Review: Hoopla over Hulu
NEW YORK (AP) - March 26, 2008 I've been using a free Web site called Hulu. Unlike network
sites and video sharing sites like YouTube, Hulu lets viewers
stream full TV episodes, full-length movies and clips from various
networks and film studios all in one place.
The site, a joint venture between General Electric Co.'s NBC
Universal and News Corp., opened to the public this month after
several months of use by a test group.
Hulu doesn't offer content from all the major networks - CBS and
ABC shows are absent - but it includes episodes from NBC and Fox,
as well as movies from several studios and a variety of video
clips. The clips include parts of movies and shows, such as
"Saturday Night Live" or "Napoleon Dynamite," that have a lot
of catchy, funny moments.
So far, Hulu has full episodes from about 250 TV shows and more
than 100 full-length films. Hundreds of videos are being added to
the site each week.
The site is supported by commercials viewers see interspersed
with the videos and by small stationary ads that sit above the
video in their browser - a trade-off some won't mind but others
will likely find annoying.
Hulu's offerings are still sparse, and users have to deal with a
variety of minor annoyances. But the combination of TV shows and
movies with personalization and social features makes Hulu a fun
site for free, legal online viewing.
One of the first things I did on the site was set up a personal
profile and log myself in. Creating a profile isn't necessary for
watching much of the content, but you need one to log in to watch
R-rated movies or TV episodes that are rated for mature audiences.
The site is intended for use by people age 13 and older and
relies on users self-reporting their ages. But if a logged-in user
who is under 17 tries to watch R-rated movies or TV-MA shows, the
content will not play.
Logging in to Hulu let me do things like create a queue of
content I want to watch, post reviews of videos I have seen and
list information about myself for other users to see. Users don't
have to log in to see one another's profiles.
Sorting through an alphabetical listing of shows - one of
several simple ways to navigate the site - I spotted some recent
episodes of "Heroes," added them to my queue and then watched
them over the next few evenings.
The quality of the videos is pretty good - generally files
stream at 480 or 700 kilobits per second. They progressed fluidly
on the screen of my desktop computer at work. In comparison,
YouTube content streams at about 200 kbps.
I liked the ability to view videos directly in the browser page,
in full-screen mode or in a separate window I could move and
resize. I found that mode the most convenient because it is more
conducive to multitasking. With it, I also could enlarge content
that seemed small in the browser window but didn't look great on
the full screen, like episodes of "The Simpsons" and "Astro
Boy." The ones I watched seemed a bit blurry when filling the
screen.
A neat feature on Hulu is the ability to share content with
others through a little button on the edge of the video's viewing
area. I found some particularly choice old episodes of the
"Maury" talk show - the first and second parts of "I'll Prove a
13-Year-Old Boy Fathered My Baby!" - and posted them to my
Facebook profile along with a note.
I also perused the movie selection on Hulu. After watching about
15 minutes of the animated film "Ice Age," my multitasking ways
got the better of me and I went off to do something else. Several
days later, I opened Hulu again and clicked over to "Ice Age,"
assuming the film would restart at the beginning. To my surprise,
it picked up where I had left off, apparently a perk of logging in
to the site.
Another time, I opted for one of my favorite films, "The Big
Lebowski." Since the movie is rated "R," I had to log in. After
that, I had the option of watching a movie trailer in advance or
seeing commercials throughout the movie. I'm guessing most viewers
will choose the former.
Not surprisingly, Hulu's free content isn't truly free. The ads
that show up periodically within episodes and films tend to repeat,
which can be annoying - though I found it made them easier to tune
out.
And, while you can e-mail friends links to videos, when I sent
my co-worker Nick a link to "The Big Lebowski" the e-mail didn't
include the title of the video being linked to. Users can include a
message, though, where they can write the title themselves.
Also, on-the-go video buffs may be disappointed to see Hulu
content can't be downloaded to a portable media player like an iPod
or Zune. A Hulu spokeswoman told me the company hasn't ruled out
making the content more portable in the future.
Even with kinks and limitations, though, Hulu's entertainment
options and fairly simple navigation make it a good option for lazy
evenings at home.
Speaking of which, I should get back to "Ice Age."
---
http://www.hulu.com
