Plugin: PlayOn in Online Services (Hulu, Netflix, Amazon VOD, etc.)

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-

I am just starting to look into this.. I am interested in adding HULU and then maybe Netflix..

My concern is my server, I just got done setting up my Athlon 64 X2 3800+ with 2 Gig ram and WHS. After reading a few posts I am concerned it will not be enough CPU power to run PlayOn and Sage. now I have 3 HD100s and that is all I use for viewing so I thought I read where one setting can be changed so all transcoding is done at the extender. If so will that help me?

thanks for any added info

You may be able to get away with Hulu, but not Netflix. The only way to know for sure is to give the demo a try.

Also, I checked with PlayOn and there's no way to not have PlayOn transcode the video on the server.

[-=Jeff=-]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

You may be able to get away with Hulu, but not Netflix. The only way to know for sure is to give the demo a try.

Also, I checked with PlayOn and there's no way to not have PlayOn transcode the video on the server.

okay thanks.. this is when I wish I would have built the Quad core i have as a server instead of the family PC. but at the time I thought the Dual core Mobo had died.. now I guess I could run PlayOn on my Vista Quad Core machine, but i would rather not if I don't have to..

Guess i might keep this on hold, I really don't want to change my WHS again

[valnar]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Also, I checked with PlayOn and there's no way to not have PlayOn transcode the video on the server.

Wha??? I knew that was the case now, but hoped it would be coming eventually from PlayOn.

Anybody know how much "damage" is done to the video, or quality drop compared to just watching Hulu or Netflix streamed directly from Windows?

[Taddeusz]

I've noticed that the "MediaMall" service seems to go down and come back up on a regular basis. I don't have any kind of schedule for it to do so. But it seems like every night anywhere between 2AM to 6AM the service, seemingly by itself, stops and starts. Just curious if anyone else has noticed anything like that?

BTW, I love the new version. Very awesome the way it takes advantage of the newly available subcategories.

[metapath]

I have a question: does this customization tax the Sage server in any appreciable way?
I have PlayOn installed on my main machine (Windows 7, Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+, 2.6 GHz and 3 GB RAM). However, my Sage server is an old Intel P4 at 2.4 GHz with 512K RAM.

The reason I ask is that installation of this customization went like a breeze...great job ep! Everything worked "out of the box" with the latest releases as of 10/14 (including a newer PlayOn than you list above). Both my Hulu and Netflix queues show up and look great. However, I can't get anything to play!

Stuff that was already there without the customization (e.g. Alaska HDTV or TED) still work fine, but nothing going through PlayOn shows up. (PlayOn does work fine in HD200 Standalone mode.)

The TempFeed_GUID.xml file is created and looks OK. But no video plays. Sage shows the length of the show, but only a black screen shows up...no progress displayed no matter how long I wait.

Any more troubleshooting I can do since TempFeed is created without a problem?

Thanks again for this! I've been holding off buying a Roku for Netflix for more than 6 months waiting for a good Sage solution. I'm _this close_ to being there!

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by metapath

Any more troubleshooting I can do since TempFeed is created without a problem?

Sanity check: did you try pressing Play? Sometimes the videos start paused at a blank screen and it only looks like nothing is happening.

[-=Jeff=-]

Well I think i might give hulu a try.. if it does not work on WHS, I will try it on the Vista box..

looking at some others server set-ups, maybe I will upgrade the CPU only on my WHS system if needed

I should add too, that even with 3 extenders, I would probably only have one stream at a time..

[skyeclad]

Integration into core STV is even more convenient for us SMC users. EP, great work! Your feed organization gets better with every new version. Thanks goes to the Sage crew for integrating and supporting this much loved Sage customization.

[skyeclad]

One curiosity, anyone else notice a grey bar at the bottom of a Netflix video? It looks to me as if playon is passing a "windowed" movie viewer with the time status bar as if its full screen. When I view a movie in a browser I can see the time status bar all the time in windowed mode but it goes away after a second in full screen.

Update: Seems to be a playon problem. Support request sent in. 5 minutes later I got an e-mail with a NETFLIX PATCH. This seems to have fixed the problem! If this bothers you too and you can't wait until the next playon update send in a support request for this patch.

[metapath]

Doh!
I can't believe it was that simple! Press Play! Cripes!

It works great. Thanks so much. Sage needs to give you a year's worth of beer!

[wado1971]

Originally Posted by metapath

Doh!
I can't believe it was that simple! Press Play! Cripes!

It works great. Thanks so much. Sage needs to give you a year's worth of beer!

Don't feel bad - it's human nature.

What I mean is: A low impact plugin you simply expect to work & will try various debugging prior to posting on the forum... while a high impact plugin you have some doubts that it actually does what it professes (easily) so one simple hangup will drive you to post. Now this plugin breaks those rules.

[-=Jeff=-]

I tried the demo of Playon with you plugin and it wrks great.. now to understand how to set-up the custom feeds..

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-

I tried the demo of Playon with you plugin and it wrks great.. now to understand how to set-up the custom feeds..

With the latest plugin and updating to the latest STV there is really nothing to do. Nothing to import-just unzip to the correct directories and then make sure you've update to the latest STV thru Detailed Setup-Advanced. Then all you do is play the videos.

Gerry

[-=Jeff=-]

Originally Posted by gplasky

With the latest plugin and updating to the latest STV there is really nothing to do. Nothing to import-just unzip to the correct directories and then make sure you've update to the latest STV thru Detailed Setup-Advanced. Then all you do is play the videos.

Gerry

yeah, but what about the plugins for Playon, for example on their website (mediamall) they have a plugin for Spike TV, how do you then find it on sage after installing it in PlayOn?

and with Hulu, browsing through the files is tedious, it is easier to go to the website, add a show to your queue then access it from Sage

[-=Jeff=-]

another quick question

I installed the trial on my WHS server.. with one feed I use about 50% CPU it seems

If I installed PlayOn on another machine, is there anytyhing I need to configure within Sage to See the PlayOn service running?

Example.. Sage running on WHS IP 192.168.0.49 and Playon running on a Vista machine IP 192.168.0.59 (IPs are DHCP) will it just 'work'?

my current set-up is Sage and PlayOn on the Same WHS

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-

yeah, but what about the plugins for Playon, for example on their website (mediamall) they have a plugin for Spike TV, how do you then find it on sage after installing it in PlayOn?

and with Hulu, browsing through the files is tedious, it is easier to go to the website, add a show to your queue then access it from Sage

Correct-I forgot about the additional plugins. (Which I also have but have yet to configure) With UPnPInspector program and analyzing the current customlink files for each source of videos it shouldn't be that difficult.

Gerry

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-

another quick question

I installed the trial on my WHS server.. with one feed I use about 50% CPU it seems

If I installed PlayOn on another machine, is there anytyhing I need to configure within Sage to See the PlayOn service running?

Example.. Sage running on WHS IP 192.168.0.49 and Playon running on a Vista machine IP 192.168.0.59 (IPs are DHCP) will it just 'work'?

my current set-up is Sage and PlayOn on the Same WHS

That's the beauty of UPnP. No configuration is necessary. It will just be picked up anywhere on the same network.

Gerry

[-=Jeff=-]

Originally Posted by gplasky

That's the beauty of UPnP. No configuration is necessary. It will just be picked up anywhere on the same network.

Gerry

That is what i thought

[lovingHDTV]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

You may be able to get away with Hulu, but not Netflix. The only way to know for sure is to give the demo a try.

Also, I checked with PlayOn and there's no way to not have PlayOn transcode the video on the server.

So PlayOn will transcode video that does not need to be transcoded instead of just streaming it?

Just want to understand fully what your saying. If so that is a true weakness with their product.

dave

EDIT: Nevermind found it myself:

http://www.themediamall.com/forum/me...oding-optional

[harrijay]

Any chance the linux file will be updated? I have been trying to get it working on my linux server and have not had much luck. I am hoping the new version helps.

Jayson