Hulu Bows Remote Control for Xbox One, PS4 and PS3

29 Apr, 2014 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Hulu has expanded the functionality of its remote control app to allow Hulu Plus subscribers on their Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PS3 consoles.

The app is similar to what Hulu launched recently for Google’s Chromecast streaming device.

In addition to the requisite pause/resume, seek and 10-second rewind functions, the app allows the user to switch between watching on a mobile phone or tablet, and going back to any TV in your home with a connection to a Xbox One, PS3 or PS4 system.

Subscribers can launch the Hulu Plus app on their iOS or Android mobile device, and their gaming console system will be detected directly through the app. Once detected, a “cast” button will appear on their mobile phone or tablet and they can pair it with a living room device.

“The functionality is easy to use,” Mitch Walker, senior development lead, wrote in a blog post.

Separately, Hulu reportedly has begun blocking access to users employing virtual private networks, or VPNs, to stream TV shows and movies. The streaming site began notifying users suspected of residing outside of the U.S. and illegally accessing the service through a domestic Internet address connected to a VPN.

Unlike Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video, Hulu (and Hulu Plus) is currently unavailable outside of the United States.

In a message to domestic users with VPNs, Hulu asks them to disable the anonymizer to stream videos. An anonymizer accesses the Internet on the user's behalf, protecting personal information by hiding the client computer's identifying information.

Hulu requests users who believe they have received the message in error to contact the service.

Regardless, the move has garnered flack from within the tech community, which some see overreaching by Hulu’s corporate media parents: The Walt Disney Co., 21st Century Fox and Comcast.

“[Hundreds of thousands] of users will go back to using their VPNs to [illegal file-sharing]. Way to push people away and back to nefarious means to watch stuff,” wrote Happy Noodle on PCMag.com.

 

 

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