Cord Cutters News has posted a video demonstration of AirTV from CES… and it sure looks intriguing.
AirTV is a small Android set-top that comes bundled with a USB tuner ($130) and boots directly into Sling TV. While you don’t actually need to be a subscriber of the streaming service, there’s no point in picking up this box (vs say a Roku or Apple TV) without it — as its biggest, baddest trick is merging local over-the-air television content into Sling TV’s “cable” guide. Even better, should you happen to subscribe to Netflix, video recommendations also pop up via some sort of deep linking. Beyond that, Air TV also provides full access to the Google Play Store – including a dedicated button on the universal remote.
Sadly, AirTV does not provide any local DVR capabilities and outbound OTA streaming was left on the cutting room floor.
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If it comes with Android 7.0 Nougat, OTA DVR capability comes for free. I haven't seen any reviews on how well it actually works, but the functionality exists.
The SlingTV service still doesn't include a DVR, which renders it laughably useless for me. They do have "cloud DVR" functionality in beta, though, which is promising but the major blocker is they say it "isn't available for all content", which feels ominous.
I find the device cosmetically quite fugly but do love the universal remote functionality to turn on the TV and adjust volume. EVERYBODY should do that. Down with multiple remotes!
Assuming those recordings can't be scheduled or played back via Sling TV UI, may as well get budget MiBox or get high end Shield with Google Assistant and always listening controller.
I assumed the OTA TV stuff would be integrated into the Sling guide, as they're bundling it with the OTA adapter. I guess it's possible they're recreating the wheel rather than using the Nougat OTA DVR functionality, but that seems like a lot of work for little gain.