I have resisted posting or saying anything in public for a long time now in the hope that MediaMall, makers of PlayOn, would reconsider their ill directed war on tubeCore and WMC. They haven't reconsidered, but have doubled down on their mischief, even going so far as to blame tubeCore for the problems that users are seeing.

Full disclosure: I am biased and a bit pissed because, frankly, I hate bullies.

A few months ago I received an email from the owner of MediaMall with a demand: remove Watch Later (video caching) from tubeCore because that feature will compete with a future release of PlayOn. I tried to agree on a compromise: the user could disable Watch Later, or we could even detect PlayOn and remove it automatically.

That wasn't good enough. The owner of MediaMall wanted the feature gone or else.

The "or else" was the kicker. I refuse to hold the users of tubeCore, or my company, hostage to the whims of another company.

After that exchange MediaMall began to block Windows Media Center add-ins from PlayOn, and first blaming Windows Media Center, and then tubeCore, calling it "somewhat unstable", as if after months of running on thousands of Windows Media Center PC's and extenders, tubeCore would suddenly stop working.

So you know, there is nothing wrong with tubeCore. It works with other DLNA Media Servers such as Twonky, Tversity, J River, and PS3 Media Server. The whole reason PlayOn doesn't work with tubeCore is that the owner of PlayOn wants to dictate features to Media Players. And if you ask me, he's just picking on little guys.

Clarge - PlayOn responsed to my support request last night and I found out the truth.  I am a Tube core 1.4 user which doesn't even have  a watch later  feature, so I'm being punished for not even using a version of tubecore with this feautre enabled .  Extremely disapointing.  

This must be why we can no longer find vmcplayit anywhere either.  Clarge, sorry to hear this, I know you put a lot of time and effort into the addin.

Sorry to hear how the owner of Media Mall treated you, the developer of an application that opens access to markets for PlayOn, and the Windows Media Center customer community!

Some suggestions if I may....One possible, though distasteful, compromise is to create two versions of tubeCore: (1) "tubeCore for PlayOn" that works with PlayOn without Watch Later (video caching), and (2) "tubeCore with Watch Later" that works with other DLNA Media Servers but not PlayOn.

Perhaps PlayOn (bizdev@playon.tv, support@playon.tv) needs to hear "en mass" from the Media Center user community and tubeCore customers in particular that they want PlayOn functionality restored for Windows Media Center with tubeCore. Sometimes many voices will get their attention when a few voices are ignored.

If I were you, I would look into getting a patent for the watch later feature.  That was your idea, and you should have the rights to it.  If you have the rights to it, Media Mail can't use the idea without licensing the idea from you or they run the risk of a patent infringement lawsuit.  Perhaps that's just the kind of leverage you need for negotiating with them.

I found that PlayOn v3.3.11 still works with TubeCore and almost all the video links still work, including NetFlix.

I, also, found it interesting that I couldn't find vmcPlayIt ANYWHERE... am I'm pretty crafty at finding software.

E-mail Sent.

TubeCore hung when I tried to watch Revision3 via PlayOn.

Support@playon.tv replied.

Hi Carl,

I'm very sorry to say, but we've never actually supported WMC and TubeCore, as they have been less compatible as we would have liked.  It's possible we may try to increase compatibility, but it would more a case of TubeCore being more compatible with PlayOn.

I wish there was something more hopeful that I could tell you, but I can recommend the free XBMC software, which can be downloaded for many devices including PC at xbmc.org

What are your plans with tubecore & playon Clarge?

is there anything else I can use temporarily that will work on extenders?

Interesting that Media Mall said that tubeCore conflicts with a future release of PlayOn.  I'm beta testing something called PlayLater for them right now that appears to be what tubeCore would be conflicting with.  PlayLater records Hulu, Netflix and anything else that PlayOn streams to a local drive for later viewing.  I haven't actually watched any content that's been recorded through PlayLater on PlayLater yet but I did find the file that it records to and Windows Media Player opened it.

UPDATE:  I pressed "play" in PlayLater and........ it opened the file in Windows Media Player!  I'll see if Media Center can open these files. 

CLaRGe:

I love tubecore's Netflix feature for WMC extender.  It was the reason I installed tubecore + playon.  I'd gladly ditch playon for another dlna server, so long as their netflix & tubecore support are solid.  Is there a good playon alternative?

I am a registered user of both TubeCore and PlayOn, therefore I am frustrated. Below is an email I sent to support@playon.tv

__________

Hello,

I just recently purchased your PlayOn software, but am extremely disappointed with it's lack of compatibility with TubeCore. TubeCore significantly enhances the PlayOn experience:  TubeCore's interface with PlayOn is superior to vmcPlayIt and the native Wii and X-Box's interfaces.

Please remove your ban on TubeCore.  I am already working on tversity and other alternatives to your software, but still prefer your PlayOn interface by far.  You have an excellent program.  Although I feel TubeCore shouldn't be bullied into implementing limitations, I think TubeCore's compromise to disable it's "Watch Later" feature whenever PlayOn is installed was a fair compromise.

Thank you,

______________

PlayOn promptly replied to email. Here's their response:

_______________

Greetings,

I apologize for the trouble you are having with this.  We fully support plugin developers both for channels and for devices, such as Windows Media Center.  That said, we are more than willing to work with Tubecore's developer to find an amicable solution.  We understand Tubecore is popular and is well enjoyed by its userbase.

Unfortunately, disabling the 'Watch Later' feature was not offered.  We can confirm they offered to let users disable Watch Later, but that isn't acceptable. No one would do it if they want to use it, so it solves nothing. As for disabling it for PlayOn, they simply said they would not make any changes to Tubecore and have not been in contact with us since. If they disabled Watch Later for PlayOn then that might be acceptable. We would have to discuss it with the developer and hear his idea.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you for contacting PlayOn Support.

Regards,

Russ

PlayOn Support

www.playon.tv

____________

I am also very disappointed with what PlayOn is doing. I love tubeCore  and hate that PlayOn is doing this. Is there any possible work around in the works?

I can confirm that the PlayLater file would not open in Media Center.  Too bad.