PlayOn media server now serving Wii customers (in beta, anyway)

We knew good and well that the fine folks over at MediaMall were toiling away in an attempt to bring internet TV content from YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, CBS, CNN and a host of other sources to Nintendo's white-hot Wii, but there's just nothing like hearing that intentions have become reality. Based on an email from MediaMall support to a particularly curious user, the "latest version of PlayOn includes a beta version of Wii functionality in it." Naturally, the company's doing its darnedest to keep this under wraps for now, but we're eager to get legions of Wii users testing it out and reporting back with performance evaluations. The note does mention that quality will be lower than on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 due to the inherit hardware limitations on Nintendo's baby, but hey, you knew that going in, right? Hop on past the break for the letter in its entirety, which includes instructions on getting this going on your console.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Dear PlayOn Customer,

Thank you for inquiring about using PlayOn on your Wii game console. We are happy to announce to you that the latest version of PlayOn posted to the website earlier today includes a Beta version of Wii functionality in it. We are only announcing this to a small number of customers who have inquired about the Wii. It is not yet being made "publicly known". Please try it out and let us know how it works, passing along any bugs you find by submitting a support request through the PlayOn Settings Manager. You can download the release from here: http://www.themediamall.com/playon/download/

The most important feedback will be how you feel the video quality is. It is of lower quality than is available on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 due to limitations of the Wii itself. We have optimized the video as best we can, and you can choose different quality settings (Low, Medium, High, Max) with PlayOn settings to find the highest quality which plays back smoothly on the Wii. If you leave it on "Auto" it will default to the Medium level. You also have the option of choosing a higher level, but selecting to show the video in a smaller window of the video player (using the on screen full screen toggle button of the video player with your Wiimote). Please let us know which level works best for you after trying it for a few days.

After installing this PlayOn release on your Windows PC, you can then find the PlayOn PC from your Wii by opening the "Internet Channel" web browser, and then entering the following URL (web address) after pressing the "WWW" button: "playon.tv" Also note that you should set your Wii Browser to auto hide the control bar at the bottom of the screen, which will allow the full screen to be used for the UI and Video Playback.

To upgrade your Nintendo Wii with the "Internet Channel" web browser, visit http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/channelsInternet.jsp#downloadOpera
Thanks so much for contacting MediaMall Support. And – thanks for your interest in using PlayOn.

Regards,

MediaMall Support

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 3:30AM]

Saw the post so I fired up my wii and entered in playon.tv through the internet channel.... no dice... went to my home server and hit check for update on playon but it didnt' find any new updates so went to themediamall site and manually downloaded the latest version...... really surpirsed at the quality of the stream on the wii... was expecting much worse - like Orb on the wii which is almost unwatchable.... currently testing an episode of 24 through the hulu channel... quality looksa little better than SD on Dish --- better than the analog channels on Comcast (at least clearer and no snow or fuzz) but the frame rate and playback isn't 100% smooth... maybe 90%.... slight choppiness... not sure if it's from the wii or maybe due to the fact that the wii is on wifi.... definitely not as good as the stream to my PS3s but definitely acceptable... even on a 42 inch tv.

worked:
Hulu
CNN
CBS
HGTV
ESPN
Local Files

issues/errors:
HGTV

I didn't get a chance to go through all of the user created plugins but did have success with Discovery Channel and Food Network - wierd how it worked via the podcast plugin and not the playon channel...

Again, definitely surprised with how good things looked on the Wii (guess I had really low expectations - definitely not as great as the PS3 but holds it own.... )

Kudos to themediamall for adding more value to their software.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 3:32AM]

Whoops - meant to say had issues with Food Network above & not HGTV...

[Jonthomasdesigns Posted Jul 30th 2009 6:49AM]

Wii is not HD .. So Engadget HD it is not

[jason202 Posted Jul 30th 2009 9:51AM]

Exactly.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 1:11PM]

I echo the sentiments of the first response. Yes, this is not HD and expectations were low but I was very impressed with what MediaMall has done here. The default video quality setting for the Wii is "Medium" which worked pretty flawlessly for me. I have yet to try the two other higher settings but this is a great addition to my Wii.

[glennS Posted Jul 30th 2009 2:55PM]

HD or not, this is a nice addition for the Wii. Not so much for me, since I've got a real HTPC hooked up to the same set. But when I replace the smaller TV in my other room with a flat panel, then the Wii could move in there and replace the 1st gen XBOX/XBMC that is currently serving that TV.

[nrb Posted Jul 30th 2009 5:17PM]

Wii points? You need 500 Wii points to download a web browser so that you can try this.

Great, now I need to register with a credit card. Boo on Nintendo.

[TVGenius Posted Jul 30th 2009 6:28PM]

Boo on you for not getting the browser when it was free.

[nrb Posted Jul 30th 2009 6:31PM]

I didn't know!

Boo on me for not knowing...I guess.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 5:42PM]

It's really choppy for me. I can't watch anything on this. According playon all my components are high. I change the video quality to low and choppiness didn't change anything

[nrb Posted Jul 30th 2009 6:25PM]

How is it on another device?

Wireless sucks for this. I didn't believe it at first. My PS3 worked great for months. It started going downhill. Nothing changed. PlayOn told me it was a wireless issue. I didn't believe them, as it worked great for months. I then ran a cable across the house to test. It worked great with the cable.

I need to win that Ethernet over coax (seem like we're going back in time?) Recession Antidote.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 1st 2009 10:14AM]

The download page is down, PHP is erroring out. Can anyone repost the file here?