Print PDF
Favorite
Email
This instructable has been removed by the author.
39
comments
|
Add Comment
|
Jul 24, 2010. 2:44 PMnomm098
says:
Is this still up and running? I sent an email a day or two ago and got nothing back yet. This'd be great, thanks so much for having a method available!
Apr 18, 2009. 11:53 PMChiana_Rei
says:
Just let the what 2-3 small commercials run, otherwise HULU will lose funding and the service will end. So just leave it alone watch the ads and enjoy free online TV,
Apr 19, 2009. 7:34 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
I understand your concern, and if Hulu starts showing signs of shutting down, then I'll start watching their commercials. Until then though, I shall enjoy my videos commercial free. Also, this instructable is aimed at people who would otherwise be illegally downloading their videos. By implementing this "hack" at least they aren't breaking the law.
Apr 28, 2009. 2:10 PMtinymonstr
says:
I hate to say it, but you are still breaking the law. Or at the very least violating Hulu's terms of service. http://www.hulu.com/terms
"circumventing the Video Player in a manner that enables users to view the Content without displaying visibly both the Video Player and all surrounding elements (including the graphical user interface, any advertising, copyright notices, and trademarks) of the webpage where the Video Player is located."
I can't say I see the difference between a torrent and ad-free hulu. Both are interfering with the content providers revenue stream. Hulu is trying to be an alternative to piracy and cutting out their ads kills their ability to do that.
Why mess with a good thing?
"circumventing the Video Player in a manner that enables users to view the Content without displaying visibly both the Video Player and all surrounding elements (including the graphical user interface, any advertising, copyright notices, and trademarks) of the webpage where the Video Player is located."
I can't say I see the difference between a torrent and ad-free hulu. Both are interfering with the content providers revenue stream. Hulu is trying to be an alternative to piracy and cutting out their ads kills their ability to do that.
Why mess with a good thing?
Apr 30, 2009. 8:50 AMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
First of all, let me say that you present a good argument. I would not respond to your comments if I didn't think that they were well thought out. But, I do have to say that I disagree with you.
At no point in time (on the numerous times I have visited their site) has Hulu presented me with their "Terms of Service." As a matter of fact, I can't even locate a link to it by looking at their home page. By making it so inaccessible, they are essentially nullifying it's legal existence. It is hardly "legally binding" when they haven't provided their client base with a fair opportunity to read it. As of now, I haven't read it, and I don't plan on reading it, until they make it easily available to me.
You can't see the difference between torrenting and an ad-free Hulu? You might want to read this: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/04/pirateverdict/. That link leads to an article about how torrenting will get you sent to jail. I have yet to find any court decision on skipping Hulu's commercials. So there is a clear difference; Torrenting can get you sent to jail, skipping Hulu's commercials can't.
Also, I am not, as you say, "cutting out their ads"
My new method of skipping their commercials allows the first commercial to play. Thus I provide the person viewing the video a fair opportunity to click on the ad, thus providing revenue for Hulu. If the viewer does not wish to click the ad the first time, the chances that they will click it the next 3 times it plays are very slim.
If this issue is as paramount as you make it out to be, then I should be getting an letter or email from Hulu sometime soon. I make no secret of who I am or how to contact me.
And to answer your question: "Why mess with a good thing?"
To make it better.
At no point in time (on the numerous times I have visited their site) has Hulu presented me with their "Terms of Service." As a matter of fact, I can't even locate a link to it by looking at their home page. By making it so inaccessible, they are essentially nullifying it's legal existence. It is hardly "legally binding" when they haven't provided their client base with a fair opportunity to read it. As of now, I haven't read it, and I don't plan on reading it, until they make it easily available to me.
You can't see the difference between torrenting and an ad-free Hulu? You might want to read this: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/04/pirateverdict/. That link leads to an article about how torrenting will get you sent to jail. I have yet to find any court decision on skipping Hulu's commercials. So there is a clear difference; Torrenting can get you sent to jail, skipping Hulu's commercials can't.
Also, I am not, as you say, "cutting out their ads"
My new method of skipping their commercials allows the first commercial to play. Thus I provide the person viewing the video a fair opportunity to click on the ad, thus providing revenue for Hulu. If the viewer does not wish to click the ad the first time, the chances that they will click it the next 3 times it plays are very slim.
If this issue is as paramount as you make it out to be, then I should be getting an letter or email from Hulu sometime soon. I make no secret of who I am or how to contact me.
And to answer your question: "Why mess with a good thing?"
To make it better.
Apr 28, 2009. 2:14 PMtinymonstr
says:
Infact, take it a step further: it's possible it is worse than using torrents, as with torrents the cost of bandwith is distributed amongst the downloaders, whereas by using Hulu's service ad-free they in turn bear the cost of hosting and serving the videos with no income in return. Which leaves them not only not making a profit, but taking a loss
Apr 28, 2009. 7:09 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
I've added another step. It is step 9, and it is titled:
I *heart* Hulu (really, I do!)
The information there is the same as my first response to your concern, I just thought I would let you know that you inspired me to create another step :)
I *heart* Hulu (really, I do!)
The information there is the same as my first response to your concern, I just thought I would let you know that you inspired me to create another step :)
Apr 28, 2009. 6:48 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
I understand what you are saying, but I find your logic to be a bit faulty.
If you are interested in this topic, I suggest that you read this article: http://adblockplus.org/blog/ads-dont-generate-money.
If you don't feel like reading the article, I can summarize it here:
Hulu doesn't make money just because the commercial airs. People have to actually click on the advertisement for it to generate any revenue for Hulu. I am not the type of person that will click on any ad, so my blocking them doesn't cause any damage (because I would never click on them in the first place).
And so now, I will take it a step further. By blocking Hulu's ads, I am actually saving them money. Each time one of those commercials plays, it costs them bandwith. Bandwith costs money. I will never click the ads, so I will never generate any money in return. Ergo, by not allowing the commercials to play, I save Hulu money.
Also, you can't get arrested for skipping Hulu's commercials where as with Torrenting, you can. That right there should tell you which one is worse.
If you are interested in this topic, I suggest that you read this article: http://adblockplus.org/blog/ads-dont-generate-money.
If you don't feel like reading the article, I can summarize it here:
Hulu doesn't make money just because the commercial airs. People have to actually click on the advertisement for it to generate any revenue for Hulu. I am not the type of person that will click on any ad, so my blocking them doesn't cause any damage (because I would never click on them in the first place).
And so now, I will take it a step further. By blocking Hulu's ads, I am actually saving them money. Each time one of those commercials plays, it costs them bandwith. Bandwith costs money. I will never click the ads, so I will never generate any money in return. Ergo, by not allowing the commercials to play, I save Hulu money.
Also, you can't get arrested for skipping Hulu's commercials where as with Torrenting, you can. That right there should tell you which one is worse.
Apr 13, 2010. 12:47 PMpublius2
says:
Another way to view Hulu without commercials is to open a second tab of the same show your watching.
Set the non-viewing tab to the first upcoming commercial point and set it on mute while you enjoy your show in the first tab. While watching your first show take a moment to go back into the other tab and reset it at that commercial point again to stop it since after that ad it would just resume playing the show.
Then when you hit the first commercial as your watching your show in the first tab switch to the other. Just alternate between them as you reach a commercial point and mute the other.
All that is now left to do is repeat the method in the other tab your not watching.
All is legit and adds more viewership and advertising revenue to Hulu without having to watch it. Plus, when you switch over to the other tab waiting to be watched it will have a full buffer waiting for you.
Set the non-viewing tab to the first upcoming commercial point and set it on mute while you enjoy your show in the first tab. While watching your first show take a moment to go back into the other tab and reset it at that commercial point again to stop it since after that ad it would just resume playing the show.
Then when you hit the first commercial as your watching your show in the first tab switch to the other. Just alternate between them as you reach a commercial point and mute the other.
All that is now left to do is repeat the method in the other tab your not watching.
All is legit and adds more viewership and advertising revenue to Hulu without having to watch it. Plus, when you switch over to the other tab waiting to be watched it will have a full buffer waiting for you.
Apr 12, 2010. 1:23 PMpublius2
says:
Another way to view Hulu without commercials is to open a second tab of the same show your watching.
Set the non-viewing tab at the upcoming commercial point on mute while you enjoy your show in the first tab. While watching your first show take a second to back into the other tab and reset it at the next commercial point to stop it.
Then when you hit the first commercial as your watching your show in the first tab switch to the other. Just alternate between them as you reach a commercial point and mute the other. All that is left to do is repeat the method in the previous tab.
All legit and adds more viewership to Hulu and advertising revenue without having to watch it.
Supposedly Hulu gets paid by advertising by every 1000 showing. If people doubled up this way advertisers would shill out every 500 showings per person using this method thus helping keep Hulu free.
Set the non-viewing tab at the upcoming commercial point on mute while you enjoy your show in the first tab. While watching your first show take a second to back into the other tab and reset it at the next commercial point to stop it.
Then when you hit the first commercial as your watching your show in the first tab switch to the other. Just alternate between them as you reach a commercial point and mute the other. All that is left to do is repeat the method in the previous tab.
All legit and adds more viewership to Hulu and advertising revenue without having to watch it.
Supposedly Hulu gets paid by advertising by every 1000 showing. If people doubled up this way advertisers would shill out every 500 showings per person using this method thus helping keep Hulu free.
Jan 15, 2010. 7:07 PMbecomingjudas
says:
why not just watch the commercials.. why does everything in life need to be free? hulu is a good service.. if everyone cheated it, it would be gone.
i propose that life is not an endless persuit of hacking and cheating.
but in the end, do what you will and may life treat you fairly..
i propose that life is not an endless persuit of hacking and cheating.
but in the end, do what you will and may life treat you fairly..
Jan 23, 2010. 2:24 PMIChaosI
says:
life is a bi*ch and doesn't give a damn about any of us and will never treat any1 fairly
Oct 1, 2009. 10:38 PMkevindourn
says:
I found out that if you open up espn.com then go to fantasy at the top it skips... watch my video on how ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zRYEKMr6mA
I'd do this, but I personally don't mind watching them. Hulu is the first (and/or best) legal streaming website that let's us watch recent shows. I wouldn't want to lose that over a few ads.
Apr 18, 2009. 12:57 PMtom123il
says:
Exactly!! The commercials are few, and well worth sitting through for this service.
Apr 18, 2009. 6:15 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
I see where you're coming from. There are two reasons why I'm not concerned though:
1) The way this "hack" is setup, I'm pretty sure the companies paying Hulu still get the "message" that the viewer has seen the commercial. Thus, Hulu still gets the same amount of money and doesn't get shut down.
2) It would take massive amounts of people to do this for it even to even put a dent in Hulu's profits...and to be honest, I don't expect a lot of people read this.
So no damage done :)
1) The way this "hack" is setup, I'm pretty sure the companies paying Hulu still get the "message" that the viewer has seen the commercial. Thus, Hulu still gets the same amount of money and doesn't get shut down.
2) It would take massive amounts of people to do this for it even to even put a dent in Hulu's profits...and to be honest, I don't expect a lot of people read this.
So no damage done :)
May 8, 2009. 5:33 PMbaskinghobo
says:
Hello, i sent you 2 emails the other day requesting for the file but you did not reply. Can you please send me the hack. I have being waiting a long time!
Apr 30, 2009. 11:49 PMguttertalk
says:
It works! Yeah, I was a bit skeptical too -- seems a bit shady to have to get email. But, tried, got response in like an hour, and, it WORKS. I don't see commercial breaks any more on Hulu. THANKS! (The system uses Firefox, Adblock Plus, and the file -- had the first two already, just needed that last part.)
May 1, 2009. 1:13 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
I definitely know that it looks shady. Personally, I'd be skeptical about sending an email to get instructions for anything... never mind instructions on skipping Hulu ads. But, I think that by doing it this way, it'll keep the "hack" working longer...at least that's the hope :)
Apr 30, 2009. 6:21 PMsoccerdude61
says:
seriously, this works amazingly. All I did was send an email and I got a response a few hours later with instructions and BAM! no more commercials. just fantastic.
May 1, 2009. 1:09 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
I'm glad to start seeing a few positive comments around here :)
I laughed a bit when I read "BAM! no commercials"....it sounds like something Emeril would say.
I laughed a bit when I read "BAM! no commercials"....it sounds like something Emeril would say.
May 1, 2009. 11:19 AMjthomas500
says:
Hulu does make money for commercials that "just run". It's not sold on a pay per click basis. Its called CPM, advertisers pay for every thousand streams of an ad spot. Therefore you are hurting Hulu, who has shown great restraint in only running one spot per pod.
May 1, 2009. 1:07 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
I checked it out and I guess your right about that CPM thing. I definitely didn't know that before. But still, I'm not too worried. I'm even a bit encouraged. Since Hulu uses CPM, I'm almost 100% positive that Hulu still gets the money even when the commercials aren't being watched.
It all comes down to the method of Skipping the ads. My method does NOT block the content of the ads, it simply skips over them. It doesn't trigger the ad-blocking precautions Hulu has put in place, therefore I am confident that Hulu's servers still "think" the commercials are being watched. So I'm pretty sure they still get their money.
Thanks for letting me know about the CPM. I'm going to edit step 2 to include that information.
It all comes down to the method of Skipping the ads. My method does NOT block the content of the ads, it simply skips over them. It doesn't trigger the ad-blocking precautions Hulu has put in place, therefore I am confident that Hulu's servers still "think" the commercials are being watched. So I'm pretty sure they still get their money.
Thanks for letting me know about the CPM. I'm going to edit step 2 to include that information.
Apr 24, 2009. 2:09 AMironsmiter
says:
ok, so huluadblock.txt is borked. "invalid file". how long is that file? possible to post as text in a step? post in comments? I'm all for supporting their commercial model, and mostof the time I do watch the pointless ads(well pointless to me). but sometimes, you just want to watch the show(say, as an alternative to torrenting it to watch once). Especailly with firefox... it'dbe easy enough to set up firefox portableas a "dedicated commercial free hulu viewer".
Apr 24, 2009. 5:49 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
I fixed the the download link to the "huluAdBlock.txt" file. I also added instructions on creating the file in step 7, just in case there are other troubles in the future :)
I definitely agree with everything you said. The main reason I posted this instructable was as an alternate to torrenting (which is illegal...and illegal=no good).
I definitely agree with everything you said. The main reason I posted this instructable was as an alternate to torrenting (which is illegal...and illegal=no good).
Apr 20, 2009. 8:58 PMn1qaw
says:
yeah I got to side with watching them. After up to 15 minutes per hour on commercial tv and cable....30 seconds is nothing. ehhhhhh let em play
Apr 18, 2009. 12:43 PMjakebuck
says:
for adblock.txt
If you add each of the lines in this test file as filters in Adblock Plus, it does the same thing (except you see the ~6 second intro message that says "The following is brought t you....."). Let me know if anyone finds a problem with the expressions.
If you add each of the lines in this test file as filters in Adblock Plus, it does the same thing (except you see the ~6 second intro message that says "The following is brought t you....."). Let me know if anyone finds a problem with the expressions.
Apr 18, 2009. 5:10 PMjakebuck
says:
*text file. I had to put it in a .txt file because the formatting wouldn't let me post it.
Apr 18, 2009. 7:21 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
Sorry, I tried your method and it didn't work for me.
If you're using adblock though, I would recommend the following filters:
|http://*.lightningcast.com/*
http://ads.hulu.com/*
Those two alone are working great for me at the moment (no intro, no ads, no waiting with a black screen, etc). You can download the file if you want here: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?knzx5zxmnyy
If you're using adblock though, I would recommend the following filters:
|http://*.lightningcast.com/*
http://ads.hulu.com/*
Those two alone are working great for me at the moment (no intro, no ads, no waiting with a black screen, etc). You can download the file if you want here: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?knzx5zxmnyy
Apr 18, 2009. 7:34 PMjakebuck
says:
How strange, for those 2 filters don't block the intro for me and I still have to wait where the commercial would be.
Apr 18, 2009. 8:00 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
I just added a new step for the Adblock Plus method. Follow those instructions and see if that gets you anywhere. If not, maybe some of your other filters are causing conflicts? I don't know...if all else fails you can use the PeerGuardian method. That one works for sure.
Apr 18, 2009. 1:12 PMFlea
says:
Does it skip the Ads (continuation of the show resumes instantly) or does it just prevent them from showing up leaving you with x seconds of a black screen? Sounds like the latter. Please change the title if that's the case.
Apr 18, 2009. 6:21 PMtjmarkham3 (author)
says:
Yes, like jakebuck said, this enables continual video viewing (no pauses for commercials). So yes it does skip the ads.
I understand where you're coming from though. I've seen several methods that claim to be able to block Hulu commercials and all they do is black out the screen.
I'll edit the intro to make that more clear.
I understand where you're coming from though. I've seen several methods that claim to be able to block Hulu commercials and all they do is black out the screen.
I'll edit the intro to make that more clear.
Apr 18, 2009. 4:55 PMjakebuck
says:
It entirely skips the add, no black screen., just continual video viewing.
 |
