Hulu.com
Feb 4, 2009 | 8:20 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Tri-State Area
Posts: 4,728
Hulu.com
Saw Alex Baldwin's commercial super bowl sunday so logged on yesterday, thinking it was a new competitor to slingbox. Anyone using them yet?
I'm a 24 and Heroes junkie and unfortunately both are aired now Monday evenings. Can only tivo one - did watch Heroes on-line (first time ever watching for me) and with only a few 20-30 second car commercials, almost as good as replay from tivo.
I'm a 24 and Heroes junkie and unfortunately both are aired now Monday evenings. Can only tivo one - did watch Heroes on-line (first time ever watching for me) and with only a few 20-30 second car commercials, almost as good as replay from tivo.
Feb 4, 2009 | 9:09 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2005
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Been using Hulu for a while (about 6-8 months). It's great. It's an online service that is free that lets you watch Fox and NBC programming right there on the site (it's co-owned by those two companies). It has links to programming from ABC and CBS as well, but they open in different browser window.
Video quality is good. Episodes, in general, have four to five :30 mid-rolls, so you probably see less ads watching it on Hulu than you would watching it on TV. But you can't fast-forward through them.
Video quality is good. Episodes, in general, have four to five :30 mid-rolls, so you probably see less ads watching it on Hulu than you would watching it on TV. But you can't fast-forward through them.
Feb 4, 2009 | 9:45 am
#4
Original Poster
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I don't understand the 'business model'.
At the moment, I can view Fox and NBC (eg 24 and Heroes) on-line directly via their websites, and with minimal commercial downtimes. I've not tried the other two networks (cbs and abc) but assume same.....so is hulu merely a 'consolidator'?
At the moment, I can view Fox and NBC (eg 24 and Heroes) on-line directly via their websites, and with minimal commercial downtimes. I've not tried the other two networks (cbs and abc) but assume same.....so is hulu merely a 'consolidator'?
Feb 4, 2009 | 10:04 am
#7
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Treasure Coast Florida
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Wish I could watch hulu but since I am located in Germany, cant get it, sadly, even on base. All our shows are several weeks behind or cant get what we like. Nonsense about "licensing" problems is the excuse used.
Fancast is another 'clearing house' for even more of your favorite shows.
Fancast is another 'clearing house' for even more of your favorite shows.
Feb 4, 2009 | 11:27 am
#8
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: BOS
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I just discovered Hulu over the weekend - thought it was pretty good, and the ads weren't too annoying.
Thanks for the link to Fancast - it has Privileged, which I've had some difficulty finding in the past.
Thanks for the link to Fancast - it has Privileged, which I've had some difficulty finding in the past.
Feb 4, 2009 | 12:11 pm
#9
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Wish I could watch hulu but since I am located in Germany, cant get it, sadly, even on base. All our shows are several weeks behind or cant get what we like. Nonsense about "licensing" problems is the excuse used.
Fancast is another 'clearing house' for even more of your favorite shows.
Fancast is another 'clearing house' for even more of your favorite shows.
Someone paid or will pay for the rights to distribute the shows in Germany for instance and he expects to make money from it.
So of course they don't want you to see the shows on the web.
Feb 4, 2009 | 1:41 pm
#10
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Treasure Coast Florida
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The producers of the shows and the US TV networks sell rights to these shows in overseas markets.
Someone paid or will pay for the rights to distribute the shows in Germany for instance and he expects to make money from it.
So of course they don't want you to see the shows on the web.
Someone paid or will pay for the rights to distribute the shows in Germany for instance and he expects to make money from it.
So of course they don't want you to see the shows on the web.
Feb 4, 2009 | 2:53 pm
#11
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: PHL
Posts: 877
I guess US military bases are not considered American soil?
Feb 4, 2009 | 3:46 pm
#12
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When the big networks were fighting tooth and nail over internet-based access to shows, there was a niche to fill, and hulu's technology is great (I've been using them since the beta).
But I can now watch full HD episodes of Lost from ABC.com, so they risk being regulated to streaming Hogan's Heroes, Match Game, and similar older shows.
But I can now watch full HD episodes of Lost from ABC.com, so they risk being regulated to streaming Hogan's Heroes, Match Game, and similar older shows.
Feb 4, 2009 | 6:32 pm
#13
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Posts: 184
Try Hulu using Boxee
I've been playing with Boxee. Boxee is set-top-box type software that can be loaded on Mac, Apple TV, Linux, and Windows (not quite there yet). It does a very good job of integrating multimedia with linear or broadcast type television.
Boxee is mostly open source according to this Wikipedia article. The closed source portion of their distribution provides the social networking functions in Boxee.
Boxee supports and integrates with a number of Internet based TV services of which Hulu is one of them.
While Boxee runs great on my Mac laptop, I find watching TV on on the small screen to be a bit droll. I'm looking forward to someday having a Boxee Box - a set-top-box that runs Boxee. They aren't being made yet but I'm still hoping.
Boxee is mostly open source according to this Wikipedia article. The closed source portion of their distribution provides the social networking functions in Boxee.
Boxee supports and integrates with a number of Internet based TV services of which Hulu is one of them.
While Boxee runs great on my Mac laptop, I find watching TV on on the small screen to be a bit droll. I'm looking forward to someday having a Boxee Box - a set-top-box that runs Boxee. They aren't being made yet but I'm still hoping.
Feb 5, 2009 | 12:33 am
#15
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Treasure Coast Florida
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However I am able to watch news shows like Today and see their different segments. Very clear video stream. Just cannot view any TV shows.
But the concept is great and it could be that one could connect PC to TV and watch all your TV shows right from your PC if you got the right TV. You can also use the S-video output jack (if you have one on your PC) and connect to the RCA jacks that most TVs have.
Hulu, Fancast might be just the first of many to give people TV on demand over their PCs.
