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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - PlayOn on Wii U Gives You Hulu for Free and 50+ Channels

sethnintendo on 13 December 2012
d21lewis said:
I followed all of the steps. Tried watching a few shows and nothing has worked, yet. It's asking me to go to my settings and log into my Netflix/Hulu/HBO Go account--and I only have Netflix. I'm not gonna log into that, yet. I'll try Hulu but if they ask me to give them any personal info, I'm just going to delete the app from my PC (yes, you have to have a PC), and erase everything from my Wii. And, for the record, the link in the OP also showed that this works on every device from Xbox 360 to PS3 to Wii to smartphones, tablets, etc. It's not something unique to the Wii U.

You have to keep your PC running also I believe.  I looked into the service for the Wii awhile back.  Some people like it and most don't.

http://download.cnet.com/PlayOn/3640-2056_4-11904134.html?v=1



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d21lewis on 13 December 2012

Well, son of a bitch. I'm watching Brickeleberry on Comedy Central. It's just a highlight show, though. I'm gonna see if it works with other channels. Not in HD, though. I'd say it's about Youtube app quality.

*edit*  Goddam, the commercials before the show are sooooo long.  But it appears to be letting me watch lasat night's full episode of the Colbert Report.  I'm not sure if it's a keeper or not.  It seems to be working, though.



cusman on 13 December 2012
beatles1082 said:
someone please try it so we can see what the catch is

Watching Nikita Season 3 Episode 5 via Hulu Plus on my Wii U Gamepad right now

No Hulu+ paid account required. This was incredibly easy to setup.

  1. Visit the following on your Wii U Gamepad browser: http://free.playon.tv/wiiu
  2. Provide your Name and Email Address
  3. Check your email for PlayOn License from support@playon.tv
  4. Use the link in email (on your PC or Mac) to download the PlayOn software which was fast and installed quickly without any hassle
  5. Once installed visit http://wii.playon.tv on your Wii U Gamepad browser and it just works

The PlayOn software that installed on my PC has a settings thing which allows Amazon Instant Video and Netflix accounts to be configured. You can also provide your Hulu+ account if you want favorites/queues etc, or just use the free version. There are a ton of other channels like SyFy and HBO Go and bunch more.

What's really nice here? Well as you may have discovered there are some shows (ex: Alphas Season 2) on Hulu+ that you are not allowed to watch directly on Wii U native app even with the paid subscription. The licensing grant to Hulu only allows these to be accessed on PC and not on any other devices. But with this PlayOn service, you can now watch even those on your TV screen via the Wii U.

Pretty awesome!

The promotion basically gives you 1 full year of use which is otherwise $40 / year. If you currently pay for Hulu+, then this would be a saving in itself with the added benefit of every Hulu+ show. I am going to try out some other channels as I find time. Most interested in the HBO Go thing but also SyFy.



superchunk on 13 December 2012

I played with Playon before and overall thought it was meh. Now that was with the PS3 and maybe they have a better UI / service with WiiU, idk.



d21lewis on 13 December 2012

Seems to be legit. And, like all video on the Wii U browser (including porn), you can watch the video on the TV and browse the web with the pad. Pretty sweet....so far. I'm still waiting for the dark side of this. It's too good to be true.



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cusman on 13 December 2012
d21lewis said:
Seems to be legit. And, like all video on the Wii U browser (including porn), you can watch the video on the TV and browse the web with the pad. Pretty sweet....so far. I'm still waiting for the dark side of this. It's too good to be true.

I find the interface easier than the Wii U native Hulu+ app. It allowing browsing while the video continues to play is nice.

The load on PC is minimal for the installed/running PlayOn app. On my machine it shows up as

Processes

Image Name: PlayOn.exe *32
CPU: 00
Memory: 2,888 K
Description: PlayOn System Tray Moniter

Services

Not sure which of them it is. My machine is running 22% CPU with everything but I got SQL Server, Web Server, Steam, Origin, and all kinds of other stuff running on machine so hard to say.

 



swii26 on 13 December 2012

Yea, the downside is if you don't have a log in for some of the services (HBO GO) they won't work. The service is also NOT live and you have to choose what episode to watch. Personally, I would just stick to Netflix/Youtube apps. The only positive is it lets you watch hulu with your basic sign-in and able to listen to Pandora.



Steam/Origin ID: salorider

Nintendo Network ID: salorider

PSN: salorider

3DS Friend Code: 4983-4984-4179

 

Gamerace on 13 December 2012

I'll have to give this a try on my Wii.



 

Maelstrome on 13 December 2012

how well does the my media feature work?



cusman on 13 December 2012

So I watched one Episode of Alphas Season 2 via PlayOn Hulu Channel and one via PlayOn SyFy Channel

The sound, picture, stability for Hulu is far superior to whatever it is pulling from the SyFy Channel. The native Wii U Hulu+ app had about same or slightly better picture quality than the PlayOn Hulu Channel. The native app also had Closed Captioning options and much better sound.

Does anyone here have HBO Go? I would love to watch Game of Thrones Season 2 if the quality is good. Is it easy to setup and pay for HBO Go or do I have to have the cable channel?