I’m Just Mad About Hulu
HULU.COM is a joint venture between NBC and Fox (NewsCorp) that offers digital video produced by the two. The rumor is that it will also become a competitor to Google’s YouTube but one can only hope not as the thing I like most about Hulu is that I don’t have to wade through tons of user generated crap to get to what I’m looking for.
Right now, like many other video sharing sites, Hulu allows you to share videos, post them on your blogs or email them to friends. You can slo subscribe to your favorite shows so that as soon as they become available, they’re at your finger tips to watch.
I’m not a fan of too many TV shows right now, mainly because I’m never home at any specific time so I can’t do scheduled programing. Hulu puts the ball in my court, I can watch my favorite shows whenever I decide that I have time. Beyond that, I’m much more likely to try new shows when I know that I can watch whenever.
This morning at 5am EST when the newest episode of Heroes is posted online, Hulu aggregated it and sent it to me in a nice little AJAX wrapped package to watch at my own liesure.
The best things about HULU is that the coding is far more reliable than what I’ve experienced at NBC.com which constantly freezes or chokes for me. For instance, once while watching The Office at NBC.com and ad came up and wouldn’t go away because of some error in the javascript coding. Also, HULU doesn’t kick me out of full screen mode to display ads in the web browser. Instead, ads are embedded in the actual video stream which is faster and less intrusive. And unlike Joost, who’s weakest link is the clunky flash based environment, Hulu works directly from most web browsers.
I haven’t yet begun to explore all the things Hulu has to offer but right now it’s an extremely pleasant experience and I can only hope that NBC and FOX eventually extend the service to sporting events, movies and news. It’s a smart move on the part of NBC on FOX. Instead of putting all their eggs in Google’s basket, they’re trying to create the community experience for their users. If they are successful, they might be willing to partner with other networks who don’t currently offer ANY useful online content like HBO.
I’m not sure if HULU is still in Beta or not but it’s worth checking out it either way. Hulu.com
