Hulu and Netflix are two amazing examples of using the internet to deliver content but while I don't mind watching a 30 second funny clip on youTube or Soapbox there's no way I'm going to watch an episode of Gemini Division or Dr Horribles Sing-a-long Blog, let alone a full length movie unless I can lean back in my chair with the dogs at my feet and remote in my hand and enjoy TV as it's meant to be.

At home we already have a Media Center PC (it came with us from Australia and it great for watching DVDs that are not Region 1 encoded or has interesting codecs that need some extra support), an Xbox360 (can front-end the Media Center and play back content from network) and the majority of our content living on a Windows Home Server with some Maxtor external drives to extend that a bit further.

Until now most internet content has required jumping through hoops to get downloaded and delivered... but now it's time to PlayOn!

All you have to do is install the PlayOn transcoder application on a Windows PC (WinXP SP2, Vista, Windows 7, Windows Home Server - if it can run Windows Media Player 11 it should work) that's on the same network as your Xbox360, PS3 or HP Media Smart TV (they want to get it working on the Wii as well), follow some simple instructions and you're pretty much good to go.

On the transcoding PC (which takes the Flash video or other formats from the web to something that your Xbox or PS3 can display) you can enter your Netflix account details or Hulu credentials and the application displays your queue [Actually, at the moment they don't have the Hulu queue working, but you can still access videos by navigating categories and drilling down alphabetically]

You still get to see the adverts that pay for Hulu (or need a log in to get to a Netflix queue) so it's not a way to bypass the monetization models of the providers but it's another wake-up call to the old school TV providers that they need to deliver more content when the audience wants it rather than rely on their programming schedules....

I'd happily pay what I currently pay for Cable for an online, on-demand delivery mechanism that uses much better ad targeting to reduce the interruptions to make for a much better end user experience.

Just in time for Christmas there's an update to the Xbox360 firmware. I know I spotted it way after the Delicate Genius but the same thing grabbed our attention... improved codec support.

We're using the Windows Home Server tucked away upstairs for most of our file storage now and so, using the Media Connect capabilities of WHS, this now lets us use the Xbox360 as almost a first class media citizen.

It's not quite perfect - we still have some content that the Media Center with it's variously sourced codec packs plays without a hiccup that the Xbox won't touch, and of course archived DVDs (gotta try and keep 'em scratch free somehow because there's no replacement warranty) which again Vista Media Center is fine with.

As I'm not much of a gamer the rest of the update didn't make me rush to get it, but having more reasons to have the Xbox in the living room as part of a real family entertainment solution is a great move. Here's hoping we get more media support in coming releases.