Sling TV’s Cloud DVR feature expands to dozens of new devices

Sling TV is expanding its Cloud DVR service to dozens of devices, DISH announced today. The updated line-up now includes Chrome browser, Chromecast, Xbox One, LG Smart TVs and 2016 and 2017 models of Samsung Smart TVs - which, in theory, should just about cover every device capable of running Sling TV.

Like Cloud DVR on rival services like PlayStation Vue or YouTube TV, Sling TV’s digital DVR allows you to record any number of shows simultaneously for later viewing. Unlike the other DVRs, however, you can store up to 50 hours of shows for an unlimited amount of time - according to Sling, they’ll never expire.

The other difference for Sling TV’s DVR is that you have to sign up to use it - it’s not built into the base package.

Considering that a Sling TV DVR package only costs an extra $5 per month for 50 hours of storage space, the $5 admission fee isn’t so bad.

What is DVR?

Oh, right. Well, DVR is digital video recording. It’s a feature that built entire companies in the late ’90s and early Aughts (TiVo, for example) because it allowed people to move away from linear TV and take one step towards on-demand shows.

To use DVR back in the day, though, you’d need a specific piece of hardware to save the recordings of the shows. This digital DVR would need to be cleaned out periodically, and it would need to be set to record manually.

Cloud DVR is the evolution of that system.

With Sling’s Cloud DVR, all your shows are stored, well, in the cloud. That means no additional hardware and no additional management needed. You can simply highlight a show or series of show you’d like to watch later, and Sling TV will record it for you next time it airs. Then, if you run out of space, Sling TV will automatically delete the oldest episode in your library.

The drawback here is that DVR isn’t included in the base package - a minor annoyance if you’re coming from traditional cable with free DVR. Still, Sling TV is just $20 a month for the base package so even without Cloud DVR included it remains one of the best deals in live TV streaming.