This world needs a better class of network streamer, and PlayOn wants to give it to you. In exchange for more greenbacks, of course. The
media server software -- known for bringing Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, and a bunch of other online video repositories to networked devices within the home -- is making the move up in price class from its current one-off $20 fee to a $39.99 upfront charge followed by annual recurring payments of $19.99. How does MediaMall justify such a splurge? It'll be offering a new Comedy Central channel, along with NHL, TV.com and PBS content in an ongoing effort to expand its library of media sources. If the extra choice doesn't sound like the kind of thing you'd want to pony up two Hamiltons for every year, you've got until the 15th to grab the Basic version, which will continue to be supported without further fees, but won't be available to new subscribers after that cutoff date. So, better get decidin' soon.
posted May 6th 2010 5:51AM
There's not enough content there to justify the price increase. I've got no problems with recurring fees if the content is there to justify it. They need to get the content in place first, then increase their charges. You already have to pay for Netflix, and Hulu and Youtube are already free... the convenience of getting it on the PS3 isn't worth $40 in my opinion.
@MadManDraper
Maybe Engadget doesn't actually use PlayOn, but from the email I got, any other new channels or shows that are added will be covered by the subscription and not raise in price.
This is from the email I received as a current member:
"If you OPT to move to PlayOn Premium, you will get the new Comedy Central channel, NHL channel , PBS, TV.com, and the many new content channels we plan to release during the coming year.
As a Founding Member, you can get your first year of PlayOn Premium for only $4.99 (regularly $39.99). You will then be billed $19.99 after 12 months for your second year (and each year thereafter)."
@MadManDraper
You mean content like:
Hulu
Netflix
Amazon VOD
MLB
NHL
Pandora
Youtube
CBS
Comedy Central
ESPN
CNN
Oh... and a healthy plugin community adding other sites like:
Adult Swim
BBC iPlayer
Cartoon Network
Crackle
Food Network
FreeMoviesOnline
HGTV
LiveTV
NBA
NBC
NFL
SpikeTV
etc.
etc.
Oh...and a healthy selection of "adult" sites as well.
As far as those who say they can just connect their PC to their TV I say you must have a lot of PCs because I don't know of too many households with just one these days. My system is set it and forget it. Just fire up any DLNA compatible device and I can watch anything PlayOn can stream. I don't have to worry about codecs or containers because PlayOn decodes and sends my device a stream it can use. As long as it will play on the PC PlayOn is running it should run on the device I am watching from.
Is it too early to ask for "Per Channel" pricing?
@BMills Although, as I understand it, that NHL channel will only be available to those who have already purchased the NHL Center Ice Online package for around $140 a season.
Shame that the PlayOn Live plugin no longer works with Justin.tv, since most NHL games are shown on there.
@MadManDraper
I already paid for it once, im not buying it again.
@Ryan Deen
That is my big complaint with all services. I get a bunch of crap i don't want, and can't get what I do in the packages offered. In this day and age of servers, databases and e-billing, seems like we should be able to pick individually and pay for just that.
@MadManDraper
I heard the new playon is toasted though.
@ed the c Ed, I'm with you. I can understand businesses wanting to make some money, but why haven't we seen a company legitimately bring this consumption model to light?
@MadManDraper
You nailed it... fuck them and their overpriced service...
@BMills
Playon adds 3 channels and charge $40..when the members of the PlayOn community added way more plugins (I'm truly grateful for their support). I feel cheated and so should the community that contributed to make Playon a usable and practical addition to our media players. Its a bunch of CROCK.
In other news, Hulu works great now on my G1 after the latest SkyFire update.
@TheGM
Same for my nexus one.
@androidboi It does not work on my Nexus One... I get a "service not available on your platform" :(
It suprisingly looks pretty good. Even better than sprint tv... Ama just wait and see if hulu blocks skyfire somehow once again
You want me to give you my money for what?
That 19.99 better be every 6-12 months, since there is not anywhere near enough content on there to justify spending that much a month for their service. This is either a very dumb move, or they lined up some content that they haven't talked about yet.
@admlshake
The $19.99 is once per year.
Lets see what happens, if they bring more content well it might just sell. But why pay for youtube on my 360 when i can connect my laptop to my tv?
@Mike Vick It's so you don't have to connect your laptop to your TV. Some people may find that worth $20 per year.
And Hulu is still unavailable in Australia. so sad…
I don't even use my PlayOn anymore now that I can watch Netflix on my PS3 & Wii......The only plus I see to this is Hulu and something tells me that its only a matter of time before Hulu becomes an App on the PS3, 360, or Both
@Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi
Same for me, but with the 360.
@Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi
Exactly. My only use for PlayOn was to get Netflix and Hulu onto XBMC on my Linux HTPC. (Hulu always worked through the web interface in Linux). But streams worked great, when they worked. I still think it is a good niche product, but I don't see any reason to pay a subscription fee for it. I now can play Netflix through the Wii, or any cheap Bluray player.
This sucks if you're in Canada, I would consider it but you can't get anything to stream from comedy central, only the Canadian equivalent comedy network. Same non-sense as the Hulu restrictions.
@cbstryker Dailyshow, Colbernation and Southpark studios have international streaming last I checked/knew; perhaps others too, not as convenient as a one stop shop but it's definitely the top 3 IMHO (also last I checked sort of scenario).
@juanvaldez Now are you saying that anyone can view them from Comedy Central? Cause last time I tried it told me I need to goto Comedy Network.ca, which isn't bad but I doubt PlayOn redirects Canadian IPs to the appropriate source, I'd most likely get the 'ol "We currently cannot stream this content to you IP address... blah blah blah blah copyright blah".
That's my concern.
@cbstryker I'm saying they have individual domain addresses so you don't get re-directed. Leaving comedy central.com/ comedy central.ca out of your webaddress. Go straight to the individual webpages they host themselves.
i got PlayOn for $20 and have definitely got my moneys worth out of the app but certainly won't be upping to a premium member. I can understand why they are trying to get a more continuous revenue stream as i'm sure development is an ongoing process in that market but i'm afraid that it is only a matter of time before these guys run into a brickwall. they probably should have gotten that product stable and bailed rather than trying to turn this into some kind of full-on business.
@SpongeBobPistolPants
Pretty much the same here. Maybe I"ll get the first year for $5, but that would be it. I don't like that they're doing this in the least.
FWIW the $20 price is fairly recent and from the emails they send, has always been a "LIMITED OFFER! ACT NOW! WE'RE CRAAAZY!!!" I paid $40 for PlayOn last year so I could stream Netflix to my MythTV box. I use Boxee for Comedy Central etc so this doesn't seem like much value ad to me, but I guess I'll see if I'm covered by this new magical uptick in charges.
so i stopped reading the article after the first sentence. know why? cuz i had to come comment on this because the first line referenced The Dark Knight. just another reason i love engadget. nice work vladislav.
The problem that MediaMall is having is that this software needs constant updates all the time to continue to work with Hulu and others after each little site change they make. They may not be selling enough *new* copies to cover the man hours it takes to maintain the software.
Being a current user, I'll certainly go premium for the first year at $5, and if I'm happy with it, I'll continue on at $20. It's a low enough price for me to give it a fair shake.
playonplugins.com is a good place to expand the functionality of the app, btw.
@neonpolaris I'll be doing the same thing. $5 to try it out is not a big gamble, especially being a "founding" member.
@neonpolaris I agree with the issue of constantly updating to deal with these hosted media sites. If these plug-ins were officially sanctioned by MediaMall and automated without having to go through the hassle of manually updating the plug-ins, I'd be happy to pay that as the premium.
There is always, TVersity
@Vanquisher TVersitry is better for trans-coding local files than net-pulling. And the opposite for playon. I use both, free transcoding from Tversity. Playon also has moderate transcoding support.
@killplay That may be true, but tversity doesn't charge a yearly does it? I've only tried the free version of tversity but I am also basic license holder for Playon
@Vanquisher
Not yet it doesn't. And after the last update (or maybe it was 2 updates ago) there was a lot of issues with users not being able to play anything. What worked before the update would no longer show up or play when you were looking from you ps3 or 360. I downloaded the newest version of Tversity a few days ago when i was having some problems with PlayOn, and they apparently haven't fixed the issue. Folder that I know were working fine before that update still do not show up no matter how you add them to the library.
I love PlayOn. The room for expansion is so vast. I want them to have more of my money so that further development of these channels/official plugins is done in-house. Updates are quick and they almost always fix the issues that I'm having. And during my free trial period, the service went from great to better. I canceled cable before the trial period was even over. In exchange for PlayOn/torrents. And now I get this premium content for $5 for the first year, no way I'm not paying.
A correction: the current price of PlayOn is $40, and has been for the past couple of years. There are occasional $20 coupon codes. The last one (LIFETIME) expired on May 2nd and it appears that no additional coupons will be offered before the switch-over on May 15th. So you can pay $40 now for lifetime, or wait until the 15th and pay $40 for a premium version with a $20 recurring annual fee.
@Carlton Bale
Or you could just buy it now so that you at least have the "Basic" version if you don't want to pay monthly.
@Carlton Bale $% for current customers to upgrade
@Carlton Bale $5 for current customers to upgrade
So much for me being able to recommend PlayOn anymore. Most of the people I know would not pay $40 + $20 per year. Why can't they keep basic along side? Either that or lower the prices.
I've been using TVersity with virtually zero maintenence for like 2+ years now. I don't understand the hubub and paying for PlayOn, PS3media server, etc.
That said I don't do a lot of hulu, etc (mostly local file transcoding), but TVersity Pro has Hulu and such and has a one time license fee of like $20 or something.
I paid for playon a year or so ago at $20. I hardly ever use it anymore. Maybe once in a while to watch something obscure on hulu, or to watch some missed episode on cbs.
The main thing that kills it for me, though, is the fact that a year later you still can't fast forward or skip. If the show takes a crap and crashes, you can't fast forward to where it died. Basically, that has worked as aversion therapy to me. After enough time of that happening, you wonder whether or not it's worth the effort. Most of the time the answer is no.
What I need to do though, is get off my fat ass and put together a media pc, instead of running through the xbox as an extender.
@sporkinum I am in the same boat and totally agree with you. I regret buying PlayOn ... Hulu is nice but local streaming sucks and I hate to run both TVersity and PlayOn. PlayOn would transcode everything even when it didn't need to. Also yea skipping sucked so if it crashed half way you basically just gave up watching it. Half the plugins don't work and I dunno how well they support those devs
I paid for playon a year or so ago at $20. I hardly ever use it anymore. Maybe once in a while to watch something obscure on hulu, or to watch some missed episode on cbs.
The main thing that kills it for me, though, is the fact that a year later you still can't fast forward or skip. If the show takes a crap and crashes, you can't fast forward to where it died. Basically, that has worked as aversion therapy to me. After enough time of that happening, you wonder whether or not it's worth the effort. Most of the time the answer is no.
What I need to do though, is get off my fat ass and put together a media pc, instead of running through the xbox as an extender.
It's a niche product but a solid one. That they're packaging some of the plugins into more robust fully-supported content alone makes it worthwhile to me. More content that is allegedly in the pipeline would make it an even better value for me. Bottom line, I'm in for $5 to see their hand.