[scottjennings]

Boxee's user experience is far from smooth, and the interface is clumsy and ugly. Also, the Apple TV version requires an OS hack, which means that HULU is possibly concerned that their appearance in BOXEE could be seen as condoning a behaviour that their media partner Apple does not approve.
Perhaps HULU's providers (owners) are simply trying to protect their brand image.
Boxee has a lot of fans, but honestly, wouldn't we all tear Apple a new one if they came out with such a poor implementation of a software product? Of course we would. That it is labeled as Alpha is no excuse. It is widely distributed to the public. It's no more alpha than Google's betas.
Obviously there is a market for an elegant solution for universal on-demand video on a television. Boxee is not that elegant solution.

[buzglyd]

I agree. I've got Boxee on my Macbook. I've got an Apple TV but didn't want to go through the trouble to put Boxee on it because it is clunky to use.

I think Boxee plays more formats than ATV which explains why all the stealers are upset about this.

I can hook my Macbook to my TV via HDMI and watch all the Hulu content I want. I find Hulu much easier to navigate than Hulu on Boxee.

[Hurley42]

I use(d) Hulu only because it is on my Apple TV via Boxee. I have never used BitTorrent before, but with Hulu's decision, I see no moral or ethical issue with acquiring the content through other means. Is there a "BitTorrent for Dummies" out there? I have no idea where to start with BitTorrent.

I certainly do not plan to watch hulu or any other form of TV on my computer - that would not be comfortable at all.

I just deleted my Hulu account. Anyone else who used Hulu through your Apple TV, do the same. Send a message to NBC/FOX, etc. Time to play a video game or read a good book anyways!

[rab777hp]

A hack will come out...

[ShakeyBobWillis]

They'll fight to keep the old way of doing business tooth and nail.
Oh well. Back to downloading torrents to get their content for free. Maybe one day they'll learn that they'll benefit more from as many access points as possible and give up that death grip on content control.

[ShakeyBobWillis]

It's a widely distributed alpha product. Stuff still isn't perfected. They make no claims to the contrary. What's the problem?

[XMattingly]

Quote

{size:10px} No, Jason, I appreciate that you?re stuck with the unpleasant task of perfuming the same old short-sighted excrement the television industry flings around every so often.{size}

In other circles, we might call that a polished turd. :)

I don't know why PR will so often declare something that's only a half truth or the exact opposite... don't they realize that people of moderate intelligence see right through this? Hard to call it "shared interest" when there is absolutely nothing favorable being offered in place of it for customers. I appreciate you telling it like it is.

[ShakeyBobWillis]

Another question. How exactly can Hulu pull support from Boxee? Can they 'pull support' from Firefox or Internet Explorer? Using Boxee is the same as just viewing it via either of those two web browsers. I can still stream it all to the TV...it's just a little more inconvenient without Boxee.

[ShutterBugGeek]

Perhaps it's because of the launch of "Understudy", which is a free software that works with Front Row and adds the ability to stream video content from both Hulu and Netflix. Connect your MacBook (Pro) to your TV and viola! Sounds like they pulled the plug on the competition.

[folklore]

I'm having a hard time understanding this.

Hulu makes money from ads. Ads are viewed during watching of shows. Boxee enables watching shows on more devices. How, exactly, is Boxee a bad thing for Hulu?

Hulu is basically a way to market shows that are on TV. If you miss a show, you can pick it up online. Or, you can watch a show online that conflicts with other shows. Boxee enables watching the content on more devices. How, exactly, is Boxee a bad thing for content providers? Perhaps more to the point, how is Boxee a worse thing than plain vanilla Hulu.com?

I'm just not seeing the problem for anyone here. I'd love to hear Fox or NBC justify this. I mean that literally - it's not snark. I'm genuinely curious what the business justification is.

[ShakeyBobWillis]

ShutterBugGeek said:

Perhaps it's because of the launch of "Understudy", which is a free software that works with Front Row and adds the ability to stream video content from both Hulu and Netflix. Connect your MacBook (Pro) to your TV and viola! Sounds like they pulled the plug on the competition.

What competition? Boxee wasn't 'competition' for Hulu. It was simply another way to access Hulu.

[sandbag1]

I think he means Understudy is competition for Boxee and Understudy works within Front Row a Macintosh application.

[timefly]

Nope. Boxee's user experience is good enough. They can keep on the improvement and what they offer here is so much more than Hulu.

Why defend Hulu's decision? It's a very stupid thing to do on Hulu's part.

Hulu's idea is to have the TV shows for everyone through the Internet, it's "free", and that's how it become big. It's an act to counter the piracy that they know they can never win. They should encourage every means to make it even more prolific.

Now this is just counter that idea. And if they have a change of heart on this, they're going to lose and go back to square one.

This is just so typical how TV channels doing their business, and that's why we have bittorrent.

[austinnate]

nice!