To this point, we haven’t really seen any easy or economical methods for getting Hulu content (back) onto the television. Most solutions require a PC in the mix – either relaying the video (ZvBox, SlingCatcher, PlayOn software) or as a PC-at-the-TV (Neuros LINK, Boxee on AppleTV). So, it was quite refreshing to swing by SageTV‘s suite earlier this evening for a pre-release demo of Hulu playback direct from the compact SageTV HD Theater. (Which is available now for $200 and capable of quite a bit more.) Browsing and selecting television shows was simple and the 480p streaming video was extremely watchable. I’m sure Brent will be looking forward to getting his hands on the public beta next month.
Because it’s still early in development, the Sage folks were a bit reluctant to discuss the technical details. But it sounds like at some point, the service may also be offered to their original extender product… though no guarantees. Also, I’m unsure the extent of their communication or relationship with Hulu.
How is using an embedded box better than a PC?
What happens when Hulu changes their service or improves quality? Embedded box won’t be able to react quickly.
It’s easy to have connected appliance devices automatically update themselves these days.
Forgot to mention that the latest PS3 update makes watching Hulu through their embedded browser possible… but, boy is it tedious.
In response to J
Using a PC is stupid when a box that draws less than 10 watts is a better video playback device anyway.
@WDB, @Mike:
Sure, 10 watts is a little. And sure, devices can update.
But, unless you pay cable/satellite/Netflix fees, nothing will give you as much content as a PC.
That is why you use SageTV on a central server and put a HD200 in all the rooms you have a TV, like I do.
I sure hope this still becomes a reality. Watching Hulu on the HD200 currently via PlayOn is pretty tedious, and it’d be nice to be able to step away from the transcoding-middleware model.
The optimist in me says that this is the reason to hang on to the HD200, that this will be the ideal solution to getting Hulu on my TV.
The pessimist in me figures that development on this likely terminated quickly when Hulu gave Boxee the cold shoulder.
Here’s hoping. :)