In this guide we are going to review all the FREE TV options available for cord cutters in 2019. There has never been a better time than now to untether from your cable or satellite subscriptions. With the plethora of online streaming services and free-to-air broadcasts available, why wouldn’t you consider this option!
Warning
Governments and ISPs across the world monitor their users’ online activities. If found streaming copyright content, you could get into serious legal trouble. Currently, your IP 54.87.109.142 is visible to everyone. I strongly recommend that you get the best VPN for streaming and hide your identity so that your entertainment doesn’t take a turn for the worst.
Here are the reasons why you must use a VPN all the time.
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In this FREE TV – The Ultimate Cord Cutters Guide, we are going to review these online and free-to-air options in excruciating detail. As well, we’ll likely throw in a few of the paid online options too. We’ll include these paid options because, well frankly, they’re the perfect complement to the free ones.
FREE TV – HDTV Antenna vs. The Cable Company
Without question the best way to get FREE TV is by purchasing and installing an over-the-air (OTA) HDTV antenna. That’s what we’re all about here at AntennaJunkies.com. By setting up an HDTV antenna, you’ll be able to pull in all of those digital broadcasts that are all around us.
It’s really quite fascinating isn’t it, all of these “radio” waves that we can’t see or touch are buzzing around us. By simply putting up what amounts to a piece of metal connected to a wire, we have the ability to pull those high quality signal in and connect them to our television. Of course I’m oversimplifying things a little and I don’t know, maybe it’s the nerd in me, but I find it fascinating.
Couple this with the fact that your cable and satellite companies are doing pretty much the exact same things (granted with bigger antennas and wider infrastructure) to deliver the signal to you. That’s right, your cable company is essentially picking up those free digital signals, compressing them (squeezing the quality) and re-transmitting them to you for a fee.
Hopefully, I’ve convinced you already that this is absolutely crazy! Why are you paying for something that you can get for FREE! Well, the biggest reason most of us stay with these cable and satellite subscriptions is the sports offerings.
FREE TV – What About Live Sports?
Sports is the only thing keeping people paying and the cable and satellite companies know this. They have exclusive deals with the specialty sports networks like ESPN, Fox Sports, TSN and Sportsnet (Canada).
I’m hear to tell you now, there are ways to get sports using your HDTV antenna through your local television broadcasts. For these specialty sports networks, there are options for those too. Keep reading to find out how!
FREE TV – Let’s Talk Gear!
Okay, so you want to unplug from the cable and satellite companies and give free-to-air HDTV antenna signals a go…GREAT! Believe me, you wont’ look back, in fact, you’ll be kicking yourself for not doing it years ago.
I’ve done many articles here on AntennaJunkies.com that talk about all kinds of different antennas, network tuners and streaming boxes. I’ll include links to all those different articles at the end of this one. That way, if you want more detailed explanations and reviews on all these devices you can do so.
Since we have a lot to cover off here, I’m going to cut right to the chase and tell you exactly what you need. Full disclosure, the devices I’m listing below are the best-of-the-best at the time of writing this article. Of course, this means it’s going to cost a little more to get the hardware listed below.
If you’re on a tight budget then please check out some of the articles listed at the end of this one so you can find the hardware that best matches what you can afford to spend.
In my opinion, if you’re serious about cutting the cord, there are 3 key (major) pieces of hardware you are going to need to get your antenna setup up and running. They are, an HDTV Antenna, a Network Tuner Box, and an Android TV Streaming Box. Of course, there is mounting hardware, coax cable and the like, however, let’s focus on these three.
For an HDTV Antenna, I’m going to narrow your choices down to three. These three, without question, are capable of delivering crystal clear HDTV content spanning ranges of 80+ miles. This means that provided you live in an area that’s within 80 miles of the broadcast tower(s), then you will have no trouble pulling in the major networks such as, FOX, NBC, CBS, and ABC.
If you’re not sure what channels are available to you over-the-air or where you’re broadcast towers are located, be sure check out my TV Station Locator Tool page. To get you started, I’ve put together a short YouTube video that shows the TV station locator tool in action.
Top Rated HDTV Antenna’s
Okay, back to the best three Outdoor HDTV Antennas on the market right now. Listed in order of my personal preference.
1. 8 Element Bowtie Indoor/Outdoor HDTV Antenna – 70 Mile Range
2. Channel Master CM-4228HD High VHF, UHF and HDTV Antenna
3. ClearStream 4 Outdoor HDTV Antenna
You stick to one of these three HDTV antennas and you won’t be disappointed with the FREE TV you’ll pulling in, with crystal-clear, uncompressed HDTV reception.
Top Rated Network Tuners
This is another of the must-haves in my opinion. Detach yourself and your antenna from any specific television in your home. Instead, connect your new HDTV antenna to one of the network tuners below, and you’ll have the ability to not only stream your antenna signal to every television in your house. But also, any PC, laptop, smartphone, tablet that you own…I know…awesome! I’ve been doing this long before the cable and satellite companies added that functionality!
I’m not even going to bother recommending any tuner I’ve not personally used. This is why I’m only listing those from SiliconDust. They are, without question, the best network tuners on the market. The only choice you have to make is how many tuners will you need.
Two devices I’m listing here, first, HDHomeRun EXTEND HDTV (2-Tuner), this tuner will give you effectively 2 tuners in one box. This means you supply one antenna signal, and with little to no signal loss that antenna signal becomes two antenna signals. This will allow you to watch two different channels simultaneously on different devices, or alternatively, watch one station while you’re recording the other.
The HDHomeRun EXTEND HDTV (2-Tuner) above also has built-in hardware transcoding. Which takes on some of the heavy lifting tasks of delivering your free TV signals over Wifi to those smart devices.
The other tuner I’m going to list is the big brother to this one, HDHomeRun Connect Quatro 4-Tuner (HDHR5-4US). This gives you the power of 4 tuners in one box, effectively splitting your single antenna signal into four different signals. This will allow you to watch, stream, record, four different channels at the same time!
There are others on the market, however, if you want the best…look no further!
Top Rated Android TV Media Streamers
I’m going to make this choice really easy for you. Again, I am assuming in this article you have a little bit of money to spend. If you don’t, please see the articles at the end of this one if you’re on a budget. If you really want to do this right, I assure you, the money you spend on the hardware listed here will more than pay for themselves in less than 6 months on what you’re paying for cable or satellite.
There are many Android streaming devices on the market, however, be advised they are not all created equal. Nor do they all run the same Android Operating System under the hood. Because, we’re talking cord-cutting and getting “full wife approval” then you want to look at only those boxes that boast the certified Android TV OS. This is not to be confused with some of the, what I like to call “open-Android” type systems.
Now, the Android TV OS variety of boxes are slightly limited in their Google Playstore selections, however, they are designed for televisions. This means, there interface is extremely easy to use and designed exclusively for using traditional style TV remote controls and cater to everything we are talking about here. And the limitation regarding Google Playstore apps can easily be worked-around by side-loading any Android app you like.
Truthfully, there is only one Android box I recommend here…Nvidia Shield TV! This box is without question the best Android box every built. It comes in two flavors, the standard and pro versions.
That said, I don’t think you need to shell out the extra cash for the pro version. Instead, pickup a good (fast) USB Flash drive such as the, SanDisk Extreme PRO 128GB USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive
.
FREE TV APPS!
Okay, you’ve got your shiny new Channel Master CM-4228HD HDTV Antenna, your HDHomeRun EXTEND HDTV (2-Tuner) all wired up and configured and your brand new Nvidia Shield TV box…awesome! You’re already enjoying FREE TV in crystal-clear HDTV!
Now to add some FREE must-have apps to your Android box. Here I will list the perfect companion apps you should install. This is by no means an exhaustive list, however, a few of my personal favorites you should definitely take a look at.
GOOGLE LIVE CHANNELS
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