Using Hulu (free) with Chromecast on iOS?
December 20, 2013 2:52 PM   Subscribe

I've googled this, but every reference is to Hulu Plus. I have an iPod 5th gen, and the Chromecast dongle plugged in to my TV. Using the Chrome browser for iPod + Chromecast app, watching stuff like Netflix works fine. However, when I visit Hulu.com, the site detects my OS/Browser, and won't serve me content unless I buy Hulu Plus. Of course I can plug my laptop directly in to the TV, and watch Hulu's free programming that way. But not with Chromecast. Is there a way to mimic a desktop browser in Chrome, and then 'Cast' a Hulu program to the TV? Other options?
posted by 4midori to Computers & Internet (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Tabcasting doesn't work? Chrome TabCast extension.

This should allow you to show any webpage on the Chromecast as if it were running on your laptop / desktop.

One note: if you have both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz WiFi networks (pretty common in WiFi routers these days) I recommend putting your laptop on the 5Ghz so its not competing with the Chromecast (whcih only has 2.4Ghz). You'll get much smoother streaming.
posted by wildcrdj at 3:04 PM on December 20, 2013


Argh I totally missed that this is iOS Chrome and not MacOS. Chrome can certainly mimic a desktop browser (via useragent stuff), but I don't know how tabcasting works on iOS Chrome and don't have anything to try it with.
posted by wildcrdj at 3:05 PM on December 20, 2013


I may be missing something here, but why not just cast from a tab on your laptop to the TV? Do you need to be using the iPod for some reason (other than preference)?
posted by bizwank at 4:32 PM on December 20, 2013


I don't have one but you might ask here: /r/chromecast.
posted by bluecore at 5:44 PM on December 20, 2013


I'm not sure if there's an easy way to do this. I just went to a backend page on my iPhone (http://www.hulu.com/browse/tv) then went to my list. It was all the regular desktop mode with no hulu plus prompt up to there. (So it's pretty easy to avoid that homepage dead end.) However when I clicked on a show to play it bounced me to my plus app. Honestly if it's really that important to stream from your device just splurge on the $8 per month. (If the app works on iPod... Which I thought it does. Sorry if that's not correct though. I don't have an iPod. )
posted by Crystalinne at 10:21 PM on December 20, 2013


Even if you impersonate a desktop browser Hulu still won't work on your iPod, because it requires Flash. You could tabcast from the laptop as others have pointed out.
posted by O9scar at 2:04 AM on December 21, 2013


Chrome only works with Chromecast via the Chromecast extension and there's currently no Chromecast support for mobile Chrome (on iOS or Android). I think Chromecast support will get baked in there at some point but not yet.
posted by GuyZero at 5:12 PM on February 24, 2014


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