PlayOn UPnP - 1-day Promo

[gmd024]

Here's a good deal on the PlayOn server - $55, normally $80 - works great in the PBO and allows for a 'Ton' of extra content to be available - including Netflix, major networks and much more

http://www.playon.tv/lp/buy/woot

[wigout]

gmd-

the playon lifetime premium service says that:
"Your license is valid for the life of the product"

A couple of questions:
Can you use the streamer with more than one device with this license?

If it is limited to one device, what happens when you upgrade your firmware/cross-flash your firmware?

Which product's life span is the license good for:
your media player
or the life span of the playon media server?

Thanks,
wigout

[aasoror]

Here's a good deal on the PlayOn server - $55, normally $80 - works great in the PBO and allows for a 'Ton' of extra content to be available - including Netflix, major networks and much more

http://www.playon.tv/lp/buy/woot

ok, there is also that annual $20 subscription.
What do you think gmd024, do you see this product going past 3 years of a life span ? I mean before they come up with a newer version PlayON XT or something to which only premium content (updated plugins) would be available ?

Very tempting as they have released Netflix.ca support last couple of weeks ago.

[gmd024]

gmd-

the playon lifetime premium service says that:
"Your license is valid for the life of the product"

A couple of questions:
Can you use the streamer with more than one device with this license?

If it is limited to one device, what happens when you upgrade your firmware/cross-flash your firmware?

Which product's life span is the license good for:
your media player
or the life span of the playon media server?

Thanks,
wigout

The license is supposed to be for one PC - I streached that scenario and installed it on 4 PC's - just use it on "one PC at a time" and it works fine -- I've never tried using it on 2 PCs at the same time for fear of being 'spanked' by the PlayOn police - although it may be possible - I may just try it, I haven't had a good spanking for a long time

PO gets installed on your PC and the server needs to be running when accessing it from the PBO, or any other hardware/software media player that supports UPnP - so the lifetime license is good for "your" lifetime - or will the PO's serial # to your children when you pass on - and it should be good for their lifetime also

"what happens when you upgrade your firmware/cross-flash your firmware" --- nothing changes unless the frmw update breaks your media players UPnP support

They offer a 2 week full function trail - install/try it for a couple hours - but remember the $55 promo is only good for today

I was a Basic PO license holder b4 they went to the Premium only license and because of that I was offered the PO lifetime license for $40 instead of the regular $80 charge - so $55 is a pretty good price for 1st time users - I figured I got my $40 out of it shortly after buying it -- especially considering that one month of basic/expanded cable is around $50/60

PO is not perfect and all the content available to use doesn't always work - but there's still 'tons' of content - especially if you start adding 3rd party scripts...http://www.playonscripts.com/ -- and other plugins...http://playonlabs.net/

[lickity_split]

I'll add that playon seems to be better tweaked after the last couple "upgrades". netflix seems much more stable ( hasn't crashed yet since 3 updates ago, lol).
lots of extra plugins to add too.
to be truthful, I doubt I pay for the premium license after it expires next summer. I'll revert back to basic lifetime ( cost me $20), it allows all the plugins and scripts, has netflix.
playon never added all the pie in the sky promised content they advertised when they rolled out premium. I believe the company is suffering, the tech support is really lousy and in my opinion the company or it's software won't survive in it's present form long enough to warrant $55 or $80 for a lifetime license.
but this is just my opinion.

[aasoror]

in my opinion the company or it's software won't survive in it's present form long enough to warrant $55 or $80 for a lifetime license.

Since you are 50% (gmd024 being the remaining 50%) of the PlayON expertise in this forum, should I consider this as an answer to my question couple of posts above ?

[gmd024]

ok, there is also that annual $20 subscription.
What do you think gmd024, do you see this product going past 3 years of a life span ? I mean before they come up with a newer version PlayON XT or something to which only premium content (updated plugins) would be available ?

Very tempting as they have released Netflix.ca support last couple of weeks ago.

Rest assured - if you buy the one time/lifetime license the $20 annual fee doesn't apply - believe me, I questioned Playon's support in a flurry of emails and was convinced it is a "ONE" time charge, no annual fees after that

If you elect to go with annual route you pay $40 for the 1st year and another $20 going into the 2nd - so in 1 year and one days time you have $60 invested - makes the $55 lifetime look appealing -- like I said I use it enough that I got my lifetime charge out of it quite soon

"do you see this product going past 3 years of a life span" -- well that's possible - they did go from a basic onetime $20 fee to a Premium only pricing scenario - but they also offered the basic subscribers a 1/2 price deal on the lifetime premium license (that's what I bought) -- and the basic/$20 license holders didn't have to do anything if they didn't want to - the basic programming would have remained the same (for as long as they wanted to use it) or they could upgrade to the Premium version

Even if PO does vaporize in 3 years, I figure the $40 (or $55) lifetime fee was still a great value and the amount of content was a good deal for 3 years of viewing

Yah, the Netfix.ca support should help sell a lot of PO licenses - if you go for PO and have trouble downloading it - check out petec's solution in the "PlayOn/Netflix released for Canada" thread

Like I told wigout - use the trail for a while today - and decide what to do b4 the 1-day promo expires

[aasoror]

If you elect to go with annual route you pay $40 for the 1st year and another $20 going into the 2nd - so in 1 year and one days time you have $60 invested - makes the $55 lifetime look appealing -- like I said I use it enough that I got my lifetime charge out of it quite soon

I meant to say, there is a promo on the initial one year subscription as well, $20 instead of $40, so $60 over 3 years (depreciation set aside) is now comparable to the $55 for a lifetime. That was the reason for my question.

I have *almost* decided about getting the service, I am just puzzled about what would be a better choice.

Thanks for the insights gmd and lickity.

[scboley]

I meant to say, there is a promo on the initial one year subscription as well, $20 instead of $40, so $60 over 3 years (depreciation set aside) is now comparable to the $55 for a lifetime. That was the reason for my question.

I have *almost* decided about getting the service, I am just puzzled about what would be a better choice.

Thanks for the insights gmd and lickity.

I've had it for about 6 months now and I'm very happy with how it works and functions. I just installed it on the same quad core that I use for my video conversions and will go move the mouse out of sleep mode anytime I want to use the upnp playon functions.

I see it lasting a good while since the networks are all rallying together and fighting the google tv thing as there are a lot of the big 4 network based plugins available.

You guys saw me railing on the metafeeds and besides the few glitches they had several versions back that LS duked them into submission the product has been rather stable and almost all links work and is why I bash metafeeds so much. Free is not always the best alternative. If you kill your cable bill even 20 a yr is a drop in the bucket compared to the 100 I'm saving a month and the avg of 60 or 70 the normal house pays.

Plus its upnp why do you need to run it on more than one system? Just hardwire and use mapped drives if you add any local content into the PO plugins. I have a N pci adapter in the quad streaming the PO to both my hardwired pbos and never have a hiccup one from it. It's the lone wireless rogue unit besides my color wireless laser samsung printer and laptops as my pbos and linux media server acting as a NAS remote headless unit ssh encrypted tunnel into my home lan from outside and several other functions are all on a gigabit backbone between living room and bedroom.

[gmd024]

I meant to say, there is a promo on the initial one year subscription as well, $20 instead of $40, so $60 over 3 years (depreciation set aside) is now comparable to the $55 for a lifetime. That was the reason for my question.

I have *almost* decided about getting the service, I am just puzzled about what would be a better choice.

Thanks for the insights gmd and lickity.

Yah - I see what you mean - the way they worded it was a little confusing...$19.99/year
(retail $39.99/first year,
$19.99 each year thereafter) -- I thought the $40 for the 1st year was not in the promo - but it is $20 instead of $40

If you're on the fence, that might be the way to go - it's only $5 more for 3 years - if you decide to keep it that long - and you can stop renewing each year if you choose to do so -- but then again, you're basically betting on the fact that PO will vaporize in 3 years, or you will decide not to renew in the 2nd or 3rd year - if it does actually progress into a 4th year from now, your in the hole for each year after 3 (plus $5)

Hope you enjoy it whichever way you purchase it