Playon having issues with slow download speed?

[spydermike]

I have tried to find a solution to actually be able to use our HNS service for something other than just emial and very light browzing (no videos).  It was suggested here that Playon could be a solution - to download during the early morning so as to have better performance due to less traffic and to not affect our daytime data cap.  I am now working with Playon Tech Support (who have been great) to understand why that is hit and miss.  We are able to download maybe one or two shows and then due to stalls and buffering the recording stops.  This happens to at least 50 percent of the attempts.  Sometimes we have to try several days to download a single one hour show.  Meanwhile, each attempt takes away data from our allotment.  This is all being done after 2am and before 8am.  Ugh.

Anyone here have any advise or experience with this?

Thanks

[spydermike]

If you read the last two sentences of their FAQ, they state that if you do it that way once,  from then on it is the norm for you.  We continue to get CC available since then.  I don't have to do it every thime.  It must update their profile of us.  Just a guess.

[maratsade]

Yes, I know that's what their FAQ says. When I had issues with CC, I did what the FAQ said, then contacted Tech Support and told them I'd done that and couldn't get the CC to work, and they told me they don't do it that way anymore, that the FAQ was outdated. 

---

@spydermike wrote:

If you read the last two sentences of their FAQ, they state that if you do it that way once,  from then on it is the norm for you.  We continue to get CC available since then.  I don't have to do it every thime.  It must update their profile of us.  Just a guess.

---

[GabeU]

---

@spydermike wrote:

If you read the last two sentences of their FAQ, they state that if you do it that way once,  from then on it is the norm for you.

---

I never tried it with mine.

[maratsade]

This is what I got from Tech Support:

Hello,

I'm happy to help. It is no longer necessary to manually enable subtitles by watching a program for a number of minutes, as we include the subtitles file in each recording which can be toggled on/off in video players like VLC. The FAQ is outdated, and we will pass the information on to the appropriate department.

Trent
PlayOn Support

[spydermike]

I appreciate what he is saying...perhaps in response to a slightly different question.  He states "it is no longer necessary to...".  For my application it seems that it is.  My Samsung TV could not access the CC files apparently.  However, when I used the method in their FAQ, it was recorded with CC visible and that is how we watched it.  Users of Playon Cloud - there is more than one method to achieve this one goal it seems.  There might be even another if there is a Netflix profile option to always have CC displaying.

[maratsade]

My issue was CC was not showing on the recordings. I did the 6 minute watching and it still wasn't working. I consulted Tech Support, and they told me the 6 minute watching is no longer necessary because their files already have embedded CC, so watching for 6 minutes is pointless, as it won't add CC because they are already there.  Before they started encoding with CC, you had to watch for 6 minutes to tell the system you wanted CC. And it worked; I did that for months. Then it stopped working when they began encoding the CC with every file. 

Anyhow, I'd recommend that anyone who doesn't see CC try watching the file with VLC (the program is a free download). That'll show whether CC are embedded or not. Errors do happen with some of the company's encoding, so it's a good idea to make sure. 

[spydermike]

And all I am saying is that the FAQ method still works as confirmed by Bill at Playon:

...those specific steps are absolutely still valid for getting subtitles burned in for Netflix recordings.

I think we are talking about two different issues here.  You have a method that works for you and I have one that works for me.  Both are valid.  

[maratsade]

It didn't work for me, no matter how many times I tried.  Glad it works for you. 

[maratsade]

I've tried the downloader, but I have better results with manual downloads. I hope it works for others, though. 

---

@GabeU wrote:

Hey, check this out.  Just found it.  I had no idea they had it!  

https://www.playon.tv/cloud/app/downloader

---

[GabeU]

---

@spydermike wrote:

Thanks.  The closest cell signal is 7 mile away, so anything cellular won't work.   So from cloud to android phone, phone to PC, then PC to USB stick then USB stick to TV.  Hmmm.  Or use my cell phone as a USB stick.  Hmmm... 

---

The cell phone would simply be used for the app, and you could use your HughesNet WiFi for the connection, so you wouldn't need to connect to your actual cell service to use it.  You'd set up the recordings with the phone.  If you download item(s) automatically or by schedule, then yes, they would need to go directly to the phone, and then you would have to transfer them off of the phone to use them, unless you wanted to watch them on the phone (not likely).  If you want to manually download the item(s), you can do so via the link they send to your email, and with your computer.  Downloading them manually is what I normally do, but I tend to up later than most people so I can do so during the Bonus Zone.

Granted, it is a bit of a convoluted way, especially if you download the items directly to the phone, but in the end you'll have them without any of the buffering and no wasted data. 

I just downloaded two more movies from PlayOn Cloud last night.  🙂  I bought a bunch of credits during a couple of really good sales a while back and still have 286 left.  They were about 10 cents per at the time.  They sometimes have really good sales on them.

[spydermike]

I then tried to just queue the one show for the next night, and same thing again, then again the next night.

[BobNBend]

See my post on PlayOn home made today.  I did not find this thread before posting it, but the observations there may be of interest.

RFB

[maratsade]

@BobNBend , the OP is using PlayOn Cloud, not PlayOn Home. 

[spydermike]

Just got Starlink...initial test show min 120 to 220Mbps down, 18Mbps up and 18ms latency.  My need for Playon as a crutch is over.

[MarkJFine]

Thought half their constellation burned up in the last solar flare. Interesting.

[spydermike]

Not even close...about 2000 satellites up there now I think.  I think you are referring to a single launch of about 50 satellites that went up when the flare hit and some /most of those were affected before they were positioned.  The service is working fine as far as we can tell.  We are getting over 100 times better speed not to mention the much improved latency.  The way it should be. 

Oh, and I installed the system in about 10 minutes as the antenna assembly self aligns.  

[MarkJFine]

Knew the dish 'electronically steered' itself. I would think it almost had to given the elliptical orbit.