![]() In fact, you can pay $29.99 to get 150 cloud recordings. With the Cloud, you pay on a per-recording basis. PlayOn really wants you to pay for either the Cloud or Desktop versions. The company does invite you to email if you aren’t sure if your device is compatible. I didn’t see a full list of compatible platforms on PlayOn’s website. The cloud app is compatible with both Android and Apple mobile devices.īeyond that, the company says that “PlayOn is designed to work with most streaming devices.” It mentions Roku and Chromecast, but also says it works with consoles like Xbox, Playstation and Wii. PlatformĪs mentioned before, the Desktop app only works on Windows laptops. ![]() But for a company like PlayOn to succeed in the long run, I’m not sure that’s going to cut it. Except for the longish loading times, it seemed roughly comparable to the quality on the streaming sites themselves. ![]() If you want to download shows to watch later, then guess what? That’s right you’re going to have to give PlayOn your credit card info. You can also use PlayOn to stream to additional devices, but only with the paid version. There’s a lot of questions like “I already have Netflix and Hulu, so what will PlayOn add?” It mentions recording shows and then skipping ads, but again, you can only do that if you spring for one of the paid versions. The FAQs for PlayOn can sometimes sound a bit defensive. According to the company, they have content from networks including NBC, ABC, Fox, SpikeTV, Comedy Central, VH1, and MTV. You won’t be able to binge watch an entire season of The Good Place, but you will be able to catch up on the last few episodes of Season 3, for instance. The “most recent episodes” model reminds me of the early days of Hulu, back before it was a purely paid service. So if you can’t get enough of the “A Closer Look” segments on YouTube, knock yourself out. I noticed a lot of Late Night with Seth Meyers episodes available, for instance. In most cases, you’ll get access to the last five or six episodes, which is about the same number of episodes you can watch for free by going to the CW and CBS websites, respectively. There’s more free TV available than movies, as the basic desktop version lets you access to the most recent episodes of shows like Riverdale and The Big Bang Theory. By my count, there are also 12 “subscription-free movies” available for free, including titles like the 2010 remake of True Grit and the romantic comedy classic Four Weddings and a Funeral. If you’re thinking, “That’s all?” Well, so did I at first. If you want to try streaming, casting, or recording videos with the free plan, you can only do it with the movies available in PlayOn Picks. To be fair to PlayOn, the channel updates every month. ![]() Some notable titles are Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, and The Hurt Locker. PlayOn has a PlayOn Picks channel that promises “totally free movies.” There are seven of those as of this writing. I had to wait a few seconds for my show to load, which gave me time to wonder why I wasn’t watching simply Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Hulu instead. PlayOn displays them like folders on your computer’s hard drive. On other streaming sites, the shows are displayed in a more seamless way. But it looks very much like a transfer rather than something organic. I did find that the PlayOn app did a decent job of transferring my streaming profiles over from other sites. Even going from Netflix to Hulu on my laptop isn’t exactly complicated. Switching between channels is a smooth process, but then again, it’s also a smooth process on my Roku TV. There are some free episodes offered (see the Content section for more), but this mostly a pay-to-play (on) service. HBO Go is also listed, but like pretty much every other channel, you must have an existing HBO GO account before you can start queuing up Game of Thrones. If you’re a cable subscriber, you’ll probably find your cable company listed under channels as well. You can connect to the big players like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Once the download is complete, you can go to the channels tab and start linking your other streaming accounts to PlayOn’s media player. The desktop download is a pretty simple process, although there are constant reminders of what you’re missing out by not upgrading to the paid version. The cloud app is exclusively for smartphones. I have a Windows laptop, and I found it easy to get to the download page on PlayOn’s website. The desktop app only works with Windows computers, so Mac users are out of luck in this case. PlayOn is available in two basic forms: PlayOn Desktop and PlayOn Cloud.
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