Sling just gave its DVR feature a massive upgrade — but there's a catch

The Sling TV app button on the Apple TV home screen.

(Image credit: Henry T. Casey / Tom's Guide)

Sling is our pick for the best cable alternative. You get a ton of features, can pick from multiple channel packages and premium add-ons, and despite a recent price hike, it's still cheaper than its competition. Yes, that includes the recently announced DirecTV MySports sports-only streaming package. But one thing where it falls short is its cloud DVR, which had been capped at 200 hours of storage.

“With Unlimited DVR and our exclusive Auto Record, Sling TV continues to redefine what value and convenience look like for streaming customers. This enhancement ensures that our subscribers can capture and enjoy their favorite shows, movies, and events on their terms, anytime and anywhere.”
Seth Van Sickel, SVP Product and Operations, DISH Video Services

Thankfully, that's now changed. Sling announced in a press release yesterday (Jan. 15) that it's upgrading its premium DVR Plus add-on from 200 hours of maximum storage to unlimited cloud storage, and keeps your recordings stored for up to nine months. In a fitting move, Sling is also rebranding the name of this feature to Unlimited DVR.

But getting unlimited DVR storage isn't the only perk you get from this upgraded cloud DVR. You also get an auto-record feature that allows you to replay top sports, TV shows and movies (note: to turn on auto-record you need to opt-in via your account settings). Sling says this feature is exclusive to Sling, but unless I missed something in the press release, this feels like what I can do with my YouTube TV cloud DVR. Still, it's a great feature to have.

Aside from unlimited storage and auto-record, Sling's Unlimited DVR feature also allows you to fast-forward through commercials and thanks to its cloud-based technology, you don't need any additional hardware and can watch your recordings from any device with a Sling TV app.

Of course, there is a catch: You have to pay for this storage. Unlimited DVR costs an additional $5 on top of your Sling subscription, which itself starts at $43 for Sling Orange or Sling Blue or starts at $61 for Sling Orange + Blue. If you don't want to pay though, you still get some storage for free. Sling's DVR Free plan comes with your Sling TV subscription and includes 50 hours of storage and keeps your recordings for nine months. If you're using Freestream, Sling's free streaming service, you get Freestream DVR, which gives you 10 hours of storage for free and keeps your recordings stored on the cloud for up to 30 days.

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Malcolm McMillan is a senior writer for Tom's Guide, covering all the latest in streaming TV shows and movies. That means news, analysis, recommendations, reviews and more for just about anything you can watch, including sports! If it can be seen on a screen, he can write about it. Previously, Malcolm had been a staff writer for Tom's Guide for over a year, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), A/V tech and VR headsets.

Before writing for Tom's Guide, Malcolm worked as a fantasy football analyst writing for several sites and also had a brief stint working for Microsoft selling laptops, Xbox products and even the ill-fated Windows phone. He is passionate about video games and sports, though both cause him to yell at the TV frequently. He proudly sports many tattoos, including an Arsenal tattoo, in honor of the team that causes him to yell at the TV the most.