AT&T’s DirecTV Now online streaming service goes live tomorrow, and the best pricing will only be available for a limited time. That’s a problem, because the service is missing key features at launch and it’s not clear when they’ll arrive.

The biggest technical limitations might be the lack of recording functionality and the inability to pause live TV for more than a few seconds. DirecTV Now won’t have DVR functionality until sometime next year, according to several news reports. If DVR launches in January or February, then it isn’t such a huge deal, but if the functionality only comes late in 2017 that would dramatically reduce the value proposition for customers who sign up right away to lock in the most favorable pricing.

It’s not even definite that DVR functionality will come to DirecTV Now in 2017. When contacted by Ars today, the company said that “DVR and pause capability is coming in the future, likely next year.” (For customers’ sake, we hope “likely next year” doesn’t turn into “2018.”)