Hulu is a great service, or at least it would be if it weren’t so hamstrung by the content providers. For me it acts as an internet based DVR. Any show I missed that I want to catch up on I simply head over to Hulu and voila, I can watch it on my computer or through the magic of playon I can even check it out on my home theatre. As someone who has given up on the local cable company, this is a very useful thing.
Unless….
You need to catch up on more than the five most recent shows. Then you are screwed.
This artificial limit imposed by the content owners (major networks) creates a real problem. For example, due to schedule conflicts and illness I missed the beginning of this seasons’s 24. Because the first two showings were actually two episodes each I didn’t realize that I would start loosing the ability to catch up on Hulu by week three of this season.
Sure, I could have recorded the episodes from live tv if I had known, but, I just figured I would go to Hulu before week five and get caught up. But nooo, I blew that, so now I have to look at alternate ways of acquiring the first few episodes. (Legal DVD releases of course)
Well back to the point of this article, StreamTransport a new free software product gives you a chance to time shift Hulu, so you can get the streams of the shows you want when they are available, but then watch them at your convenience. The downloading or “ripping” ability of StreamTransport gives you another advantage. You can now take Hulu with you on your mobile device. Nice!
Oh just because I’m obsessed with Hulu doesn’t mean you have to be. Stream Transport also works with Youtube, Google Video, Myspace, Yahoo! video, CBS, MTV, Megavideo, Photobucket, Dailymotion, Veoh, Demand Five, and more.
Is it legal? Hard to say, it’s legal for you to DVR a cable show, it’s legal for you to record the radio, so in theory it’s legal for you rip web content too, but the software most likely breaks DMCA protection for the sites providing the stream so… If you are interested in this software I’d download a copy sooner than later.
StreamTransport is windows only, and it’s free. The only thing it’s lacking in my opinion is the ability to schedule automatic downloads via RSS or something. That would really make it a killer app.
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