I just tried out Hulu Live and was really pleased with the app and how easy it was to use everything, but I had to cancel. I have been on some other service for some time now, and have never been really happy with how the menus work - it like being on some broken website experience (because it it really just a web app with some d-pad navigation slapped on top). Hulu and Hulu-Live is a lot more slick. It even work with Roku Voice and quite nicely.
However, I work out of different locations and when I moved from one to the next the Roku App prompted me for “out of area” and warned me that although I could change the “home location” I could only do that 3 times a year (!!).
I am not actually expecting to take my channels with me from one location to the next, but at least allow me to just automatically get local station available in the area I am in, without restricting me to that I can only travel 3 times a year.
So, I switched back to my other service, despite it’s ugliness, lack of good support, but what it does have is that it allows me to use it anywhere – yes, it prompts me for if I am in a new location, and then it verifies and then give me whatever local stations are available in that area.
I guess this is more of a rant, but not sure where else I would leave this feedback to the good folks at Hulu.
Hulu Live TV is ABSOLUTE TRASH when it comes to traveling. I’m currently away from home and on the same wifi network as the Roku TV I’m attempting to connect to and all my other apps can see the device EXCEPT Hulu Live.
They’ve developed this app so that anytime you travel you have to change your home location. If you don’t, Hulu will apparently refuse to allow you to Chromecast.
Such garage
You can watch Hulu Live on your mobile device like a phone when traveling. You can not on a TV streaming box like a Roku. If you want to watch on a TV like that in multiple locations then you need to buy a separate account. Note that once you make the 4th move, you are stuck with that location for a year. My kids almost locked me out of my home because they have shared regular Hulu before we got Hulu Live and its when we added Live that this restriction kicked in. Two of them switched it to their house and I was able to switch it back on the 4th change thankfully.
FYI, most of these services aren’t going to let you see your local channels the way you are planning unless you use a VPN or something and that is probably also restricted.
There are ways to accomplish what you want if you are a little tech savvy. I live in the Midwest and am currently in Florida watching my locals from back home, using Hulu Live on a Roku.
You need a home router that is capable of a VPN connection, mine uses OpenVPN and it works for our needs. Second you need a router similar to your home router, and you import the VPN connection config into. This is what I did. I call it my travel router, it packs nicely in a suitcase. When we get to where we are going, I take it out and plug it into the modem and turn it on and it automatically establishes a VPN connection back home, making all my internet traffic pass through the VPN connection. I then then take out my Roku and plug it into the TV and it connects to my travel router and off I go. I should also note that my travel router has the same WiFi name and password as my home router. So all devices automatically connect.
Streaming live TV across my VPN connection works perfectly fine. I wake up every morning and have my cup of coffee and turn on the TV and watch my local news from back home. But at the same time my home internet connection is pretty good, 100/100 fiber. And my IP address has never changed in the 6 years I have had this internet connection.
Hope this helps, happy to get into the technical details if you would like.
Just cast from your phone or tablet to your TV. Easy peasy.
Well - YouTube TV actually let me watch local channels in the locations I travel to - that is the service I was trying to switch away from, and give my money to Hulu instead but :shrug:
Watching TV on my phone when I have a big-ass TV right there in front of me is silly - im not a teenager
I used my third location on vacation. When I tried to switch back, it wouldn’t let me. However, I called support and they lifted the restriction. Try that.
I was thinking of something like that, but though it seems a lot of effort.
I would however be nicer if Hulu just put the right functionality in place so I didn’t have to circumvent the ideocrasy. Heck, I would even be willing to pay a few dollar extra for the privilege of just switching to local stations when I travel.
Do you have a recommendation for a easy-to-setup VPN router?
I like Hulu live because of the nice interface I can use the remote to navigate and that it works with the voice remote
It’s actually pretty easy to do, about 20 to 30 minutes of time, if that, and you are done.
Asus makes a good one, it is what I am using. Their setup out of the box is easy to do, very good walkthrough on their part. Go through the process of setting it up, then login to it and then the VPN section (I personally like and use OpenVPN which is built into it). It is pretty self explanatory. There will be a box to check that says “Internet and local network”. Be sure to check that, then export your config file.
Then on your second Asus router, set it up just like the one you did, same WiFi name and password, but give it a different IP scheme. Say your home router is 192.168.1.x, set this one to be 192.168.2.x. Then for the VPN, you go to the VPN client tab and import your OpenVPN config you made on the first one. And thats about it.
The one I use at home is an Asus AC2900 series, works good for me. Then my travel router is an older AC56U as it has the antennas built in and perfect for travel. When I get to my destination I take my travel router out, plug it in (network and power) and off I go. My Roku, iPad, iPhone, Surface Pro automatically connect. And all my traffic is routed over the VPN back home. I have been in Florida for a week and I have streamed Hulu, Hulu Live and Netflix just fine, all on the Roku hooked up to the TV in my condo. I have not had one single issue with live TV on Hulu, watching my locals back home as well as other live TV channels.