Channels & viewing

[rpmiles]

Excellent solution , I had no clue roku media player exists , works as well as PlayOn

[Buzzyya]

Go to m.playon.com on your phone and cast to your roku 

[Buzzyya]

I meant to say m.playon.tv and cast to your roku and you can still skip commercials 

[sfoster95]

I just realized this as well. I reached out to Playon and am waiting for a response as to why only the Playon Cloud channel is Available when their site FAQ for Playon Home says it can be accessed on Roku

[rpmiles]

don't uninstall playon because the roku media channel works with your playon install !

it works exactly like playon did for streaming vid clips

[fluke]

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@LesPaul71 wrote:

I have then same issue but there is a work around.

Instead of using PlayOn Media player on Roku, use

the Roku media player. It recognizes PlayOn Home

on your network and can open files or folders thru it.

Works and looks very similar to Media Player. Disappointing

yes, but at least you can still stream your stuff. Hope this

helps others.

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Very cool find.

Since both Roku Media Player and PlayOn support DNLA network streaming, it seems this still provides access.  Roku seems dedicated to providing DNLA, MiraCast and AirPlay as options on their product.

Reading between the lines of Kariza's response, I don't think Roku wants to frustrate it's users like this.  However, being a company located in the USA and having to maintain good relationships with other media/content companies, I think they might be required to show greater independence from PlayOn.  Some of the features that PlayOn markets as providing seem to fall into a grey'ish area.  USA's DMCA, agreements with Google Widevine or other business relationships might make having PlayOn directly on the Roku channel store precarious situation.

I read Kariza's response as likely being from someone that would like to say more but by policy can't.  The terse wording might not be to our liking but is probably the best they could do under the circumstance.

Hopefully DNLA, MiraCast and AirPlay will continue to be accepted as industry standards that fall under the "Betamax case" exception of being substantial legitimate fair use.

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@Paul415 wrote:

And when trying to use customer support, I found that I wasn't elegible.  Apparently you only get support if you buy more expensive items.

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What model of Roku do you have?  I'm not aware of Roku restricting support based on product price.  They do end support for aged end of life models.  This life cycle seems to be around 5 years from when the model is first introduced to the market.  In comparison, Motorola will gladly take over $600 to get a high end smart phone and then only two years later discontinue support and security updates.

Unfortunately the new Roku Express is only available on pre-order.  But the Roku Express 4K+ is available right now for only $40.  It is my belief anyone that gets it is eligible for the same level of support as  a customer that buys a Streambar Pro for $180.  The claim that support only comes with the more expensive items does not make sense to me based on the information I currently have.

[Paul415]

Hi fluke,

Thanks for your reply. Your work around sounds great. I wish I'd waited longer before replacing the Roku.

The model I have is a Roku Express, but when I couldn't find answers, I clicked on Agent Help and was given the message "Sorry, you're not eligible for agent support at this level."  That's when I decided to get a Fire Stick, which works fine with PlayOn.

[renojim]

Roku "Express" devices aren't eligible for any kind of agent support.  It's been that way for quite a while.  Given their low cost I can't say I blame Roku - it's hard to justify providing agent support that will quickly cost as much as the device did.  It should be noted prominently on the package or device information page, but that's Roku for you.

[fluke]

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@renojim wrote:

Roku "Express" devices aren't eligible for any kind of agent support.  It's been that way for quite a while.  Given their low cost I can't say I blame Roku - it's hard to justify providing agent support that will quickly cost as much as the device did.  It should be noted prominently on the package or device information page, but that's Roku for you.

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So Roku Express does not getting any support or is restricted to email support?

I kind of can "blame" Roku.  The $30 product known as "Chromecast with Google TV" (what an awful product name) is entitled to the following support options:

* Get a call (currently less than 1 minute wait)

* Chat (currently less than 1 minute wait)

* Via Facebook

* Via Twitter

Hours of operation is 12:00 Am to 11:59 PM including on weekends.

I don't know the quality of the support but I know the product doesn't feel as polished to me as Roku.  Either way, Roku's lack of chat support for their product of a similar price point just doesn't feel completive.  That is disappointing. 

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@Paul415 wrote:

Hi fluke,

Thanks for your reply. Your work around sounds great. I wish I'd waited longer before replacing the Roku.

The model I have is a Roku Express, but when I couldn't find answers, I clicked on Agent Help and was given the message "Sorry, you're not eligible for agent support at this level."  That's when I decided to get a Fire Stick, which works fine with PlayOn.

---

It isn't my work around, LesPaul71 is the one that pointed out the DLNA method still works.

Set your expectations low for Fire TV Stick.  The latest stick runs Fire OS 7 which is based largely on the AOSP version 9 which is from 2018.  AOSP is now on version 13.  The project last released a security update for version 9 on January of this year.  Each of the monthly security bulletins since then have indicated the updates are only for version 10 and above.  It is unlikely that version 9 is now completely secure, they just have stopped supporting it despite Amazon still trying to use it in production in devices still sold and in use.

In terms of support, Amazon live chat is technically provided for "support" regardless of the cost of the Fire TV Stick.  But calling it support would be stretching the definition of the word beyond breaking.  Each chat agent seem to have only 10 minutes to complete the discussion.  This was accomplished by throwing out nonsensical random suggestions unrelated to the problem and since the chat didn't end in time they would transfer to another agent to complete it from their own session.  The next agent may or may not admit to being able to read the previous discussion.  Several times you might find yourself repeating to another agent that clearly has no interest in reading the actual problem and has no focus on actually supporting the Fire TV Stick.  After an hour of transferring around, I was offered an Amazon gift card for my next purchase as their apology for being "unable to help."

If PlayOn is the primary use of the streaming device, my recommendations if products would be in this order:

Roku (via Roku Media Player)

Nvidia Shield TV

ChromeCast with Google TV (not to be confused with ChromeCast 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation)

I can't speak to the support of any of the three of those but the products seem much better than the Fire TV Stick.  Of each of the options, Roku still feels the most polished overall.

[Avrution]

From Playon directly:

The PlayOn and MyMedia channels for Roku were made using the old SDK which Roku decided to no longer support. We had lost the ability to update these channels a while back, but the channels remained in the channel store. Unfortunately, Roku decided to delete these channels and other channels that used their old SDK over the last few days. While we look into alternatives, please see the information below for options for your Roku player.

For PlayOn Home recordings (if you prefer to use a mobile app), you need to Cast directly from the PlayOn Cloud app Home section to the Roku player. The Cloud cast channel should launch and your recordings should begin playback.

Using the Cast feature from the Home tab in the PlayOn Cloud app does not require the use of the Cloud service.

For PlayOn recordings on your PlayOn Home PC (if you prefer to use the PC app), you can Cast directly from the PlayOn Home app to the Roku player. The Cloud cast channel should launch and your recordings should begin playback.

For PlayOn Cloud recordings, you need to Cast directly from the PlayOn Cloud app to the Roku player. The Cloud cast channel should launch and your recordings should begin playback.

Casting from the PlayOn Cloud app or PlayOn Home is the best alternative if captions and AdSkip are important.

Keep in mind, the PlayOn Cloud Cast channel is a receiver only. It will not launch with any type of interface on your Roku.

For access to any Media Library content you may have, the Roku Media Player channel is an option if a dedicated channel is preferred on the Roku. Keep in mind, this app was not developed by PlayOn and does not support our new captions or AdSkip.