Simple but very nice idea! Next step: bypass the ip lock for people outside the US ;)
Dru
· 2 years ago
It's still fucking useless because the damn shows aren't viewable outside the sacred holy ground that is the United States of Fuck Everybody Else.
JO-JO
· 2 years ago
There is a reason companies do betas. Its not as though they are restricting users for the hell of it. By reposting the videos for the internet at large (and its attendant thirst for bandwidth), you may not be compromising the EULA, but you are very likely being a big pain in the neck to the guys who are still stomping the bugs.
Gary
· 2 years ago
Yeeeaaaaah! What Dru said ('cept for all the F-words).
Smumdax
· 2 years ago
Unfortunately, I'm from Canada and it seems I can't access any of the videos. I get the message that the video is not available where I am... Hope this won't be the same in the final release of the website... what's the use in having a website to get more viewers from around the worl, only to limit it to some regions...
Jerryatrix
· 2 years ago
I've got Hulu invites if anyone wants em, just contact me via site. So far it seems quite good, lots of content and they've done a really nice job with the selection - Simpsons, Family Guy, King of the Hill, Heroes, etc..all on the list.
BUT the biggest problem is that it's geo-locked so only American IP's can access it-which is a real shame because I have a dynamic ip and sometimes my IP for some reason is mistaken as not being from America, which is odd since I'm with Comcast in eastern US. So that really sucks, but it's a good service if they could iron out the problem with it being US-centric , as well as at least fix the ip ban on some American ip addresses.
Jake
· 2 years ago
Nice attempt. But, as an ex-pat living abroad I can't view any of the shows. No worries though, I'll just download them from a torrent network.
Faris Jefri
· 2 years ago
Well it's a great idea, but falls short i guess. It only works for 5% of the population:
OpenHulu... Great idea, except it will be quickly forgotten as Hulu turns from beta to real. It's a bit like someone came up with a way of circumventing Gmail's invite system only for Gmail to become available one year later..... Oh, and it is next to useless for everyone outside the US. Case in point, I've got a hulu.com invite but I can't use it because I am not in the states. How lame is that?
Simon
· 2 years ago
I have the same issue as Jerratrix, some of the time my IP works, sometimes I get told I'm not in the USA - I'm in Los Angeles, not far from Universal City :( GeoIP is only maybe 90% useful at best, it bugs me that companies are taking it for 100%. At one point I was working for a Fortune 50 and our IP range in all the offices in the world was from our German office - highly annoying having some sites default to German instead of looking at browser language.
tutva
· 2 years ago
I'll take an invite if anyone's got one. Would love to try it out.
David Mackey
· 1 year ago
Well, the sites still up at this point, but I can't imagine it staying up much longer.
Brentp
· 1 year ago
A little bit of info on the IP geo-locking.
It comes down to how TV shows are licenced/syndicated. Shows like the Simpsons, Family Guy, Heros, etc are shown all over the world and they do so by the channels who want to show them paying a fee. Burried in among all the contractual jargon are rules governing how the show can be broadcast, specifically that the licence is only valid for a particular country. Broadcasting that content on the internet allows viewers from other countries to see those shows.
If you, as say an Australian TV company, paid xxx amount for the rights to broadcast a series of Heros in Australia, you can kick back knowing it will draw in the viewers, meaning more eyeballs on the ads your channel airs, giving you more money in the pot from the companies who pay to advertise with you. If those viewers can instead watch an American channel online, with their adverts (which contribute to that channel's income), then the massive amounts of cash you 'invested' in being able to air a particular show was all for nothing.
So, online TV content tends to be geo-coded and sadly it isn't just hulu, the BBC restrict their online video content to UK-only IP addresses and I'm sure other broadcasters in other countries do the same.
It just further highlights how the global broadcasting infrastructure wasn't really designed to cope with online media and how desperately in need of an overhaul it is.
Paradisio
· 1 year ago
Another Hulu "mirror", but with all shows/episodes available, a clean interface and fullscreen player : http://tvparadise.org/
Fireveo
· 1 year ago
Check out OnAirToday.com to fetch videos from around the web.
Also try out Fireveo - It's a Video Toolbar for your browser that gets the latest video feeds. It's free! http://www.fireveo.com
Brian
· 1 year ago
I cannot believe that so tech guru has not figured out a way to redirect the feed so as to allow the rest of us to view with out the geo-lock.
I am in Canada, so it isn't like we are not inundated with US programing already, lol.
Jim Minosin
· 1 year ago
OpenHulu will fail to function in Canada due to Geo Ip refusal beyond the USA and to a point will also fail with proxy access..
thinker
· 1 year ago
if you dont live inside the states than use a us screaning site. it will mask your ip. and give you one from where it is. i was told about one called saveyourass.com check it out and dont complain when there are so many loop holes
All Comments
BUT the biggest problem is that it's geo-locked so only American IP's can access it-which is a real shame because I have a dynamic ip and sometimes my IP for some reason is mistaken as not being from America, which is odd since I'm with Comcast in eastern US. So that really sucks, but it's a good service if they could iron out the problem with it being US-centric , as well as at least fix the ip ban on some American ip addresses.
http://digg.com/tech_news/OpenHuluhNot
It comes down to how TV shows are licenced/syndicated. Shows like the Simpsons, Family Guy, Heros, etc are shown all over the world and they do so by the channels who want to show them paying a fee. Burried in among all the contractual jargon are rules governing how the show can be broadcast, specifically that the licence is only valid for a particular country. Broadcasting that content on the internet allows viewers from other countries to see those shows.
If you, as say an Australian TV company, paid xxx amount for the rights to broadcast a series of Heros in Australia, you can kick back knowing it will draw in the viewers, meaning more eyeballs on the ads your channel airs, giving you more money in the pot from the companies who pay to advertise with you. If those viewers can instead watch an American channel online, with their adverts (which contribute to that channel's income), then the massive amounts of cash you 'invested' in being able to air a particular show was all for nothing.
So, online TV content tends to be geo-coded and sadly it isn't just hulu, the BBC restrict their online video content to UK-only IP addresses and I'm sure other broadcasters in other countries do the same.
It just further highlights how the global broadcasting infrastructure wasn't really designed to cope with online media and how desperately in need of an overhaul it is.
http://tvparadise.org/
Also try out Fireveo - It's a Video Toolbar for your browser that gets the latest video feeds. It's free!
http://www.fireveo.com
I am in Canada, so it isn't like we are not inundated with US programing already, lol.