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back to article Hulu says hello

Hulu, the US online video effort set up as a joint venture by NBC and News Corp, launched in full today. Hulu, which we're told means "precious" in Hawaiian, has been in private beta since October. Its development was first announced in March 2007. As well as its primary big studio backers, Warner Brothers TV and film studio …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Too much choice...

    Joost trials have been running over a year, the BBC iPlayer (which I wish I could get in the States), now Hulu and who knows what else.

    Each has it's pros and cons and, along with all of the other choices -- cable, satellite in normal or HD, NetFlix and goodness knows what else -- it just doesn't work for me.

    Add up all the potential costs for comms/media -- normal landline if only to get DSL, cellphone, cable and/or satellite subscription, plus all fo the online content and services -- music and video, satnav traffic services, you name it -- and you can easily pay thousands/year.

    Most of these have crap and/or overlapping content and all represent just another conduit to bombard you with endless avert-crap.

    It's all going to implode, hopefully before my head explodes and/or I go crazy.

    The straitjacket, please -- [boohawhawhaw]

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    totally ad-free hulu

    I use a browser plug in, some fairly ordinary browser settings, and a simple commercial firewall in the course of my regular internet usage.

    Often, these prevent me from seeing video on websites- I'm happy to report that it hasn't interfered with my viewing of hulu.com, which I decided to check out after reading your story.

    In fact, I'm thrilled to report that I've been watching for about 2 hours now and haven't seen a single ad of any kind- no banners, no video ads, no flash ads, nothing. I do see momentary blackouts where the original broadcasts would have had their act breaks for ads, and I'm guessing that hulu is supposed to be playing an ad for me there... but so far nuttin'.

    I could get pretty hooked on this- if only they had a wider range of programming.

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  3. Alan W. Rateliff, II
    Paris Hilton

    It's great

    I've been using Hulu in the private beta for several months now. It's great! I was able to catch up on favorite series ON MY SCHEDULE, and I was even introduced to new shows. I dropped cable in July of last year because I could no longer justify $55 per month for the five channels I watch.

    Wanna watch Battlestar Galactica? Catch up on Monk or Burn Notice? What about some old episodes of Archie Bunker, A-Team, or Airwolf? It's here.

    Paris, because I hear she's been without cable for about as long as I have. Oh, wait.

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  4. Mike Flugennock
    Thumb Down

    Oh, hot damn' diggety...

    ...streaming worthless banal shit with equally banal advertising from NBC, now on the Web. Almost as great as worthless banal shit in stereo digital 16:9 HDTV.

    Be still, my heart.

    I'll take cats sliding off of tabletops any damn' day, as far as _that_ goes.

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  5. Alan W. Rateliff, II
    Paris Hilton

    Go Flugennock yourself

    Actually, there are a number of interesting shows available on Hulu. Including movies, such as "Master and Commander." The advertisements are generally 15 seconds long, with three to five breaks per show, depending upon length. Some commercials go 30 seconds. But it is a helluva lot better than the two to five minutes on regular television.

    Mike here needs to completely disconnect himself from the world. Thankfully, he is apparently not the target audience.

    There are quality shows here. I agree that other sites offer some overlap in content, I use Hulu because it only requires that I have Flash. A couple of other sites required additional software or ActiveX control, and I said "lump that" within seconds.

    Go watch your YouTube mind-trash. I will keep up with Family Guy, House, and various other shows. Barney Miller is there now, and I was able to get my fill of NewsRadio. We will continue to disagree on the value of content.

    This is the a-la-carte cable that cable will not offer. I despise cable for the $55 per month I was paying for 25% of my viewing time wasted by advertisements. Essentially, I was paying $14 a month for friggen commercials. Now I pay nothing other than the Internet connection for which I was already paying, watch about a minute worth of commercials for a 45 minute show, when I want and where I want.

    Again, this is the cat's tits, or something like that.

    Paris, for the YouTube mind-trash.

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    hurrah for proxys

    easy as anything if you have acess to a US server.. just yum install squid, 30 seconds of config (remember to set via off and forwarded_for off so squid doesn't pass on your originating ip), and set up your browser to use the server as a proxy.

    (i have internet explorer set up for this, as the only thing I use internet explorer for is fox.com, nbc.com, and now hulu, so it doesn't affect my regular browsing)

    according to hulu, i'm sitting in sunny san diego, rather than, ahem, crewe.

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  7. Tim Bates
    Thumb Down

    Would be nice....

    Would be nice if US corporations woke up and noticed the world outside of USA.

    I found hulu the other day by accident looking to watch a few episodes of a TV show from before my time. I intend to buy the DVD set if it's actually something I enjoy, so preventing me watching it is losing them a sale really.

    I'm pretty pissed off when a company uses IP addresses to conclude I live somewhere. Yes, I might live in Australia, but the internet covers all the world (and technically more).

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  8. Beachhutman
    Dead Vulture

    JOost about had enough

    I signed up for Hulu when i was visiting LA, and even there half the channels were blocked. Here in PRC it is phi alpha use.

    I really need online TV here to supplement a daily diet of CNN and HBO, but Joost is a pain in the ah - so. The content is dire (I mean COME ON, three week old excerpts from BBC 2 Newsnight??) and the access mechanism is deadly, I always seem to start whenever and however I access it, with a fat bird on a couch doing a chat show. Then the skiers......

    The only half useful online TV comes from labpixies on my google homepage, and irfull screen definiition is rubbish, but at least I can get UK ITV channels, subject, natch, to international copyright.....

    I am still struggling to get the Best of ITV video on my lappy too - all ideas etc. etc.

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  9. ian

    @Mike

    I'm with you mate. This is just a large, hot, steaming pile of hulu. Too much huhu (another Hawaiian word) about hulu.

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