Playon - My Thoughts

[PopcornNMore]

During the past two weeks I've been using the "Playon" app for the Roku streaming device on the 14 day free trial. My first impression was that the interface was well designed and that this could actually be used by someone wanting to reduce or eliminate their monthly cable or satellite subscription. The number of channels and programming choices is very good and even some retro programming such as "The Brady Bunch", "Gilligan's Island", "The Flintstones", "The Andy Griffith Show", "The Jetsons" and others can be viewed and even recorded using Playon's new Playlater feature. I also liked how plugins can be easily added to expand the programming choices and that Hulu is included to allow programming not available on Hulu Plus to be streamed to your TV.

However, I found that in order for the Playon server app to work correctly without any re-buffering a computer having a CPU of 2.0GHz and memory of 4GB or greater is needed. Also, some channels (ex: History) have known problems when using a computer having Windows 8 and none of the programming is shown in HD.

Playon is currently offering a lifetime membership for only $39.99. Is the service (or I should probably say software) worth $39.99? While this might be a good choice for some people I will probably not subscribe. For $39.95 I could subscribe to Hulu Plus for 5 months which offers HD programming, better streaming without needing a separate computer and many more programming choices including movies.

I just streamed "The Neighbors" episode "The Gingerbread Man" in HD via Hulu Plus on one input and the same episode in HD previously recorded on my Dish Network VIP722K DVR on another and switched back and forth. To my surprise the Hulu Plus HD picture looked better than the Dish Network HD picture which was highly compressed and lacked detail.

 

[Mr Tony]

Thanks for the thoughts. I thought of adding playon to my Roku but was confused about the computer part. My computer is older so I think I'll skip it

 

[primestar31]

I have owned Playon for several years now, it's well worth the $39.95 lifetime. I originally ran it on a standard desktop single core Pentium 1.4 ghz pc with Windows XP 32 bit, 3.5 gb ram (that's all XP can really "see") and it ran after some tweaking but maxes cpu out. I presently am using it on a dual core 2.2ghz Acer desktop with Windows 7 64 bit 4 gb ram, and it runs much better without maxing out the cores.

I use the older WDTVLive unit instead of a Roku though, and also have TB's of shows on various drives already.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Primestar31, how soon does the programming update on the various channels? Also, how well does the recording feature work?

 

[Blindowl1234]

Ran it with Acer desktop with dual core with 2.2 Ghz and 4Mb ram using Vista....no problems. Just got a Gateway 3.6 Ghz with 6 Mb ram using Win8...no problem...Cable company internet shows I'm getting 15mbps as well.
Running it with ethernet cable to Roku XS no problems.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Ran it with Acer desktop with dual core with 2.2 Ghz and 4Mb ram using Vista....no problems. Just got a Gateway 3.6 Ghz with 6 Mb ram using Win8...no problem...Cable company internet shows I'm getting 15mbps as well.
Running it with ethernet cable to Roku XS no problems.

I still have 2 more days before the free trial ends, so perhaps I'll give it another try this weekend. I should also show my wife to get her opinion.

 

[primestar31]

Primestar31, how soon does the programming update on the various channels? Also, how well does the recording feature work?

"Playlater" is the recording program from the Playon people, and I don't have that feature as it's a separate cost and software. So, I can't tell you anything about it.

The "channels" aren't really live, it accesses sites like Hulu or Amazon, or Crackle, Netflix, etc and such that have shows archived, and it transcodes them into a stream that allows whatever device you are using to watch it on your tv set or even sling it to your phone or mobile device. You could do the same by just using a laptop or desktop pc running an HDMI card, and right through the browser on Windows. It just depends on how you want to do it all. So, programming updates whenever the sites update it. Also, Playon pushes software updates all the time when sites make changes that stop it from working.

It is all done in SD resolution at present, and there is NO way to do it in HD at present (it takes too much resources in overhead), so if that is a concern for you, don't bother with Playon.

http://www.playon.tv/

Channels built in: http://www.playon.tv/channels

 

[BarbaraW]

I have playon and I love it. All the series (and I mean all, including Game of thrones, True blood etc) are on a lot of the scripts,pluggins whatever you want to call them. The best one is 1channel. Wide variety of series, including British series before they hit the US (i.e. I have already watched the finale of Merlin and it has just started on SYFY.) No it is not in hd, but I now only need the welcome pack from dish and am saving $100 a month. The picture is clear and not like the old snowy antennas we use to have. When watching a movie (including new movies) You start the movie and pause it and that limits the buffering. Can it be exasperating? Yes sometimes. But for a one time lifetime fee, IMO it is worth it. When I get frustrated, I remember $100 a month and lots of programming that I could not possibly see on Dish.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Just added the "1Channel" and agree that the selection is huge (much better than Hulu Plus).

Question: Why the "X" stop downloading to free bandwidth? How is it used?

Watching season 1, episode 11 of "The Middle" right now and the quality is very good.

 

[BarbaraW]

Not really sure about that, every time I try it I get empty folder. You will also find all the series update automatically. The new episodes are there the next day. No commercials, and no recording conflicts or forgetting to set the dvr. Lots of British and Canadian tv. Watching a series from 2005 now called Murdoch's Mysteries a police drama set in the 1900's. 6 seasons to watch also a different version of The Borgia's, called Borgia, very good.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Thanks for the tip Barbara. Just watched an episode of "Modern Family", "The Night Gallery", "Family Affair", "The Middle", "Underdog", "Partridge Family" and "One Day at a Time". Video quality was very good and unlike Hulu Plus there were no commercials. This is making me rethink my previous decision of not signing up for the $40 lifetime Playon membership.

I also like the selection of British (Keeping up Appearances, As Time Goes By, etc) and Canadian (Corner Gas, etc) programming available with the 1Channel plugin.

 

[BarbaraW]

I don't know if you get your scripts from here, but they have a great selection. Tv Links is awesome, Basic Cable and Local Channels are live streaming feeds that work most of the time. Ice Films and Solar Movies also have lots of movies and tv shows with different feeds. I have had it since July and I would not go back to paying full price for Dish. You could also try it for a month and see if you really like it. I am actually considering cutting the cord all together. I have a cable from my computer to my tv and can get my local news feed online. That is the only thing I watch "live" anyways. lol

 

[BarbaraW]

Whoops forgot the link for the scripts. http://www.playonscripts.com/
and here is a link for a playon scripts forum. http://www.playonplugins.com/index.php
Oh and don't forget you get regular HULU at no extra cost. You tube is also included. Also forgot to mention the National News script and World News script for live feeds of Fox, Cnn, Msnbc ,Current, etc. lots of world news links. So much tv so little time. lol

 

[PopcornNMore]

Last night on the "Nowhere TV" channel my wife and I watched the following two UK channels which looked great and had good programming:

1) Challenge: Airs game shows.
2: Yesterday: Airs the British sitcom "Last of the Summer Wine".

 

[Blindowl1234]

I've noticed that a couple of Roku as mentioned are gone. Roku in my opinion may be going more mainstream with their adding Time Warner cable. Since Play on isn't directly part of Roku maybe it will stay the same. We're used to channels coming and going with fta. So we won't be shocked if something disappears

 

[Blindowl1234]

Oops first line should say 'a couple of Roku channels' I can't type using this silly phone lol

 

[knotle]

I like watching everything thru playon on the roku. This way i can monitor my bandwidth usage thru software on my computer.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Received an email stating that today is the last day to get the $40 lifetime subscription. I might order just to be able to use the plugins.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The plugins make it worth the $40.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Blindowl1234]

Yeah the plug ins have some good stuff on them. Sometimes quite a few dead links/channels but still worth it.