Is MediaMall’s PlayOn Worth the Money?

If you own either a Playstation 3 or an Xbox 360, and you geek out on the tech available for the devices, there’s a decent chance that you’ve heard about MediaMall’s PlayOn software. The software claims to turn your game console into a fully fledged free media oasis, giving you access to major video websites such as the multi-network supported Hulu, Netflix, CBS, and more.

Here’s a look at how PlayOn, the video streaming software for the Xbox 360 and PS3, stands up to its claims, and whether it’s worth the money.

1. Setup – To set PlayOn up, you only need to download it (it’s available in a free two week trial from MediaMall’s website), enable media sharing on your Windows XP based computer, and run the software. Now, PlayOn works by essentially turning your computer into a server for your Xbox 360 or PS3 to pull streaming video content off of, so you’ll need a fast computer, but you can alter the settings in the convenient-to-use settings menu of the software if you’re having problems. I found setup to be a breeze, and within minutes I was watching Hulu and other streaming video websites on my own Xbox 360.

2. Bugs and Downtime – There are a few bugs that the creators of PlayOn are currently wrestling with, and they’re worth mentioning. When I started my trial of the software, Hulu, the biggest draw that the software has, was not functioning, and it continued to not work for a week. Though it works now, there are occasional drop-outs in the signal which are very frustrating, and a double folder listing that can make things confusing. This sounds like a lot, but actually the bugs and downtime were infrequent save for that one big period at the beginning of my trial, and PlayOn extended the trial with an apology for users that were affected. It’s good customer service, but it does make one wonder whether there will be similarly long periods of downtime in the future.

3. Quality – The quality of videos is very high, at least if you have a fast computer. You do have to watch commercials with the network-sponsored programming, but only a few commercials, and it’s all completely legal and actually seems to work better on average than Hulu’s web-based player. PlayOn has no significant problem with the quality of its streaming videos whatsoever.

4. Price – PlayOn sells for $40 directly from its website, however, there are occasionally special promotional periods in which the software is sold for less, so the patient types out there may want to sign up to MediaMall’s newsletter to wait for a better deal. As far as the $40 pricetag, it’s worth it when PlayOn is working. In the future, it’d be nice to see less downtime and bugs, particularly with Hulu, the main reason that most buyers will be considering the software, but given that a cable subscription will set you back quite a bit more than this one time fee, PlayOn is worth the occasional frustrations.

Do you think that MediaMall’s PlayOn is worth the money? Share your thoughts in our comments section below.