 morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | Waiting for an app that allows watching Hulu There should be a simple app that will allow Hulu watching via browser spoofing anytime now.
In other news, why doesn't Hulu try to capitalize on their success by working to increase eyeballs watching online? Instead of alienating users, bring 'em in because the old model is dying. |
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| just wait for comcast to own hulu! just wait for comcast to own hulu! |
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 tiger72SexaT duorPPremium
join:2001-03-28
Saint Louis, MO
kudos:1 | reply to morbo
Re: Waiting for an app that allows watching Hulu PlayOn does this.
Any DLNA-capable device can make use of PlayOn's hulu circumvention. |
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 McShakenPremium
join:2006-02-20
Olympia, WA | ...dumb decisions (decade-long evolutionary affair) Just seems to be the norm these days. Netflix seems to be one of the few out there that actually "gets it"... Maybe Hulu should open itself up to multiple services, peel back some of the free content, and offer more content to their premium "plus" service. This way, people get a little Hulu if they want the free stuff (no matter what device they use to connect) and actually have a reason to upgrade to premium.
But no... restrict how people connect, offer lots of free content, and charge for those like like to throw their money away (since there's not much more content for the premium price)... Nice going, Hulu... |
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 LinklistPremium
join:2002-03-03
Longport, NJ
kudos:5 | reply to morbo
Re: Waiting for an app that allows watching Hulu It is weird that Hulu allows you to watch their free shows on a PC in a browser, but goes out of their way to stop you from streaming that PC delivered video to other devices in your home like TV's & portable tablets. |
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LinklistPremium
join:2002-03-03
Longport, NJ
kudos:5
1 edit | reply to tiger72
said by tiger72:PlayOn does this. Any DLNA-capable device can make use of PlayOn's hulu circumvention. PlayOn also allows streaming to iPads & iPhones as well.
PlayOn converts Addobe Flash Player only content(like that from Hulu) to a format compatible with other devices that don't support Flash(like iPads & iPhones). |
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bt
join:2009-02-26
canada
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·Start Communicat..
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In general, it's not that weird. "Free" isn't exactly what those shows are - they're ad supported. Delivering those shows via devices that aren't showing the on-page advertisements would hurt Hulu's (likely razor thin) profit margins.
This specific case is definitely weird though, because it's just another full browser - ads and all. |
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LinklistPremium
join:2002-03-03
Longport, NJ
kudos:5 | said by bt:In general, it's not that weird. "Free" isn't exactly what those shows are - they're ad supported. Delivering those shows via devices that aren't showing the on-page advertisements would hurt Hulu's (likely razor thin) profit margins. This specific case is definitely weird though, because it's just another full browser - ads and all. PlayOn does show the in-video ads from Hulu when the stream is forwarded just like you would see on the PC. |
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c4junkPremium
join:2004-05-08
Orlando, FL | Hulu Blocking XXXXX TV Did these guys at Hulu come over from Blockbuster, they seem to be making the same type of choices, it won't play on Roku, now Google plus all the rest I guess- why? the ads are still there and I can live with a 30 sec break every now and then.
But since I got Roku (which now comes in 1080p, mine is 720p) I have not looked at Hulu, why would I. |
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| It's all about control The cold hard fact about Internet TV is this: Major programmers see no reason to have it succeed. They have their distribution channels already. Why move their product to the Internet in a big way? Doing that will only increase interest in this medium by the average Joe, and they already have that demographic locked up. The problem is that, if they move those folks over to Internet viewing, those people might figure out that there is other content to be found. Right now, cable and sat services are walled gardens where no alternative programmers can get access. But the Internet is different, which is why the big programmers would just as soon stay away from it as much as they possibly can. |
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| hmm Google is actually still in negotiations to get hulu unblocked. IF anybody can get it unblocked it would be google. |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to morbo
Re: Waiting for an app that allows watching Hulu the broadcasters make them do it. because watching Hulu on say your PS3 makes the broadcasters fear you will stop getting cable channels which of course many of the cable companies also own.
Of course if we allowed true market forces to control everything. we would be paying for internet by the Kilobyte but have all the shows available online.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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bngdup
join:2007-02-20
Old Bridge, NJ | Attrition Thats alright, let them block Google TV, in fact let them block everyone, even standard internet users.
Between Netflix Instant on my Xbox, FIOS DVR, and FIOS on-demand, what the heck do I need Hulu for?
To add to that, Netflix doesn't stop and ask me if I'm over 18 before playing a video that may have "Strong" language. |
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| reply to bt
Re: Waiting for an app that allows watching Hulu said by bt:In general, it's not that weird. "Free" isn't exactly what those shows are - they're ad supported. Delivering those shows via devices that aren't showing the on-page advertisements would hurt Hulu's (likely razor thin) profit margins. This specific case is definitely weird though, because it's just another full browser - ads and all. Not only that, but hulu isn't really intended for first run viewing. It's more like how reruns are monetized.
If Hulu had the same footing as first run, including easy access on TVs, the studios, networks and their advertisers would have a cow.
There is no "evolution" here. It's a supplement. |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | reply to Kearnstd
said by Kearnstd:Of course if we allowed true market forces to control everything. we would be paying for internet by the Kilobyte but have all the shows available online. No, you would would pay by the kilobyte and then pay by the minute * viewership.
Metered billing falls apart on the internet as a whole because of peering. |
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 King PDon't blame me. I voted for Ron PaulPremium
join:2004-11-17
Franklin, TN
 ·Comcast
 ·Vonage
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Re: Hulu Blocking XXXXX TV Isn't Hulu Plus coming to Roku? I just got an email from Roku about that, sometime last week.
I agree with you though. I haven't watched Hulu, nearly as much since I've got Amazon and Netflix on my 2 Roku boxes.
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My Music blog:
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2 edits | Why this is a really stupid move on Hulu's part The problem with this is that at the core, most Home Theater devices are really computers. so unless the software is "locked" in such a way that consumers cannot add to it, Hulu is taking a big gamble. Rather than giving customers the option to use an "official" app, which will most likely play their commercials, they encourage the development of "underground" apps that are not endorsed by the makers of the original software OR by Hulu - and that (surprise, surprise) conveniently omit the commercials from the playback stream.
Now of course Hulu can continue to try to play a cat-and-mouse game to stop they content from being displayed but they have a fundamental problem - how can they distinguish between a third-party app and a standard Web browser (such as Firefox) if the app developer goes out of their way to make their app send all the same information and responses that a standard web browser would? If they can't tell whether a request is coming from a genuine web browser, or another program configured to look exactly like a web browser, then the risk of trying to block content becomes much greater, in that they could disable operation for many who are actually using web browsers (their intended target audience).
Right now the makers of the major HTPC software packages have every incentive to try to play nice with Hulu - in particular, by streaming the commercials. In contrast, the third-party developers, some of whom are probably located offshore (yes, you can access Hulu from outside the U.S. if you have a proxy server in the U.S.), have no incentive whatsoever to play nice with Hulu, and probably get some delight out of figuring out how to kill the ads.
Hulu is stupid anyway because they keep using Flash, which is horrible software if you have a low-powered "green" machine (and many of the coming video devices and "netbook" type computers already use, or will be using relatively "green" processors). I've seen at least three systems now that would run virtually any piece of HTPC software loaded on them and give smooth playback, EXCEPT Hulu Desktop. In all three cases, the machine owner really wanted Hulu Desktop to work, but it was like watching a slide show (a series of still frames). And strangely enough, one of the aforementioned third-party apps (no, I'm not going to say which one - I don't want it to become a target) plays Hulu content absolutely smoothly on those same machines. I don't know what the difference is, but virtually everything I have read suggests that Flash is the problem with Hulu's desktop client (it may also be that they hired incompetent programmers to write the client - I have no idea).
The real problem they have is that a modern HDTV set is really a large computer monitor with a TV tuner and multiple inputs added. So if their goal is to keep Hulu off the large screen, they are beating a dead horse. All anyone has to do is build or buy a Home Theater PC (NOT one dedicated to a particular piece of software), connect it to a HDTV set, and run Hulu in a web browser. Unfortunately, this still gives slide-show quality playback on some machines that play EVERY other stream encountered smoothly (solved for now by using more powerful hardware, though that should not be necessary). So it appears that the third-party developers are turning out superior software to Hulu's, AND they are smacking Hulu upside the head by removing their commercials. I guess that's what happens when you piss off the open source community by being STUPID.
If Hulu were SMART, they'd try to find the person writing one of the third-party apps, or someone like them, and hire them to create a decent Hulu client or app for the major home video devices (by decent I mean one that does NOT try to suck up every CPU cycle available and then some), and figure out a way to play nice with the device makers. They'd kick their current Hulu Desktop software (and especially Flash) to the curb, and try to rewrite it as if they actually wanted people with low-powered machines to be able to run it. And they'd accept the fact that computers and TV's are converging - I'm just waiting for the day when someone brings out a TV that contains a full-fledged PC inside (with remote that doubles as a keypad/touchpad, along the lines of the upcoming Boxee remote, but better designed) - and that's it's pure folly to try and keep their content off of one device while enabling it on the other, as the lines between the two become increasingly blurred. Oh, and they'd also realize that when you try to restrict content geographically, it doesn't work AND you don't have the opportunity to insert locally-relevant commercials.
(Slightly off-topic observation: It always gets me that the BBC won't stream their shows outside the U.K., even though they could easily earn revenue from advertisers in other parts of the world, particularly Canada and the U.S. - but then, they're in a country that still tries to levy a tax on every "television set", a holdover from the 1950's when most families only had one TV. I wonder how trying to tax each television set is working out for them now, when so many devices have screens that can be used to display video, and when any computer can be turned into a TV with the addition of a USB tuner stick?) |
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| reply to ISurfTooMuch
Re: It's all about control That's sort of the same approach that the big phone companies took with VoIP - first try to ignore it, then paint it as unreliable and inferior. But more and more people are discovering the truth, that there is a lot of great content out there and much of it (especially the newer stuff) looks even better when played on a large screen.
I'm just waiting for the commercials and press releases that tell us how much better broadcast and/or cable is vs. video from the Internet (which would be extremely counterproductive, but large corporations never cease to do stupid things). |
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| reply to patcat88
Re: Waiting for an app that allows watching Hulu metered billing does not fall apart and can be put in without a problem. Its called the ISPs just decide they want to do it and its a done deal. There is nobody in power that can stop them and now laws to do it- nor will any law ever be created to stop it from happening as it interferes with private business.
VZ, T or TWC, Comcast and all can decide they're going to charge $5 per 40gigs on top of your regular HSI charge and BOOM! you'd pay or not have it and dial-up could be added the same.
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| I would love to see some adult porn content available on Xbox 360 via streaming. |
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