PlayOn Review: Is It Legit for Recording Your Favorite Shows to Watch Offline?

If you are looking for a cable TV alternative–PlayOn may just be the answer you have been searching for. PlayOn allows you to enjoy your favorite TV shows, and movies from websites such as Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and more, whenever or wherever you want.

No internet, no problem – you can still watch your recorded shows. It’s like a universal DVR.

What Can I Record with PlayOn?

In addition to Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube, PlayOn subscribers get access to sports content from ESPN, NHL.com, MLB.TV, ESPN3 and NFL Rewind. You also get access to CBS, Comedy Central, TV.com, TBS, Oprah Winfrey, SyFy Rewind, Adult Swim, Spike TV, CNN, Fox News, PBS, PBS Kids, Nick, Cartoon Network, Amazon VOD, YouTube, MTV, BET, VEVO, and Pandora (PlayOn Music).

There are also the dozens of great channels available from third-party PlayOn plugins: Crackle, Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, and many international channels.

You can see a full list of all the channels PlayOn supports on their website.

PlayOn Plans

PlayOn has two separate but complementary services, PlayOn Home and PlayOn Cloud.

PlayOn Home

PlayOn Home is a Windows PC app that records, downloads, and casts personal recordings from supported video subscription services. You can watch your recordings any time (on- or offline), ad-free, on any supported device. Because they’re stored on your hard drive, recordings never expire.

It also consolidates your streaming services and channels into a single app you can watch on your PC.

PlayOn isn’t a replacement for Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, etc. You still need a subscription to the service to record from it.

The app itself is free to download, but to use the service, you’ll need a PlayOn Home Plan, which starts at $4.99/mo. Currently, PlayOn is having an Independence Sale and a Home Plan is only $17.76 for a year.

Minimum system requirements to run the PlayOn Home app:

  • Microsoft Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7.
  • Windows Internet Explorer 9 at a minimum. Latest version of Internet Explorer available for your OS is desired.
  • 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended).
  • Internet connection

PlayOn Cloud

If you don’t have a PC or don’t want to muck around with downloading recordings to your computer, you can opt for PlayOn Cloud.

PlayOn Cloud is a mobile app for iOS and Android. Instead of unlimited downloads, you get a credit allotment per month that you can use to record to a personal storage cloud.

Recordings are kept for one week by default, but you can upgrade your plan to include storage. All plans come with 30 credits per month, with the option to buy more “anytime credits” that never expire.

You don’t need a plan to use the credits, but it is the cheapest way to get them, and the only way to get any permanent storage.

A recording-only plan with no cloud storage is just $2.99/mo. Recording + Cloud Storage plans start at $4.99/mo for 100 GB and go up to $49.99/mo for 4 TB.

Credits can be purchased in-app, but they’re cheaper on the website: $7.50 for 50, $35 for 250, or $65 for 500. The aforementioned Independence Sale has a special on credits, too: 1776 credits for $177.60 (or 10¢ a credit.)

Signing Up For a PlayOn Plan

No technical knowledge is required, and you can set up your account in just a few easy steps:

  • Subscribe to PlayOn with a 30-day money-back guarantee
  • Download and install the PlayOn app on your PC (Home) or mobile device (Cloud)
  • Go to Settings and enter your credentials
  • Click the PlayOn icon on your game console, media player or mobile device
  • Enjoy total content freedom on your TV

We think you’ll really like PlayOn because it’s an easy way to see the shows you want when you want, and you don’t have to pay for cable.

Does PlayOn work with Sling TV?

PlayOn does not generally work with Sling TV. You cannot record anything except for ESPN with PlayOn. The problem relates to how channels work with Sling TV credentials. Of course, you can just use the included DVR to record Sling TV’s live channels.

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Frank Moraes
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15 Comments

  • Hi Leslie – so sorry i just now saw this comment. Not sure how this got missed. Did you end up getting answers to your questions?

  • Thanks for the great website Dave. I'm trying to figure out how PayOn and PlayLater work for multiple devices simultaneously. For example, can my son watch something using PlayOn or Playlater via his Xbox 360>TV at the same time I can watch something using PlayOn or Playlater via a Chromecast>TV at the same time my husband can watch something via a Wii>TV? I'm just trying to figure out how this could all work on a weekend under the worst case scenario when everyone is off so I don't have to listen to them gripe when they can't watch what they want. LOL

  • Just so you know – your links to PlayOn don’t work.

    • Really they did not work for you? Just tested them and they work fine for me.

  • hey killthecablebill, you should add [link removed] and [link removed] for user reference. without these websites, i would have never downloaded playon and, in the end, killed my cable bill 😀

    • Thanks so much for sharing these pages with us! What else can you tell us about how to use these sites to better our Playon experience?
      I know my readers would love to hear more details about the setup that helped you HotDog.com!!

    • What can you tell us about playon scripts? Are they legal? How do they work? What do you get by downloading these scripts? Thanks for your help Vegetto! Really appreciate the tips.

    • yes, they will work on all dlna media enabled devices

  • Can I hook it up with a Wifi Bluray and/or Wifi HDTV instead of a networked PS3, Xbox 360, Wii or DLNA compliant device? I’m also tired of the non-sense cable/sat bills. I heard you can set up a Tivo HD DVR for $12/mo and Netlix for $8.99/mo, but you have to buy a digital antenna for about $100 (one time fee) and you’re all set.
    Thanks for the interesting info ;o))

    • Hi Hayju

      There are a lot of new devices coming out that support Playon, but I would check with your specific Blu-ray and TV to see if they are compatible. Most devices that dont support Playon – do support Netflix and Hulu – so i would look into those as well.

      Concerning the Indoor Antenna, you dont have to pay $100 for a quality device. Read my article “HD Without Cable – Using a Simple Indoor Antenna” https://hotdog.com/hd-without-cable/ to learn more about this option.

      I also have a great piece written by my friend Chris Sully of JumpstartMyPC.com called “Dumping DirectTV for Tivo” https://hotdog.com/finding-a-cable-alternative/
      This article goes through exactly how to use Tivo to replace a standard cable tv bill.

      One final article you should read is “How to Cancel Cable & Keep your Favorite TV Shows” https://hotdog.com/how-to-cancel-cable/
      This will give you a good overview of how you can Cancel Cable and still watch all your Favorite TV Shows, at a fraction of the cost, and on your TV in HD.

      Good luck and please check back in and let me know how things go.

    • Hi Hayju

      There are a lot of new devices coming out that support Playon, but I would check with your specific Blu-ray and TV to see if they are compatible. Most devices that dont support Playon – do support Netflix and Hulu – so i would look into those as well.

      Concerning the Indoor Antenna, you dont have to pay $100 for a quality device. Read my article “HD Without Cable – Using a Simple Indoor Antenna” https://hotdog.com/hd-without-cable/ to learn more about this option.

      I also have a great piece written by my friend Chris Sully of JumpstartMyPC.com called “Dumping DirectTV for Tivo” https://hotdog.com/finding-a-cable-alternative/
      This article goes through exactly how to use Tivo to replace a standard cable tv bill.

      One final article you should read is “How to Cancel Cable & Keep your Favorite TV Shows” https://hotdog.com/how-to-cancel-cable/
      This will give you a good overview of how you can Cancel Cable and still watch all your Favorite TV Shows, at a fraction of the cost, and on your TV in HD.

      Good luck and please check back in and let me know how things go.

  • Downloaded it and I am sold. Got all my online stations on my TV – via my PS3. Bye Bye Cable. Think i will take a trip to Hawaii with all the money I am going to save this year.

    • Awesome! Hawaii sounds like a great Idea. I too have save thousands over the last few years by using the tips and tools i discuss on this site. Mahalo

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