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Playon Just Today (9/13/22) Has Been Removed from Roku. How to use Media Player now?

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Michael Spampinato
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I have been a Playon subscriber since the beginning. Got the "Lifetime" membership. Today for the first time I see Roku states "This channel is no longer available". I have accumulated many many recordings and many with "Ad Skip". 

1) Will there be a way to watch on Roku again?

2) If I have to use my computer (I do have one attached to the tv containing my media) does Playon have a way to cotinue with Ad Skip?

3) Why am I being charged three times now? One for Desktop. One for Cloud. And now it seems I have to pay again for Home after a 3 month grace period. 

What is the best strategy now for a former Roku/adskip watcher?

Date Votes

15 comments

  • 2
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    Chris Radzik

    I have the same issue.  I opened a ticket on Monday and no response yet.  I have not seen any traffic on this anywhere else.  Please post updates when you have them.

  • 0
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    Paul Montgomery

    I have the same problem and am also awating a response to my ticket.  Meanwhile I found only one other question about it on the Roku forum.  The Roku employee response was absurd:  "It looks like PlayOn is no longer available on the Roku Channel store and cannot be located in the channel search. If you want more information about a removed channel, please see our support page here."  The link provided no useful information, just a dismissive statement saying that channels are removed from time to time.

    The Fire stick line claims to carry PlayOn, so I ordered one a few minutes ago.  I don't want to lose hundreds of hours of videos, all of them recorded with ad-skip.

     

  • 0
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    Chris Radzik

    I'm surprised this issues is not all over the Roku and Reddit boards.  And so far crickets form Playon. I emailed on Monday 9/12 and so far no response.  You can still play the vids through the Roku media player or cast to a smartv. No add skip, just fast forward.

  • 0
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    Michael Spampinato

    I am surprised that Playon support does not seem to be responding to folks: "crickets" is a good analogy. Especially unusual since I've found Playon support to be exemplary. 

  • 0
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    Mark Stone

    I was able to view videos being served from Playon on my computer by using the Roku Media app on Roku.  It isn't as good though.  

  • 0
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    michael townsend

    I have had sound dropout problems with Playon using Roku for almost a year. I sent in a report, but the problem was never corrected. I use Fire Stick for Playon and it works fine.

  • 0
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    RockFox

    I have a Fire Stick but I can't find a PlayOn app.  However, I always use Roku and I would rather the PalyOn channel be on the Roku.  I discovered that there is a new Roku channel PlayOn Cloud.  But I don't use the cloud.

  • 0
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    Mic Bedn

    I have the same issue with Roku. Luckily, I have a Firestick and it's still on there.  If you're having issues finding it, you have to manually search for it and add it.  

  • 0
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    RockFox

    I manually searched all apps for Fire Stick and I could not find the PlayOn app.  My Roku removed the PlayOn automatically.

     

  • 0
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    Mic Bedn

    I bought a another 4K firestick last week to replace my ROKU and had no issues finding it.  When you type in Playon, it should come up as a option to click on.  Under "APPS & GAMES",  It's about the fourth app.  On the app, the "play" is in blue and "on" is in yellow.

  • 0
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    RockFox

    In 2014 I purchased PlayOn + PlayLater Bundle, Lifetime + HD for PlayOn + PlayLater Bundle Lifetime for 74.98.  I never did use the PlayLater -- didn't know what it was supposed to do.

    OK, so the Lifetime thingy didn't work out but I get my money's worth over six years.  Just last month I paid $39.99 for a year of PlayOn Home.  And now the Roku PlayOn app is gone.  I am pissed.

    Now I have to go to my desktop (which is upstairs) and and click the "Cast" button and then hurry up downstairs and by the time I get there the program is already running.  (I'm 80+).  Now to watch the next video it's going back upstairs, click Cast, run downstairs.  And on and on and on.....

  • 0
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    RockFox

    @Mic -  I finally found the PlayOn app for the Fire Stick in the Utilities section.  It is quite a different design than the PlayOn for Roku.

    Maybe they have just redesigned it and they haven't got the Roku version working yet and that might be the reason it was removed from Roku.

  • 0
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    Mic Bedn

    Playon on Firestick always looked that way.  It's a different set up too.  But the most important thing is that it works, unlike Roku.

  • 0
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    RockFox

    PlayOn has the email addresses of everyone that uses their product.

    I do not think it would have taken much effort to send out a mass email stating the Roku PlayOn chanel would be removed.

    And Why???????   It was working just fine.

  • 0
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    Tx Millers

    Hey everyone. I got this email back on the 29th of September. Looks like Roku is being blamed for the removal -

    Roku and PlayOn Home
    The PlayOn Channel is gone, but there are options.
    As you may have already noticed, the PlayOn channel is no longer available on Roku players. Roku removed legacy channels like PlayOn Cloud that were built on the prior SDK. This change impacts all such channels, not just PlayOn.
     
    If you want to continue watching your PlayOn Home recordings at your Roku, there are 2 options.
     
    The easiest option, which is the one we recommend, is using the PlayOn Cloud app on your phone or tablet as a PlayOn remote. You don't need any PlayOn Cloud plan, and it's free. Just launch the PlayOn Cloud app and make sure you're logged in with your existing PlayOn account and you'll be able to cast recordings from your PlayOn Home server to your Roku and control playback directly from the app. For detailed instructions, read on. 
    1.    
    a.    Download/install the app and sign in
    b.    Tap on Recordings (at the bottom)
    c.    Tap on the Home tab at the top of Recordings Screen
    d.    Select a recording and tap on the Cast button
    The other option is to use another media player channel -- there are several. Roku's own Media Player channel allows you to connect to a media server running on a PC on the same network, just as the PlayOn channel did. You'll be able to use this channel to browse and watch any of your PlayOn Home recordings. Unfortunately, other media players will not recognize AdSkip chapter marks or captions/subtitles in PlayOn recordings. 

    While we are disappointed that Roku has decided to stop supporting Legacy channels. We hope one of the alternatives will keep you streaming with PlayOn!

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