Nintendo Wii and PlayOn for Video

We’ve switched back to Netflix from Blockbuster (because I loathe Blockbuster for a variety of reasons).  A bonus of being back on Netflix is using the Instant Play feature (VOD) to watch streaming movies.  I already get a great amount of VOD from my AT&T U-verse box but it tends to be more stacked with recent movies.  I don’t have a Netflix device yet (newer blue-ray player maybe?) which would make it easy to watch Netflix on my home theater.  We do have a Wii, so I did some poking around to find out if the Wii could maybe stream movies.  There is a new product called “PlayOn” that works for many different platforms to do just that.

PlayOn doesn’t run on the Wii, it runs on a PC in your house (not a Mac).  It grabs the video on the PC, and the Wii streams it from the PlayOn server (the software you installed on your PC).

The install on the PC was a snap.  I put in my Netflix ID and password so it could login and get at my Instant Queue.  We went to the site playon.tv on the Wii and it found the PC we installed their software on.  We were able to watch Netflix, Hulu, and a variety of other sources.  PlayOn is a platform content providers can create plug-ins for.  That means if you have a streaming resource,  you can create a plug-in anyone with PlayOn can consume your video from the platforms they support (PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Moxi HD DVR, NETGEAR EVA2000, HP MediaSmart TV, or other DLNA-compliant device).

What Worked?

• Easy Install on PC.
• Wii connected well, no network issues.
• Free Trial.

Downsides?

• No sound on Netflix
• Jerky video all around
• Wii support in beta mode.
• $40, expensive to me.

Neat idea, easy to get running.  Video was no where near the quality of hooking up my laptop.  Would I use it? Probably not due to the cost. If it was $20 and the quality was as good as laptop…