hulu.com review / initial thoughts

Not having cable / satellite service has its pros and cons.  Pros; not being able to spend all night watching mindless drivel on my TV.  Cons: not being able to spend all night watching mindless drivel on my TV.
Let’s face it; sometimes after a long day’s work there’s nothing more appealing than collapsing on the couch and soaking up an episode or two of The Simpsons, Family Guy, etc.

In the past, I’ve poked around the occasional torrent, youtube offering, and Netflix’s ‘watch instantly’ service.  They’re alright, but have drawbacks (long download time, bad quality, poor selection..etc).

Last night I gave Hulu.com a spin, and so far, I’m more than a little impressed.

A joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp, Hulu aims to offer movies, tv shows, and ‘clips’ as quick streaming, instant on entertainment with *limited* commercial inturruption.

I checked out two full length episodes of the Simpsons, and here’s what I thought:

The Good:

• Excellent quality.  Full screen mode was almost equal to what I’ve seen when downloading (and paying for) shows from the iTunes store.
• Quick buffering.  I was watching within 60 seconds of clicking the link.
• No account needed.  Not one bit of personal information revealed (well, other than my IP I’m sure)
• Selection.  Not only most of NBC’s and plenty of Fox offerings, but an assortment of other clips besides.  Some examples; TV: Simpsons, Family Guy, SNL.  Movies: The Usual Suspects, Big Lebowski, Sideways.  I also just noticed they have the ENTIRE series of Arrested Development.  Wow.

The Bad:

• Commercials.  I have to say though, they really are ‘limited’.  I counted one 30 second clip prior to the show starting, and one other about midway through.  That’s far less than I’m used to seeing on traditional television.
• Screen Saver.  If you don’t disable your screensaver, it will pop on during the presentation.  I don’t know why they can’t take care of this systematically, but it’s a minor point.

The Verdict:

Hulu.com is the perfect remedy for nights when zoning out completely is on the agenda.