crowtango

I recently received an invite to the private beta of Hulu, the online video site. I only have basic cable, so I’m very interested in sites, and services, like Hulu. I’ve had some time to play with this beta and I’d like to share my thoughts on the subject.

What I like about Hulu:

The big thing that Hulu has going for it is that it works on both Mac and PC with little to no hassle. I’m also using Netflix’s streaming service which is only available on PCs and requires a plug-in install that I’ve had trouble with on one computer.

Hulu also has a fairly large content catalog. There are some great shows there. The episodes of Firefly, NewsRadio, and Doogie Howser, M.D. are enough to keep me content, in front of the television, for days on end.

Unfortunately, that’s about all Hulu has going for it.

What I dislike about Hulu:

I can’t stand the site itself. I Hulu on a Media Center computer connected to my television and it’s almost unusable. Starting from the Browse screen easies some of the navigational strain…momentarily. As soon as I click through on a show I want to watch, all I see is a damn picture. I end up scrolling down four pages just to find the episode I want to watch, if there is even a full episode. Which brings me to my next complain.

There are a lot of shows listed on Hulu that have only a couple episodes or none at all. When I first browsed the site I was amazed at what I was seeing: Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy. Unfortunately, between these three shows there are a total of eight full episodes. Futurama doesn’t even have one full episode so why even bother? These shows look good on the home page but that’s about all they’re good for.

I don’t think the video looks that great on Hulu. I’ve heard the same people that badmouth Netflix’s video quality praising the quality of Hulu. I’m not sure how this is possible, they look the same to me, but I’ve had Hulu skip and stutter more often then Netflix.

Hulu doesn’t support Media Center remotes at all. Even if I could click the OK button to pause the show I’d be happy, but there is nothing. I don’t expect to be able to navigate the entire site with a remote, but giving my remote a smidgen of functionality would be nice.

When it comes down to it, I really don’t like Hulu. I’ll probably keep using it to watch NewsRadio and Doogie but if those show end up on Joost or Netflix I’d much rather watch them there.