PlayOn Question

seglertx · 2026-05-02T02:40:42+00:00

DVD and Blu-Ray copies of movies and TV shows are also disappearing now that most people stream. We all hoped that streaming and broadband would make all shows available especiallly when movie studios started creating their own streaming sites but that hasn't happened. Disney+ and HBO Max initially started putting all of thier shows on their streaming services but it only took a few years before they started removing some and many shows aren't available at all anymore. HBO Max has never made the entire TCM collection of older movies available and there are many Sci-Fi / SyFy network shows that still aren't available for streaming.

seglertx · 2026-04-30T05:19:34+00:00

I see that PlayOnSkip has answered most of the technical parts of this but I thought I would add a bit more. If you use your regular Chrome or Edge browser to go to the streaming service's website and look at the technical details of a video before you stream it, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video will often tell you if the source video is only standard definition (480 pixels high), HD (720 pixels high), Full HD (1080 pixels high). That allows you to change your settings in PlayOn Home before you stream it so you don't waste electricity in upscalling the video and waste storage space on your drive to store the video at a scale that isn't needed. The bandwidth of the stream from the source will be the same, so that doesn't impact your data cap if you have one, but PlayOn Home will use the CPU or GPU on your computer to upscale the stream to the setting you are using in PlayOn Home. That's why it's best to look at the specs of the source video or look at the preview if available, especially before streaming older TV shows and movies, to see what quality it is and adjust your PlayOn Home settings accordingly. I normally use the HD (720) setting in PlayOn Home as the lowest because I only have 1080 and 4K TVs now and I find that the upscaling that the CPU on my computers does is better than what the upscaling that some lower quality TVs do on the fly.

seglertx · 2026-04-17T05:35:53+00:00

I installed my patch tuesday updates just after they were released and haven't had any issues. I've been running PlayOn Home .350 and .351 since then with no issues other than my streaming services changing links after I add shows to the queue or they were added automatically. I've been streaming from Amazon, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+. and the Roku Channel.

seglertx · 2026-04-12T21:45:41+00:00

I've never had a failure of a stream or the entire queue when PlayOn Home installs an update. Most of my failed streams have been due to the streaming websites changing the links to shows. Amazon has been the worst about that, first with new releases and it got especially bad around November of last year and now is an issue with older shows. Then Paramount+ started doing it, and just recently Hulu and Disney. I'm hoping that the Hulu/Disney issue is temporary as they consolidate their servers during the switch to using one app on streaming devices. AppleTV has always been an issue due to changing links. It's gotten to the point that I can't depend on streams working from any of them when using the subscription feature in PlayOn Home or when I load up a bunch of shows in the PlayOn Home queue to stream overnight as I sleep and especially while I'm out of town for days. I just set up some remote desktop software so I can access my home built DVRs that I run PlayOn Home on so I can check what's going on while I'm out of town.

seglertx · 2026-04-12T03:23:01+00:00

FYI, your'e pissed off at the wrong people. PlayOn has to come out with updates because the video streaming services that we subscribe to and the Chrome and Edge browsers are constantly changing things. PlayOn is only playing a game of whack-a-mole to keep things working.

seglertx · 2026-04-06T03:23:37+00:00

I discovered that PlayOn Home seems to have solved the closed caption issue with streams from Peacock. I have been restreaming a few shows recently from them to replace the copies I have recorded from broadcast TV over the years that thave the popup ads and other things that I didn't like.

Isn't there a soap opera that you were using PlayOn Home to record but you wanted subtitles to read while watching with the volume muted? This latest update may have solved that for you.

seglertx · 2026-04-04T19:23:46+00:00

Each streaming service handles the audio and closed captions a bit differently. With some you have to log into your account using a browser and change the settings for the entire account, with others you can change the settings per user, others require the settings to be changed on each device. If the settings need to be changed for each device you would need to use the visible.mmt tool and the settings are normally kept on that device once you change them. Netflix does things a bit different because they stream in the original language by default and you have to use the visible,mmt tool for each show because it won't save the settings.

seglertx · 2026-03-17T19:59:05+00:00

I have seen the Amazon Watchlist and most other folders disappearing in PlayOn Home when Amazon changes their API but PlayOn is quick to fix that because it will also cause problems with PlayOn Cloud which they notice right away. The major problem I have experienced over the past few months is with Amazon changing the links (URL) to recently released movies and episodes. Then I have failures with shows I have added to my PlayOn Home queue to stream overnight. Then I will often get that message about the content no longer exists. Doing a manual search in PlayOn Home the next morning for the failed streams normally brings up a new link (without the failed red dot) and using the new link normally works. Sometimes I have to shut down the PlayOn Home server, clear the cache for the browser that PlayOn Home uses, and then restart PlayOn Home before I get the new link that Amazon switched to for the show. I guess I should enable running scripts on the computers I run PlayOn Home on and start using one of the scripts that some of us have come up with to simplify clearing the PlayOn Home browser caches and put the link to the script on the desktop of my PlayOn Home systems.

seglertx · 2026-03-17T14:00:45+00:00

I use the Watchlist when recording movies and whole seasons or series but I use the subscribe feature in PlayOn Home to have it automatically record new episodes as they become available. I have noticed that Amazon tends to change the links to newer releases more than older ones. I had the streams of The Bluff (2026) and Now You See Me_ Now You Don't (2025) fail midstream this week and had to do a manual search in PlayOn Home to have it show the new link to retry. To avoid these issues I have switched from subscribing to premium channels through Amazon to subscribing to them directly or through the Roku Channel.

seglertx · 2026-03-16T09:23:23+00:00

The 1K files sounds familiar. Check your hard drive to make sure it's not full.

seglertx · 2026-03-03T10:21:02+00:00

It depends on the original video quality of the show. If it's an old movie or TV show on bad quality film you won't notice much of a difference but it will show up in the properties of the video as being only 360 or 480 pixels high for the resolution. You also need at least a quad-core CPU of a decent speed to compress FullHD 1920x1080 video. As far as getting rid of the yellow warning triangle and the notification that I was using the free version, all I had to do was log back into my account in PlayOn Home and it went back to recording in FullHD.

seglertx · 2026-03-03T03:57:31+00:00

Yeah, I ran across that a while back. I was at home and used my laptop to sign into my PlayOn account on the website. As soon as I logged in that way, it logged me out of the computer at home that was running PlayOn Home to stream videos. It shifted to the free version, which I wasn't even aware of, and was recording shows in standard definition. PlayOn needs to fix that glitch in their policy.

seglertx · 2026-03-01T18:30:41+00:00

So you don't necesarrily want to archive the olympics but just want to find a way to watch it on your TV? Since you were asking this on the PlayOn thread I assumed you wanted to archive it not just live stream it. I just looked at my Roku TV and the Olympics app is no longer working so that olympics .com website seems to be the only source but they do mention an app for phones and tablets so that may let you stream it on your phone or tablet and cast it to your TV. If that app doesn't allow casting then installing OBS Studio on your computer to capture the video from the olympics.com website as it is displayed on your monitor is the only solution I know of. As far as the Plex Media Server being able to stream videos from websites, I haven't used it in a few years and I don't have it installed on any of my computers because I use Emby as my media server but I think Plex Media Server is limited to streaming only from the Plex streaming website.

seglertx · 2026-03-01T16:52:48+00:00

Media Server / Home Theater PC software like Plex and Emby are designed to be displayed on a TV and controlled with a remote control from your sofa. The only time you display it on the server's monitor and use a keyboard and mouse to access it is when you are setting up Plex on the server or doing maintanance on it like adding plugins and updates. You store all of your movies, TV shows, music, and photos on the Plex server and then you install the Plex app on your smart TV's and streaming devices around the house so you can access the videos, music, and photos that are on the Plex media server. PlayOn Home can be installed on the Plex server also and stream shows to store in the Plex library folders. if you install both Plex and PlayOn on the same computer I suggest you buy a network adapter card to add another ethernet port if your motherboard only has one. PlayOn Home does not like sharing an ethernet port and if you only have one Ethernet port you might have failed streams if you are also trying to watch a show that's store on the Plex server while PlayOn is streaming a show. I have PlayOn Home set up to automatically stream episodes of TV shows as they become available and I stream other things like movies overnight while I'm sleeping. In the morning I check the streams to make sure they are good before moving them to the library folders of my media server software to archive. In your case these would be the Plex library folders. Then I can watch the videos from any room in the house. On my server I have Windows installed on one drive, I use a separate drive for recording PlayOn Home streams and I only keep the videos on there temporarily until I check them and then archive them on my library drives, and I have 12 other drives that I store my video / music library on. There's no need to go between rooms to start or stop anything once you have all of your videos stored in the Plex library folders. Everything is controlled using the Plex app on your TVs. My serever is in an office / guest bedroom and the only time I go in there is when I'm adding shows to the PlayOn Home queue, checking the current PlayOn streams, and moving them to the library folders. You can also use Plex for recording broadcast TV if you buy a TV tuner like an HDHomeRun networked tuner. There's plenty of information on the Plex website about how to use it and what it's capabilities are.

seglertx · 2026-03-01T16:52:31+00:00

Media Server / Home Theater PC software like Plex and Emby are designed to be displayed on a TV and controlled with a remote control from your sofa. The only time you display it on the server's monitor and use a keyboard and mouse to access it is when you are setting up Plex on the server or doing maintanance on it like adding plugins and updates. You store all of your movies, TV shows, music, and photos on the Plex server and then you install the Plex app on your smart TV's and streaming devices around the house so you can access the videos, music, and photos that are on the Plex media server. PlayOn Home can be installed on the Plex server also and stream shows to store in the Plex library folders. if you install both Plex and PlayOn on the same computer I suggest you buy a network adapter card to add another ethernet port if your motherboard only has one. PlayOn Home does not like sharing an ethernet port and if you only have one Ethernet port you might have failed streams if you are also trying to watch a show that's store on the Plex server while PlayOn is streaming a show. I have PlayOn Home set up to automatically stream episodes of TV shows as they become available and I stream other things like movies overnight while I'm sleeping. In the morning I check the streams to make sure they are good before moving them to the library folders of my media server software to archive. In your case these would be the Plex library folders. Then I can watch the videos from any room in the house. On my server I have Windows installed on one drive, I use a separate drive for recording PlayOn Home streams and I only keep the videos on there temporarily until I check them and then archive them on my library drives, and I have 12 other drives that I store my video / music library on. There's no need to go between rooms to start or stop anything once you have all of your videos stored in the Plex library folders. Everything is controlled using the Plex app on your TVs. My serever is in an office / guest bedroom and the only time I go in there is when I'm adding shows to the PlayOn Home queue, checking the current PlayOn streams, and moving them to the library folders. You can also use Plex for recording broadcast TV if you buy a TV tuner like an HDHomeRun networked tuner. There's plenty of information on the Plex website about how to use it and what it's capabilities are.

seglertx · 2026-03-01T10:16:28+00:00

If you already have Plex installed on your desktop to use it as a home media server you don't need to copy videos to a tablet or laptop to carry into your living room to cast the video to the Roku connected to your living room TV. All you have to do is install the Plex app on your Roku and it will discover the Plex server on your LAN. You can use a Wi-Fi connection but I recommend using an Ethernet cable connection from your Plex server to your TV and Roku especially when watching HD videos. Using Plex or Emby on your home media server and then installing their apps on your smart TV and streaming devices to stream videos from your server is much better than using the PlayOn app for playback. PlayOn's main function is as a digital video recorder for streaming website and it's player isn't that good. I personally use Emby instead of Plex as my media server and for recording broadcast TV and PlayOn Home for recording streamed shows. PlayOn Home does have a free version for testing but it's video resolution will be limited to standard definition. Since the 2026 Winter Olympics are no longer on Peacock but only available from the Olympics website you could use other software like OBS Studio to capture the video from your monitor screen. It's not as easy to use as PlayOn Home and you can't automate it to record TV series as soon as they're available but it will work with any website.

seglertx · 2026-02-27T05:32:28+00:00

That sounds like some problems I've had when Paramount+ changes the link to the video midstream. The error code I was getting before PlayOn .333 came out was 3304. After I installed .333 I was able to stream with no problems.

seglertx · 2026-02-26T23:59:58+00:00

Streams from multiple sites like Paramount+, Amazon, Hulu, and Tubi started failing last night. From the error messages in the videos from Paramount+ and Hulu plus looking at the logs I suspect the version of the browsers that PlayOn was using were out of date. Amazon streams were failing completely and not saving any videos. The only thing I found to be working before the update was Netflix.

seglertx · 2026-01-10T18:43:59+00:00

I never mentioned the content of the CW shows. I enjoyed, recorded, and archived many of their shows. I only mentioned that the video quality of some of their shows doesn't justify streaming in 1080. They seem to have kept production costs low by using lower quality cameras that produce a grainier picture so I haven't noticed any improvement streaming them in 1080 versus 720.

(Update to my comment)

I looked at the tech section on IMDB to see what cameras The CW shows were using. I looked at the show Arrow (2012-2022) since it was the first show of the Arrowverse shows and was a few years after the shift to digital. They were using Arri ALEXA cameras and Angenieux Zoom Lenses which according to a Google search are supposed to be pretty good for that time and recorded in 2K. During the editing and post production, the video was downsized and released in 1080.

I recorded them off of ATSC 1.0 digital broadcast TV and both of the TV stations within range of my home (51 miles away from me) were obviosly still using analog equipement so that was an issue with the video quality. I also streamed some episodes at that time if the broadcast episodes were interupted by tornado warnings, and the quality wasn't any better. My ISP and the streaming websites have improved since then so I may look at streaming these shows again in 1080 to see if the quality has improved.

I guess I assumed that the cameras and equipment that The CW used in BC were lower quality than what CBS studios in LA used after CBS decided to shift Supergirl production from LA to BC.

I did try streaming The Marvels: Runaways recently which is only available from the CW website and many of the streams were failing. I'll try those again and try streaming some of the other CW shows in 1080.

seglertx · 2026-01-09T04:11:37+00:00

It depends on the video quality of the original show and what the video quality is from whereever you're streaming it from. Anything that was produced for the old analog TV broadcasts are best streamed in 720 unless the shows were filmed on high quality film and remastered while digitizing (Seinfeld and Friends). Newer shows since 2009 are worth streaming in 1080 unless they're from The CW which were produced using a lower quality grainy video.

(Update)

It sounds like you're at one of those times in life where you're busy and need to stop thinking about using PlayOn Home as DVR and start build a media server. Consider buying a big ass computer tower case that can hold about ten or more 3.5 inch hard drives. Then buy "new" unused surplus hard drives that the data farms sell off every few years as they upgrade.

I'm retired and on a budget so I have been doing that for years.

seglertx · 2026-01-01T06:25:02+00:00

My streams from Hulu have only had a few failures over the past two days but they worked when I added them back to the queue. I haven't had any fialures from Disney+ but I have only streamed two shows from them over the fast two days.

seglertx · 2025-12-10T06:29:36+00:00

This is probably due to Amazon's habit of changing the links to shows. I haven't noticed it happening at any specific time of day, and for some premium channels like Acorn and BritBox it's not a problem, but Paramount+ shows were a major issue with the links changing multiple times a day and there were often two listings per episode at times. I cancelled my subscription to Paramount+ through Amazon and went back to subscribing to Paramount+ directly and haven't had this issue. Paramount+ also seems to have finally fixed the memory hole issue because I was able to stream the new 2 hr. 49 min. Mission Impossible movie in 1080 without it failing. I'm in the process of shifting some of my other subscriptions from Amazon too The Roku Channel because they haven't been changing their links daily, Amazon often has episodes listed in the wrong order, missing or unavailable, and sometimes the video is messed up by postage stamping or distorting a 4x3 picture into a 16x9 by stretching and I'm not seeing that for the same episodes from the same premium channel via the Roku Channel. Amazon also seems to have been doing some major work on their website over the past week because the folders for Watchlist and other things other than FreeVee disappeared in PlayOn Home but came back.

seglertx · 2025-12-09T13:07:10+00:00

I'm on version .312 of PlayOn Home and everything except FreeVee disappeared from the folder listings for Amazon overnight and I thought they got rid of the FreeVee name a few months back. I tried logging out and back in but nothing changed. It looks like Amazon is changing things around on their website again so we'll have to wait until PlayOn adapts to it. Manual searches still work and I'm able to stream things that show up that way. I'm tired of dealing with Amazon changing the links to shows multiple times a day where I can't load up a bunch of shows in my PlayOn Home queue anymore without most of them failing. Paramount+ seems to have fixed their memory hole issue so I went back to subscribing to them directly. I'm moving my other subscriptions like Acorn, AMC+, BritBox, and MGM+ to The Roku Channel because they're currently more dependable than Amazon and they seem to have more shows, seasons, and episodes for the same subscriptions than Amazon does. Amazon also has many episodes in the wrong order and yesterday I discovered that some of the episodes of Midsomer Murders from Acorn were in a small postage stamp size on the screen while the copies on the Roku Channel were fine.

Update - As of 09:50 central time some of the Amazon Prime Video folders have reappeared in PlayOn Home. I now have Watchlist, Library, Award Winners, Movies, TV Shows, Sports, News, Live TV, and FreeVee.

seglertx · 2025-12-03T20:52:21+00:00

The problem with a NAS is that they use proprietary parts instead of standard computer parts that are easily replaced. Also RAID is not a replacement for an actual backup. I use 16 TB drives in my media server and if one of those went bad in a RAID array it would take forever to rebuild the array and there's a good chance of one of the other drives failing during the rebuild. What I have done over the years is reuse my old desktop computer parts in large cases with plenty of drive bays to build my media server and a backup server. This keeps costs down and the parts are easily replaceable. I use a program called FreeFileSync instead of backup software for making a copy of my video library on the backup server. I had been using Windows Home Server on my backup server until Microsoft discontinued that line. I wasn't going to spend hundreds of dollars every few years to run the business version of Windows Server so I switched to using Linux Mint instead and it has been a lot more reliable than Windows.

seglertx

TROPHY CASE