PlayOn media server now serving Wii customers (in beta, anyway)
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 30th 2009 2:49AM
posted Jul 30th 2009 2:49AM
[Thanks, Anonymous]
Dear PlayOn Customer,
Thank you for inquiring about using PlayOn on your Wii game console. We are happy to announce to you that the latest version of PlayOn posted to the website earlier today includes a Beta version of Wii functionality in it. We are only announcing this to a small number of customers who have inquired about the Wii. It is not yet being made "publicly known". Please try it out and let us know how it works, passing along any bugs you find by submitting a support request through the PlayOn Settings Manager. You can download the release from here: http://www.themediamall.com/playon/download/
The most important feedback will be how you feel the video quality is. It is of lower quality than is available on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 due to limitations of the Wii itself. We have optimized the video as best we can, and you can choose different quality settings (Low, Medium, High, Max) with PlayOn settings to find the highest quality which plays back smoothly on the Wii. If you leave it on "Auto" it will default to the Medium level. You also have the option of choosing a higher level, but selecting to show the video in a smaller window of the video player (using the on screen full screen toggle button of the video player with your Wiimote). Please let us know which level works best for you after trying it for a few days.
After installing this PlayOn release on your Windows PC, you can then find the PlayOn PC from your Wii by opening the "Internet Channel" web browser, and then entering the following URL (web address) after pressing the "WWW" button: "playon.tv" Also note that you should set your Wii Browser to auto hide the control bar at the bottom of the screen, which will allow the full screen to be used for the UI and Video Playback.
To upgrade your Nintendo Wii with the "Internet Channel" web browser, visit http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/channelsInternet.jsp#downloadOpera
Thanks so much for contacting MediaMall Support. And – thanks for your interest in using PlayOn.
Regards,
MediaMall Support
cool, gotta do that in the morn'.
also, First!
It is not yet being made "publicly known".
Looks like it is now. :P
If you want an awesome media center+console, PS3 is the way to go, with 360 following closely b/c of no blu ray. I don't see the point in even trying on thee Wii.
Haha... no.
PS3 vs. 360...
Windows Media Center (x)
Netflix w/ streaming (x)
1080p streaming with netflix (soon)
Who needs a Blu-ray player when I can stream 1080p content online? Not I!
@Phoenix
1080p streaming comes no where near the quality Blu Ray delivers.
Blu-ray also comes with more price.
I've got Netflix already, why waste time going out to rent/buy a film when I can stream it at an already-higher definition than I need?
Media center PC + 360 is pretty good, but a little slow to respond. Does what I want it to do, and I don't care about 1080p.
"aha... no.
PS3 vs. 360...
Windows Media Center (x)
Netflix w/ streaming (x)
1080p streaming with netflix (soon)
Who needs a Blu-ray player when I can stream 1080p content online? Not I!"
Not I also. I think the only Blu-Ray I plan on buying is Terminator Salvation(Say what you want about it I loved every minute of it). When streaming at 1080p finally goes live for everything Sony may have a major problem with it's format. Yeah you still have the group of people who want tangible media but eventually everyone is going to be moving to streamed media.
I use my PS3 as a Blu-ray/DVD player mostly. However, when I'm streaming I will never use the PS3 again. The video is always choppy and sometimes never even loads. I play the same thing on my 360 with better quality and I get choppy video very, very rarely.
i need a blu ray player...
1080p streaming and netflix don't scream that well on a 1mbps internet connection :\
shitty commenting system!! :(
"inherit"
*inherent
Sooooooo Nintendo, you 'bout ready to drop the WiiHD? You do know that ATi makes Chipsets that make 1080p a sinch.
Wonder what the quality is going to be like on the Wii. A little scary when it says it won't be as good as PS3/360. Obviously I understand why this is but seeing is believing.
You can hide the control bar in the browser? Where do you go to do that?
Yeah, i think you press the (1) button
Meh, I might dig my Wii out of the closet to try this out. The only use I had for the Wii after the games became boring was the Internet Channel, but the Wiimote was so frusturating to use and with no Hulu support I just ordered a VGA to S-Video converter from Monoprice and hook up my laptop instead.
This is great. We use PlayOn with the PS3 in the living room. I think I'll move the Wii to the bedroom so we can watch there too.
Am I missing something? Aren't a lot these features available with ORB?
I just went their web site to try and find out, but it doesn't say much. Can Orb stream Hulu, CBS, HTGV, Netflix, etc?
i could use that
Some videos were barely tolerable. Even at Max quality it was dropping frames and starting while reading from the hard drive. Was pretty neat though to have Hulu and the other channels on the Wii like that.
I got it and have had trouble using Hulu and Youtube. Have yet to try NetFlix. This would be awesome if I could use Netflix on my Wii.
PlayOn and my Xbox 360 are inseparable. Watching my mkv videos with the Local Files plugin (check out http://www.playonplugins.com) then switching over to CBS to watch a classic Star Trek, then popping over to Hulu for some SNL clips pretty much makes up my evenings. Now the Wii users can get on board and cancel their cable TV subscriptions too!
awesome, so you need the browser (5$) plus the eventual software fee (40$) all to watch shit content in 480p (at the absolute best!) that I can already do on my computer...no thanks, it's time to recycle you, o'wii...you are nothing but a waste of plastic and metal...this sort of thing should have been offered at launch, for 5$ like the stupid browser... blah, i'm done
They should have required a NDA for beta users.
Been using the trial version all morning and have yet to get a video to play using Play On from neither my Wii or PS3.
I think that playon on the wii is excelent. i have had no problems at at all with the service. and I plan on making a purchase at the end of my free trial. the streaming is excelent. and the pluging support is awesome. i am enjoying the crap out of streaming on the wii. screw cable its all about the free. even if it does have a one time fee. I am all about it no problems.