PlayOn Desktop is Dead

[NetworkGuy]

PlayOn—the best streaming DVR—just got a lot pricier
https://www.techhive.com/article/363...t-pricier.html

[NetworkGuy]

From the PlayOn Reddit forum:
https://www.reddit.com/r/PlayOn/comm...nd_windows_11/

PlayOn Home, PlayOn Desktop and Windows 11

I wanted to take a moment here to address the release of PlayOn Home and the understandable concerns voiced about PlayOn Desktop.

Those of you with lifetime PlayOn Desktop licenses are eligible for at least 3 free months of PlayOn Home. Should you find it not for you, you can continue to use PlayOn Desktop on Windows 10 and Window 8.1 PCs, but it will likely become less stable over time. While we won’t be releasing updates for PlayOn Desktop we will still provide technical support and troubleshooting assistance.

The PlayOn Desktop installer may be found here:

https://appdownload.playonrecorder.c...up.4.5.130.exe

As some of you noted, when the Windows 11 beta first rolled out, PlayOn Desktop did mostly work but as time passed, we found not in a way that we’d be able to reliably support moving forward. It was also important to us to leverage opportunities to bring parity between a PC-based product many of you prefer and the PlayOn Cloud app in regards to both features and channels. The existing development path for PlayOn Desktop simply did not allow that.

At launch, PlayOn Home included channels that have been exclusive to Cloud -- Acorn TV, Discovery Plus and Pluto TV. We're also able to support captions in PlayOn Home recordings in the same way we support captions in PlayOn Cloud recordings (captions that can be toggled on or off rather than hard-coded captions).

We're working on deeper integration between PlayOn Home and PlayOn Cloud. In the next several weeks, the PlayOn Cloud app will also be able to "see"/discover the PlayOn Home server under the Home tab in the app, much like the old mobile app but with some enhancements. The Home tab, already present in the PlayOn Cloud app will display the user's PlayOn Home recordings, to allow for casting/streaming...but also to copy the recording from the PC to the mobile device. So, customers will be able to easily take their home recordings with them in the PlayOn Cloud app.

This decision was not made lightly. PlayOn is a small company and with limited development resources and this was and is about carving out a path forward that allows us to continue cover the cost of development and to provide software and service that meet needs of our users.

EDIT: As folks have commented I thought it worth updating the post to answer some questions generally for everyone

Upgrading to PlayOn Home is not trading in or forfeiting your PlayOn Desktop license. Whether you choose to sign up for PlayOn Home or not, whether you use the free months or not, your license will still work with PlayOn Desktop.

This was not a long term plan. We were more optimistic 2 months ago at being able to support PlayOn Desktop on Windows 11. Over the last several months we have released regular updates and fixes for PlayOn Desktop. Just in the last 2 months we have released Desktop updates on 8/5, 8/10, 8/20,9/14, 9/21, 9/23, and then finally on 10/7 (to make sure everyone had a final version that had anything we could fix included). If our intention was to try to force folks to upgrade it would have been easier to point to a completely broken PlayOn Desktop.

We place no limits on the number of installs within a household can be running for either PlayOn Desktop or PlayOn Home using the same account

There is no deadline for moving to PlayOn Home to get the free months of service.

Even after upgrading to PlayOn Home, you can revert to PlayOn Desktop and your license will remain active

Additional edit -- to address a common question that's come up about why PlayOn Desktop doesn't run on Windows 11. Windows 11 integrates the new chromium-based Edge browser very differently than Windows 10, which changes the way PlayOn does it’s hidden browser/capture process. The Edge stuff in Windows 11 was still in flux/development in the Windows 11 betas.

If any of you wish to contact me directly my email address is skip.sullivan@playon.tv

[Zogg]

This is not good news for those of us who purchased lifetime licenses, but really it isn't a surprise. Companies like this need cash flow to continue to develop, and the one-time fee just doesn't work.

But, the few times I've tried to use PlayOn recently the recordings fail. It seems even more hodge-podge than SageTV is, and honestly I'm tired of messing with it.

It's easier for me to just fire off a manual recording on SageTV and then select the desired show on the STB using the on-demand menu. It would be nice to be able to specify a tuner to use, but I have a way around it.

[NetworkGuy]

If you have a lifetime license (I do), you are entitled to at least 3 months of their Home product ($4.99 a month). I sent an email to Skip asking what I could get.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

If you have a lifetime license (I do), you are entitled to at least 3 months of their Home product ($4.99 a month). I sent an email to Skip asking what I could get.

Playon cloud works seamlessly with Channels DVR.. You set downloads on the APP and Channels DVR downloads them to the server.


https://getchannels.com/docs/channel.../playon-cloud/

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

If you have a lifetime license (I do), you are entitled to at least 3 months of their Home product ($4.99 a month). I sent an email to Skip asking what I could get.

I suppose it's worth trying it out for 3 months.

[KeithAbbott]

From the consumer perspective, it seems like "lifetime" licensing arrangements are becoming less and less appealing. "Lifetime" used to mean for the lifetime of the consumer; then it became clear that it could be either the lifetime of the consumer or the lifetime of the company. Now, it appears that if the underlying technology changes too drastically and requires too much effort to support the product, the company can just choose to discontinue the product and abandon the commitment that they made. Maybe instead of calling it lifetime, they need to start calling it "single payment" or something along those lines.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

From the consumer perspective, it seems like "lifetime" licensing arrangements are becoming less and less appealing. "Lifetime" used to mean for the lifetime of the consumer; then it became clear that it could be either the lifetime of the consumer or the lifetime of the company. Now, it appears that if the underlying technology changes too drastically and requires too much effort to support the product, the company can just choose to discontinue the product and abandon the commitment that they made. Maybe instead of calling it lifetime, they need to start calling it "single payment" or something along those lines.

Lifetime memberships are for quick cash grabs .. After a while the cash flow slows to a crawl that the company can no longer be viable. That is why I am willing to pay a monthly fee for ongoing support.

[NetworkGuy]

I am using the approach of just buying PlayOn Cloud credits. When on sale, they cost about $0.12 a credit. But PlayOn has also changed their policy of how much it cost to record a show. It used to be one credit / one show. Now, one credit buys you a low resolution video (480p). You need 2 credits for 720p and 3 credits for 1080p. They claim this is "Due to the significantly higher processing demands of a 1080p recording".

I could almost accept that but them you find that have hobbled PlayOn Home to record only up to 720p and they are still charging $4.99 a month. I understand going to a subscription model, but their model is too convoluted and needs a lot of simplification.

At this point, I am only using PlayOn Cloud for very limited recordings.

If you are recording about 10 videos a month, the best approach would be a Recording Only Cloud plan. You get 30 credits for $2.99 a month. Otherwise, just buy the Cloud credits when they go on sale, they do not expire.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Lifetime memberships are for quick cash grabs .. After a while the cash flow slows to a crawl that the company can no longer be viable. That is why I am willing to pay a monthly fee for ongoing support.

wow - shows how much I used my 'Lifetime' payment membership: never. lol. I'm just finding this out now, two years later.
I seem to be able to download and 'record' some things from the Roku Channel using Playon Desktop, but then somethings on the list ('Weird Al Story') just cause the recording to abort.

Unlike a lot of people, if a company abandons their 'lifetime' agreement after payment, they should have to refund your 'lifetime' money, which you could then use for other products of theirs, or someone else's.

I blame all this on Ajit Pai, and the current lack of consumer protection, solely on the highly political FCC. Look up what happened to Gigi Sohn and net neutrality. Criminal...

[tvmaster2]

My goodness, are they realtime, aka a 30 min show takes 30 min to download?
I'm obviously NOT a seasoned, PlayOn Desktop Lifetime user, even though I paid for the silly thing.
Is that how it works - realtime download?

[graywolf]

yes. real-time download
use it sporadically....mainly if missed something or recording messed up due to storm....not regular basis

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by graywolf

yes. real-time download
use it sporadically....mainly if missed something or recording messed up due to storm....not regular basis

Ok, thanks for clearing that up. I'll plan my downloads better in future