been looking for as a sort of video distribution system.

I’m new to cutting the cord My TV is a Roku type. You said you can use the Air TV without signing up with sling. What is needed to sign up with a Roku account and how do you integrate the AirTv and Roku? Did you do a video on this. Just found your channel and subscribed

The AirTV Anywhere is good, but (like anything) could be a little better. I do get a lot of buffering when streaming off it, even though the upload speed of the internet where the AirTV is located is plenty sufficient and the download speed where I am is fast. The channels received on it are not available when using a browser. There is no way to add channels manually (must be done with a new scan). Some programs are cut off because there's no way to add an extra minute on each end of the program. You can only stream one thing from it at a time. Related to the device, the Sling TV app could use some work. It keeps recording programs that I have deleted from the scheduled recordings. Otherwise, I agree that the tuner sensitivity is good. So far, it has been reliable for me, recording everything I've set to record. The price is right (especially with this bundle), and the four tuners and built-in hard drive are plenty. And, if I ever decide to cancel Sling, I can still use this.

Great work on your videos! Always informative. Thanks for all your hard work.

Sounds great but I get everything with a fire stick (for free) that I can get with Sling, with a one time purchase fee of the FS & an internet connection & all I have to do is switch between the inputs on my tv. Thanks for all the work you do for all of us out here!

Having a better experience after directly connecting with the Ethernet cable vs wifi. Picture is better along with connectivity.

I am having an issue which is the reverse of what you said. My AirTV Anywhere has a worse tuner(s) than my Vizio TV tuner. I get only half the channels via the AirTV than I did when my OTA antenna was plugged in to the TV tuner directly. The antenna has not been moved. I've sent you an email and sent you $ to please help me. Thanks!

There are too many close cell towers where I live. I can't get a clear signal from a ota tower that's only 30 miles away. Yes, I've tried all the filters, which had no affect.

With the free Sling account and AirTV Anywhere, how many days forward can you scroll/view the OTA channels menu? In other words, if today is Monday and I want to record the a show on an OTA channel that is broadcast on Sunday, can I record that show today (6 days in advance)? Also, maybe dumb question, but does AirTV allow me to record a series or only individual recordings?

Wow! This device worked for a few hours and then it would freeze up. Its junk imo. I'm trying to return it and they're saying they dont accept returns on it. Beware!!

I have this DVR. I may be wrong, but on certain stations it does not allow me to forward through commercials on an in-progress recording when playing from the beginning. Is this true and if so is there a workaround? I am able to forward through commercials after the recording is complete.

Your videos are awesome I watch all way in pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Bought this now kyw3 is never coming in but with my normal tv tiers built in set channel comes in clear as as possible

Great video as usual thanks. Questions; your Dad has the same unit which allows him to remotely access yours or is it independent of another unit? If so, how many remote units can work off yours? Is there a 3.0 USB port for added storage?

I have and am still using my AirTV2

If you stream outside of the home, are there any blackouts? For an example; If there is an NFL game on a local channel. If you’re not in your house, streaming through the AirTV, is the game blacked out?

I just can't get my head around how one uses this without a remote control... You use the phone, instead?? Is that so??? Thanks... Liked Subscribed Shared

Sounds like a great deal. Thanks for the information. 📺🇺🇸

This sounds great. I have Philo instead of Sling. Can I utilize the system without going over to Sling?

I currently have Fire sticks and Fire TV throughout my home, using a 1TB Recast DVR for OTA TV. I'm using PHILO for additional TV we like. I'm very interested in the Sling system you show here. Which do you think would be the better value overall?

Tyler I have Sling TV + Air TV at my home in Baltimore. I recently got internet at my home in Pa and now can watch Sling TV at the home in Pa. I was surprised to see I'm able to watch the Air TV local Baltimore stations in PA. If I were to add an antenna & Air TV to my home in Pa would I get the local Pa stations such as WNEP along with Baltimore stations at both homes?

Review an HDhomerun

I have tried 3 Air TV Anywhere boxes and finally gave up. Each one reacted the same way. After using for a weeks or so it freezes as it got too hot. The fan seems to be inept. I would unplug and let it cool for 15-30 minutes. Then plug in and it would work for a while. I have given up. POS. unplug the power supply and let it cool for 15 minutes or longer

love the video. one question. When you record an over the air show, does it count against your Sling 50hr DVR storage?

I have the original Air TV black box with an external hard drive which works great. The Sling app used to have a cast button which honestly never worked. Now I see the cast button has been removed in the latest version of the app. Does anyone out there have any good news for us Chromecast users that a working cast button will be available in a future release?

I tried the earlier version of the Air TV (the one all in white) and returned it because I did not like the soft HD image it recorded. Same for this one then?

Hey Tyler, Great video!! Question, I already have RU-vidTv and an indoor attic antenna. The New Ultima Roku as well. When I switch to OTA this is no channel guide, just info about the channel I'm watching. Is there something else less expensive that will give me a channel guide from my antenna? Thanks so much. Harold.

Thanks!

Great review and deal. I tried taboo it wouldn't even connect to my network, firecast it worked great inside my house on fire devices but didn't work with and Android12 device and outside of home was hit and miss mostly miss,TiVo was a total waste of time. Airtv anywhere setup took a few minutes but once it was setup it has work pretty flawless inside and outside of network in my opinion it knocks it out of the park for DVR, watching inside my network of devices and the biggest bonus is watching remotely. Honestly I cannot understand why this is clear winner

I should have waited. I'm stuck with a Fire TV Recast.

Based on this review, I purchased the AirTV Anywhere and was disappointed to see that FireTV (both Cube & new 4K Fire Stick) will not allow access to the AirTV Anywhere OTA DVR. According to customer support at Air TV, Amazon made some change to the Sling App that caused this issue. The FireTV App won't allow you past the "DVR IS NOT AVAILABLE IN SLING FREE" screen when you try to access the DVR. Other than that, set-up went well & the DVR works fine on iPhone or iPad SlingTV apps. As I write, AirTV Anywhere is NOT compatible with FireTV. Hopefully it will be fixed soon as I prefer not to replace all my FireTV devices with Roku's.

Thanks for the review.

Does using an AirTV, Tablo, TiVo or similar OTA streaming device diminish the video quality when compared to directly hooking the antenna to the TV? If yes, then wouldn’t using any OTA DVR be sacrificing quality of the native OTA signal?

Have you compared performance to Tablo? I am using the Tablo but having some issues and cannot tell if it is the Tablo or my antenna. We'll be watching an OTA show and get a blank screen with a message saying "Select Channel". After 10+ seconds that goes away and the show we were watching picks right up and looks great. Using a Televes antenna mounted on my roof and connect the Tablo to my router (I think in your video you said you would connect the AirTV to the modem but maybe you meant router). All my Rokus connect vie Ethernet. Would like to unsubscribe from RU-vidTV and Sling would be a good, less expensive alternative if I could depend on my OTA.

ETHERNET CABLE: Should I do this if I can?

Jan 2024 Hey antennaman hows the airtv anywhere working out still able to recieve 1.0 no encrypted issues with 1.0 ??? can this work with plex tv without sling ??

Thanks for your review. Just ordered the Airtv Anywere/Winegard Elite/ Sling tv bundle. I have been looking for a system that would allow OTA/streaming appps to be integrated into one guide without having to switch inputs. Sounds like this will do the trick. See ya Di$h Network

Have you tested driving around and listening to the Airtv2 on your phone?

How good is the antenna that comes with the : AirTV Bundle ? Or should a better antenna be used ?

Do the SlingTV channels integrate with the FireTV Channel Guide?

Very nice review. But I don’t have Internet connection in my home. I just have an antenna. Can I still get this device? or do I need to have Internet connection at home as well? Because I thought the purpose of using an antenna TV is to “cut the cord” but, having Internet in your home is pretty much having a cord come to your home.

If you have a sling subscription can you record a sling channel to the HDD or only on sling cloud ?

I have been looking for A top end wireless tuner for a long time. This comes very close but I have found out that it only permits one TV at a time outside the home. Do you have an idea for a 4 tuner ATSC 3.0 unit that can send all 4 streams outside the home? I personally don't need the DVR but one would be nice anyway. A full 1080 signal would be nice to. I need to use it on Apple Macs and windows PCs, tablets and smart phones as well as android if possible. Any ideas? What apps does it run on? You could make a vid on this as there are other people who need outside the home.

Hello Antenna Man. So I purchased this bundle and now have it all installed at my work building because here I have access to the roof. I scanned channels and everything is showing up on my Android Sling TV app. However, I am not getting over the air channels on my computer, and I mainly want it to work at my apartment 30 miles away because I have no access to he roof there. In the video you mentioned your dad watches your Air TV from 60 miles away from you. What device does he use to access your Air TV over the air channels, so I can do the same? Thanks!👍

Probably something I wouldn't use, but sounds cool!

There is no button to order on the wineguard link.

Would this help with getting a Wi-Fi signal / cell signal for my mobile hotspot or phone?

So you use this device instead of the Tablo option?

What if you can not get the local channels even with an external antenna ? Will they stream the local channels over the internet for you ?

A quick PSA from my previous comment, unless you absolutely need the 4 tuners from the AirTV Anywhere, get the AirTV 2 instead. Obviously it’s cheaper and you can pick your DVR hard drive size but that’s not why I say get it instead. Depending on what platform or streaming device you use to watch Sling TV with the AirTV, there is ether some kind of glitch or licensing issue that only affects the AirTV Anywhere but not the AirTV 2. If you watch Sling TV with ether a Google product like Android TV or Google TV/Chromecast your fine and can use the AirTV Anywhere without issue. I can’t speak for Amazon Fire Sticks or Fire TV’s as I don’t have any. If you use a Roku stick or streaming device you should also be fine from what I have tested. But if your using a TV with built in Roku, that is the issue. For some reason the TV with built in Roku has an issue somewhere that doesn’t allow certain channels over the air to work. They show up on the Sling TV guide but when you click to watch they will just perpetually buffer. Maybe a still image will appear but that’s it. Just a constant buffer swirl. For me it affected my local CBS and CW. All the other channels worked fine. Again this issue only seems to be a thing if your using the AirTV Anywhere with a TV with built in Roku. All the other devices I listed before didn’t have any issues with any of the channels. I also tested another AirTV Anywhere and same thing. The AirTV 2 on the other hand does not have this issue. All channels work with no issue whatsoever across all streaming devices I can test. So again this issue seems to be linked to only the AirTV Anywhere on TV’s with build in Roku. Specific locals won’t work.

I think this heat has been messing with my antenna and wifi hotspot reception.

I live on a mountain 40 miles from Allentown, Wilkes-Barre, and Harrisburg. However, we are surrounded by trees. Will this package make it feasible for antenna viewing?

Do you have to pay a subscription on Sling TV to use this Air TV Anywhere OTA DVR and Wireless Tuner?

Cool

Why do I have to call winegard in order to buy the bundle?!

Hey antenna man, I have been trying to convince to switch to antenna from cable for a long time now, I have been using antenna myself for a long time but use their cable for streaming, I try to convince them to get streaming only for cable, yet they refuse as they need cable channels. I know their channels and we can pick up the same channels on antenna. I picked up ion on my tv with the same broadcasting as cable. can you tell me some benefits to antenna as I dont really know about ATSC tv.

How does the AirTv's receiver sensitivity/ selectivity compare to the HDHomerun extend?

As an existing sling TV subscriber, can I get the deal from Winegard? Or is it like most deals like this for new customers only.

Wish I could get this deal for $99, because I really don't want/need two months of SlingTV. I just want the AirTV.

with the new sling update its now a 200.00 brick the software is more alpha then finished product sling says the fault is airtv divsions fault and you guess it they say its sling fault beware

Is this compatible with a ATSC 3.0? Same with dish With locals

Does the air tv 2 do the same & can you watch it anywhere? I was thinking about buying it.

funny you should mention the tuner. WSB in the Atlanta area is the weakest UHF signal. Both my Air TV (version 2) and my Tablo pixelate fairly frequently, but they don't lose sound. I ran a coax out the bedroom window down to my Samsung TV in the den, and WSB never went below 75% signal strength. I basically had a great signal all day. Samsung tuners rock. At 10:00 PM, I took the coax down and went up stairs to watch the end of the basketball game on the Tablo, and back to pixelating we go. *le sigh* I do not want to chase OTA DVRs for their tuners. Do we have any idea which one has the best tuner? I wonder if the AirTV 2 has the same tuner as the AIrTV anywhere...

Does this device integrate locast channels into the guide?

Will it work with just the stations I receive? Any catch? I already have a good antenna. I have been wanting a DVR for OTA tv without paying for any subscription. I have been using my Magnavox DVD recorder since 2007. It sometimes won't record because of some error. Thanks!

Interesting

NO 4K TV AND RECORDING SUPPORT LIKE AIR TV PLAYER?

My Air TV Anywhere unit kept overheating so Air TV asked me to ship it back for replacement. They received the unit on September 24th but have failed to send my replacement. I spent 6 hours over 3 days on the phone with them until one agent finally helped me find the problem. They notified the shipping site and now they are placing my case under investigation. Mean while I have nothing including the purchase price. I really liked the unit and the function except for the overheating, but their customer service is HORRIBLE!

If you already subscribe to Sling TV how do they pay you for the two months of service? I currently am experiencing signal interference from Mexico. My CW channel works great most of the time, but during the early evening programming the Mexican religious channel will over ride the El Paso Texas station. El Paso is 90 miles south of my location, so it is a fringe reception already. I have an OVA DVR called a Tablo and and I will record several shows off the CW in the same evening. The Charmed Ones gets hit pretty hard and by the time Bat Girl comes on it is gone. I get interference with my MacGyver as well. I know the FCC knows about this because I remember watching news reports on the subject when I was in elementary school 50 years ago. They claimed they could not force Mexico to do anything, back then. Should write a letter to the FCC anyway?

Sweet but I have the Televes antenna.

Does this require a smart tv ?

Can you use a indoor antenna

Really wanted to like AirTV Anywhere, but 2.0 audio and 720p... no thanks!

Do You need internet to use this?

Does it support ATSC3.0?