SageTV @ CES mentioned at Ars Technica

[Brent]

Regarding the Hulu on SageTV news:
For the first-hand report and some photos check out this from ZatzNotFunny!

I added a little more information on the Hulu / SageTV story in this GeekTonic post

[valnar]

Hulu is nice, but I really hope they get a deal to provide Netflix streaming too.

I'll be buying a Blu-ray player soon. My first choice is the Panasonic DMP-BD35K. It's apparently rock solid. My second choice is the Samsung BD-P2550, which is buggier, but does include Netflix support. Both provide the best DVD upscaling on the market, so that'll be good either way.

I may be forced to buy the Samsung if I don't hear good news from Sage shortly. I've been holding off.

[Mitch G]

I agree about netflix support. Although Hulu is definitely nice, my kids love watching old seasons of The Office and Hulu only carries the current season - as far as I can tell.


Mitch

[heffe2001]

Looks like I'm going to be moving the HD100's to the bedrooms at tax time and replace them with HD200's... Even if I have to boot into stand-alone mode to use it, being able to watch Hulu on the TV without a PC there is a huge bonus to me...

[Brent]

Originally Posted by heffe2001

Looks like I'm going to be moving the HD100's to the bedrooms at tax time and replace them with HD200's... Even if I have to boot into stand-alone mode to use it, being able to watch Hulu on the TV without a PC there is a huge bonus to me...

I'm not sure that it won't be available on the HD100s as well - we'll just have to wait and see about that.

Also, it appears the Hulu menu item is on (and works on) both standalone and extender mode for the HD200.



Seriously, if they get Hulu working natively in SageTV it seems Netflix and other streaming should be possible as well. We'll have to see how it plays out, but no matter how you look at this story - its very good news for SageTV and SageTV users alike.

[wayner]

The only problem with Hulu is that this is what you get at hulu.com when you attempt to access it from outside the US.

[Brent]

Yep, the rules of content between countries stink. It's not Hulu's (or any of the other providers) fault - they would like to change those rules, but to get the content, they have to abide by the archaic agreements.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Brent

Yep, the rules of content between countries stinks. It's not Hulu's (or any of the other providers) fault - they would like to change those rules, but to get the content, they have to abide by the archaic agreements.

I agree and I wish that the content owners would start switching to global licensing rather than national. Canadians did not get iTunes music store for more than a year after it was up in the US and we still can't buy much worth watching in terms of TV shows at the iTunes store. It is decidedly not a World Wide Web when it comes to media - more like a Country Wide Web.

[simonen]

I would love to see netflix and hulu supported in extender mode so it can work with all the extenders.

[sandor]

Originally Posted by bastafidli

http://arstechnica.com/journals/hard...es-as-back-end
...I am just glad they didn't put there some screenshots of the standard GUI since next to the Nextgear ones it may not look that good

Really? My first reaction to the Netgear interface was "elementary school art class".

[heffe2001]

It gives me amunition to get the wife to ok replacing our MPV's though . Although I sure wish the HD200 box was the same size as the HD100, I really think they went backwards as far as the case goes on the new units..

Originally Posted by Brent

I'm not sure that it won't be available on the HD100s as well - we'll just have to wait and see about that.

Also, it appears the Hulu menu item is on (and works on) both standalone and extender mode for the HD200.



Seriously, if they get Hulu working natively in SageTV it seems Netflix and other streaming should be possible as well. We'll have to see how it plays out, but no matter how you look at this story - its very good news for SageTV and SageTV users alike.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by heffe2001

...Although I sure wish the HD200 box was the same size as the HD100, I really think they went backwards as far as the case goes on the new units..

You know, that was my first impression too. The HD200 is pretty much a tiny box and not the most beautiful device in the world. But now that I've had it for a while, I've found that I can tuck it on nearly any shelf near the TV set and it fits in just fine. If you have a blu-ray player for instance, there's plenty of room to put the HD200 next to the player instead of on top or below it. In my bedroom setup, I have the HD200 on the same stand as the LCD TV and it just peeks out below the TV with the IR receiver still showing. You have to really look to even see the tiny device.

Regarding the HD200 and Hulu:
I think this could push the HD200 sales up a bit more with more people purchasing as a stand-alone device that can also do Hulu. Add in a few more online sources and capture some of that buzz Boxee has been getting and it's even better.

[kurt711]

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/01/08...tv-hd-theater/

I would love to be at CES to see this! now native netflix on HD theater and that would make HD-200 the best product I ever purchased. I would love to search for a program and sage just shows me recorded/hulu/netflix all in same UI. thats just dream but getting closer every day

* merged *

[QueOnda]

I wonder if able to play Hulu HD? http://www.hulu.com/hd

[evilpenguin]

I'm curious why no one's mentioned it yet, but I wonder how Sage is handling the commercials from Hulu. I assume they'll be in there because they're basically the only way sites like Hulu can exists.

[QueOnda]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

I'm curious why no one's mentioned it yet, but I wonder how Sage is handling the commercials from Hulu. I assume they'll be in there because they're basically the only way sites like Hulu can exists.

OR username and password for Rated R content.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

I'm curious why no one's mentioned it yet, but I wonder how Sage is handling the commercials from Hulu. I assume they'll be in there because they're basically the only way sites like Hulu can exists.

There is no way SageTV will remove the commercials. They'll be there just as they are in the browser. I don't think the guys at SageTV want to tick off Hulu that much.

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by Brent

There is no way SageTV will remove the commercials. They'll be there just as they are in the browser. I don't think the guys at SageTV want to tick off Hulu that much.

Well its not so much removing them, but inserting them that's the technical issue. Every time the Hulu player hits a commercial, it stops the video your watching, grabs a targeted commercial from their servers, inserts/plays it, and then resumes playback of the video your watching. Its a fairly complicated process and really the only way that Sage could duplicate in such a way that Hulu still gets credit for all the commercials is if Hulu was working closely with them.

The other way is to just use the player from the site like Boxee is, but that doesn't look like what Sage is doing judging from those screen shots.

[Brent]

Hmm. Good point EP - didn't realize how the commercials worked. I don't think they are doing it the way Boxee is, but not positive at this point.

[evilpenguin]

Yeah, that's why this announcement surprised me so much. Its pretty much the *hardest* online media source they could have chosen to integrate: no API and (as far as I know) Hulu isn't not actively seeking partners.