Written by Chris Albrecht
Posted Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 10:26 PM PT

 

No Invite? No Problem. How to Hulu Now

Video content site Hulu is still in closed beta, but between its distribution partners and the rise of Hulu clones, even those without an invite can watch all that sweet, sweet content.

If you want to go the official route, you can watch Hulu video through one of its syndication partners. MySpace announced today that Hulu content is available at Primetime on MySpaceTV, completing the distribution rollout that’s also available through MSN, Yahoo, AOL, and Comcast’s Fancast.

Prefer the illicit thrill of not playing by the rules? Want to stick it to the man — while still sitting through the man’s ads? Then try one of the Hulu clones that have recently popped up.

open_hulu.jpg

OpenHulu (pictured above) is a pretty bald-faced attempt to ride on Hulu’s coattails and make a little cash. OpenHulu is exactly what it sounds like, a site featuring all of Hulu’s content with no invite necessary, only it’s been all uglied up with a bevy of ads. Valleywag pegged OpenHulu’s operator, Matt Schlicht, as a shameless self-promoter, and writes that he’s been getting lots of hate mail. One of the letters apparently gripes that Schlicht’s workaround still doesn’t allow people in other countries to watch.

tv-paradise_reve.jpg

Which is where TVParadise.org comes in. It was created by a French guy so non-Americans could watch Hulu content. While the gentleman behind TV Paradise wanted to remain anonymous, I was able to talk with him via email and IM. His decision to start up the site was pretty simple:

I think Hulu is a good initiative and the implementation exceeded my expectations (this being “old media” and all). Except of course for the lock-out of non US viewers: being a “foreigner” in the eyes Hollywood, there is no free, easy and “approved” way to watch shows I like (SNL, Heroes, Journeyman, Dexter, Chuck, etc), unless of course I wanted to watch them translated, months later, on OldTeeVee.

TV Paradise is still just using embeds, and isn’t altering anything on the server side, so the site gets around geo-blocking by pointing people to a free VPN that will give them a U.S.-based IP address. Pretty sneaky, sis. The VPN won’t enable watching videos on Hulu.com, because the bit-rate of the streams is too high. But the embeds use a lower bit-rate, so the VPN works. According to the TV Paradise creator, the site had 5,000 visitors yesterday from all over the world including Germany, Australia, Canada, Singapore and India.

One change TV Paradise made was to allow Hulu’s embeds to go full-screen, which they normally don’t. TV Paradise does this by embedding the files in a flash movie with the sole function of enabling a full-screen view.

While he hasn’t ruled out monetizing the site, slapping ads on TV Paradise isn’t top of mind for its creator. “I don’t want to fill every pixel with ads that will get a few dollars,” he wrote in IM. “I know I don’t like that myself as a user.”

So far no one from Hulu has contacted TV Paradise. When asked for comment, Christina Lee of Hulu’s corporate communications said “Hulu encourages viral distribution of its service in accordance with its terms of use.” It appears to be a bit of a muddy area since Hulu does allow embedding on the open web, but is still restricting access to its home site. And embedding the file in a flash movie probably won’t help TV Paradise. But that’s for the lawyers to spend endless billable hours debating. If they need a break, we know where they can watch some video.

 

Sphere
Topic: Online Video
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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. Of course he’s trying to ride the wave and make some money at the same time. Isn’t that inherent of everyone?

    Brandon on December 19th, 2007 at 11:42 pm - Permalink

  2. OpenHulu is a funny idea.

    But unfortunately it is not that much open: i’m still unable to watch the videos from France, as all the non US-residents…

    Pierre Col - UbicMedia on December 20th, 2007 at 12:31 am - Permalink

  3. I’m sure if Hulu was allowed to open up to non-U.S., they would - but they are held back by contracts and windowing through the studios. I’m very happy to see they are encouraging embeds. :)

    Frank Sinton on December 20th, 2007 at 12:56 am - Permalink

  4. Ha, yeah…I can’t deny being a shameless promoter. But is that so bad?

    Anyways, I’d like to talk about the geo workaround. Theres a way to…edit the Hulu player…so that anyone can view the videos. However, Hulu clearly states that you are not allowed to change their player at all. If it wasn’t for fear of being sued I would definitely help you guys out.

    As to the ads…they look terrible right now. Obnoxious and plastered on. I’m working on it though I promise. Ughh…I freaking hate ads. If it wasnt for paying for a new design and some fancy code I would drop them so fast it wouldn’t even be funny.

    Thanks for the plug, and props to TVparadise.

    -Matt Schlicht

    Matt Schlicht on December 20th, 2007 at 1:54 am - Permalink

  5. Cool Im probably moving back to Australia next year so if the site is still up 6 months from now I’ll be happy .

    But by then the whole media landscape could have changed and there might be HULU servers on Telsra’s backend so I dont get silly bandwdith caps …oh its six months away that’s almost lifetime on the Internetz ;)…

    .Cummon News Corp make it happen in Australia .

    Matt_ on December 20th, 2007 at 4:56 am - Permalink

  6. [...] has begun its syndication efforts, with content now available at PrimeTime on MySpaceTV. Other partners have begun adding the free [...]

    Viacom - Microsoft - Hulu - Nielsen - Invidi - P&G - MediaBytes 12.20.2007 | MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer Video on December 20th, 2007 at 7:30 am - Permalink

  7. [...] glory — is still only available to a limited group of U.S.-only testers (albeit with some back-door ways to experience its [...]

    2500 Hulu Invites up for Grabs - GigaOM on December 20th, 2007 at 7:34 am - Permalink

  8. [...] glory — is still only available to a limited group of U.S.-only testers (albeit with some back-door ways to experience its [...]

    Hulu Invites up for Grabs « NewTeeVee on December 20th, 2007 at 8:18 am - Permalink

  9. There’s also this interesting facebook app at http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=6443058041
    where you can watch Hulu TV and chat with your friends at the same time.

    Jeff Mikoh on December 20th, 2007 at 12:00 pm - Permalink

  10. The videos in TVparadise no longer work outside the US, (at least not in Madrid)

    jero on December 21st, 2007 at 1:12 am - Permalink

  11. [...] And it’s not even an original workaround; it’s already been done by the guys who run OpenHulu and TVParadise. Veoh has raised tons of cash and has a full staff — why lower [...]

    Veoh Pulls an OpenHulu « NewTeeVee on January 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am - Permalink

  12. [...] And it’s not even an original workaround; it’s already been done by the guys who run OpenHulu and TVParadise. Veoh has raised tons of cash and has a full staff — why lower [...]

    Veoh Pulls an OpenHulu teasered @ TechTalkBlog on January 4th, 2008 at 3:17 am - Permalink

  13. [...] site is essentially the same thing as OPENHulu, which used Hulu’s embed codes while the site itself was restricted to private beta users. Prime Time Rewind expands this idea to [...]

    Jeff Pulver’s OPENHulu: Prime Time Rewind « NewTeeVee on March 18th, 2008 at 1:10 pm - Permalink

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