Sling TV Cloud DVR comes to Amazon Fire TV, Fire tables and Fire Stick
Sling TV announced the company is offering 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage for Amazon Fire TVs, but will charge $5 per month.
The Cloud DVR service is also being rolled out to Fire TV Sticks and Fire tablets. Any Sling TV subscription will work with the new Cloud DVR service.
The Cloud DVR service is being called “First Look.” It gives customers the ability to keep recordings as long as they have an account, Ben Weinberger, chief product officer of Sling TV, said in a blog post on Thursday.
Charging for DVR service is a notable difference than subscription plans with PlayStation Vue. It raises the question whether DirecTV Now or other competitors will eventually charge for its DVR service. DirecTV has yet to debut their DVR service. YouTube TV announced their will not charge for DVR storage when their service comes out later this year.
Sling TV competitors roll out promos, new features in advance of March Madness
The announcement from Sling TV came the day after the NCAA Big East Tournament. Sling TV competitors have already rolled out their own features or promotions in advance of March Madness.
Sony announced in a blog post a multi-screen feature for PlayStation Vue, which works on PlayStation 4.
fuboTV is also promoting that its service now has a plan starting at $14.99 per month in advance of March Madness.
Some of the new features from Sling TV’s Cloud DVR include the following.
- Record your favorites and watch whenever you want across all Amazon Fire TVs and Fire tablets, Android mobile devices, Android TVs, Roku streaming players and Roku TVs.
- Conflict-free recording. Record multiple programs simultaneously, and forget about recording conflicts. (Cloud DVR functionality not available on all channels.)
- Keep recordings as long as you want. With Sling TV, you won’t have any time limit on your recordings, so you can keep them as long as you have the Cloud DVR.
- Sling TV will make room for new recordings by deleting your oldest ‘watched’ recording when capacity is full, so you can binge on your new favorite show.
How “First Look” Works
If you watch Sling TV on an Amazon Fire TV or Fire tablet, you’re eligible to sign up for Sling TV’s Cloud DVR “First Look” to get 50 hours of storage for $5 per month. You’ll also get access to new features, like setting recordings on-the-go.
Cloud DVR is not available for all Sling TV channels. Sling introduced a beta version of Cloud DVR for a limited number of Roku owners last year. They will be able to keep their 100-hour limit for recordings. Android TVs, smartphones and tablets are also supported devices for Cloud DVR.
Sling TV is expected to expand the ability to record more channels, protect recordings and group recorded series into folders in the months ahead.
How do you add Cloud DVR to Sling TV?
If you created your Sling TV account through Amazon, you can simply add Cloud DVR through the Sling TV app on your Amazon Fire TV or Fire tablet. All other customers who use Amazon Fire TVs or Fire tablets can add Cloud DVR by signing in to their account on Sling TV and selecting “Add Cloud DVR.”
Weinberger said the company will continue to expand Cloud DVR “First Look” to additional customers and devices in the coming months, starting with Apple TV.
Founder and Editor of The Cord Cutting Report. Before launching the site in 2016, he worked for more than two decades as a staff writer or correspondent for a number of daily newspapers, including The Boston Globe. His enthusiasm for tech began with the Atari 2600. Follow @james_kimble
Whooooooopeeeeeeee. PVue just added an EPG for the browser app. If I can just get my video card or whatever to play as smooth as the otherwise slow as molasses fire stick does I will be near heaven. Thanks PVue.
It is obvious that we may never get any kind of decent ala carte. The providers, somewhat rightly so, continue to have their options set up so that most have to go up pretty high to get what you really want to watch. I do PVue and I get a month storage of all the shows I want and get lots of sports and other channels for $30. To get comparable with Sling it is $45. This along with also having to be at the mercy of ISP’s that are vultures just so I can play the content. Another potential additional cost for many. Along with the problems that are always popping up ISP and provider wise it is better for many to just stay with cable. Pretty similar total price and on 99% of the time with near instant play and control with a simple remote control. I don’t want it as I, unlike many, can get by with my $30 package of channels and get by with my 10M net service. Sling, PVue are other options and that is good, but they are still getting an awful lot of money out of us to pay for what we may not need or want.