Reviews of the Tablo, HDHomeRun, and AirTV - Choosing a Smart OTA Streamer
Channel: Anthony Guidetti
Date: 2019-06-29

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There's plenty of good reasons to cut the cord, one of which is the price. Most people don't want to pay the price of cable, but what most people don't realize is the high price means total convenience. Your cable lineup is already set up so you don't have to think about how it gets there, the box that delivers the cable isn't yours, so if the consumer experiences any issues, they call up the cable company and they fix it. When you cut the cord, you transfer the burden of troubleshooting onto the consumer, and now they have to decide how they're going to get their content back. There are plenty of online OTT cable providers, like Sling, YouTube TV, and Philo, but they don't all carry the local channels, like CBS, ABC, and NBC. If you want to still keep those channels, you'll need an antenna, but how do you get all those channels to every TV in your house? You could wire an antenna to your cable splitter, but not everyone wants to go through that hassle. The easier option is to look into a smart box that takes your antenna channels, and turns them into streamable content you can watch on your Roku, Fire Stick, or your iOS or Android device. What's the best way to go about doing that?

I'm taking a look at the cheapest three: Tablo, HDHomeRun, and AirTV, but you may want to spend a little more if you want a better DVR experience. Something like a TiVO OTA, or a Fire TV Recast, or the models listed above with a built-in hard drive, like the Tablo and HDHomeRun. The reason I recommend a model with a built-in hard drive is because there's little troubleshooting involved. They already have the DVR ready to go out-of-the-box. That's if you want DVR, or if you don't mind tinkering. The comparatively cheaper AirTV, HDHomeRun, and Tablo can have DVR, they just require an external hard drive, flash drive, or a more in-depth solution.

In conclusion, of the three cheapest smart boxes, the Tablo was the best, but if you have the money, I'd still recommend you go for the TiVO OTA, or the Fire TV Recast, or one of the above with a built-in hard drive. The least tinkering and troubleshooting required, the happier you will be. Specifically the TiVo and Recast due to their impressive interface. Again, if you have the money, however, you may just want to stick with traditional cable where someone else has to set it up for you. Of the OTT cable services online, YouTube TV is the best because most of the local channels are included in the guide, but if you are like me and you like Sling's lineup more, consider the Tablo if you don't want to spend too much.