DLNA streams anything to your living room

Hulu on your PS3.  Impossible?  Not anymore.  Considering the default browser on the system does not support flash, this is a huge breakthrough.  Through the use of the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) format, it is now possible to bring streaming video content to your favorite console to blast onto your living room TV.  There are a few PC apps out there that let you watch Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, Video Podcasts, and even you own personal library collections on your favorite console of choice.  Here are 3 of the most popular choices for streaming video content using the DLNA format:

Windows Media Player 11
Price: Free download
One of the first to take advantage of this new format was the media player built into the Windows platform.  Using this option will allow you to set up folders where your content lives, and display audio and video respectively on your gaming console.  The nice thing about Windows Media Player is that it auto-refreshes your directories you’ve add so that anytime you add new media to your PC, it will always show up on your console without having to make any adjustments.  The only downfall is that it doesn’t support any of the internet based streams, such as Hulu and Netflix.

PlayOn Media Server
Price: $39.99 (free 14 day trial)
This application is crazy powerful.  It has everything including Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, and is very easy to use.  And the great news here for PS3 owners is that you no longer need the Netflix boot disc to start watching items in your instant queue.  It was the easiest application to browse the entire catalog of Hulu content.  Downfall here is the hefty price tag, but you might find it worthwhile with new addons constantly being added, including GameTrailers.com for your entire internet based video content.

TVersity
Price: Free (honor system if you use Pro version)
The power of this application is that it can take almost any format and set it up to display on console, mobile phone, set top box, handheld gaming device, etc.  According to their website, TVersity is “an extensible platform independent Media Server that can serve any media to any networked device doing all the necessary conversions to overcome the limitations of any given device.”  The only complaint I had about this service is that the Hulu content (from initial attempts) would only stream the content in your user queue; the ability to just browse the site appears to be omitted.