Mac software: Understudy adds Netflix, Hulu to Front Row
For many people, there is no replacement for the shows, characters and collective buzz that cable television provides. For others, cutting the tether and putting that money back into their budgets is a no brainer—literally.
A small milestone on the road to replacing cable television with internet-based resources is provided by our friends at Google, creators of Understudy, which is a plugin that integrates Netflix and Hulu streamed content into Apple’s Front Row.
Front what?
Front Row is media center software for Apple’s Macintosh computers and AppleTV for viewing and downloading video, photos, podcasts, and music from a computer, optical disk, networks using iTunes or iPhoto, and the Internet using an Apple Remote. The software is both the interface for AppleTV and a standalone application on all shipping Macs—Wikipedia
I downloaded and fired up Understudy and it works as advertised, though I’m still looking for a valid feed URL (see screen cap, below right). Our friends at MacMod add that Google’s Front Row plugin is stable, but still in development.
Of course, the obvious question here is when will Google or, for that matter, Apple integrate the great wealth of television programming—Joost, Hulu, Netflix, CBS, etc—already available.
If you’re comfortable with viewing on the small screen (ie your Mac), then it’s already more than possible to turn off cable television, saving money and perhaps even helping to force cable operators to become more competitive.
What we need next is for Apple or another software vendor to create a single application or user interface—gateway if you prefer—that can deliver the wealth of available content.
In the mean time, take a minute or three to download your very own copy of Understudy 0.5.0.pkg and prepare to be amused—watching your favorite TV shows just got a bit more together and easier.
Are there still mainstream shows that aren’t available (legally) online?
Related Posts:
February 17th, 2009
Yes. Unfortunately there is no where to watch anything from Food Network online. A few clips are on hulu but nothing else. Depending on your definition of mainstream I guess.