News out today from TechCrunch reports the web's favorite TV site Hulu is working to bring its videos and content to the iPad. The current videos on Hulu are encoded in the h.264 format which are already compatible with the iPad. Hulu just needs to develop a non-flash video player for the iPad. According to the report, the company is "more than capable" of making the technology happen. The latest rumors suggest we could see an iPad compatible site or app around the big launch in late March.

"One rumor I've heard from an industry insider is that Hulu is working on an iPad-friendly version of its site that should be ready by the time the iPad hits the market. Hulu itself is still vague about its plans. When asked directly by Om Malik whether Hulu has any plans for the iPad, CEO Jason Kilar recently hemmed and hawed about how he is a big believer in mobile, but wouldn't confirm or deny anything."

{Source: MacRumors, TechCrunch}

Huh..hulu does need flash though. Interesting..

Being that Quicktime already plays H.264, all Apple really needs to do for starters at least is allow the app to open Quicktime player on the iPad when a flash movie is selected. Then go back to the app once the video is done.

I somewhat use the iPhone like this already, many times I have clicked a link in a browser or App to have Quicktime open up and play the video then bounce back to the app you started from.

The only difference is that although it appears very similar to the Youtube app in displaying video, the quicktime does not have a History feature like the Youtube app does. That would be a nice addition on the iPad.

Take a look at how YouTube App interacts with the iPod now... the try it rigth through the YouTube site.

The biggest hurdle for sites like Hulu isn't format, but security. If the stream feeds can be locked down without the blackbox that is Flash, then they could either set up their site to do it or create an App that further protects the material (and handles ad viewing).

However I'll belive it when I see it. Hulu was going to work on an iPhone/Pod app... But nothing came of that.