Sling TV to start beta-testing cloud DVR functions in December

AppleInsider · November 28, 2016 5:11PM

Starting sometime in December, Dish-owned Sling TV will begin beta-testing cloud DVR functions, closing an important gap with its main competitor in internet TV, Sony's PlayStation Vue.

During the beta, the technology will initially be available only to subscribers using Roku devices -- including TVs with Roku built in, Sling said. People who meet this criteria can apply for a beta invite.

Test accounts will support to 100 hours of recording with no expiration date. Instead, Sling servers will automatically delete the oldest recordings as needed. Multiple shows and movies will be recordable simultaneously, and saved material will automatically appear in the Roku interface's "My TV" screen.

Sling said that it's working on more DVR options, including storage upgrades, but cautioned that for now recording won't be available on all channels. There's no indication of when the technology might come to other platforms like the Apple TV.

PlayStation Vue watchers have long enjoyed DVR functions, but with a 28-day limit on all recordings.

wood1208 · November 28, 2016 5:55PM

Later today at 4pm when AT&T announces their Direct TV NOW streaming service, hope it is worth considering at already announced $35 for 100 channels package and comes with cloud DVR and live TV pause function. SLING has good approach but besides their $5 add-on packages; it needs to offer single channel add-on from $0.99-$3.99 for regular cable TV channels missing from those base(orange,blue) packages..Idea of cable cord cutting is choices at reasonable prices and when,where and how you want to watch. In order to become wide spread adoption of IPTV streaming, they have to offer win-win packages otherwise OTA delivers bunch of channels for free..

Metriacanthosaurus · November 28, 2016 5:57PM

Cool story but the day Vue came out I dropped Sling like a bad habit. They don't offer enough local live channels, and their UI is unusable.

mtbnut · November 28, 2016 6:13PM

Does this spell the impending demise of TiVo? Instead of having to select specific channels to record at different times locally, why can't The Cloud record everything, all the time, and you just on-demand whatever you want? This is where we're going, right?

gatorguy · November 28, 2016 6:51PM

sog35 said:

Metriacanthosaurus said:

Cool story but the day Vue came out I dropped Sling like a bad habit. They don't offer enough local live channels, and their UI is unusable.

Agree. I too had Sling but dropped it after the 7 free days. It was total CRAP compared to Vue.

Sling is like one of those $50 crappy Chinese piece of shiit tablets versus Vue which is like an iPad.

Sling is such an absolute joke, that I don't recommend it to anyone, unless they literally can't afford more than $20 for cable. At $30 Vue just offers so much more value its ridiculous.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/sling-tv-vs-playstation-vue,review-2691.html

boltsfan17 · November 28, 2016 7:06PM

sog35 said:

wood1208 said:

Later today at 4pm when AT&T announces their Direct TV NOW streaming service, hope it is worth considering at already announced $35 for 100 channels package and comes with cloud DVR and live TV pause function. SLING has good approach but besides their $5 add-on packages; it needs to offer single channel add-on from $0.99-$3.99 for regular cable TV channels missing from those base(orange,blue) packages..Idea of cable cord cutting is choices at reasonable prices and when,where and how you want to watch. In order to become wide spread adoption of IPTV streaming, they have to offer win-win packages otherwise OTA delivers bunch of channels for free..

Direct TV Now will probably be crap. I heard its only 1 or 2 users at a time. CRAP. I heard you only can record certain shows or may not be able to fast forward commericals. Also it will lack local channels. We shall see. But I would not have my hopes up for the Direct TV Now package. AT&T has been screwing customers for almost 100 years.

Sling is crap. Interface sucks and the base package is so barebones its an absolute joke. To get a decent amount of content you are close to Vue's $30 starting price. Also the Sling DVR only can record 100 hours and certain channels can't record. CRAP.

Bottom line is Vue is the best right now. Virtually unlimited DVR, 5 streams at once, and depending on market you also get local channels. At $30-$35 it blows away Sling and probably Direct TV also.

I don't think Directv Now will lack local channels. From what I read, it sounds like certain channels will be available depending on your billing address, which is the same with Vue. If streaming is limited to 2, that is ridiculous. It should be 5.

boltsfan17 · November 28, 2016 7:23PM

sog35 said:

boltsfan17 said:

sog35 said:

wood1208 said:

Later today at 4pm when AT&T announces their Direct TV NOW streaming service, hope it is worth considering at already announced $35 for 100 channels package and comes with cloud DVR and live TV pause function. SLING has good approach but besides their $5 add-on packages; it needs to offer single channel add-on from $0.99-$3.99 for regular cable TV channels missing from those base(orange,blue) packages..Idea of cable cord cutting is choices at reasonable prices and when,where and how you want to watch. In order to become wide spread adoption of IPTV streaming, they have to offer win-win packages otherwise OTA delivers bunch of channels for free..

Direct TV Now will probably be crap. I heard its only 1 or 2 users at a time. CRAP. I heard you only can record certain shows or may not be able to fast forward commericals. Also it will lack local channels. We shall see. But I would not have my hopes up for the Direct TV Now package. AT&T has been screwing customers for almost 100 years.

Sling is crap. Interface sucks and the base package is so barebones its an absolute joke. To get a decent amount of content you are close to Vue's $30 starting price. Also the Sling DVR only can record 100 hours and certain channels can't record. CRAP.

Bottom line is Vue is the best right now. Virtually unlimited DVR, 5 streams at once, and depending on market you also get local channels. At $30-$35 it blows away Sling and probably Direct TV also.

I don't think Directv Now will lack local channels. From what I read, it sounds like certain channels will be available depending on your billing address, which is the same with Vue. If streaming is limited to 2, that is ridiculous. It should be 5.

I've heard from various sites that DirectTV is limited to 1 or 2 streams.

But they will probably allow you to increase streams at a price. And have DVR at a price. Ect, ect, ect. When all is said and done it will cost you $60 to match Vue's $30 package.

I will be absolutely shocked if DirectTV can offer a service with value even close to Vue.

Either way I'll probably try it since the rumor is they will be giving away free AppleTV4's with 3 month subscription.

I'm really curious to see what DirecTV offers. That wouldn't be surprising if having a DVR feature is an extra cost add on. I heard another rumor it won't have CBS at launch. If true, that's not surprising since CBS is playing hardball with everyone. I agree no one comes close to Vue so we will see if DirecTV can compete.

gatorguy · November 28, 2016 8:34PM

sog35 said:

boltsfan17 said:

sog35 said:

boltsfan17 said:

sog35 said:

wood1208 said:

Later today at 4pm when AT&T announces their Direct TV NOW streaming service, hope it is worth considering at already announced $35 for 100 channels package and comes with cloud DVR and live TV pause function. SLING has good approach but besides their $5 add-on packages; it needs to offer single channel add-on from $0.99-$3.99 for regular cable TV channels missing from those base(orange,blue) packages..Idea of cable cord cutting is choices at reasonable prices and when,where and how you want to watch. In order to become wide spread adoption of IPTV streaming, they have to offer win-win packages otherwise OTA delivers bunch of channels for free..

Direct TV Now will probably be crap. I heard its only 1 or 2 users at a time. CRAP. I heard you only can record certain shows or may not be able to fast forward commericals. Also it will lack local channels. We shall see. But I would not have my hopes up for the Direct TV Now package. AT&T has been screwing customers for almost 100 years.

Sling is crap. Interface sucks and the base package is so barebones its an absolute joke. To get a decent amount of content you are close to Vue's $30 starting price. Also the Sling DVR only can record 100 hours and certain channels can't record. CRAP.

Bottom line is Vue is the best right now. Virtually unlimited DVR, 5 streams at once, and depending on market you also get local channels. At $30-$35 it blows away Sling and probably Direct TV also.

I don't think Directv Now will lack local channels. From what I read, it sounds like certain channels will be available depending on your billing address, which is the same with Vue. If streaming is limited to 2, that is ridiculous. It should be 5.

I've heard from various sites that DirectTV is limited to 1 or 2 streams.

But they will probably allow you to increase streams at a price. And have DVR at a price. Ect, ect, ect. When all is said and done it will cost you $60 to match Vue's $30 package.

I will be absolutely shocked if DirectTV can offer a service with value even close to Vue.

Either way I'll probably try it since the rumor is they will be giving away free AppleTV4's with 3 month subscription.

I'm really curious to see what DirecTV offers. That wouldn't be surprising if having a DVR feature is an extra cost add on. I heard another rumor it won't have CBS at launch. If true, that's not surprising since CBS is playing hardball with everyone. I agree no one comes close to Vue so we will see if DirecTV can compete.

The truth is DirectTV and Sling/Dish isn't super motivated to make the best service. They make most of their money on satelite packages. But the heat is definitely turning on with LiveTV packages from Google and Hulu coming up soon and of course the dark cloud of Apple.

Which means great things for the customer.

I think Steve Jobs vision of TV is almost hear. One box, one remote. My setup is literally just my TV and AppleTV. 1 wire. 2 plugs. That's it. The AppleTV has replaced my Cable box, video game system, audio receiver, bluray player, CD player, ect.

I'm using an Nvidia Shield for much the same thing. FWIW it's a much more capable game system than what Apple is currently offering on Apple TV if gaming is a big deal. But I guess you've been really happy with Apple TV gaming, which is great.

wood1208 · November 28, 2016 8:42PM

sog35 said:

wood1208 said:

Later today at 4pm when AT&T announces their Direct TV NOW streaming service, hope it is worth considering at already announced $35 for 100 channels package and comes with cloud DVR and live TV pause function. SLING has good approach but besides their $5 add-on packages; it needs to offer single channel add-on from $0.99-$3.99 for regular cable TV channels missing from those base(orange,blue) packages..Idea of cable cord cutting is choices at reasonable prices and when,where and how you want to watch. In order to become wide spread adoption of IPTV streaming, they have to offer win-win packages otherwise OTA delivers bunch of channels for free..

Direct TV Now will probably be crap. I heard its only 1 or 2 users at a time. CRAP. I heard you only can record certain shows or may not be able to fast forward commericals. Also it will lack local channels. We shall see. But I would not have my hopes up for the Direct TV Now package. AT&T has been screwing customers for almost 100 years.

Sling is crap. Interface sucks and the base package is so barebones its an absolute joke. To get a decent amount of content you are close to Vue's $30 starting price. Also the Sling DVR only can record 100 hours and certain channels can't record. CRAP.

Bottom line is Vue is the best right now. Virtually unlimited DVR, 5 streams at once, and depending on market you also get local channels. At $30-$35 it blows away Sling and probably Direct TV also.

I neither can support nor criticize Sony Vue because I never had it but one thing I notice is it does not support A+E channels(Lifetime,LMN,etc) no matter which higher price package you choose. I may be in minority watching LMN(lifetime-movies-network) channel.

mtbnut · November 28, 2016 9:57PM

sog35 said:

mtbnut said:

Does this spell the impending demise of TiVo? Instead of having to select specific channels to record at different times locally, why can't The Cloud record everything, all the time, and you just on-demand whatever you want? This is where we're going, right?

with Playstation Vue you can record up to 500 series (not individual shows). Also Vue groups sports by catergory. So if you select basketball it will select all basketball games on all channels, and that is counted as 1 series. With Vue you its virtually an unlimited DVR. Plus shows/sports/movies are really easy to filter and find.

I setup my account to record tons of movies and watch them when I want. The available list of movies on Vue blows away Netflix movie selection.

I can't emphasize how incredible the Vue service is. Its exactly what Apple should have brought out years ago. But slow Timmy is dragging his feet again.

Is it recording actual feeds, or just giving you ondemand access to said shows? For example, if I play a show (within a series), will it also play the commercials that aired when that show aired at its original timeslot on TV? I'll have to look into this, as I'm getting sick of my TiVo...

boltsfan17 · November 28, 2016 9:59PM

sog35 said:

Only 2 streams at a time for Direct TV Now

http://www.fiercecable.com/cable/directv-now-sets-launch-will-support-two-concurrent-streams

pathetic and weak.

I never had any hopes for this AT&T service

So the details are out now. That $35 package with 100 channels isn't actually $35. It's $60/month. It's only $35 for the first 3 months. The $35 package gets you 60 plus channels. DVR won't be available until next year. It's not on Apple TV either.

EDIT: It's on Apple TV. AT&T will give you a free Apple TV if you commit to 3 months of service at $35/month. The $35 is actually grandfathered so you can keep that price as long as you subscribe. Hard to judge since the channel list won't be out until tomorrow. HBO for $5 more a month is pretty good.

jbdragon · November 29, 2016 3:58PM

mtbnut said:

Does this spell the impending demise of TiVo? Instead of having to select specific channels to record at different times locally, why can't The Cloud record everything, all the time, and you just on-demand whatever you want? This is where we're going, right?

My TIVO is not going anywhere! See I pay ZERO per month!!!! Everything recorded is recorded locally, NOT in the cloud, so I'm not wasting my Data. Especially now with Comcast's dumb 1TB CAP which I've already blown past a few times. Why stream more to get my content I get free with a Antenna? So I can pay Comcast another $50 to get what I already had, Unlimited Internet? No thanks. I don't even get SlingTV or Sony Vie and these others. Nothing has changed other then who you're paying for what is a bundle of channels. Some you may like and some you don't. I'm not a Sports person, and yet I'm paying $20 to sling to get ESPN? No thanks!!! I might as well pay Comcast, or better yet, pay neither of them. I have Tivo for my Broadcast channels, channels I can record the same day, no waiting a day or longer. I have Commercial Skip which is great. Throw in Netflix, as there's a lot of great Original content. Plus my NAS PLEX server where I have access to all my Movies, I have to much to watch as it is. Maybe people are really just watching to much TV!!!

sandor · November 29, 2016 7:41PM

So if i am looking at Vue correctly...

...it is simply a 21st century cable company?

prices look similar, but rather than (for instance) Comcast's starting as a cable company & building a hosted time-shifting platform (X1) Sony started as a tech company, and added in a TV subscription services.

yeah?

I still just want a simple DVR for my OTA broadcast. that is all the TV i can handle.
throw in netflix or hulu, and i have far more content than i can deal with. for about $15 a month.

gatorguy · November 29, 2016 8:21PM

jbdragon said:

mtbnut said:

Does this spell the impending demise of TiVo? Instead of having to select specific channels to record at different times locally, why can't The Cloud record everything, all the time, and you just on-demand whatever you want? This is where we're going, right?

My TIVO is not going anywhere! See I pay ZERO per month!!!! Everything recorded is recorded locally, NOT in the cloud, so I'm not wasting my Data. Especially now with Comcast's dumb 1TB CAP which I've already blown past a few times. Why stream more to get my content I get free with a Antenna? So I can pay Comcast another $50 to get what I already had, Unlimited Internet? No thanks. I don't even get SlingTV or Sony Vie and these others. Nothing has changed other then who you're paying for what is a bundle of channels. Some you may like and some you don't. I'm not a Sports person, and yet I'm paying $20 to sling to get ESPN? No thanks!!! I might as well pay Comcast, or better yet, pay neither of them. I have Tivo for my Broadcast channels, channels I can record the same day, no waiting a day or longer. I have Commercial Skip which is great. Throw in Netflix, as there's a lot of great Original content. Plus my NAS PLEX server where I have access to all my Movies, I have to much to watch as it is. Maybe people are really just watching to much TV!!!

Yup, love my Tivo too. Absolutely free for life including the programming guide. Between that, Netflix and the free with Prime Amazon Video I really didn't need anything more. But I do love college football so I wanted a Sling Blue subscription which I may be dropping really soon with the season winding down.

That's a big plus for internet TV streamers. Drop 'em when I don't particularly use them and sign up again when the season changes. Mix and match services as they benefit me. Screw NBA League Pass BTW. WAAAAY too expensive. Sling Orange will give me every game played by my local NBA team (FoxSports Florida) when I decide it's worth the time, probably by mid-January. I do the same with HBO. Binge watch the programming I like for two months and then drop it till the next year. So I'm a little behind on Westworld. No biggie, I'll catch up.

Sling TV to start beta-testing cloud DVR functions in December

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