is Hulu coming back to boxee?
Hulu just launched their own boxee-like application for watching Hulu content. the new downloadable application is built to be used from the couch with a remote.
we’re glad to see Hulu had a change of heart about bringing their service to the big screen, and we hope that this means Hulu content is coming back to boxee.
we’ve already put in a request to Hulu to work with them on bringing Hulu back to boxee, and we’ll let you know the response..
btw, Hulu: we would appreciate it if you remove the misleading message that you pop up to boxee users. boxee does not cause problems with the Apple Remote hardware. there is a setting in boxee (under Settings->System->Apple Remote) that lets the users decide whether they’d like boxee to always respond to the remote (so they can press the Menu button to launch it).
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I saw that and made an audible “Shut Up” in my office.
I hope they work with Boxee again. Boxee is a much better platform for this content, because it mixes with everyone else. The reason hulu dominated commercial video was because it was all in one place. Surely, they can understand that boxee is a better solution, just by using the same reasoning.
Hey boxee, how about creating a plugin or app shortcut for boxee now that hulu desktop has just popped up. You dont have to create a hulu desktop shortcut (let the consumer decide to do that on their own), instead create a way to create a shortcut from within boxee to open any app of your choosing without closing boxee in the background. Scenario : I open boxee and browse around in the internet videos section, i want to watch hulu content, i go to the hulu shortcut that opens up hulu desktop…. Brilliant !!!! Now after i am done watching hulu content i close hulu desktop and then im back in boxee because i never closed it completely in the first place…Brilliant !!! Boxee doesnt get in trouble because they technically didn’t create a boxee app or shortcut but a simple way to open up ANY application from within boxee in windows or mac.
Avner, you obviously have something very special on your hands in this app, for Hulu to take such a strong stance against you again and again.
Boxee is indeed a powerful application, but I wonder if its online media component is slim enough to be ported to the ultimate platform-agnostic platform… a Firefox Extension? Users would simply run Firefox in fullscreen mode with the Boxee extension active, and have the best of all worlds! In the process, you’d nullify any further attempts on Hulu’s part to deny you access to their content.
After all, they’d never block Firefox… or would they? (Insert clip Alec Baldwin extending a tentacle into something he shouldn’t)…
So – if meant to be used on the big screen, when will they port to the Apple TV?
would they need to port? I’m sure someone will have it running on the appleTV within days.
I fail to see the reason of getting the Hulu app on Boxee other than the fact they support it. Which is a pretty good reason, but, doesn’t Hulu work just fine on Boxee right now? I don’t know because I don’t EVER watch Hulu, but I thought at the NYC meetup they solved it…
Once again Linux users get screwed.
you can use boxee on Ubuntu and access the Hulu RSS feeds
not to say anything bad about Ubuntu boxee (because I use it every day), but it’s got a long way to go before it can boast the same stability as Mac boxee. i hope avner and the team can try to forget about content providers and their misgivings or ignorance (ahem, TVcatchup guy, what’s your deal?), and focus instead on functionality and innovation. i want boxee to crash less and do more cool stuff; i’m pretty sure content (as the app dev contest will undoubtedly show) will find boxee faster than third-party knock-off apps can spring up. maybe alec baldwin should do a boxee commercial? i would do a boxee commercial.
Alec Baldwin is a d-bag. Boxee should have a commercial with Mark Wahlberg kicking Alec Baldwin’s a**. Too bad it would do nothing to help the Boxee + Hulu issue ::sigh::.
First they drop boxee, then they release their own app, then their app slanders Boxee. Hulu, you guys need some love. Play nice in the sandbox!
Personally I found this pretty foul:
“who asked themselves one day: how can we make it easier for users to immerse themselves in the great shows and movies Hulu is fortunate to have access to? Our answer was to build a new PC and Mac application that gives users the option to step outside of their browser, keyboard and mouse and into something different.”
Yeah…that was called BOXEE.
No the question came from the corporate money-f-ers: How can we stick it to Boxee?
Anyway I don’t really watch content on my desktop or laptop. Either It gets to my big flat screen TV or it doesn’t get watched.
Anyone else foresee Hulu deciding that the only way to watch Hulu content will be through this desktop app and the Hulu.com website will only be a means to download a .dmg for the app installer?
great post – here is something that I posted over at Tech Crunch (I also have boxee installed on my mac mini and my wife’s mac mini – we are also waiting on the windows versions for each of our son’s computers to access the NAS content)
——
I do not get it. hulu blocks boxee because it says that their content partners do not want to have hulu content on the TV. Then hulu turns around and creates a solution to remotely control the experience. Perhaps I am missing something, but the only way that I need a remote for hulu is if I am watching in a 10 ft experience. If that is the case, then I am probably watching on my large screen TV (computer hooked up to TV) as opposed to my laptop screen.
I just do not understand how hulu can tell users that it is blocking boxee because the content providers want an “online experienceâ€.
Here is a quote from the Kara Swisher interview of Jeff Zucker – Hulu is making it harder to watch Hulu on TVs via software like Boxee. What’s up with that? Zucker: “Right now we’re committed to Hulu being an online experience, and that’s where our vision is today, and I think that will continue.â€
hulu’s position on the boxee situation seems contradictory to me based on this release which is clearly designed for people to use their TV for the hulu experience…
BTW…I use hulu through PLEX on a dedicated mac mini connected to my home theater setup. I am also a Dish subscriber and will not leave any time soon as I enjoy sports too much. That said, services like hulu, boxee and PLEX are the future.
Well now we know why they pulled Hulu from Boxee… they were planning to compete all along. Fantastic tongue in cheek post, I hope Hulu is listening… those nerds. I didn’t see this coming after Joost dropped its single source app to be what seemed more Hulu-like but then added itself to an ecosystem like Boxee.
Exactly! So disappointed with hulu for this one.
The main part that I just do not understand is why hulu would have used the content partners defense with the blocking of boxee.
Just today when Zucker (Head of NBCU) was asked about boxee he alluded to wanting to keep hulu as a desktop experience (i.e., we will keep blocking boxee). Lo and behold we get the new hulu boxeeified for the lean back experience.
Was Zucker out of the loop on this one? I doubt it…why would hulu use that defense which just sets them up to look like the bad guys?
I guess what Zucker should have said is we want the lean back experience for ourselves (hulu) and no one else (boxee).
Poor thought process on that one…
I’d definitely like to see Hulu develop their own Boxee App with this exact same interface in Boxee… its a very nice interface.
me too!
This thing is a memory hog though.
It looks like Hulu-Desktop is still bound to actual computers. AppleTV has a (deliberately) limited version of Flash installed, which is why we’ve needed buffer applications like Boxee in order to port Hulu streams through it. I haven’t installed Hulu-Desktop yet, but from the system requirements (Flash 9.0.124) I’m guessing AppleTV still wont be able to use it.
This fits with their (Hulu) established pattern though, so it’s not surprising.
That was my thought — I don’t think the AppleTV will be able to handle the full-screen Flash application that Hulu Desktop really is.
So anyway of integrating hulu as an app in boxee. Sounds like a good developer challenge.
Pretty much thinking I’m finished with Hulu.
There’s so many sites to instantly download new, full episodes without commercials from and then watch in Boxee that it’s not even worth dealing with the bullshit, ads and buffering any longer.
The ridiculous cat and mouse thing Hulu is doing with Boxee has gotten silly, too.
I’m moving from Apple TV to a Mac Mini-based system and with the power, flexibility and storage there Hulu seems less and less attractive.
This sucks that Hulu is putting up a fight with boxee. I just bought apple tv for watching boxee on. I don’t mind watching hulu commercials they insert in the videos. I do hope some one can find a way to bring hulu back to apple tv.
I saw a preview of this app in a meeting with Hulu advertising executives a couple of weeks ago. I asked them point blank why they weren’t working with Boxee, and they didn’t have an answer. This seems to go against most of their previous arguments, with the exception of the fact that it still requires a Mac or PC, and doesn’t work (yet) on hacked Apple TVs.
If Hulu were really serious about growing distribution, they’d port this app or a version of it to all available platforms, including things like Boxee, Xbox media center, TiVo, etc. Basically, follow Netflix’s model of creating an API that works with any platform.
But here’s a really surprising fact that I learned: the vast majority of Hulu viewers (and viewers of full-length programs online in general) don’t even watch the programs in full-screen on their PCs. They watch them in the little window within their browser! People are weird.
The sad thing is, like Apple, Hulu will tell people when and how and for how long and how many times they can enjoy content, and in the end they’ll be wildly successful because the average Joe is going to follow the path of least resistance to get to the content.
here is what i wrote in the forums just thought i would mention it here:
“ok soo… I am just going to go out here and say it, is all of this hulu boxee stuff because of the Apple TV? With this move it makes sense, I mean everything hulu has said an done supports this without just going out and saying it, I admit that I use a mac mini so for me it’s irrelevant but with all of the trouble here and the issues with the horse power on the mini at what point do you guys look at it and say that doing the whole Apple tv part might be not worth it and maybe hurting the business and product as a whole? There really isn’t a future for Boxee on the apple TV just based on the fact that it requires hacking to get it on there in the first place, would all these issues still remain without it? idk just throwing that out there.”
The misleading message is an old Microsoft trick… they did that with MS Word on the other (Non-Microsoft, I can’t remember the name) DOS. It was total bullshit, Word worked fine. But the ploy worked: people were afraid to use other OS’s because of that.
I fear that Hulu is a total captive of the Big Corps.
But I hope otherwise.
Good luck..
Jeff.
Maybe you could sue them over the bogus FUD messages?
One more & I’ll quit… the bogus boxee warning is in the same category as their “Hulu was unable to load an advertisement. Please check your settings” messages: Hahahaha so because they DON’T HAVE ENOUGH ADVERTISERS they want us to think the problems are our setup.
Now I’ll quit posting for a while.
The HULU desktop TOS will be hard to Enforce especially if you have your PC connected to a TV (a CE Device) maybe they will use Macrovision :p
“You may not download, install or use the Hulu Software on any device other than a Personal Computer including without limitation digital media receiver devices (such as Apple TV), mobile devices (such as a cell phone device, mobile handheld device or a PDA), network devices or CE devices (collectively “Prohibited Devicesâ€).”
“Network Devices”?!?
How exactly is this supposed to work if we can’t load it onto a “network device”?
I have been a supporter of Boxee from the beginning but have progressively migrated my 2-3 machines to Plex which has a better video rendering and audio rendering engine (Boxee engineers, please ping me if you want to discuss this) and a far better support for third party applications.
Hulu Desktop might be the nail in the coffin or the straw that tanked the camel. Boxee, if you want to grow bigger and keep attracting people, you have to be better than other freely available platforms, not slower and worse.
I’d be happy to hear. Please DM me at twitter.com/yuvalt
I guess I am missing something…how does this mean Hulu is coming to the “Big Screen”. Whats the difference running Hulu in an app on your desktop, or via a browser? You still have the same challenges to get it on your TV with the app or the browser…..
I take it your going to post and tell us when they’ve removed the misleading message?
I hope you guys are able to get Hulu back, I’d rather not use their crappy app. ^_^
The newest version of Hulu Desktop changes the language in the dialog box. It now says:
“You appear to be running another third-party application that utilizes the Apple Remote hardware. You may wish to close that application if you experience any problems using your remote in Hulu Desktop.”
Which seems far more accurate and less crazy.
Thats the problem in this world people are just too freaking greedy. Just look at Hulu now they made an App that kinda kills Boxee, but not in the first place they dont need to create an app like that, Boxee already made it for them, and plus those ad revenues from Hulu, Boxee is not getting any profit out of that when they where streaming for Boxee before. I understand that Hulu is trying to protect their free content and all, but come on its freaking 2009 the more you restrict your users the more they want to find ways to get it for free. Have you not seen what happen to the music industry? The DRM thing look what happen to the music industry companies are now offering NON DRM Music, Hulu that does not ring a bell to you!! WAKE UP!!
Bill Gates again- greedy SOB
what is there to not understand?
from their FAQ:
“Is the same content on Hulu.com available on Hulu Desktop?
Generally speaking, the Hulu library on Hulu.com will be available through Hulu Desktop. While our goal is to have the same content library available through all of our distribution channels, we work together with our partners to determine availability of their content on these various channels. ”
This app is for the express purpose of doing what boxee does, but more restrictively, to please their “content providers”.
Perhaps if boxee could do the same it’d be a win. Hulu probably could have negotiated with boxee so that boxee could do the same, but they probably found it (perceivably) cheaper to build their own app. I wonder if they offshored much of the development.
j.
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