Apple TV lets you stream all kinds of content from the internet, but here’s the way to watch live TV on Apple TV.
One of the biggest frustrations many people have with their Apple TV setup is that they have to flip the inputs on their TVs if they want to watch live television. It’s not a huge deal, but if you had live television directly on Apple TV, you would. In The Godfather’s words, this seems like an offer you can’t refuse.
Sure, you can use certain apps that stream the television broadcast live, like NBC News, CBS, and others, but this can sometimes be a pain in the backend as you’ll have to switch between apps a lot if you want. some form of “channel surfing”.
With the help of an external TV tuner and an Apple TV app, you can watch real live television directly on your Apple TV. Here’s how to set it up.
what you will need
If you want to watch live television on your Apple TV, you will need:
This is a pretty expensive venture, costing at least $115 if you already have a 4th generation Apple TV (this won’t work on Apple TV 3 and older) and an antenna. Live TV features on your Apple TV are really the only way to go right now.
There are three different HDHomeRun tuners to choose from for this. there Connect, To lengthenand hit the primer. Connect is $100, Extend is $150, and Prime is $115. Note that Prime only works with cable boxes and Connect & Extend only works with antennas.
Both models are basically the same, but the main difference is that the Extend streams HD television to any device, whether over ethernet or WiFi. You will need at least one 802.11n router to stream HD channels over WiFi.
The cheaper Connect model can also stream HD over WiFi, but requires an 802.11ac router (like the Prime). If you don’t have an AC router, it will stream in standard definition over WiFi.
The good news is that both models can stream live TV to two devices at the same time, so if you have another 4th generation Apple TV in your home, the more bang for your buck.
How does it work
To set up the HDHomeRun tuner, you just need to connect your antenna to the tuner, then plug in an ethernet cable that connects to your router, and then plug in power to the tuner.
From there, HDHomeRun picks up channels from your antenna and then sends them over your network to your various devices, such as your Apple TV.
But your Apple TV needs to take the channels it receives and place it in a user interface that makes it easy to switch between channels and watch live TV. To do this, you need an Apple TV app called Channels.
Channels is a unique app and maybe in the end it’s worth this expensive project. The app essentially provides your wireless channels with a user interface similar to what you’d get with wired set-top boxes.
This means you have the ability to pause and rewind live television as well as fast forward live television if you have paused it.
You even get a program guide telling you what’s playing on each channel, along with a brief description of the currently active episode or program. Pretty cool way to watch over-the-air channels.
