Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 09/05/2008 - 09:42

Forums

General Technical Issues

I have the latest build installed and noticed that every once in a while I will get more than one instance of PlayOn. When this happens my cpu is pegged and causes problems with video playback. I think the multiple instances occurred when I restarted the service a few times.

What is video format that is being streamed to my MediaSmart? Do the video decoding codecs on my PC effect the playback? Is there an optimal set of codecs or transcoding software? I ask because my older P4 2.8GHz cpu runs around 50-60% when video is streaming. This seems to be sufficient for some video but for the others the video keeps starting and stopping, as though the transcoding can not keep up.

BTW I think this service has a great potential provided commercials are kept to a bare minimum, PQ improves and transcoding can be made more robust.

Keep up the good work.

PS: If you want me to do some specific beta testing please let me know.

Submitted by admin on Sat, 09/06/2008 - 11:43

The CPU will often go a bit higher during the initial download of online streams. We try to buffer and transcode as quickly as possible at startup, mainly because most devices (especially the Xbox 360) get pretty cranky when the video doesn't stream over in huge chunks. If you continue to have problems, please do submit a support request through PlayOn Settings.

Submitted by bits (not verified) on Sat, 09/06/2008 - 15:36

What is the video type being streamed to the network media players? I have a Ziova CS615 and it can not seem to play the files, it behaves as though it were a file type that it does not support but I know that my cs615 supports nearly all file types.

Submitted by admin on Sat, 09/06/2008 - 16:33

It should default to MPEG-2 in most cases. The best way to figure out what's going on is to try to simulate the issue, and send us the diagnostic logs in PlayOn Settings.

Submitted by bits (not verified) on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 05:34

Are all videos transcoded by a PC before being streamed to the media player? I ask for two reasons; if I use a more powerful PC will streaming be more consistent and will the PQ improve?

BTW each new release of software has made the service better and with the current build everything I tried to play, played with out stopping. That is great! I realize to get better PQ higher bitrates are required and that makes streaming more likely to stop and start but PQ is pretty poor and does need some improvement. Is there a way to not play in full screen if one was willing to display a smaller picture in order to get better PQ?

Submitted by admin on Mon, 09/08/2008 - 06:20

A faster processor will definitely always help with transcoding.

The picture quality will only be as good as the source video, unfortunately. That said, content providers are making better and better videos available all the time. We are soon adding support for 480p on Hulu, and will also add HD at some point for both Hulu and CBS.

You can ensure the highest quality video bitrates by selecting "High" in PlayOn Settings.

Submitted by pettusta (not verified) on Sat, 02/14/2009 - 09:36

I'm using the latest build (2.59.3327.32025) and am experiencing high CPU usage after watching Netflix videos, which is affecting playback of other Netflix videos. My media device is a PS3, and I've got nothing else going on my PC when playback is happening. When I finish watching the first video, after I shut down my PS3, and look at the processes running on my PC, I see multiple instances of PlayOn running. Sometimes it's 3 or 4 after watching one Netflix video. What is causing this and how do I stop it? I don't want to have to reboot my PC every time I watch a video.

Submitted by admin on Sat, 02/14/2009 - 11:26

There should only be up to 2 total instances of MediaMallServer.exe running at a given time. One is the main PlayOn service, and one is the transcoder for a given video. Are you really seeing more than 2 at a time? (And incidentally, there is no reason to reboot your PC. You should be able to just stop/start the PlayOn service in PlayOn Settings.)

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