The PlayOn Blog

Hey all you PlayOn testers! Looks like we've neglected to post the latest news on our blog here. Sorry about that. We are still cranking away on all kinds of goodies.

We've largely spent the past month working on two main projects: 1) fixing problems with Hulu for the majority of our users, and 2) getting Netflix ready for beta release!

We have been working hard to accommodate changes that Hulu has been making in their service recently. If Hulu service issues have been frustrating for you, keep these two things in mind:
<ul>
<li>We are absolutely, positively committed to bringing Hulu to our PlayOn users. We have simply been having some technical issues.</li>
<li>It's still a beta, so there are still bugs, that are causing both hiccups with Hulu, as well as other problems in general with PlayOn. We won't make this product a general release until all this stuff is resolved. We don't feel comfortable taking your money for a half-baked product. Your satisfaction with PlayOn translates directly to our success as a company.</li>
</ul>
Now, Netflix! Yes, it is <em>soooo </em>close to being ready for release. We're literally a few days away. And by golly, it's <strong>cool</strong>. We've been testing it for a couple of weeks now, and the video quality is tremendous (thanks to Netflix making higher resolution streams available). If you plan on trying it out, make sure you set up an account with Netflix first and add movies to your "Instant Queue" (this can't be done through PlayOn, of course). We will post again once Netflix is ready for beta testing.

OK, that's it for now. Contact us if you have questions, comments, or concerns.

Beta testers are brave souls! We can't thank you guys enough, especially those who have been willing to install, test, uninstall, reboot, install, test, uninstall, reboot... you know the Windows drill. Things are looking pretty good, and we should be pushing yet another release within 24 hours, with some more bug fixes. At the same time, our coders are cranking away on Netflix (we can't tell you how excited we are to get this out).

But, being this is a beta, and in its infant stages, there are still plenty of known (and unknown) issues, so we remind you to be patient.

A few of you have written in saying that you've had luck using PlayOn with other devices besides the PS3, Xbox 360, and HP MediaSmart. Cool! We're happy to hear that, and appreciate hearing about any glitches, as well as successes. (Incidentally, the next release should remedy the HP MediaSmart issue where titles weren't showing up.)

We're still tweaking the new website too. Make sure to check out the new <a href="http://www.themediamall.com/support">support page</a>, which has a few tips for best wrangling technical problems, as well as our new FAQ.

It's also comforting to know that our trials are appreciated. Thanks again Richard Lawler, at Engadget, for your <a href="http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/08/21/playon-media-server-update-smashes-... target="_blank">encouraging cheers</a> from the sidelines.

We just saw <a href="http://www.techwandering.com/2008/08/18/watch-streaming-internet-video-c... target="_blank">this great blog post </a>at TechWandering. It offers a great overview of the space, as well as a good understanding of what <a href="http://www.themediamall.com/playon/">PlayOn</a> is, what we can provide, and what's to come.

Mike Smith at <a href="http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/5-reasons-to-cancel-your-cable/1237532 " target="_blank">Yahoo! Games</a> also offers an insightful commentary on the space in general (and PlayOn)

We'd also like to say thanks to the many bloggers who had kind words to say about PlayOn in its first 3 days of existence:

Andrew Yoon at <a href="http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/08/19/playon-beta-allows-streaming-hulu-ne...

Richard Lawler at <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/19/playon-media-server-brings-hulu-youtu... target="_blank">Engadget</a>

Mark Wilson at <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5038856/playon-brings-vudu-and-more-to-playstation-3-... target="_blank">Gizmodo</a>

Jose Vilches at <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/31304-PlayOn-brings-Hulu-and-more-to-PS3-an... target="_blank">TechSpot</a>

Jeff Bakalar at <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10020343-1.html?hhTest=1&amp;tag=mncol" target="_blank">Crave/CNet</a>

Joe Hutskoon at <a href="http://dvdisdead.com/2008/08/19/playon-streams-hulu-cbs-youtube-espn-vid... target="_blank">dvdisdead</a>

We hope to exceed your expectations in the months and releases to come.

OK gang. The new beta release that should fix the video playback bug, as well as adding 64-bit installation support, is now LIVE. We will be sending out a newsletter with download instructions to everyone who has already signed up to be a beta tester. For those of you who want to sign up to try out the beta, just visit <a href="http://www.getplayon.com">getplayon.com</a>. Enjoy!

Well, we are on the right track with the bug fixes. A small group of stalwart folks have been kind enough to run lots of tests for us to figure out why many of you can't play video tracks at all. And, there is positive news! We think we cracked the issue. Late tonight or tomorrow morning, we should be posting a new beta version, as well as re-opening the beta downloads (sorry we closed it, but we didn't want to risk folks downloading completely broken software).

And, this release should install just fine on 64-bit, and even Windows Server 2003, though this requires getting WMP installed.

We've been reading a lot of your comments, suggestions, and criticisms over the past days. We do appreciate that you have taken the time to let us know your thoughts. Some of the stuff that has come up include:

Mac and Linux support: We're not there yet, unfortunately. Right now, it's Windows only. I know some of you are saying, "Boooooo!", but all good things come to those who wait. Hey, we're just excited about the beta! And remember, it's still only a beta. More goodies will always be on the way.

Netflix: Yes, definitely a goodie, and yes, on the way! CNN too.

Wii: Yup. Plan is this year! For those of you with Wii's, you've probably already surmised that we'll be using the embedded browser capabilities of the device.

Is the software really $30? Yes, but it's a one-time fee. Try it out, and if you like it, we think it's a pretty fair price, especially given that many similar services (aka cable) charge monthly subscription fees. And yes, we know there are other great FREE media servers out there (TVersity, among others). But we're working our tails off to bring great content from Hulu, CBS, and Netflix, as well as the more ubiquitous YouTube feeds. So, it all depends on what you're interested in.

That's it for now!

Hey there! This is the CTO, David, and just wanted to let everyone know that we're very excited about this beta release. We've already definitely gotten a ton of feedback from many of you. Thank you! Right now, the issues that have taken center stage for our developers are:

1. Windows 64-bit support: Tons of you have written in asking about 64-bit support, and we should be able to have a test release within a day or two!

2. Some of you have had issues where no media can play at all. You see all the clips and thumbnail images while you browse through all the shows, but when you select them to watch, it consistently fails. On the PLAYSTATION 3, the error looks something like: <em>The folder could not be accessed. This content may have been deleted by the media server. </em>On the Xbox 360, you might see <em>Status code: 69-C00D36C4</em>. We're working very hard to fix this, and will try to keep you updated. We definitely appreciate your patience.

In the meantime, don't be shy with your feedback. Our in-house user forum isn't working right quite yet, but we encourage you to <a href="http://www.themediamall.com/contact">contact us directly</a> with questions or suggestions. We definitely listen to what you have to say, and we work hard to make PlayOn the best it can be.