Hulu.com plugin

The Hulu plugin is working again for free Hulu shows (tested one show). Thanks. I have a few questions about it though

1) It seems to download the shows in real time. Is it fooling Hulu into thinking it is a web browser just watching the show? What user agent does it send to Hulu? Would Hulu be able to tell that a downloading tool is being used? (There is another tool for Windows, StreamTransport which sends an Internet Explorer user agent, and I think it is fooling Hulu.)

2) During normal playback, many Hulu shows let you change the resolution. How can we select which stream gets downloaded?

3) Is it possible to use the plugin with Hulu Plus? What do you do about the login?

(StreamTransport has its own built-in browser that may be used to login (if Hulu Plus content) navigate to the show, start playback, and then select resolution.)

4) I consider the downloading of Hulu content for personal home use to be much like using a VCR for all ethical purposes. Have there been any known instances of anyone falling victim to RIAA style scorched earth legal attacks (letters demanding multithousand dollar settlements on threat of even bigger lawsuits) over downloading Hulu?

Thanks

1) Normally RTMP servers send the stream in real-time, but I implemented a workaround in the latest version of the RTMP plugin. Make sure you are using RTMP plugin v2.1.1. At least for me it downloads quite fast.

2) Currently, the Hulu plugin just chooses the highest quality available. We could possibly implement a similar settings box as in the YouTube plugin, but that's a lot of work.

3) Nope. I don't have a Hulu Plus account (for obvious reasons), but if you send me login details and I find time, I might take a look at it. What exactly does such an account improve?

4) Actually, yes. Several. Many RTMPE ("encrypted" version of RTMP) supporting programs have got takedown letters. Luckily it's not a big concern for FRD, as DMCA is a US law, and as you might know, the Czech Republic or Finland (where FRD is developed) are not situated in the US.

I looked for RTMP in the list of plugins in the preferences and didn't find it in the list. I initiated an update of all plugins and there was no update for that plugin. I then tried a different show, one that had more compression and it downloaded substantially faster than real time. But I am still curious, how do I find the version of the RTMP plugin as it wasn't in the list with the other plugins? Or is it in the list under some non-obvious name?

What user agent gets sent to Hulu?

Anyone (probably has to be in USA or proxied to the USA) can create a free (for 1 week) Hulu Plus account as a trial. Hulu Plus adds additional episodes of some shows over basic Hulu and supposedly offers better resolution on some shows.

About my last question, I was asking if there are known incidents of individual end users getting nailed for using a tool such as Free Rapid or StreamTransport to download for personal use what are normally only streaming videos? (I am in the USA)

Thanks.

Sorry, I forgot that FRD doesn't display library plugins in the plugin list. If checking for updates doesn't bring up anything (and you're using the latest version of FRD), then you should have the latest version.

We send the usual Firefox user agent for HTTP requests, but the RTMP protocol (used for downloading the video) doesn't have user agents.

And no, I don't think any users have been prosecuted for downloading from Hulu. It's the programs they're after, if anything.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2011 07:38PM by ntoskrnl.

the Hulu Plugin is not working I get the error code (Error - Cannot download from service)
•your FRD version,
0.85u1
•your plugin version
1.0.8 hulu.com
•describe problematic behaviour,
(Error - Cannot download from service)
•provide download links you have problem with
Stargate SG-1 any episode

I dont know what happened today , but the Downloads for Hulu are accessable again.
Yesterday, I could not download anything from them.
Did you update the plugin or do you think it was just a glich at Hulu?

Thanks!

Trying to download latest No Ordinary Family and get "Error - Cannot download from service" with latest version and plugins up to date. What's going on. Did something change at Hulu?

Possibly. Can you attach your app.log file after such an error?

ntoskrnl, It's not writting anything in app.log. This is a URL that won't work:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/225298/no-ordinary-family-no-ordinary-animal

Does it work for you or anyone else?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2011 01:23PM by stlmac08.

Unfortunately I can't test it as I'm not in the US.