With AirTV, you set the device up wherever over-the-air reception is best, plug in an antenna and external hard drive, then use the Sling TV app on devices such as Roku or Fire TV to stream broadcast channels over Wi-Fi. If you subscribe to either of Sling TV’s streaming channel packages (for $25 per month and up), those cable channels will appear alongside over-the-air channels in the same app.

In many ways, the integration works well, and the lack of subscription fees is a strong selling point compared to other solutions such as TiVo or Tablo. Still, AirTV hasn’t fully fleshed out its device support yet, and some features that power users might expect aren’t available yet. It’s not a bad cord-cutting DVR option, but it’s not quite the perfect streaming/antenna union we keep dreaming about. Read the full column on TechHive.

Just like AirTV and Nuvyyo’s Tablo DVR, you set up the Fire TV Recast in a spot with solid antenna reception. The device then streams live and recorded channels from an antenna to Fire TV devices, iOS and Android devices, and the Echo Show smart display. A $230 model has 500 GB of storage and can record up to two shows at once; a $280 version has 1 TB of storage and records up to four shows at once. There are no subscription fees required.

Compared to its competitors, the Fire TV Recast has one limitation that gives me pause: It won’t work with Apple TV, Roku, or other streaming platforms that aren’t run by Amazon. If you invest in this DVR solution, you’re effectively locked into Fire TV for all your TV needs. Still, the ability to bring up live channels or recordings with Alexa–either on a Fire TV remote or hands-free with an Echo speaker–sounds pretty neat. The Fire TV Recast launches on November 14, and I’m looking forward to checking it out before rending a final verdict.

An Apple TV update: Apple’s tvOS 12 launched on Monday, introducing a handful of welcome–if modest–improvements. Most notably, it adds support for Dolby Atmos, which can locate sounds more accurately in 3D space if you have a compatible surround sound system and are watching compatible content. (Netflix supports Dolby Atmos in select titles, and Amazon also recently started adding some Atmos support in Prime Video. Apple’s iTunes offers movies in Atmos as well, and any movies that users own will be upgraded to the format at no charge if available.)

The other headlining feature won’t help cord-cutters: If you have cable TV and internet from Spectrum, you can sign into individual TV network apps without having to enter a username and password. Apple TV will sign in automatically by detecting the user’s internet connection instead. The plan is to have other cable providers support this feature over time.

For those of us without cable, tvOS 12 does provide another form of password relief: If you’ve ever used iOS’s autofill feature to save passwords, you’ll get an alert on your iPhone or iPad that brings up the keyboard, and from there you can hit the fill-in option to enter your login credentials with one tap.

All of which is to say that the Fire TV’s current sale price of $40 for Prime members is a solid deal. That’s a $30 discount, and the same price that Amazon’s slower, non-4K Fire TV Stick sells for regularly.