2010 seems to have awakened something within the American consumer.  People are setting budgets, cutting luxuries and actively seeking cost efficient ways to live.  Hordes of people are cutting the cable cord and streaming.  Here are some of the awesome things said about PlayOn. Click through on any of the media titles to see the full article.

Writes about PlayOn and cable-free advocates.  A stay at home mom says, “We’re kind of pioneers. The easy thing to do is to have cable, so you’ve got to do things a little bit differently and be a little bit tech-savvy.”  According to Leichtman Research Group, the cost of watching television is going up: The average household cable bill in the United States hit $64 a month in 2009, up from $47.50 in 2004.

Asks readers to consider PlayOn in an article titled, “CES: Hulu fans PlayOn.”

 

Writes about PlayOn taking on cable TV industry with its internet video service.  The article highlights a PlayOn survey resulting in “38 percent of its customers eliminated their cable or satellite service after they started using PlayOn, saving $1,400 per year on average, according to the survey.”

 
Tests two wireless PC-to-TV solutions and recognizes both the advantages and potential of streaming to a TV with no wires.

A recent TGD study, as shared with us by Will Richmond in his VideoNuze newsletter, says that 20% of us will replace our cable/satellite subscription with Over The Top Broadband (OTT) services, while 17% of us will use OTT and keep Cable/Satellite. 29% of us could go either way (depending on the price point). You can check out the research here. What I want to know - is what are you using PlayOn for -- REPLACING your cable/satellite subscription or SUPPLEMENTING it? Take our quick 1-question survey to let us know - I'll publish the results here in a few days!

So according to Adweek, some Tivo owners can finally watch YouTube on their TV! Bummer that it is only thousands that have a powerful enough box to do so. Tivo despirately needs to embrace Broadband Video as its increasing relevance may negate the need for Tivo altogether (with sites like Hulu and ABC.com). This is a step in the right direction -- as I mentioned in my post on Broadband's Abundance.

We want to take it much farther than the thousands who will be able to watch YouTube on their TV via their Tivo -- we want to open up not just YouTube, but also Hulu and ESPN.com and CBS.com and CNN.com to the millions (over 5 million) of folks who have PS3s or Xbox360s -- so they can watch these Internet-based videos on their TVs. I mentioned this on my last blog post where I invited PS3 owners and Xbox360 owners to try out our Beta. The offer is still open - email me at tracy@themediamall.com.

As always - would love to hear your thoughts!

Jeff Gedgaud just did a product review of the D-Link DSM-520 MediaPlayer (the first device powered by MediaMall).  They call the MediaMall feature ActiveTV, and his review of the DSM-520 was as follows:

Ease of Use, Performance: 23/25, Look & Feel: 23/25,
Features 25/25, How much I enjoy 24/25

Total: 95/100

And his review of MediaMall:

"The system is very easy to use and the additional software I installed went automatically to install the Active TV setup and the system had the most up to datefirmware. Active TV is a service provider that adds a section on your media player that has movies, videos and audio like You Tube, MovieLink and VH1 VSpot. You can also get several other pay per view providers such as CinemaNow and Movielink where you can rent or buy full length movies from current release hits to older movies.

These pay per view or monthly subscription services are all available through your PC as well as the media player so you can watch them on your TV or PC. That is one feature that is really nice, especially for finding videos on sites like You Tube, you can browse on your PC to find the content you want and then save it for later viewing. Using the media player to browse for videos is not exactly user friendly so finding them on your PC may be a bit easier. "

Yes - we know the ActiveTV YouTube page is not the best for browsing and searching.  We need to add some features to it -- like an on-screen keyboard and some better browsing features.  It is on the list ;).  We are hoping that YouTube itself will create and manage a great 10-foot UI page, but we're not holding our breath.

I have a question for editors writing about the DSM-520.  Why does MediaMall never get mentioned as the service provider of this great ActiveTV feature?  Is the MediaMall name bad?  Should we call the product Active-TV Player or something like that?  Or is our PR department just really bad (ha! we don't have one -- isn't that obvious?)  We're open to suggestions!

Laptop magazine recently rated the D-Link DSM-520 with Active TV Technology (which is powered by MediaMall) as one of the best new devices in 2008. Laptop Magazine's special edition showcases the "Best Gear of the New Year" and the DSM-520 with Active Tv was in the top 5 -- along with Apple TV, Linksys Media Center Extender DMA 2100 and the SlingCatcher from Sling Media. We are honored to be placed among these leading edge devices and technologies. You can see the review yourself here: Best Gear for the New Year