# Is there a free alternative to Playon?



## Rob Dawn

I've been using Playon the last week to watch some shows that didn't get recorded because I was on vacation while my roof was redone and the roofers obviously did not get the dish pointed correctly. But after the free trial ends I won't use it enough to merit the $40 charge so I was wondering if there was a similar product that is free. XBMC maybe?

What I would like to do is access my Hulu queue (and possibly cbs.com, etc) from my HD DVRs.

Thanks!
Rob


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## Jeremy W

I'm not aware of any free products that offer the functionality you're looking for.


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## poppagene

$80 one time charge for lifetime playon premium seems like a small price compared to your monthly directv subscription.


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## ejjames

They have substantial sales from time-to-time. My original subscription was $20, and only $5 more to upgrade to premium. But for me, it was well worth it at twice the price.


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## maartena

Double post for some reason, this one can be deleted.


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## maartena

I have gone through the list of DLNA server software found on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance

I read reviews on many, tested a number of them including PlayOn, and looking at the functionality I want (web tv from Netherlands being one of them, and PlayOn has plugin for that), ease of use and it actually working properly.....I decided to purchase PlayOn, it was simply worth it to me.

The very BEST among the free ones is TVersity. If that doesn't work for you, you might want to consider getting PlayOn.


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## nino2469

maartena said:


> I have gone through the list of DLNA server software found on wikipedia:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance
> 
> I read reviews on many, tested a number of them including PlayOn, and looking at the functionality I want (web tv from Netherlands being one of them, and PlayOn has plugin for that), ease of use and it actually working properly.....I decided to purchase PlayOn, it was simply worth it to me.
> 
> The very BEST among the free ones is TVersity. If that doesn't work for you, you might want to consider getting PlayOn.


I am currently in my trial of Playon. I have been trying to get tversity to play mkv files to my DTV box and I cannot get it to work. I installed Playon and bam it worked first time.

I don't know if I will use it enough to pay $80 for it though. I may just keep watch and see if they have any deals on it soon.


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## Serra

Wow, Playon got expensive! I got the non-premium version for $5 last year. I'm not using premium. I use it to get to my Hulu queue. 

Seems like I can upgrade to premium for $54.00, but I don't use anything that premium offers. Oddly, Basic lets me watch most of the premium stuff anyway, not bad for $5.

I'm using Roku for Netflix now, so Hulu is really the only thing I would use Playon for and since I don't have the upgraded Hulu, the stuff I want isn't HD, mostly, so...


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## maartena

nino2469 said:


> I am currently in my trial of Playon. I have been trying to get tversity to play mkv files to my DTV box and I cannot get it to work. I installed Playon and bam it worked first time.


Well... the program is also regularly updated, I have received several version updates since I bought it. There is probably a reason why it isn't free, by paying for it they can afford developers that can deliver updates and fixes in a timely manner, where free software (unless developed on the side by a large corporation) usually depends on the free time of hobbyists to get it done.

For me, it was worth it.


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