[Jim1348]

The AirTV Anywhere is $199, but there is a better deal!

Go to Sling.com and one of the offers is for the AirTV Anywhere for $99 when you prepay for 3 months of either Sling Blue or Sling Gold, that costs $90 for the 3 months making the whole deal about $10 less than buying the AirTV Anywhere itself.

You need to go to the bottom of their webpage and click on Deals to see all the different hardware/subscription deals they offer. I just did this.

I will have to take a look at that. I already have the AirTV 2. I am tempted to use that deal to get the AirTV Anywhere.

I sahre my subscription with my mother-in-law, who lives in another city. If I give her the AirTV 2 and I use the AirTV Anywhere, what benefits would there be of having two networked devices?

 

[lparsons21]

Since OTA isn’t more than 1080i these days, I’m not sure what you are referring to. It is nearly impossible to tell a significant difference between 720p and 1080i, especially on 4K TVs that do a great job of upscaling anyway.

Sling and Amazon are doing no worse than other live streaming services is resolution. And it seems only YouTubeTV and ATT TV are doing fatter bitstreams on theirs.

Bottom line is that for live streaming services, none of them are as good as Netflix and other OTT services.

 

[lparsons21]

I will have to take a look at that. I already have the AirTV 2. I am tempted to use that deal to get the AirTV Anywhere.

I sahre my subscription with my mother-in-law, who lives in another city. If I give her the AirTV 2 and I use the AirTV Anywhere, what benefits would there be of having two networked devices?

Off the top of my head the only advantages in your case would be than your MIL would have an OTA DVR at her house with 2 tuners, and at your house you would have 4 tuners.

 

[dbpaddler]

Does it work like that? If it's one account, can it integrate two different OTA tuners in two locations? Or is it really taking his sling sub and his OTA, integrating it, and she is a remote viewing site with whatever streaming device she's using.

Haven't looked at it that deeply, but I don't think one account can be that dependent, can it?

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[lparsons21]

Does it work like that? If it's one account, can it integrate two different OTA tuners in two locations? Or is it really taking his sling sub and his OTA, integrating it, and she is a remote viewing site with whatever streaming device she's using.

Haven't looked at it that deeply, but I don't think one account can be that dependent, can it?

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Good question and one I can't answer. But now that you ask, that is a VERY good question. The Sling streaming doesn't actually pay that much attention to location since unless you have the AirTV it doesn't have locals that depend on location.

Hopefully Jim1348 will do it and report back.

 

[dbpaddler]

Since OTA isn't more than 1080i these days, I'm not sure what you are referring to. It is nearly impossible to tell a significant difference between 720p and 1080i, especially on 4K TVs that do a great job of upscaling anyway.

Sling and Amazon are doing no worse than other live streaming services is resolution. And it seems only YouTubeTV and ATT TV are doing fatter bitstreams on theirs.

Bottom line is that for live streaming services, none of them are as good as Netflix and other OTT services.

Because transcoding makes the image worse, period. And if others are doing it better with the native mpeg2, like we had with our tvo dvr as well as Channels DVR, what purpose does it serve to dumb the signal down even more.

And when Atsc 3.0 comes out and we get true 1080p and even better sound with a better compression scheme, what happens then? Me? I buy the new hdhomerun tuner and up and running without skipping a beat. If you're running recast with ancient fire streamers, you're kinda done or really missing out on quality. Sling you're upgrading to a new TV anywhere (if/when they make one) and should be fine. And you hope they don't dumb down the video because what's the point of having a nice 1080p OTA pic if they're going to dumb it down and also kill the surround sound too?

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[dbpaddler]

Good question and one I can't answer. But now that you ask, that is a VERY good question. The Sling streaming doesn't actually pay that much attention to location since unless you have the AirTV it doesn't have locals that depend on location.

Hopefully Jim1348 will do it and report back.

Thays why I was thinking if she's sharing your account she would have to use your whole lineup because your account is associated with your OTA tuner and her device is just accessing your integrated setup.

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[lparsons21]

Because transcoding makes the image worse, period. And if others are doing it better with the native mpeg2, like we had with our tvo dvr as well as Channels DVR, what purpose does it serve to dumb the signal down even more.

And when Atsc 3.0 comes out and we get true 1080p and even better sound with a better compression scheme, what happens then? Me? I buy the new hdhomerun tuner and up and running without skipping a beat. If you're running recast with ancient fire streamers, you're kinda done or really missing out on quality. Sling you're upgrading to a new TV anywhere (if/when they make one) and should be fine. And you hope they don't dumb down the video because what's the point of having a nice 1080p OTA pic if they're going to dumb it down and also kill the surround sound too?

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You mean in about 5 years when ATSC 3.0 becomes a real thing?

That timeframe should give those that want to play in the ATSC receiver arena time to develop them. For me locally, I'm not overly concerned with ATSC 3.0 since I don't think any of the locals will be in a hurry to make the changes. Small rural market.

 

[lparsons21]

Ok, I’m doing some comparisons between the 2 OTA devices and ATT TV streaming using the US Open for the comparison.

In order of PQ quality:
ATT TV - best of the bunch by a noticeable amount. Not a huge amount, but noticeable.
AirTV Anywhere - nearly as good as ATT TV
Recast - worst of the bunch but not by much at all.

All viewed via a FireTV Cube to a Sony XBR-900E 75” from 9’ away. I’m sure if I put my nose on the screen I could see more differences though!

On smaller screens and closer viewing distance I suspect the differences wouldn’t be very noticeable at all.

Just for the hell of it I switched to the ATT TV Osprey box and looked at the US Open. Darker and a bit softer than the Cube.

 

[dbpaddler]

You mean in about 5 years when ATSC 3.0 becomes a real thing?

That timeframe should give those that want to play in the ATSC receiver arena time to develop them. For me locally, I'm not overly concerned with ATSC 3.0 since I don't think any of the locals will be in a hurry to make the changes. Small rural market.

Think it'll be less than that. It's being tested in quite a few places around the country now. Hdhomerun is already shipping its tuner, and it works perfectly with the channels dvr app too.

It'll be here quicker than cable cards are gone. [emoji23]

Regardless, if your biggest TV is a 55" Roku or fire TV set and you watch a lot on phones and tablets, then low end products are the wheelhouse already and sling and recast fit in perfectly. That's not my wheelhouse,and I don't want to support vendors that cater to the low-end. Heck, I gave my sister a front surround setup, and she still listens to the TV speakers at times. Only reasin5shebhas a 75" sony is because the boyfriend gave me his credit card and said go nuts. Otherwise she'd still have a 60" in there. Though she's a perfect candidate for a 100" UST.

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[dbpaddler]

Ok, I'm doing some comparisons between the 2 OTA devices and ATT TV streaming using the US Open for the comparison.

In order of PQ quality:
ATT TV - best of the bunch by a noticeable amount. Not a huge amount, but noticeable.
AirTV Anywhere - nearly as good as ATT TV
Recast - worst of the bunch but not by much at all.

All viewed via a FireTV Cube to a Sony XBR-900E 75" from 9' away. I'm sure if I put my nose on the screen I could see more differences though!

On smaller screens and closer viewing distance I suspect the differences wouldn't be very noticeable at all.

Just for the hell of it I switched to the ATT TV Osprey box and looked at the US Open. Darker and a bit softer than the Cube.

Now if you sti had a Tivo dvr or HD Homerun and whatever live app to compare to... And then pick a movie or decent show with a DD 5.1 trakc and compare stereo to DD5.1.

At least you have a decent TV. [emoji6]

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[Jim1348]

Off the top of my head the only advantages in your case would be than your MIL would have an OTA DVR at her house with 2 tuners, and at your house you would have 4 tuners.

We are in the same market (DMA). My MIL is a bit closer to Shoreview towers. Maybe, just maybe, the two OTA channels that get flaky here, occasionally, might not get flaky at her location.

 

[lparsons21]

Now if you sti had a Tivo dvr or HD Homerun and whatever live app to compare to... And then pick a movie or decent show with a DD 5.1 trakc and compare stereo to DD5.1.

At least you have a decent TV. [emoji6]

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I have a Tivo, well actually I have 3 of them. All carefully ensconced in the closet of no longer used tech crap!!

With ATT TV I have DD5.1 and good video. And when I did some switching comparisons with the Tivo Bolt, the differences were slight and not because of bitstream or resolution, just a very slight difference.

BTW, kicked up my Samsung in the bedroom. As I suspected, Sling app on the TV doesn't get the AirTV stuff.

 

[dbpaddler]

I have a Tivo, well actually I have 3 of them. All carefully ensconced in the closet of no longer used tech crap!!

With ATT TV I have DD5.1 and good video. And when I did some switching comparisons with the Tivo Bolt, the differences were slight and not because of bitstream or resolution, just a very slight difference.

BTW, kicked up my Samsung in the bedroom. As I suspected, Sling app on the TV doesn't get the AirTV stuff.

You need android tv, Roku or fire TV on the set. Guessing it's more effort to get the proprietary apps to support the OTA integration.

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[lparsons21]

You need android tv, Roku or fire TV on the set. Guessing it's more effort to get the proprietary apps to support the OTA integration.

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Yeah, it must be. Just guessing here, but I think that the integration of the AirTV into the Sling app is very minimal since searching for OTA shows is not possible. Basically, here is the guide for a week, you can record and see recordings but for anything else you're on your own.

 

[dbpaddler]

Yeah, it must be. Just guessing here, but I think that the integration of the AirTV into the Sling app is very minimal since searching for OTA shows is not possible. Basically, here is the guide for a week, you can record and see recordings but for anything else you're on your own.

It's still early... Maybe it'll come in time.

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[wizwor]

AirTV Anywhere - some more follow up.

Tested thoroughly with various boxes. Here's the results.

Sony XBR-700E - works fine, including the local channels. I hadn't expected that as I had seen some articles saying that it wouldn't do the locals with the Smart TVs. Seems it will at least for some.

AT&T TV Osprey box - works fine.
AppleTV4K - works fine
FireTV Cube 2nd Gen - works fine. And one noticeable thing, the video on Sling for the locals is better than what the Recast produces. Not a huge difference but a difference nevertheless.

Does the grid guide include any details beyond time and name of show?

 

[lparsons21]

Does the grid guide include any details beyond time and name of show?

Depends on which box you are using it on.

AppleTV - Yes, it shows some info at the top of the screen.

AndroidTV, FireTV - No. But when you select the show the next screen shows the description.

Another difference.
On AndroidTV & FireTV there is a selection of date, so skipping to another date in the future is very easy.

On AppleTV that isn't there so you have to horizontal scroll in the guide

 

[wizwor]

Mine arrived yesterday. I had set up my Sling Blue account over the weekend. While Pluto and Philo show up in my Fire TV DVR guide, Sling only shows up in the Live guide. Just the same, I welcome the additional channels.

Box was easy to set up. Image quality was on par with the Recast on my 32" 720p set, but much better than the Recast (close to the Roamio/OTA on the 55" TCL Roku 4K television.

Tuned in to a station that drops out on me every morning. Kind of surprised that all three boxes dropped off simultaneously. Either very comparable tuners or a precipitous drop in signal.

Took a stick to work today to test remote access. It just works. Pretty snappy.

 

[lparsons21]

Sling shows up on my FireTV DVR & Live guide. Wonder why yours doesn’t show up on DVR guide?