Doing the Hulu
I just got accepted yesterday to be a beta tester for hulu.com. If it is successful it will really redefine how we think about television. Hulu has clips, episodes, and movies that are free to watch but have 30 second ad spots interspersed through the episode.
The picture definition is not great, so far. It's okay in the small screen format but when I try to open it up to full screen it gets all Monet on me.
The ads, though shorter than television ad breaks, are still pretty annoying as each episode has one sponsor so you tend to see the same freaking ad over and over again. Also hulu hasn't quite mastered hitting the ad on the break so it's often a second or two before or after the break which, again, is annoying.
But, this is all beta. They ain't ready for prime time yet.
The list they have so far is impressive. I can watch season one of Buffy and all of Firefly. They have recent episodes of the Simpsons and season two, thus far, of 30 Rock. They have Battlestar Galactica, both current and classic. They even have the A-Team.
So, if this embed works, you should be able to see the entire first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you want to sign up to be a beta tester like I did, just go to hulu.com. It took them about 3 weeks to get me on. Your results may vary.
And as a bonus, here's the pilot for Firefly!
Update December 28, 2007:
Maria was rendered sad because I only put the first part of the Buffy opener. So, true believers, here's part two:
Comments
it is an odd site. we have enjoyed watching 30 Rock and The Office on it, but it will often freeze on us. I don't understand this as (like you said) it's not super high quality and i have an 8mb connection. i always use the watch it now feature on netflix and the picture is great on that and NEVER lags or skips. there are bugs in the system and as a beta tester i do my best to give them some constructive feedback. i did complain often about repetitive ads and i'm now starting to see some diversity. same company but different spots in the same show.
this is the future of television and this is why i support the writer's strike. (although if i really did i wouldn't be watching stuff online but come on. i need my tiny fey fix like every warm blooded geek.)
Posted by: Neal | December 20, 2007 4:28 PM
I just joined as well - took a week to get my password. I will keep you posted -ooooo exciting
Posted by: Brian Proball | January 7, 2008 1:36 PM