Do you remember the old TV channels and cable shows that did not extort a monthly subscription from you? In today's world, where we have to pay a fee every time we want to watch content created for us, Pluto TV comes as a breath of fresh air.
Pluto is an on-demand video channel owned by ViacomCBS Streaming. Founded in 2013, Pluto TV is completely free to watch and carries hundreds of shows from Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, AMC, and MTV channels.
Pluto works in the same way traditional TV works, by airing ads between the shows. It's intended to give today's young generation a retro feel for how television used to be in previous generations while maintaining the freedom of watching your content in any medium, be it TV, phone, or laptop.
It offers a credible choice to the Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu's of the world who offer only subscription plans. And it's doing pretty well: it has nearly 54 mn active users and growing exponentially!
Pluto TV is not exactly like a traditional TV channel: You can't access all this content if you don't have the internet. Even if the content is free, it is a streaming video service, so you need to have a strong internet connection to run the programs.
You might think that I'm nitpicking here, but there are several reasons I would rather have Pluto TV minus the internet than streaming the content all the time.
Firstly, while Pluto works fine if you have a good bandwidth on one device, the more devices you have, the slower it gets. So if your mom is watching her favorite reality show using the TV, your sis is in her room watching cartoons, and you are running your favorite movie on your iPad, the three of you are bound to experience a bit of buffering and slow streaming.
Regular users mention 7Mbps as the minimum speed you need for one device, but there is no clear guideline from the good folks at Pluto for multiple devices.
What If You Don't Have The Internet?
I travel a lot, and not all flights have the internet. If I want to stream my favorite content from Pluto TV, I have no option, despite being a subscriber to their services.
Pluto is a free channel, and ads support the content. I get it. But just because that's their business model does not mean I have to like the ads. If I can get a way to watch the content without having to watch the pesky ads, of course, I will jump at it.
Streaming content gathers no moss. What I mean is that there are no media files that I can share with friends and family if I love a joke or a scene on TV. That's not how people watch TV these days, retro experience aside.
Even if my friend agrees to take the long route:
It may not always work because due to the geo-blocking policy of Pluto TV, he will not be able to watch the content if he is outside the US.
Thankfully, there is a way to watch these videos even if you don't have access to the internet. After a fair bit of research, I was able to find two applications that could help me download the content and run it without being online:
While there are significant differences between the way these two applications work, they both let you download videos in batches and store them for viewing later on. Let me talk more about both of them.
If you are a fan of Pluto TV and want to watch the content without the inhibitions of ads and an always-on internet connection, StreamFab Downloader is the way to go. Let's look at what StreamFab Pluto TV downloader can do:
Typically such downloading applications usually create a low-quality grainy video with poor sound quality, just like we used to watch bootlegged copies of movies in the 90s.
But this ain't the 90s folks! StreamFab downloads videos in 720p (720 x 1280) resolution, and an AAC soundtrack. So you can kick back, relax, and enjoy your favorite content in the same quality that you would have watched by streaming online.
One of the best features of this downloader, and one which makes me recommend it even if you don't need the product for any other feature, is that you don't have to spend time watching the ads.
The downloader will automatically skip over the ads as it records your content, saving you a lot of time and giving you the same experience as other streaming video channels.
StreamFabs product downloads videos in MP4 format, which means that you don't have to worry about the files not working on your phone, TV, or laptop. MP4 is the world's most prominent video format, so you don't need to spend time finding video converters on the internet.
Being a non-native English speaker, subtitles have always been important for me. I was worried that subtitles might not be available after downloading pluto tv movies, but lo and behold! Not only can I download the subtitles, but I can also either remux them directly into the video or store them separately in an SRT file.
Similarly, you can also get the metadata like the names of the star cast, and the episode title downloaded. Without this metadata, you will be spending hours sorting your video collection.
These videos are meant to be streamed; they are typically quite heavy files. However, StreamFab Pluto TV downloader could get the downloads done surprisingly quickly. Not only that, I could download entire seasons by setting up the batch download option.
Preserve metadata info of downloaded Pluto TV videos
Overall, despite so many excellent features, I felt the pricing for the product was quite reasonable. Of course, the 1-month plan is a bit expensive ($49.99).
But if you are a regular user, the 1-year plan at $64.99 is a great option to download all Pluto TV content as and when you please. They even throw in their upgrades throughout the year with that plan.
If you are dead serious about getting all your Pluto TV content downloaded, the lifetime plan is a super value for money at only $84.49.
The best thing is you don't have to worry about paying money and getting a bad product. StreamFab offers a complete 30-day money-back guarantee so that you can go ahead and buy their product without any worries.
You can even get issue resolution within 48 hours from their super quick customer service desk. Just reach out to them and they will help sort out any troubles you are having.
Playon. TV is another good product that you can consider if you want to download Pluto TV movies not just from Pluto TV but a whole host of other streaming channels.
Playon.TV offers many of the same features as StreamFab Pluto TV downloader. It can download your videos and play them ad-free; it can even get you the metadata and the subtitle files for usage. It has two types of plans:
While Playon home is quite reasonably priced ($4.99 per month), it did not solve my problem since I needed the videos while traveling and on my mobile so that I could watch them whenever I wanted. PlayOn Cloud has different plans based on the size of the videos that you download:
Storage |
Price |
---|---|
100 GB |
$4.99 |
500 GB |
$9.99 |
1TB |
$16.99 |
2TB |
$29.99 |
4TB |
$49.99 |
As you can see, they don't have a lifetime plan, and the 1-month plan that StreamFab gives you offers unlimited downloads at $49.99, whereas on Playon Cloud, you will be restricted to 4TB.
There are other major differences as well:
Keeping these factors in mind, I think I can safely say that for a heavy downloader like me who wants to watch all his content without ads and without streaming, StreamFab is the only choice that works.
So now that you know how to download Pluto TV videos and watch them without ad breaks anywhere, even if there is no internet, what are you waiting for? Download the StreamFab Pluto TV downloader today and start watching!