Even as NBC was pulling its episodes off the iTunes music store and closing down its YouTube channel this fall, there was a new hope for people who wanted to watch TV online: Hulu, a new site that hosts full TV episodes and selected clips. The site is fully sanctioned by NBC, Fox, and several major studios — no copyright infringement here! — and it allows users to watch, rate, and even embed and share content legally.
The site is still in a private testing stage, but you can sign up for a username and password. I recently got mine and took a spin through Hulu, and here's what I found:
The Good
- The selection. Hulu is by no means comprehensive, but there's a lot here — more than 100 series, including current shows such as Damages and old favorites such as Picket Fences, along with several full-length movies. Scrolling through the list, I was already mentally assembling a playlist: The first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, followed by a little Arrested Development, then maybe some vintage Weird Science . . .
- The video quality. Hulu video looks sharp in its default resolution, and even at full screen, it's much easier to look at than many streaming video sites.
- Custom clips. If Hulu has a full episode, you can create a custom clip from it, choosing when the video should start and stop.
- The interface. Hulu is easy and intuitive to use, whether I'm looking through the list of series or trying to figure out how to embed a clip. You can even "turn the lights out" while watching a video, dimming everything on the screen except for the clip itself.
Hulu has a lot to recommend it — but there are downsides. To see what they are (and see an episode of Arrested Development that I embedded, just because I can) just read more.
The Bad
- It's not open to the public. Obviously, that will change. But for now, Hulu has limited reach, just because a relatively small number of users can access the content. Sure, we can embed videos for others (like I did below), but that's a cumbersome process.
- The pre-selected clips are silly. Hulu has several short clips from its shows online, but I've never found exactly the clip I wanted there (and the search function doesn't help much in that regard). The custom clip function is a much better solution.
- No promos. Often when I turn to YouTube, it's because I'm looking for a commercial or those little 20-second previews from the end of an episode to embed on Buzz. Hulu doesn't include those yet, and so I'll have to keep finding them elsewhere.
- The ads. OK, this isn't that bad. The sponsored ad breaks come at regular intervals and are much like what you'll find on the networks' own streaming video players right now. They're unskippable, but I suspect there are still fewer ads in one Hulu episode than you'd see watching the same show on TV. Still, it's unlikely to woo people who are used to buying shows to watch commercial-free on iTunes (or, alternatively, download shows illegally).
- The movie content. Hulu currently has just a few movies — Sideways, The Jerk — and it would need hundreds more to be a useful movie resource. I think the medium is just better suited for TV.
The Verdict
Hulu is a good resource for me when I need to watch a TV episode or cut a specific clip. It will be better once it's open to the public and once it gets more studios and networks on board. If it adds promos and other commercials for its shows, I could see it becoming my first-choice source for online video for TV.
Want to check out Hulu's video for yourself? Here's the Arrested Development pilot:
Calvin Klein
Paul Smith
D&G
Exciting stuff! I'm officially on the waiting list.
1Blah. Rent a movie. Just not Wrong Turn 2.
2The service is good, but it does have its faults. They have a wide selection, and I've enjoyed watching Damages on the site (don't have cable, so I'm s.o.l. on the show most of the time). I was also finally able to watch Tin Man which I am very very happy about!
The only problem I did have with it was their ads. When the sticky ads appear while an episode is playing, it seriously screws up the stream and the video feed gets blotchy. And, when a 15 second ad comes on at an interval, it won't play unless the mouse is over the viewer. Those are just bugs that will likely be eliminated during this beta testing phase. Aside from that, they seem to have taken the best features of ABC and NBC's model combined them (yay for not having to click to escape the ad).
Oh, and one more negative - all those friggin' Verizon commercials!
Aside from that, the stream is of decent quality and the selection is good at this early stage. I only wish they had more episodes of Damages and House available!
A lot of the episode clips seem pointless to me though, but I reckon that's with me particularly. Hulu I can only foresee using for full episode streams, rather than for small clips.
They could also better organize their show list.
3not availible in Canada!!
4damn it BUZZ! was that necessary? to embed the pilot of "arrested development" in this post. couldn't you just have selected some other show that won't make me break my heart because the comedic brilliance of the show was unjustly cancelled so soon?
5I support anything that will spread the genius of what was Arrested Development.
6I love hulu! My only problem is that the adds cut in at random moments, a few seconds before after where an actual commercial break would have taken place. But the quality is great and the selection is improving.
7Hulu is pretty awesome. I love how much stuff they have there. Although, I wouldn't say I'm a regular user. Only every once and awhile when I need to catch up on an episode, say of Always Sunny...
8cant see it, im in canada
9Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.