Hey Reddit folks! I’m kinda out of ideas and hoping someone here might know more than the blogs and forums I’ve been reading the past few days.

So, the situation. I used to have a semi-decent system for getting shows I wanted to watch offline - nothing shady, just for travel or when internet sucks. Lately though, it feels like everything is drying up or breaking. I tried searching how to download TV shows on Google and all I get is either spammy-looking sites or articles that say "use X downloader," but none of them actually seem to work anymore. Half the tools are either discontinued, full of malware, or just can't handle subscription platforms at all.

I tried following some advice from a thread on LinusTechTips and one on StackExchange, something about stream rippers. Downloaders like 4K Video Downloader used to be decent, but now they’re super limited unless you pay (and even then, some sites don’t work). I also looked at a few YouTube guides, but a lot of them are outdated- the stuff they show either doesn’t exist anymore or gets blocked as soon as you try it.

Someone on a Discord I’m in mentioned using screen recording instead. That sorta works (and yeah, I tried it with something like OBS and Movavi screen recorders), but honestly... it's kinda a pain. Takes forever, especially if you wanna record a whole season, and the quality isn't always great unless you babysit it.

I'm not trying to build a pirate library here, I just want to be able to watch shows I already have access to (Netflix, Disney+, etc.) without buffering or needing wifi. I know some of these platforms offer "offline mode," but the limitations are super annoying - time-limited downloads, region locks, can't move files between devices, etc. Kinda defeats the whole point.

And like, I get that content protection is a big deal, but honestly, it feels like users who aren’t trying to do anything shady just get screwed over. I travel a lot for work, and even just trying to have a couple of episodes saved to watch on a plane is now way harder than it should be. I even tried messing with dev tools and network inspectors in the browser (saw that mentioned on Reddit somewhere) but either I’m too dumb for that or it just doesn’t work anymore.

So I’m wondering:

• Are there any updated tools or workflows for downloading (or saving) episodes legally or at least safely?

• Anyone using browser extensions or dev tools to grab cached files?

• Is screen recording really the only way left?

• Are there tools that actualy work in 2025, or is everything just cat & mouse at this point?

Would really appreciate any tips. I just want to know what my options are before I waste another weekend chasing dead ends on the internet... or worse, reinstalling half a dozen programs only to find they’re all duds.