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MDeBonis's avatar
MDeBonis
Channel Surfer
4 years ago
Solved

How do I connect Roku to AirTV to view OTA channels?

I just purchased a Roku Ulta streaming device and I need help viewing over the air channels. According to what I’ve read online, I should be able to view OTA channels through the Sling app, however they are not showing up when I run Sling on my Roku device. I have an AirTV player and can view 42 OTA channels, but I want to avoid switching devices to view them. I don’t know if this means anything but my AirTV remote turns Roku on and off, but my Roku remote does not activate the AirTV player.  

I do not know if this is a hardware or software setup issue, any help with this is appreciated, thanks.

  • MDeBonis's avatar
    MDeBonis
    4 years ago

    Yeah, I had sling a few years ago accessed through the AirTV player, liked it but our internet service was slower then so we kept on getting re-buffering, which was annoying. The integration of OTA Chanel’s in the guide was really nice, good to know it still works that way through the app on Roku.  Thanks for all of your help.

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  • DBDukes's avatar
    DBDukes
    Community Streaming Expert
    4 years ago

    MDeBonis 

    The Air TV device you have is a Sling-centric streaming device. To use Air TV with other platforms -- Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android/Google TV -- you need one of the other Air TV devices.

    The Air TV Mini is NOT the one that will work with other platforms. It's the current Sling (who owns Air TV) streaming device, and is NOT designed to work with other streaming platforms.

    The Air TV 2 is an option. It has two tuners and DVR capability (add an external drive). It's $99. Connecting it to your network (via the Sling mobile app) lets you watch OTA channels on any Roku (or other) device running Sling TV app.

    The Air TV Anywhere is the top of the line device. It's $199. Same as Air TV 2, but four tuners and includes a 1 TB drive for the DVR. That's the one I have. It works well.

    • MDeBonis's avatar
      MDeBonis
      Channel Surfer
      4 years ago

      Thank you for the explanation. I wish this was clear before I purchased the Roku device, nothing I found on the web mentioned this. Now I need to decide if I will keep the Roku or go back to Dish as integration is very important to me. Do you know how well AirTV works with Roku in displaying OTA channels (both the guide and actual viewing)? Thx.

      • DBDukes's avatar
        DBDukes
        Community Streaming Expert
        4 years ago

        MDeBonis 

        Yeah, it works great. Your TV channels show up alongside the other content in Sling. It integrates within the guide, and on the front page of the app.

        Do you have the Sling TV app? Sling TV has free content, in addition to the content you can get with subscription. Just launch the app. It'll suggest you subscribe or some such thing, but just tell it you want to watch free stuff. Then you can see the menus and the live guide. Here are screen shots of the Sling TV interface.

        With Air TV, the OTA channels show up right in the menus/grids. The major channels are at the top, but they'll all be there.

        It works well.

        If you want the cable/satellite channels, you can subscribe to Sling TV (starts at $35/month). Since Sling TV is Dish Network's streaming service, you're probably used to the channels. I don't know about the interface, since I've never done satellite and haven't done cable in over a decade. But, you have a Roku and can use Sling TV free service just to see what it's like.

  • edroksense's avatar
    edroksense
    Roku Guru
    3 years ago

    I would like to buy Air Tv 2 by sling or other similar to this:

    How to connect air tv to existing roku 3 player ( roku player is connected by wire to ethernet ) and roku player by hdmi to sony tv.

    Purpose is to view local channels using antenna free live local channels. No subscription to sling.

    Please give youtube video for better knowledge, thanks any way.