New Plugin from Google lets you Stream Hulu and Netflix videos with Frontrow

Mon, Feb 16, 2009

News

A new plugin from Google allows Frontrow users to stream Hulu and Netflix videos straight to their computer.  The plugin is called ‘Understudy’ and is hosted over at Google Code.  Once the plugin is installed, users can select from a number of feeds to add to their Frontrow page.  For example, you can add a feed for Hulu’s most popular videos of the week and even for Hulu’s most recently uploaded movies.

Our initial impressions?  It’s a winner.

Browsing through Hulu’s video library has never been smoother or more convenient, and in over 2 days of use, we’ve yet to run into any bugs.  We mention this because Google notes that the plugin is still a “work in progress” and that there are some kinks still being worked out. The only feature conspicuously absent from ‘Understudy’ is the ability to move forward and backwards once a stream has begun.  In other words, you can’t jump ahead 20 minutes if you’re watching a 2 hour long movie.  That gripe aside, Understudy is definitely worth checking out and can be downloaded over here.  Hopefully, Apple will introduce similar Hulu and Netflix integration into the next update for Apple TV.

Lastly, Frontrow doesn’t typically show up by default in the dock, so for users who don’t even know what Frontrow is, press command-escape in order to launch it.

via MacMod

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3 Comments For This Post

  1. Juan Says:

    I downloaded it, it does work very nicely especially if you have an Apple Remote Control.

    I used it with Hulu but haven’t checked it out with Netflix yet. Those videos you do need an account for and they are not free.

    I have watched movies via my MacBook with it connected to my lowly analog TV and always wished I could use my Apple Remote (classic couch potato speaking) and NOW I can.

    Thanks for pointing this out.

  2. Thomas Stromberg Says:

    I’m not sure what makes you think this tool was written by Google? It appears that the code and website is hosted by Google Code Hosting (along with thousands of other projects), but I don’t see anywhere that says that it was written by a Googler.

  3. James Says:

    What about iPlayer for the Brittish among us?

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