While Sling TV makes a pretty compelling offering for those who want to ditch expensive conventional television service, its all-live setup is something of a bummer - recording has become so ingrained in the premium TV mindset that it's hard to give up. The company is rectifying that shortcoming with Cloud DVR, a (wait for it) DVR service that uses cloud storage to hold recorded TV episodes and other content. It's in closed beta right now - prospective users can sign up and cross their fingers at this address.

A cloud storage-based DVR has a few advantages over an old-fashioned satellite or cable box. One, it can record more or less unlimited shows at once, since it's all coming from the central server - customers don't have to pay for two, three, or four lines of television just to get that basic watch-and-record concurrent functionality. Second, all recorded content should be available to Sling TV's apps on any platform, be it a set-top box, a phone, or the web. Other DVRs can do that too, but they usually require some kind of dedicated stream to the set-top box that physically holds the recording. With cloud storage, no such limitation is in place.

At the moment participants in the beta are receiving 100 hours of storage on the cloud system, which is fairly generous. It isn't clear if all Sling users will get access to a set amount, but they will be able to pay for more. The DVR function will be integrated in the "My TV" section of Sling's existing apps when it's ready for a public rollout.

Source: Sling TV blog