As promised in Cutting the Cord - Part 1, this blog will be about the PlayOn.tv server. Hopefully I'll give enough details that you will know if this is something you want or need. I usually try to insert some basic humor into my blogs to keep them entertaining, but I have a feeling this one is going to be pretty dry.
Basically, the PlayOn.tv server that sits on a computer and grabs streaming video you request from the Internet and makes it available to the streaming devices connected to the same network.
The first question would be, 'what video does it give me access to?' Rather then type it all out, here is a link to the PlayOn channels. Now, looking at this listing is a little misleading. The channels you see are NOT LIVE FEEDS! This needs to be stressed, because their website does not make it real clear. What these channels give you is direct access to their online content.
For example, if you go to CBS.com and click the watch menu item, you will be able to see the same content that is available on the CBS PlayOn Channel. The PlayOn server makes it a little easier to access from your streaming devices. So what we've learned is that the same content you get from the PlayOn Channels are available from the Internet for free with slightly more effort.
You next question should be, 'what else does it do that would make me want to buy a subscription?' The next thing the PlayOn server lets you do is add 'Plugin Channels'. These are channels created by the community and approved by PlayOn. So, plug in channels are created by users to fill in what they want as streamed content on PlayOn. Chances are some of these are things you want too. I'm not sure what the approval process from PlayOn is, but I'm guessing it might have something to do with not allowing adult content or Copy Righted material. There are 64 of these channels at current count and they range from "Big Ten Network" to "Charlie Brown Christmas Specials". Once again, if you know what you are looking for, most of this content might not be too difficult to find steamed online with out PlayOn.
So now you're thinking, 'Ok, it's cool that it pulls all this stuff together and makes is easy to find, but with some time and effort, I can find most of this content myself. What else does it do?' It's time to let you know about PlayOn Scripts. This my friends is the Wild West of internet streaming. These are similar to the plug ins, in that they are created by the community. However, they differ, because they do not have to have PlayOn approval. This is basically people finding whatever they can find on the internet that is streamed and giving you a way to easily find it. From what I can tell there are well over 1000 PlayOn Scripts. Some people do attache prices to these scripts, but not very many.
As with anything else that is left solely to the whims of the internet community, some of this scripts work and some don't. Some are worthless and some are down right amazing. I downloaded a script the other night, that had links to streams of almost every tv series you could imagine. I found all 98 episodes of Gilligan's Island, and was also able to find the most recent episode of The Walking Dead all in a matter of minutes. Then as an added bonus it had thousands of movie streams.
Now, I know what you are thinking, "Quick sign me up!" Not so fast. There are some downfalls. Like video quality and stream availability. You need to realize that PlayOn does not control the video, it simply give you easy way to access it. So, each site is in control of what is available and what quality it is. You have to remember that that streaming takes bandwidth and a lot of these people with streaming content will not put up HD quality content. Also, depending on bandwidth and where they are served from, there is a good chance you'll have to wait for your video to buffer occasionally. Also if a website is down, streaming content won't be available. However, most things I saw had multiple streams to try for a single movie/episode, so with minimal work you can usually find a stream worth watching. However, if you are a person who wants everything in 1080p, then I wouldn't suggest streaming your TV.
Once again, as I said in my previous blog, I'm not advocating you by PlayOn, or suggesting you don't. I'm just giving you my experience with it.
OK, now after that long winded explanation of PlayOn, here is my experience with setting it up, and starting to use it.
After checking out their website and seeing that their lifetime license was on sale for $59.99 (less then one month of cable), I decided to give it a try. So I ordered online using my pay pal account, and quickly received my license codes in an email. I then followed the links to the install software and downloaded and ran it. The install was pretty straight forward.
During the install it will tell you to allow access to the application in any firewall that you have on your computer. Be sure to do this step, or you streaming devices will not be able to access the PlayOn server. When I was finished, there was an extra step to turn on the Mobile streaming. So if you want to stream to your iPhone or Android Phone, you'll need to turn that one.
When I first turned on the mobile streaming, it would not work. Played around with my computer and router settings with no luck. Finally, I had to set a static IP address on my computer. Not sure why that fixed it, because I thought the UPnP was supposed to handle it. However, since I'm using this computer as a server, it's probably a good idea to have it set to a static IP on my network anyways. Just make sure the IP address you use is outside your routers DHCP range.
As far as adding the Plug ins or scripts to the PlayOn server, it's pretty simple. Download the script, go to the PlayOn settings and add it from there. Once it is added, restart the PlayOn Service and then restart your streaming device.
As mentioned above, I have tried out some scripts. So worked and some didn't, but I had some decent results. If I have any issues come up, I'll be sure to mention them in future blogs.
Finally, PlayLater. This is pretty basic. It allows you to record streamed content in real time from your PlayOn server. It records it as an MP4. Once it is recorded, you can copy the MP4 to other devices to watch or watch them on your streaming devices later. This is a great tool to record movies or episodes and take them to watch when you are not connected to your home network.
Wow, that was all pretty long, so I'll wrap this up quick. Part three of this blog will come after I get my ROKU devices, and have had a chance to get them connected and try them out. As always, if you have a question or comment, leave them below.
Part 3
If anyone decides to use PlayOn, Please use this link so I can get the referral.
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