HULU – Who Knew?

At a time when the government is really, I mean really making a huge push to make sure we dont miss the worst television programming in the western hemisphere its good to know that the box in the corner or the panel on the wall is not necessarily the only option and is not likely to be in the foreseeable future.

Networks have realized the power of the internet and since broadband is fast becoming the only option for subscribers, in the sense that once you’ve tried it you will never tolerate dial up ever again, streaming video is not only viable but quite critical to their markets.

Hulu.com is NBC’s library on the web where you can find clips and full episodes of their dramas an comedies. Saturday night live is often best viewed in small doses anyway but not only can you see the current shows there are dozens of clips from way back when.

One of my current favs is House:

Whats the price for this content? Well nothing really, I mean if you already have a high speed internet connection then youre set to go. Full length movies have some commercials interspersed but at 30 seconds max. they are but a blip in the flow of a movie. Not enough time to get up and put the kettle on and certainly not enough to lose the plot. Tolerable commercials I call them averaging 3-4 mins for the entire movie! not every break. And good riddance to the annoying announcements of whats coming next (week).

Viewable in 360p and 480p the difference is noticeable between the two and perfectly acceptable on a 15in laptop but then Im not really a HD freak and compared with rabbit ears its a visual delight. The ability to embed the video to websites and blogs is not new but this takes a step up with the ability to edit a portion of the movie or show right there on the site. Making distribution a lot more convenient.

Exhibit A:

The movies on offer aren’t current releases but there may be a few you didn’t see first time around anyway.