Hulu Moves To Your Desktop

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://gizmodo.com/5272139/hulu-desktop-is-a-peek-at-the-future-of-tv?skyline=true&s=i' target='_blank'>http://gizmodo.com/5272139/hulu-des...kyline=true&s=i</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Everytime somebody has said that Hulu killed TV, they were exaggerating. Until now maybe. Hulu Desktop sure looks a whole lot like the future of TV. It's a media center type of application&mdash;like Front Row or Boxee or Netflix or Windows Media Center&mdash;that gives you full access to Hulu with an Apple Remote or Windows Media remote or just your keyboard and mouse."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1243616560.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>I sincerely hope viewers in the US appreciate all the cool Internet based applications you get access to.&nbsp; Hulu has already etched out a name for itself as being a great TV watching replacement.&nbsp; With a desktop application, the limitations of the browser are tossed aside and with that, the experience becomes much better.&nbsp; Their desktop application offers all the same features as the browser client, but with more panache, easier to use controls and a more fluid response.&nbsp; Of course, this is what Gizmodo tells me because Hulu hasn't taken it upon themselves to start offering services to other countries!&nbsp; One thing I do find interesting about this release is that it is in stark contrast to much marginalized competitor Joost, who ended going with a Flash based browser client only just last year.&nbsp; I imagine Joost switched for convenience reasons, while Hulu now has the base that customers want a more compelling experience that can't currently be offered through Flash.</p>

[Felix Torres]

Gizmodo's been busy:
http://gizmodo.com/5272573/is-hulu-coming-to-xbox-360
If Hulu cooking up a PC desktop app is interesting, howzabout them coming to XBOX360 alongside Netflix?:eek:

[ptyork]

One thing I do find interesting about this release is that it is in stark contrast to much marginalized competitor Joost, who ended going with a Flash based browser client only just last year.&nbsp; I imagine Joost switched for convenience reasons, while Hulu now has the base that customers want a more compelling experience that can't currently be offered through Flash.

Joost had an entirely different technology in their client. It used P2P technology to host/transmit the video. Hulu and the new Joost use relatively standard streaming. Standard streaming offers the benefit of providing for both types of clients, while the P2P technology required a desktop component to work.

That said, I don't really think that it was the browser "convenience" that made Hulu succeed where Joost has effectively failed. Rather it is content. Joost never convinced any major players to provide "real" content where Hulu not only convinced them to provide content, but to invest in the company itself. I think Joost with Hulu's content would have succeeded just fine (and required a much smaller data center).

[Jason Dunn]

I sincerely hope viewers in the US appreciate all the cool Internet based applications you get access to.

That's why I, a Canadian, assign these types of posts to you, also a Canadian: to give them an air of irony. :D:D:D

[ptyork]

Any non-Canadians running this with Windows 7 RC? I'm having some problems with commercials. It runs past the spot that a commercial is supposed to play (random amount of time--few minutes), then plays a commercial, and then restarts from the beginning. Exceedingly annoying. I haven't heard of this problem elsewhere, so I'm wondering if it is a Windows 7 issue.

Works perfectly in the browser, though. Odd.

[Hooch Tan]

That said, I don't really think that it was the browser "convenience" that made Hulu succeed where Joost has effectively failed. Rather it is content. Joost never convinced any major players to provide "real" content where Hulu not only convinced them to provide content, but to invest in the company itself. I think Joost with Hulu's content would have succeeded just fine (and required a much smaller data center).

I have to agree with you on this point. I remember trying Joost many, many months ago, and after installing, tried to see if there were any tv shows I liked on it. After watching some passable, but not particularly interesting shows (for my blunted tastes that is) I never went back.

[Hooch Tan]

That's why I, a Canadian, assign these types of posts to you, also a Canadian: to give them an air of irony. :D:D:D

I was wondering why I kept on getting things that made my life difficult. ;) While I can understand the legal reasons Canadians get shut out, it is still annoying. Then again, up until recently, we were also paying exorbitant rates for wireless data. I'd say it leaves the door open for a company to come up with a Canadian solution, but then the US company would eventually allow Canadians and kill the startup. :(