vcarvega

The official Flash release does not come out until next week, March 18... But it was also leaked earlier today. The first thing I did after downloading and installing it (which took less than 2 min) was install the PlayOn app from the Market.

If you already have PlayOn running on your home pc or laptop (perhaps for your Android phone which it also works on), you're up and running within seconds on the Xoom.

The is supposed to allow you to stream Netflix, Hulu, and a dozen or so web-streaming sites. However, what makes it truly awesome is that you can stream ANY of the media files you have stored on your PC. I have a bunch of MKV's... they were streaming flawlessly and fluidly! So that whole video player issue is effectively solved.

This also addressed my only other nagging issue that made the iPad an aggressive alternative... the ease to find and play movies through iTunes. Being able to stream anything from your hdd over wifi or 3G helps to fill the gap in the Xoom's media capabilities imo.

There are a few glitches (none during video playback), but then again, Flash still has another week before it officially debuts anyway.

There is still 4G & sdcard to be enabled... but honestly the Xoom feels like a COMPLETE media device with the addition of Flash and ingenuity of PlayOn.

Last edited by vcarvega; March 12th, 2011 at 04:15 PM.

marctronixx

yeah man to curb my appetite, im using palyon thru the evo. im going to hold out for the official flash update and then ill let 'er loose. also playon is now 5 bux a month for your folks on the fence about it...

clb2196

It is awesome. Ive already been using it on my droid2 and wii. I did have some problems with it initially on the xoom, but that was before I got the 3.0.1 update, it seems nice now! Fyi, playon just added access to the amazon prime streaming videos (not the same as amazon vod, this is free videos for anyone with prime).

SuperW2

I just downloaded the trial...when I setup the "MyMedia" how do I access from the Mobile App?

Nevermind... I needed to stop and restart the service!

Last edited by SuperW2; March 12th, 2011 at 09:32 PM.

Don S

I have been using it too. It works pretty well over wifi, and ok over 3G. I am very happy so far.

rushmore

I prefer stand alone apps like Netflix where no need to rely on your PC being on (put my PC in sleep mode when not at the house) and not practical while traveling to leave my PC up (seems excess resources just to play videos on phone).

Kind of seems overkill, but appreciate some folks do not mind. Well, a lot do not mind apparently.... Better watch out for the energy police!!!!

s.hasan546

how is this a benefit for the Xoom? How is flash involved in anyway? Ipad also has playon and the ipad doesnt have flash. the point of flash was so you could go straight onto a website like netflix and watch right on their website rather than having to pay an app to do it in a annoying workaround

Sundown

I've watched two Netflix shows with PlayOn, both about 48 minutes long, and in both cases the sync got off about 30-40 minutes into the show. It's hard to watch someone talking when their lips are about 3 seconds slower than the audio. Has anyone else had this problem?

clb2196

I'm not sure where you got this idea. I assure you the playon app did not work without flash, not sure how the iPad one works.

Netflix uses silverlight, so I'm not sure why you would think flash would make the site work. I've had flash on my Droid2 since I've gotten it and Hulu doesn't work there either, the problem, AFAIK is that it checks your OS.

I would think at some point we'll have dedicated apps. But for now, we have a way to watch Netflix and Hulu, so I'm happy.

It's not a "benefit" for the Xoom, it's just an app that now works.

Don S

Exactly

rushmore

Still, I do not get how having to always have your PC on and go through it is convenient or efficient. Seems superfluous compared to a Netflix type app or Flash. One less thing to have to rely on.

Last edited by rushmore; March 14th, 2011 at 11:30 PM.

clb2196

PlayOn and flash are not an either/or. We DO have flash... but flash isn't really the answer as far as streaming video from actual sites, versus apps.

Sure, an actual Netflix or Hulu app would be nicer, and I'm sure we'll get them eventually. But for now, this works fine for me.

It depends on your options. I NEED flash on my portable device to make it useful, to use it for school. So for me, an iPad with a Netflix app, but where I can't do my homework which is the priority makes no sense. If having a native Netflix app is your priority... then clearly you won't want an Android tablet.

SuperW2

I can't watch anything on Playon other than the stuff in MyMedia...all of the other sources won't load/play at all.. 8-(

clb2196

Hm- try contacting PlayOn support, they're pretty good about fixing things or getting back to you.

superflybribri

I actually installed PlayOn on my Acer Windows Home Server which allows the software to run all the time without a computer being left on but the server does not seem to stream the video files that I have stored locally on the server without skipping or buffering often.

3devious

Well, the nice thing is that it doesn't have to be *your* PC if you get what I mean.

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rushmore

True, but hard to argue that a stand-alone apps is more efficient. I do not care for using PlayOn due to having to leave stuff on while away.

clb2196

Well *of course* a stand alone app is more efficient. But since we don't have one yet, I'm really not sure the point you're trying to make.

rushmore

I want stand alone apps on my Android devices and not be stuck with just Playon

I use Netflix on my iPod 4 using my Incredible as tether. Works great, but would be nice to have Netlfix and Hulu on my phone

Then again, I use several Flash sites, but they do not cache and playback as well as the Netflix app. Caches seems the main issue. Great connection, Flash is fine.

I am using the same device for Flash and Netflix for data streaming, but ironic that the Netflix app works much better using same connection on the Incredible as tether.

Seems Flash needs better cache management, since same connection.

Last edited by rushmore; March 16th, 2011 at 12:07 PM.

Don S

I think we agree with you about wanting standlone apps. But that not the discussion here. The point of this thread is to state that an application much of us love - PlayOn - now works pretty well, with Flash enabled.

The fact that we don't have working standalone apps for Netflix and Hulu (yet) seems tangential at best here..

papermonkey01

Yes but I think it's a netflix issue not a playon one. I've had this happen on both my ipod and watching it through xbox. I fixed it by rewinding a couple seconds and playing again

rushmore

Point taken, but would be nice to have the apps. Does the Tegra 2 have the needed DRM keys so we can get the apps to work? Both are being released in a few months.

clb2196

I just want to bump this to say I am VERY impressed with their support! I'd had to set up port forwarding to get the 3G to work, and it stopped working. It ended up being my fault, my IP address had changed (thought I had it set to static, apparently not ) but they emailed back and for with me all day, looking at logs and having me check settings and test links. They were prompt- response s in about 20 minutes, helpful, and it was an actual person and not someone reading off a script! Just thought I'd give them a shoutout.

LunchBB

Is that app costs $40 a year?

llescaflownell

I believe it is 40 for the first year, then 20 thereafter. Or, you can just buy the lifetime subscription for 80. And I believe the app itself is free, you just have to buy the subscriptions.

LunchBB

What's the subscription is for? Does it provide premium content? Or we are paying subscription so we can stream our content from our own PC?

llescaflownell

You can stream content from sites like Hulu, netflix, and other feed providers from your computer. You can also stream content from your computer as well. It not only works for android, but also the Xbox 360, PS3, iOS, or other compatible device.

the free service is very limited. You can stream like pandora and 2 other sites, very minimal content.

LunchBB

I don't mind paying netflix or other subscription service (hulu plus) as they provide premium content. But paying subscription for this software so you can stream what you can see on your desktop to the mobile device is just not right. And I think they are greedy to charge $70 for a software of this nature. That's just expensive.

Sorry for being a downer. That's just my opinion. =)

llescaflownell

I feel the same way. I think I'll just wait for the native apps.

Although I am glad PlayOn works for the Xoom, I just don't think it's for me.

marctronixx

it is a server/host application. it is providing a service.

sure its not for everyone. this thread was intended to alert xoom users that it works just well on the tab. i dont think anyone here is trying to push this product onto people..

Mitchrapp

I love me some PlayOn. I've been using it for more than 2 years and its definitely worth the 40 a year. They have a couple nce plugin sites where you can basically get anything. And the community is great.

clb2196

Definitely not for everyone. I got it on sale, for $20 for the year. I use it to watch Netflix and Hulu through our Wii pretty much every day, and on my Droid2 and Xoom. I originally got it just for the Wii, so the fact that I'm getting support for 2 more devices for no extra cost is pretty awesome to me. I would definitely prefer native apps, but til then, I'm pretty happy with this.

Mitchrapp

Agree. I originally got it to play on my PS3/TV and no extra charge for Android device is a nice bonus.

dvandam

For me, the biggest draw is the ability to stream Netflix AND video files from my computer. I have so much content on my machine and the idea that I can just stream stuff right to it and not worry about loading stuff onto my Xoom and getting the appropriate video player (most of my stuff is XviD .Avi stuff) is very appealing. I can't wait to try it out at the gym. I've been using my N1 to do this and it is a little hard to shut everything out while looking at a 3.7" screen.

That said, I do still hope we get a Netflix native app soon. I'm sure the video quality will probably be better, and over the weekend on 2 separate videos I got the red netflix "We are adjusting the quality of the video" screen, but the video never came back. It may as well have just said, "Don't worry, this ending isn't REALLY worth watching.."

clb2196

Yeah, native is always better. Now that I can watch Netflix on the Wii without a disk, we always use that over PlayOn.* But we still use it for Hulu and Youtube and CBS (Amazing Race!).

*The leaked Android Netflix app that *doesn't work for streaming* (just want to emphasize that) does work nicely for updating your queue, and is actually easier to browse than the Wii app, so I've been using that to find videos, add them to the queue, then play from the Wii. Works nicely.

Don S

For those who still don't know, PlayOn is not just Netflix and Hulu streaming. There are many other services, both official and unofficial that you can stream via PlayOn. The official ones listed are:
Pandora

YouTube

Hulu

Netflix

Adult Swim

Amazon VOD

BET

Cartoon Network

CBS

CNN

Comedy Central

ESPN

ESPN3

FOX News

MLB.tv2

MTV

NFL Rewind

NHL.com2

Nick

OWN

PBS

PBS Kids

SpikeTV

Syfy Rewind

TBS

TV.com

VEVO


There are also forums with many other plugins that work just fine. I use lots of them.

Dorfonceltics

So I am still having issues getting PlayOn to work on my Xoom. I've installed IE8 on PC and Flash Player 10.2 on both my PC and Xoom. When I start PlayOn and pair with my PC my Netflix instant queue shows up. But when I go to play a video through Netflix I get a black screen and error message "stream not found null". Has anyone been able to get past this road block? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

clb2196

Just Netflix? What about Hulu, Youtube, etc, same error? Is this on the same wireless as your PC, or on 3G?

Mitchrapp

Great list. I have those as well and like you said, much much more you can get. Great app.

nycebo

Just tried it last night. It is pretty sweet to see it work in action. Pretty cool app.

fsinvegas

Hi I am new here and have a question. I have playon working on my Droid X but it will not work on my Xoom. It finds my computer and pairs with it and also lists all the movies and TV shows available. When I go to play them all I get is the title and duration on the screen. The program never loads or plays on the Xoom. On the Droid X everything works great. I am pairing with the same computer for both devices so am not sure why it is not working on the Xoom. Any ideas?

wynand32

It's actually working, you just need to tap in the grey area above the description. It will then start the video.

nycebo

I had the same issue, resolved exactly the same way that wynand32 described. Pretty odd solution, though, eh? Hopefully Playon resolves this quickly.

fsinvegas

Thanks. You are correct it does work if I tap in the grey. I also found if I play through the browser rather then the app everything works better.

whippintegra

I am not having problems with playon . I got it to work a few weeks ago but it stopped. I have a Linksys router model wrt54g and I have port 57331 open. I can access it through the LAN side but the WAN side fails.

Any help/ideas will be great I want to be able to use this while on vacation in a few days

THANKS!

clb2196

I'd contact their support. I've had great experiences with them- actual people without scripts that get back to you very quickly. I had a similar problem, I had set up the port forwarding, but then changed the IP on my computer without updating the port forwarding on the router. Whoops.

My other thought was make sure you have an exception set up in the firewall, too.

nycebo

How'd you manage that? I thought you had to use the app on the Xoom.

whippintegra

I did, They told me to do something I already did. When i got home from work i looked and it was working fine... Go figure

vincentp

I've seen a few people mention the fact that they would prefer to go straight to the website for Netflix and Hulu. While I imagine this will work for Hulu if support comes around, doesn't Netflix use Silverlight and not Flash?

I'm considering buying a Xoom soon, and PlayOn seems like an attractive all-in-one media app for more than just Hulu and Netflix. I'd actually prefer to have everything in one place, a media hub, rather than having to go to websites individually to watch the things I want to. For me personally, I'll mostly be using this thing around the house, and my PC is always on anyways.

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clb2196

Yup, netflix will need to be thru an app. I do love play on, but I'd prefer a dedicated app. Play on can be awkward to search for content, and you can't jmpmahead further than its loaded, so stopping and picking up where you left off doesn't work well. But for now I'm happy with it.