Based on discussions in another thread, I am opening this one. I have long been eyeballing the possibilities of something to 1.) stream content from my computer to my television and 2.) stream digitally-delivered, web-accessible content channels to my television.
My XBox 360 kinda does both of these things, but it’s a little clunky, and can be flaky on #1 sometimes.
I’ve watched threads on the board with interest, talking about things like Roku, PlayOn, and Serviio. What I’d like is a nice searchable unified interface where I can go : “I want to watch House. I’ve got fifteen different streaming accounts online. See if any of them are streaming House.” And/Or “I’d really like to do a marathon of the AMV Hell episodes I have downloaded to my PC. I want to set them up to stream with no interruptions.”
That kinda thing. So. PlayOn and Roku have emerged as kinda leading contenders for me, and I noticed they have a lot of channel overlap. Or, they can play together! So my tentative plan is to do PlayOn first, then get a Roku. But I wanted peoples’ thoughts and experiences.
We bought a Roku first- used it for Netflix and it immediately did the PURPLE screen of death, ha! Apparently that’s a very common issue with that little toy.
We have since bought the Google TV and it was used for about 45 minutes as we struggled to get it to connect to our internet. now it just sits there collecting dust.
It isn’t a hardware question, since PlayOn has nothing to do with Hardware, its a comparison of how to deliver entertainment. Please reverse the thread move.
But it has nothing to do with TV shows/movies themselves. All computer-y stuff goes in IMHO. Anyway…
PlayOn is OK, but it’s flaky. And the on-screen controls with the Xbox 360 (or PS3) are tolerable at best. It’s not an ideal solution is what I’m saying.
Roku (or most newer BR players) will stream Netflix, Vudu, Amazon Video, Hulu Plus and a half-dozen lesser channels and newcomers like RedBox Online (or something like that). Some are free with commercials, but most are modest pay. Vudu and Amazon let you buy or rent digital movies at very moderate prices, with full 1080p/surround sound quality, instantly. Between that and being able to stream other media from your PC, the under-$100 Roku is hard to beat as the anchor of a streaming video setup.
If you already have a streaming device that meets your needs, you don’t need another one. The suggestion is that if you don’t have a reasonably modern streaming box, a Roku is an excellent bang-for-the-buck, and upgrading your BR player to one with a full slate of streaming channels (preferably updatable) is almost as good and combines the expense.
The problem with Xbox is that you can’t do anything with it without paying for Live - and I find the practice of putting otherwise free and paid-for services behind a paywall unacceptable. (If I’ve paid for the Xbox, pay for the internet service and pay for Netflix, I shouldn’t have to pay Microsoft a dime to let me use the Netflix player they didn’t write or support anyway.) If you already have an Xbox and pay for Live, knock yerself out.
Doesn’t PlayOn require some kind of hardware to feed your television? I’m having trouble figuring out what you’re asking, given the slate of answers above.
ETA: Roku will do almost everything you ask, and more, for under $100. Its only lack is a direct YouTube channel, which will arrive sooner or later. We use the excellent YT service built into our 4yo Blu-Ray player. You could also update your BR player to one (look at LG first) for nearly Roku-level streaming with YT and disc play included, for about the same amount.
Google TV was supposed to answer your need - being able to plug all these sources (PlayOn, Netflix, YouTube, etc.), and asking it to find an episode of House for you. I never got one, and Google seems to have pulled support (I believe these two things are not related…).
He wants to merge all of his streaming “under one roof,” so to speak. And honestly, a Roku box, an Xbox 360 with PlayOn, or a something similar (Chromecast, Apple TV, etc) will all do the trick. But none will unify the interfaces and none will setup customizable playlists of PC video content without some kind of directly connected home theater PC.
Right, there is no single answer. But Roku plus one of the integrator channels comes close - it just won’t fully integrate and index his PC-based content. But neither does Slingbox, PlayOn (AFAIK) etc.
Roku does support searches across all the channels.
I am also wondering about the content that’s exclusive to one or the other. Some channels are on Roku, but not PlayOn; some are on PlayOn, but not Roku. Unfortunately it seems like not many people here are using either one at the moment. Or the forum mis-file is throwing them.