Kotaku 
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Denver, 4:16 PM
Sat Nov 14
36 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/26/09
It hardly ever works correctly and the streams from Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon are ALWAYS going down because they do not have any real license to these services.
BEWARE KOTAKUITES!
08/26/09
Have you used it previously on your PC? What's your experience?
08/26/09
I've tried to use PlayOn on three different trial periods and every time there is some sort of issue. The first time it was so buggy that streams would cut off or not even launch. The second time it worked great for a week and then just would not launch any links on my XBMC or Xbox 360 for some unknown reason.
The third time when the server software got a little better it turned out the Hulu and Netflix feeds were dead indefinatly (according to their own people... check their forums). This is when I found out that because they don't license the services, every time Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon change a small feature or setting the whole program has to be updated - and that can take weeks/months. This is all according to their own PR people so you can see how bleek a future this program has if it does not contract with the content providers. Sometimes I think Hulu changes their streams just to screw with PlayOn users putting strains on their servers.
By their own admission all the software does is use the same protocols your browser uses and then just serves them to your box of choice. That's not worth $40 and not even $20 when they send you that discount email. IMO this means they know $40 is too much for this program and with the services downtime it experiences it is not worth $1 in my opinion.
I am not saying all this out of some hate I have for them, trust me I would LOVE if PlayOn would work 99% of the time. But it doesn't, and I cannot recommend such an app to my fellow gamers and entertainment buffs.
08/26/09
08/26/09
Take my experience for what you will.
08/26/09
I can't remember any significant downtime with Hulu. And I can tell you, Hulu is working on it right now just fine.
I'll just say it does for me everything that's been advertised and then some.
@jgibson75: Well... I too would wish to be able to properly fast forward but for now 1.5x speed is going to have to do.
Some notes, I'm running it from a fairly beefy laptop with lots of ram even for Vista. I only experience stutters during times when I figure Hulu is very active, and since I'm a night person I get to access it during the non-peak hours. Other times it can stutter is if I'm doing anything else that's eating away at bandwidth. Otherwise I can run things like Photoshop without the feed missing a beat.
And since I have it on my laptop, I often bring it around to friend's places where we can watch Hulu from their consoles. That's as long as I take a few seconds to setup permissions, it's easy as pie. We're watching old episodes of Fist of the North Star and NOVA in no time flat.
09/02/09
08/26/09
08/26/09
That said, I didn´t waste my money buying a Wii, I wasted my money buying that p.o.s. 360, which I did like very much when it worked...
08/26/09
08/26/09
08/26/09
08/26/09
08/26/09
I'd definitely recommend it for any Wii owner with a decent PC on the side. Or, if you have an old TV somewhere in your house, you could make that Wii your second or third media center. Nice.
To clear up any confusion, yes it's working with your version of PlayOn that you have already. And it should go without saying, that if you get PlayOn now, it'll work with every other compatible device you've got.
Updated impressions of ten minutes later: Very fuzzy video, and not as hiccup free as I initially thought. And the video isn't so much smooth as it seems like it's skipping every third frame instead. Sound quality is rather poor, it even craps out on an explosion or two. Still, it's a media center, and everything works okay so far.
08/26/09
Greedy mother fuckers!!! PlayOn is bull shit!!!
good news for wii players though.... good for you... *cries*
08/26/09
08/26/09
Also, never put "streaming" and "Wii" in the same sentence. Ever.
08/26/09
08/08/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
The select theaters are:
NYC @ The Tank - Aug 7 - 9: 7:30pm
LA @ The Downtown Independent - Aug 14 - 20 all day
Austin @ The Alamo Drafthouse - Aug 16 - 20 all day
Boston @ The Somerville Theater - Aug 14 - 20 all day
You can also pre-order the DVD, which will be out on August 25, from the site [www.secondskinfilm.com]
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
He said he was grateful that he was able to handle business quickly due to the fact that he had taken a "gamer crap" and didn't have to wipe.
Freakin' hilarious.
08/07/09
08/07/09
Also, I was heavy into Counter Strike at the time and could almost understand it...almost.
08/07/09
08/07/09
Truthfully, the only thing that stopped me from making playing video games my life was getting a career in the biz.
08/07/09
08/07/09
:/
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
I'm just curious to hear what "real people" think of 500 DoS.
08/07/09
08/07/09
07/16/09
They also don't seem to understand how easy it is to
A) stream a feed from a computer to the PS3
and
B) just plug a computer into the damn TV.
Look, Hulu, the reason you are popular is because you give us a decent selection, free, with minimal hassle and annoyance. You start adding annoyance and hassle, you're taking away two legs of your three legged stool. Go ahead, see how long you can stand on that.
07/15/09
While I don't agree with it, ultimately I can see how this would be considered a wise business decision. It's always about the money, always. Unfortunately for NBC/Fox, those that were savvy enough to use Hulu on their PS3 are savvy enough to get up and watch it on their laptop/PC. And of course, those that really want to watch netflix, Hulu, etc on their PS3 should know there are other options, such as PlayOn, which is quite an excellent tool.
07/15/09
07/15/09
from a marketing perspective it would make more sense to keep Hulu AVAILABLE and if you like something enough you can then buy it off the PSN. Shit a really good marketer would make a link from the Hulu page to the PSN so you can buy what you see.
07/15/09
What's not to get Kotaku? It's pretty damn easy to understand. Stop trying to make it into something it's not.
07/15/09
MAYBE they are trying to thwart people watching TV shows on Hulu on real TV's instead of tiny PC screens, but that's a pretty poor excuse...
07/15/09
Just a note, I had intended to approve Vrank's response, not ReconToaster's. But I can see Toaster's point, I just wish it was said in a bit less of a "blunt" fashion.
Hulu can probably court cable companies easier by saying, "Your viewers will still prefer getting their shows via their televisions than their computers." But that argument gets pretty shaky when more and more users are savy enough to get streams into their living room.
A service being accessible on as many platforms as possible is normally beneficial to said service. But this might be an exception, where gaining a boon is a bitch to the people supplying your content.
It's kinda like... you design a car that'll never need servicing or replacement parts. Imagine all the mechanics you just put out of work gunning for your head.
Unforuntately, this is the kind of thinking that holds us back. Instead of progress, we get subsistence. Every industry has it, it's not hard to imagine the internet has it too.
07/15/09
I said 'CABLE' bills, not Internet.
Hulu has stated multiple times that they do not want to put their service into the TV-top market. They don't want their products easily accessible on televisions.
They want people to stick with cable. Hulu is more of a response to people who already watch their shows 'illegally' on other sites.
Anyways, whether or not it's a dumb thing for them to be doing, it's the truth. There's not conspiracy afoot.