AirTV Reviews - What Is It?

DO NOT USE AirTV!!! You Must Read This Review!
Fully Researched: Price, User Feedback and More!

If you don't like your cable company but you still have a TV, you probably have a Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, or a Chromecast. All of them allow you to match and mix streaming services on a platform that is the most suitable for your needs. But the problem is that they do not allow you to access local channels if they are not in your streaming plan. the AirTV Player promises to solve this problem for Sling TV users. It offers a-la-carte packages that include sports, news, and kids' TV. Sling TV is claimed to compete well in a marketplace against PlayStation Vue, DirecTV Now, and YouTube TV. This streaming player allows local channels, Sling TV, and Netflix in the same guide. AirTV has an AirTV software experience running on Android TV. Sling TV offers apps for other players, such as the $29 Roku Streaming Stick and the $149 Apple TV. Is the AirTV Player worth paying $99? The manufacturer of AirTV is badly known an is not popular in the country.

There is a question whether to get the base player, which includes a remote and the box (it is simply a streaming player), or the bundle that comes with the AirTV Adapter for hooking up an antenna to enjoy local channels. It should be kept in mind that AirTV does not sell antennas with the streaming player or separately. You will need to purchase a third party USB-A to coax adapter in order to connect an antenna. To my mind, it is better to opt for the player and adapter bundle ($129.99). The AirTV Player comes in a white box with a blue stripe along the bottom. The top of the player features an embossed AirTV player logo, and there is a "Remote" button on the top. IR sensor circular and a LED button can be found along the front. A power, digital audio, HDMI, two USB-A ports and Ethernet are on the back. The bottom features four rubber legs to give it some height. The unit also has wall-mounting holes.

Customer Reviews - Does AirTV Really Work?

The design of AirTV is rather colorful, a minimalist version of bulky. There are more buttons on its remote than of the Fire TV or Apple TV remote. The blue stripe on the left-hand side has such buttons as a microphone, power, volume, home, and mute. You can use a Sling TV button on the right-hand side to go home in the app, or a circular directional button to navigate the guide. Other buttons include favorite, info, guide, play or pause, back, recall, Google, and Netflix. While the interface features an additional set of rows, Sling TV users will be right at home. This experience may be unpleasant, especially during the setup process. As soon as you plug it in, you will see an Android TV animation. This is the major clue that this Sling TV experience is mainly a launcher over Android TV version 7.0. The traditional Sling TV app has been customized for this streaming player. It will integrate local channels and Netflix in the same guide (if you have the adapter, of course). If you push on "Home", you will get to the normal Android TV setup.

The setup process requires signing in with a Google account. To facilitate the process, you can share the information with the streaming player if you have a smartphone or a tablet. The player will scan for devices and allow the AirTV Player remote to have total control. Do not get an AirTV device if you are not a Sling TV subscriber. The AirTV Adapter does not seem to be modern at all, because a coax input is not built into the streaming player. Another not so good feature is that the AirTV player pulls in local channels in a similar way a traditional TV can provide those channels via an antenna. So, you will need two additional products - an HD Antenna to reach the channel, and the AirTV Adapter. You will need to plug the antenna into the adapter via the coax end, and then the adapter into the AirTV Player via the USB-A end. It is really a big drawback that a coax cable is not integrated into the streaming player. Once the adapter and antenna are hooked up, you can navigate to the Sling TV Settings section and start looking for channels. The latter will appear in the guide, in line with the Sling TV guide, not in a separate app. It means that you will need a Sling TV subscription to benefit from the unit. However, this can be an advantage, since it allows cord cutters to get cable channels and local news that aren't available on other services.

The AirTV Player has too limited customer reviews on third-party websites. While some users like it, others don't. for instance, one guy reports that the AirTV is a simple black box that has the size of an old VHS tape. It features Ethernet, coaxial, and USB connections on the back. You have to supply an antenna that needs to be bought separately, which is additional expense. The antenna needs to have a flat HDTV style, which can be purchased for $50. Then you will need to connect it to the AirTV box through its coaxial cable. The man describes that he used the AirTV app to connect the item to his Wi-Fi. After a channel scan, he saw that about a dozen of channels were integrated into his channel lineup. The user flipped it on the big-screen version of the Sling app. All the channels were there and looked quite good. But the man did not like the fact that some channels showed up twice. This could mean duplicated signals in the area. Let us take a look at the actual users' testimonials about AirTV online.

"All AirTV does is adds those live channels available in your location and sticks them in with the SlingTV lineup in the app. The AirTV app itself is not so good, though. The setup process was too difficult forme and took me several tries. Remember that you will have to use an Android or iOS device only."

"AirTV works well, but it is a real mess. If you prefer a compact device, this one is not for you. It is too large to help you use your space efficiently. Video playback on iPhone and on Android is not centered on the screen. Viewing on a television is rudimentary."

"I am not pleased with AirTV. It is wiser to get a cheaper WatchAir antenna. It will be just as useful as this unit. AirTV lacks streaming and networking capability. It can be good for a single TV only. Personally I would not recommend it to anyone, first of all, because it is too expensive."

My Final Summary

AirTV tuner is a disputable product, based on our research. It has some positive points and negative ones. The first advantage is that it allows watching on-the-air TV channels on any TV in the house, as well as on phones and tablets outside the home. The setup is not so easy as it may seem but the integration with the SlingTV subscription service is quite simple. There is no need to pay any monthly fee for program information. Although the manufacturer claims that AirTV Player features a colorful design, this is not really so, according to the real customers' reviews. An advantage of this tuner is that it can support 4K content. If you are not a SlingTV subscriber, you will be required to bring an external hard drive. It is not a complete solution out of the box you might have thought. The unit has not enough storage to use Android TV to the fullest. So, based on our research, I cannot recommend the AirTV Player, unless you are a SlingTV subscriber. In other cases, this purchase will be useless.

AirTV Pricing And Rates

The product is available on different retail stores. www.cnet.com sells the unit at the price of $119.00. it can be bought for the same money from Amazon and ABT Electronics. Walmart offers AirTV for $119.99. However, if you decided to buy this player, I would recommend doing this from the company's official website better.