digisqueaks

reduce your cable bill, part II

// February 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // applications, music, online, tech, television

Part II – PlayOn & MediaLink – For those of you who have a Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or HP MediaSmart TV, there’s software out there that can stream content from your PC to your system. It’s called PlayOn. This software just came out of beta yesterday and until February 8th, this software costs only $30. The price goes up another $10 after that, but in my opinion, it’s worth it. Of course, there’s always a 14 day trial for those who aren’t quite sure it’s for them.

I’ve had this software for quite awhile, as a beta tester. The most convenient thing about PlayOn, in my opinion, is that it allows you to stream your instant queue from Netflix. You can also browse through Hulu, CBS, YouTube, CNN, and ESPN content. I’m sure they’ll probably add more down the road. There were quite a few bugs during beta testing, but that’s to be expected. Seems that everything is relatively stable at this point. Very convenient for the PS3 owner who wants to stream Netflix and other content.

One thing about PlayOn is that it needs Windows to stream off your computer to your system. Just fine and dandy if you have a PC running Windows by default. If not, just simply run Windows through Parallels or VMWare on your Mac. It works great.

The other app I mentioned is NullRiver’s MediaLink. It’s $20, but again, pretty useful. Especially if you have a Mac and a PS3 (they also have an Xbox 360 version). MediaLink allows you to stream media from your Mac to your PS3. It acts as a server and shows up right in the XMB menu. You’ll instantly have access to iPhoto, iTunes, Aperture, etc. I find this very useful because sure, I can set up my hard drive and stream my music off of it, but have you ever tried to set up a playlist on the PS3? It’s a pain. With MediaLink, I can view my iPhoto albums and iTunes playlists instantly, just as I have them set up on my Mac. Want a different playlist? Just set one up and refresh and there it is. Check it out if you have a Mac and have been looking to integrate it with your PS3.

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Tags: iLife, iPhoto, iTunes, media, media center, movies, PC, PS3, streaming, TV, Windows, Xbox 360