PlayOn Media Server For $19.99

H

-HAZE-

CAGiversary!
This is one of the best things I've ever bought. I use it every day to watch videos on Hulu and Netflix. I actually got a Netflix account because of this excellent program. They are always updating and adding new features, they recently added an option to stream your own files from your PC to your PS3, 360, or Wii. They also have plugins available now, one of which allows you to watch all videos on the NFL Network. That's great for me because my cable company does not offer the channel. It's a one time fee and you get free updates for life.

Plus plugins are available for download from playonplugins.com that include:
  • Adultswim
  • Channel9
  • Food Network
  • GameTrailers.com
  • HGTV
  • Local Files
  • NBA
  • NFL
  • Plugin Organizer
  • Podcasts (OPML Player) -- with dozens of available feeds!
  • International channels: Danish DR and Spanish TVE
*Adult - YouPorn and RedTube*

At $19.99 it's a steal.

http://www.themediamall.com/purchase

Coupon Code - PLAYON1999



Ends 6/30/09 (email says June 31st. June has 30 days)

*Update 6/29* Hulu has disabled access from the PS3 BROWSER. Hulu still works with PlayOn. This is even more of a reason to get this great program.

http://gizmodo.com/5303546/ps3-no-longer-supporting-hulu
 
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[quote name='-HAZE-']
Guys, a heads up that Hulu has disabled access from the PS3 BROWSER with the latest firmware upgrade.

This is more of a reason to get PlayOn. Hulu will still work with PlayOn.

http://gizmodo.com/5303546/ps3-no-longer-supporting-hulu
[/QUOTE]

Or, maybe they think Hulu is out to block all third party streaming services/software and have dropped the price to sell as many copies as possible before it happens. Maybe they even have an idea of when, hence the "sale" deadline.

Hulu blocking PS3s may actually be more of a warning sign not to buy this, especially if your primary motivation is to watch Hulu with it. This company cannot guarantee that their software will always work with Hulu. It could get blocked on July 1st for all we know ;)

$20 is not much of a risk, though, so I don't think I'd worry about it too much regardless.
 
Well I'm not sure if anyone else is having a problem but right now I can't access hulu through it and if it's now blocked I'm fucking pissed. Hulu is the biggest pull that play on has.
 
Question is, does it work for other sites other than Hulu? I mean, there's *a lot* out there for streaming sites. If it works for say, Youtube or others, it still may be worth it, especially if people can find run arounds for Hulu.

How's it work as a general media server?

Right now I'm using Tversity, and it has issues with Hulu too (when I play hulu, if there's a commercial break in the middle of a show, it loses the sound . . . Boooo! No more Family Guy :( ). But, for media server, I just drag n' drop media in the right folder, and bam, it's on my PS3.
 
I've currently got a PC set up with a VGA connection to my television. Is PlayOn better than just streaming whatever I want to stream with my PC?
 
I really like that PlayOn can be added as a UPnP Device in XBMC. With XBMC plugins and PlayOn's plugins, it makes all kinds of media feeds accessible on my old Xbox. Sweet!

[quote name='Chlorox']Well I'm not sure if anyone else is having a problem but right now I can't access hulu through it and if it's now blocked I'm fucking pissed. Hulu is the biggest pull that play on has.[/QUOTE]

Just tried it. Hulu is working for me.
 
[quote name='Kurai_Seraphim']I've currently got a PC set up with a VGA connection to my television. Is PlayOn better than just streaming whatever I want to stream with my PC?[/QUOTE]

It isn't as high quality as HDMI through a PC (at least with HULU). Check out the free trial and see.
 
[quote name='Miranda']When I tried the beta a long while back, it didn't work well for me with my 360. But I just gave the trial another go today and it's so much better than when I used it before. Definitely seems to be worth the $20.[/QUOTE]

The server can be a little funny sometimes, it doesn't always work right away, sometimes you need to restart the sever and it's all good.


[quote name='Tomeeboy']
$20 is not much of a risk, though, so I don't think I'd worry about it too much regardless.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. And there are many other features other than Hulu, but I will agree that Hulu is great with this.
 
[quote name='Miranda']I really like that PlayOn can be added as a UPnP Device in XBMC. With XBMC plugins and PlayOn's plugins, it makes all kinds of media feeds accessible on my old Xbox. Sweet!



Just tried it. Hulu is working for me.[/QUOTE]


Great to know it's still working for others. Hopefully just a fluke on my end.
 
Hulu works infinitely better on PlayOn than TVersity IMO. And the Netflix actually looks better on PS3 than the 360. The interface isn't as nice or fast...but the video quality is noticeably better. For $20 I bit and you should too
 
[quote name='geekpimpfx']Hulu works infinitely better on PlayOn than TVersity IMO. And the Netflix actually looks better on PS3 than the 360. The interface isn't as nice or fast...but the video quality is noticeably better. For $20 I bit and you should too[/QUOTE]

Nice, that's good to know. I always wondered how it compared to the 360 Netflix.
 
The company behind PlayOn is a little iffy.

I payed $40 for it and then later I got an email saying that they were going to force/cancel my software license in 7 days because I had it installed on my laptop and my desktop.

I sent them an email saying in a very nice way.. Eff off you're barking up the wrong tree harassing paying customers when you should be going after the real pirates.

Seriously pissed me off.
 
[quote name='Kurai_Seraphim']I've currently got a PC set up with a VGA connection to my television. Is PlayOn better than just streaming whatever I want to stream with my PC?[/QUOTE]

Well, you could spend $20 on PlayOn or $10 on a remote for your computer if you don't already have one. I have a remote that kind of sucks for navigation, so I use a wireless 360 controller with the windows usb dongle.

PlayOn requires your computer to be on anyway, so you're using more energy by adding the 360 into that. The combination of xbmc, boxee, and hulu's desktop client is MUCH better than what playon has to offer, and works way better. Hulu's desktop client has a lot more functionality and is available on their site. For example, you can skip to any point in a video, see recommendations, add videos to your queue, subsribe to shows, etc.

Boxee is a little rough for me in alpha right now, but it's getting better. XBMC is still my favorite way to watch media from my computer (except hulu) and they have a ton of plugins to watch gametrailers, cbs, revision 3, apple trailers, youtube, etc. I've been using XBMC on my modded xbox for 4 years and I've been using it on my PC for a couple of months. It's a solid product. All of the software I mentioned is free and being continually updated. If your computer isn't in your living room, PlayOn is a good way to bring Hulu, Netflix, etc to your tv. But if you've already got a computer connected to your tv, I think you've got a better setup.
 
[quote name='Kenrik']The company behind PlayOn is a little iffy.

I payed $40 for it and then later I got an email saying that they were going to force/cancel my software license in 7 days because I had it installed on my laptop and my desktop.

I sent them an email saying in a very nice way.. Eff off you're barking up the wrong tree harassing paying customers when you should be going after the real pirates.

Seriously pissed me off.[/QUOTE]

I got the same email. I was a bit miffed about it, but realized that they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it being installed two computers owned by me versus it being installed on my comp and a friend's comp. This being all beside the point, since the license is for only one computer.

So I was going to write them a letter explaining my particular situation and ask them for a coupon to get a second license at a discount, but then I saw this thread and just bought my second license with this deal.

I suppose I could be angry about the email, but I try to remember that this is a small developer catering to a nice market who probably needs all the help they can get.
 
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[quote name='tcolberg']I got the same email. I was a bit miffed about it, but realized that they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it being installed two computers owned by me versus it being installed on my comp and a friend's comp. This being all beside the point, since the license is for only one computer.

So I was going to write them a letter explaining my particular situation and ask them for a coupon to get a second license at a discount, but then I saw this thread and just bought my second license with this deal.

I suppose I could be angry about the email, but I try to remember that this is a small developer catering to a nice market who probably needs all the help they can get.[/QUOTE]

I don't see why they couldn't bother to see if they were using the same IP. I ran the trial on two computers. My laptop and my desktop. I use both and I don't think it's unreasonable to not have to always keep my desktop or always keep my laptop on to use it.
 
[quote name='Layd Dly']Dont even have silverlight installed its a fairly fresh version of Win 7.[/QUOTE]

Is it any video or just Netflix? Netflix uses Silverlight, so you'll need to have that installed to watch Netflix. Netflix also plays through Windows Media Player. So make sure that is updated too. There are also DRM fixes and a WMP repair program. But your best bet is to just submit a ticket through the PlayOn Server on your PC. They'll tell you exactly what you need to do.
 
Single user license means you can have it running from one machine at any one time? Or does it mean you can only install it once? I bought a license, but I currently have a really outdated computer... planning to buy a new one soon, and I was going to transfer the program and license to that one. Is that allowed?
 
[quote name='fujishig']Single user license means you can have it running from one machine at any one time? Or does it mean you can only install it once? I bought a license, but I currently have a really outdated computer... planning to buy a new one soon, and I was going to transfer the program and license to that one. Is that allowed?[/QUOTE]

sounds fine to me... you should probably just email them beforehand to clear things up ahead of time though
 
I didn't see it mentioned and really it's mostly just an afterthought, but their local media server feature is in beta and is a nice added bonus, just to have it all in one place. Beats having to mess around with transcode 360 (which was what I was using previously) as that didn't always handle aspect ratios as well as I would have liked.
I know there's plenty of free ways to handle actual video files, but you wont hear me complaining about all-in-one.

Bought my license back when it was coming out of beta and have no regrets even through some of the mentioned hulu "outages" and other technical difficulties.
 
[quote name='fujishig']Single user license means you can have it running from one machine at any one time? Or does it mean you can only install it once? I bought a license, but I currently have a really outdated computer... planning to buy a new one soon, and I was going to transfer the program and license to that one. Is that allowed?[/QUOTE]

It means that they don't want you running the program on more than one system at once. I think it would suffice to uninstall it from your old system once you move it to the newer one.

@ louiedog: We did sign a EULA that specified that we'd only run the software on one system. They're probably just checking to see if two different computers are pinging their servers at the same time, meaning that if only one comp is on at one time, they probably wouldn't notice. Then again, you could always write them an email and plead your case.
 
I'm very close to finally buying it. If I can get my Netflix to work properly again I'll bite by the end of today. I keep getting an error from Netflix that I have too many videos being watched simultaneously...
 
I installed it last night and couldn't get Hulu to work on it either.

Then I tried Netflix and the video was stuttering. I'm sure that's due to both my laptop and PS3 being connected via wireless, but that's the only solution I have, so I'm going to pass.
 
Tested and purchased last night. I had stuttering, but from what i read, at least one connection needs to be wired. Now everything seems to run fine on the HIGH setting. I still get errors when I try MAX.
 
[quote name='MorPhiend']Is it any video or just Netflix? Netflix uses Silverlight, so you'll need to have that installed to watch Netflix. Netflix also plays through Windows Media Player. So make sure that is updated too. There are also DRM fixes and a WMP repair program. But your best bet is to just submit a ticket through the PlayOn Server on your PC. They'll tell you exactly what you need to do.[/QUOTE]

no netflix, made a little progress yesterday by booting into my vista x86 and running it, but many videos still were corrupted, but hulu at least gave me screen shots and would play the opening hulu short but stop on the commercial warning and never go anywhere. and today when i tried again in win 7 i got the same results as i did in vista.
 
I don't have a Netflix subscription to test, but I have a custom HTPC that runs XBMC that is working great with Hulu. The HTPC is running Vista x86 and is running both PlayOn and XBMC. I know I could just use the Hulu Desktop, but being able to stay in the XBMC interface and having it fully remote controlled was worth the $20.
 
Hmmm, I'm close to buying it but Netflix doesn't work very well it seems. I can't skip far ahead in a movie, I can't fast forward 1 minute or 2 minutes at a time through a movie or it ends up freezing. This happens on both Xbox 360 and PS3 and on wired connection. Is this normal PlayOn operation or is it my PC's fault? I'd hate to buy it but be forced to watch a movie or TV show from the beginning every time.
 
I didn't know much about playon until I read this forum, after d/ling the trial, I loved it and jumped on the deal before it expired, thanks Op!!!!
 
Hm, so it ties it to one computer. I was thinking about building a new rig soon. I dunno if it's worth it in that case.
 
[quote name='2&2']Hm, so it ties it to one computer. I was thinking about building a new rig soon. I dunno if it's worth it in that case.[/QUOTE]

The program doesn't have any activation, you just need to enter the serial number you get.

The person that reported problems issue was probably that he had it running on two PCs at the same time and they detected that. If you build your new rig and just remove it from your old one you shouldn't have any problems.
 
The wifey and I tried this out last night...pretty awesome...I went ahead and purchased a license today...hell, it's only $20...
 
[quote name='2&2']Hm, so it ties it to one computer. I was thinking about building a new rig soon. I dunno if it's worth it in that case.[/QUOTE]

Yea, or that person could have been running it from 2 different ip addresses. I have it on my 2 laptops and my desktop but only run one instance at a time and never had an issue.

BTW, I just tested the coupon code and it's still working.
 
As long as you only use it one computer at a time you can have your reg code on as many computers as you like. They just won't let you watch on two or more computers at the exact same time.
 
True, but if you used the coupon code you could have (as of yesterday) bought two licenses for the price of one. This is one of the only registrations i have ever thought enough of to buy. :applause:

[quote name='lllGurulll']As long as you only use it one computer at a time you can have your reg code on as many computers as you like. They just won't let you watch on two or more computers at the exact same time.[/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='fyrflash1969']you know you can just use your ps3 web browser and get to 90% of that stuff without playon.. and its faster...[/QUOTE]

Which is great expect that Hulu just started blocking the PS3 browser. And from some quick Googling it appears that Netflix doesn't work either.

Sure you can still get at Youtube, ESPN, CBS, and possibly Amazon VOD. But I'd say the majority of the people looking at PlayOn want it for either Hulu or Netflix.
 
[quote name='fyrflash1969']you know you can just use your ps3 web browser and get to 90% of that stuff without playon.. and its faster...[/QUOTE]

I think it's faster and more convenient to use PlayOn, or some other kind of media server... especially when everything is listed right in front of you in easily viewable categories w/ thumbnails. It's like having a DVR packed with hundreds of shows and movies. Then again, I don't use this on a PS3, I use it on my 360 with a media remote. Maybe it's more cumbersome to use on PS3 or something, but I think it's extremely easy to use on 360. I could pull all of this stuff up on my PC and stream it to the TV using cables I already have connected, but that's not as convenient.
 
[quote name='SScorpio']Which is great expect that Hulu just started blocking the PS3 browser. And from some quick Googling it appears that Netflix doesn't work either.

Sure you can still get at Youtube, ESPN, CBS, and possibly Amazon VOD. But I'd say the majority of the people looking at PlayOn want it for either Hulu or Netflix.[/QUOTE]

Bingo.
 
Unlike TVersity which was a chore and a half to get running, Playon installed and worked pretty effortlessly. All the extra plugins to watch videos on other websites (South Park, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Syfy, etc.) are quite nice too.
 
Excellent! With my Xbox Live gold account set to expire next month, I wont have to renew just for Netflix.
 
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