PlayOn Review
‘What is PlayOn?’ You ask yourself. “PlayOn is a software program that runs on your Windows PC, giving you access to a wide range of Internet content on your TV — Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon VOD, and many others.” That is the definition on PlayOn’s website. However, I do not think that definition does the program justice.
The program runs on your computer, which allows you to watch any one of TWENTY-EIGHT different internet channels!! I’ll list them all later, but the most notable ones are Hulu, Netflix, Adult Swim, Espn and Youtube. You can watch these on your Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Android phone or tablet, IPhone and a number of other, slightly less known platforms.
I’ll swiftly walk you through setting it up before I fully review it. To get set up to use PlayOn, you need to download the free trial from PlayOn.tv and install it. After it is installed, you open ‘PlayOn Settings,’ input all your information for PlayOn’s account as well as the channel sign in’s (youtube login, hulu login, etc..). Once you’re done with that, you’re all set. Just turn on your video game system or other supported device and select the PlayOn(PC) option and browse through the folders. If you download and install a VLC player, you are also able to play any media that is on your computer’s hard drive! (If it’s a supported format, such as avi, mp4, etc.) If you’re setting it up for your cell phone (android or IPhone), you need to have the wifi turned on for the first connection after installing the PlayOn application. After it is setup, you can resume only using 3G/4G.
When I first heard about PlayOn, I was very skeptical. I thought to myself, “It’s too good to be true, there is no way you can stream that much media to your phone using your PC as a server.” Well, fortunately, I was vastly mistaken. It is very easy to install and set up. It is even easier to start watching your favorite sports or TV shows.
The first thing I did after setting up PlayOn, was catch up on the 2 most recent episodes of Castle, on my Xbox 360. I then proceeded to try out how well it played movies from my hard drive. I was very impressed, to say the least. My 360 is set up wirelessly, but that had no effect on how fast the video streamed. Not once did I have to wait for it to buffer in the middle of the show.
I downloaded the application and set up my phone (Motorola Droid/Verizon) to use PlayOn and it was absolutely painless! I watched three episodes of Aqua Teen: Hunger Force in a row; still, it never needed to buffer. It took about 10 seconds at the beginning to load, and then played the whole episode.
I watched a full episode of Spartacus: Blood and Sand from the hard drive on my computer while I was about 15 miles away from my house. Once again, it only loaded at the beginning for a few seconds, but it NEVER needed to buffer. The quality was also outstanding!
It is vital to have fast internet at your house (for the server to stream on) and great cell phone service, in order to have no buffering in the videos!! I had mediocre service when I was watching Family Guy at a friend’s house and every five minutes, it would need about 15 seconds to load/buffer.
You have access to watch: Netflix, Hulu, CBS, Comedy Central, TV.com, TBS, Oprah Winfrey, SyFy Rewind, Adult Swim, Spike TV, ESPN, ESPN3, NFL Game Rewind, MLB, NHL, CNN, Fox News, PBS, PBS Kids, Nick, Cartoon Network, Amazon VOD, Youtube, MTV, BET, VEVO, Pandora, your hard drive and a fireplace video (Yule Log). You need to have an account with these channels before you can watch them, but after you sign up for all of these, you’ll be able to watch them whenever you want, anywhere you go.
You can download a 14-day free trial, but when that expires, you have three options. The first is to pay $39.99 for the first year, then $19.99 every year after. The second (best option), is you pay a one-time fee of $79.99 and you will have a lifetime membership. The third option (the worst one), is to complain that your free trial is up and not renew it at all. I highly don’t suggest the last one…
Overall, I was extremely impressed and I will continue to use PlayOn as long as the technology exists! I’ll never be bored waiting for an appointment or flight again! I will always have something to occupy my time, whether it be catching up on my favorite TV series, watching a movie I’ve never seen before or cheering on my favorite sports team! PlayOn, you have definitely achieved the ‘LEET’ stamp of approval! Keep up the good work!
16 Responses to “PlayOn Review”
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My question is, how is this any better than hooking up your pc to a tv?
Do they give you access to Hulu Plus, or Netflix movies? Or do you still need to sign up (and pay) for these services separately?
As far as I’m concerned, this is merely a nice program if you like to watch movies you already have on your computer, on your phone.
Other than that, it doesn’t do anything I can’t do already.
Thanks for your comment. That is a valid point. It technically would be the same as hooking up your PC to your tv, but it removes the hassle of both the cables or extra hardware as well as grouping together all internet tv channels into one easily accessible spot.
Any of the accounts that you would orinially need to sign up/pay for, you will still need to do so.
It’s a great way to get all of the internet tv channels in one spot, available on any phone (iphone or android) or your tv, whether it be by a gaming system, content box or a blu ray player.
It’s especially nice because currently, it’s the only way I know of to get Netflix on your android phone!!
I agree the big PLUS about this is it’s portability , room to room location to location .BTW THE PROGRAMING IS AWESOME !
How soon after the programs are shown on TV are they streamed ?
It all depends on the network channel. It could be the next day, but it could also take a week. I’ve normally seen it go up within 1 or 2 days though.
“You need to have an account with these channels before you can watch them, but after you sign up for all of these, you’ll be able to watch them whenever you want, anywhere you go.” – What does this translate to, for example with ESPN/ESPN3.com? Do I need to buy a subscription service from each channel before I can view this with playOn?
Yes, that is correct. PlayOn doesn’t give you unlimited access to every channel for the price of PlayOn.. That would put the broadcasting companies out of business. You need an account with each channel before you can put that channel on your PlayOn account.
Sorry if this is redundant, but by an account with each channel, you mean even TBS, CBS and the like? I understand i am not getting netflix without an account, but it is the broadcast and basic cable type channels I am more interested in. What sort of costs (if any) are channels like TBS and CBS charging? Are there commercials in their programming?
@Bill
No he means an account with the major ones if you want to access them such as Netflix. You don’t need an account to play Hulu, only Hulu Plus. I will state you may need to push the video performance down to low. My performance went way up and I honestly can’t see a real difference in the video quality. You actually get more access to Hulu content this way than you do with a Hulu Plus account. I do need to say I’m not sure what Hulu gives you access to and doesn’t give you access to exactly but I do know that I couldn’t watch the Voice on my Hulu Plus on Roku but could on Playon from Roku which is a good example. Honestly you have nearly everything between standard Hulu and Netflix.
@The Others
You are absolutely correct it is somewhat pointless as you could get another PC but however consider the size of a PC, costs of a PC versus $60 Roku, electricity, multiple TVs (pc per tv). Anyways a Roku is a much cheaper alternative and much easier to navigate on a TV screen that is 10 to 20 feet away than a PC. I use to feel the same exact way and thought these services were pointless as I am one of the people that just watch tv from my computer. We all know that isn’t the same as from a TV. Somekind of stable interface is really needed for online content and honestly Playon offers a great alternative. Boxee was very buggy for me. I know this isn’t a Boxee post but I thought I would give my 2 cents.
I have had Playon streaming through our Xbox360 for about 3 months now and I love it. I can honestly say that I will probably never go back to cable or satellite. I have found that almost every current show that is on right now is usually uploaded within 1 day and sometimes even the same night as the original airing. I’ve been telling everyone that I know about this servce. It is definitely well worth the cost.
I use playon. It has support for Hulu Plus and other internet streaming features. It’s a good program.
To get the full benefits of Playon this website is a must: http://www.playonscripts.com/
It contains user built plugin scripts. I highly recommend TVlinks. It’s free and it’s awesome.
hey, just found out about play on and it looks amazing. one question tho, and this will probably sound like a dumb question…do you have to have Xbox Live Gold in order for play on to work, or do you just have to have an ethernet cord running from your wireless router to your xbox? thanks in advance for the help!
playon is the best program for movies tv and news
I just tried Playon because I have recently cut the cable cord and wanted access to their content and have a Roku box. I wanted to watch Playon on my 42″ HD TV. The buffering took a long time and happened frequently in mid show. Worse of all, the picture was terrible for all shows on all channels. I emailed tech support and they replied the resolution for most shows is 480p (hence the low price of $30 per years). So… if you’d like to watch their content on a large HD screen the quality is poor. It’s a great idea but as of this time, poorly executed when it comes to a large HD screen.
hi,
i was wondering if anyone is willing to give me some advice on the equipment that i will need to try to ditch cable and move to playon. we have 4 analog tvs, 1 wii, 1 ps3 and 1 bottom line roku box…maybe i will get a boxee for the other?
i was thinking about getting a used computer, or one on sale that would have the giddy up power to stream perhaps 3 tvs at time.
1. should i try to find a computer to act as a server and plug into our router?
2. what would be sufficient specs to look for in whatever i use whether laptop or desktop?
3. if i am not posting in the correct place I am apologizing now, so please be gentle.
4. would it be overload to add one of those elgato hdhomerun units to try to pick up over the air?
5. can i stream playon to another computer in addition to the media boxes as long as that computer was connected to the network.
thanks.