pyTivo Discussion Forum

Sukodin · Joined: 03 Oct 2009 Posts: 2

Hello,

I have searched and did not see anywhere on the net that this is supported, but I am trying to find a way to play hulu shows on my Tivo.

I love PyTivo, but there are still shows that I dont get that are on Hulu.

Please let me know if this is possible, and what I need to do to set it up.

Thanks for your help!

toolkit · Joined: 06 Jun 2009 Posts: 15

I don't think that is possible with PyTivo. (I could be wrong. If anyone contradicts me, they probably know more than I do.)

It used to be possible to use Boxee to view Hulu content on a TV, but I think the Hulu people forced Boxee to remove that support. (Again, my info could be wrong - or just old.)

> Thanks for your help!

Sorry, I wasn't able to help. But maybe someone else will come along soon who does have a solution for you. If you do find a way, please let us know. Good luck!

stealthdave · Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 24 Location: Santa Monica, CA

It used to be possible before Hulu started being "difficult". When Boxee first got Hulu support, it pulled the raw flv video stream from Hulu and played it on your screen without a web browser. It still played the commercials, but you got it full-screen directly to your monitor or TV without going through the web site. In theory, one could take this raw stream and convert it to a TiVo-friendly mpeg2 stream on-the-fly using ffmpeg, just like pyTivo does with files on your computer. Unfortunately, Hulu (or more likely their corporate sponsors) decided that content on Hulu.com should only be viewed in a web browser and not on your TV screen. Even their TV commercials emphasized how easy it was to watch tv shows on your computer. Now Hulu performs major obfuscation on the flv stream to the point where you can now only watch it in a web browser. So Boxee built a web browser into its application. The upside is that you can still view Hulu content in Boxee just like you could before, but you won't be able to stream it to your TiVo any time soon.

On the plus side, if you do hook a computer up to your television, you can run Boxee on it and watch Hulu content at full screen. Sorry I don't have better news for you. Perhaps some day Hulu will form partnerships with TiVo and other device makers like Netflix has, but until then you need a computer.

- Dave

mulscully · Joined: 30 Oct 2009 Posts: 1

well, could be add support for uPNP/DLNA sources to pyTivo, so if your running playon, you could point pyTivo the the computer running playOn and get the hulu video from hulu->through playon->pytivo->tivo

?? just a thought...

jcthorne · Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 243 Location: Houston, TX

******* works with hulu?

THAT would be great news.

txporter · Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 263 Location: Austin, TX

I would doubt it. I am pretty sure that Hulu is now basically just directing traffic to the location of the show on the particular networks site. I used to be able to grab Hulu shows (year or more ago) with Applian's Replay Media Catcher but no longer can. The two pieces of software list the same websites as possible captures.

wmcbrine · Joined: 04 Jan 2008 Posts: 2010 Location: Maryland

"Jimmy" was just spamming. I've deleted his post, his account, and the reference to his product in a follow-up.

seanreit · Joined: 08 Apr 2010 Posts: 11

There's a guy that wrote an ebook that I think solves this problem, PM me for a link to it. I don't want to spam the forum with this sort of thing. I came across it on Facebook of all places.

txporter · Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 263 Location: Austin, TX

I have since figured out how to download Hulu shows and remux the flv to mp4 that can be pushed to Tivo. Use streamtransport to download shows. Then remux with ffmpeg to mp4.

jcthorne · Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 243 Location: Houston, TX

Thanks for the tip. Worked like a champ.

Question though for the new to hulu, Does one have to pay for a hulo plus membership to see the HD versions of shows? Everything I looked at was only 640x350 res.

txporter · Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 263 Location: Austin, TX

I don't do much downloading of Hulu shows really. I am pretty sure that you can stream in 360p and 480p (actually 400p) without a Hulu+ membership, but HD is Hulu+ only. Not 100% sure of that information, but I believe it to be correct.

jcthorne · Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 243 Location: Houston, TX

Now if only ST would update to support the new Amazon instant streaming content.....

Any other way to save streaming content to a file?

seanreit · Joined: 08 Apr 2010 Posts: 11

nzbmatrix.com I have no earthly idea why anyone deals with streamed content anymore. I'm downloading 5 gigs worth of TV/ movies a day from there and pytivo'ing them right over. Not only that but with sabnzbd, most of the shows I get automatically download and then auto push to my tivo commercial free.

jcthorne · Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 243 Location: Houston, TX

I already know how to use usenet. I already have a better seach engine built into newsbinPro. Please do not suggest torrents either. I appreciate the attempt to help, but its not what I was asking about in this thread.

I was asking about the technical challenges of capturing a streaming video. Streamtransport works for some flv streams but has not been updated in over a year and does not support other stream types.