Remember how big of a deal it was that Flash wasn't available on the iPad? You know, we need that to watch TV shows and stuff. Like on Hulu. Well, Hulu has finally come out from behind the curtain with its answer: Hulu Plus. The universal app just went live, and we've got the first impressions.
The app, as expected, is free, but the content is not. Hulu has rolled-out its $9.99/month subscription service...well, sort of. Right now, to gain full access, you have to request (and receive) an invitation. We've requested ours, but have not yet heard back. That being said, we don't know how long it will take before everyone who wants access can have it immediately. We assume that Hulu is wanting to test the bandwidth waters before allowing full-blown access. Quite frankly, though, launching an app that is hardly useful right now is off-putting.
The app is well organized and easily searchable.
To tide you over, they are offering some free content. 10 TV episodes, one full movie (Super Size Me), and a handful of excerpts are available to watch. This has allowed us to test the speed, quality, and interface.
Even though this will be a pay service, content is still interspersed with advertisements, just like Hulu has always had. We can't say we're not disappointed; most of us are already paying for advertisement-laced TV either through cable or satellite. Still, you are getting TV on-demand, complete with a queue, and you can skip around inside shows (after watching more brief ads) just like on a computer.
As a universal app, Hulu works both on your iPhone and iPad. Much like with Netflix, if you are watching a show on one device and leave, it will pick back up where you left off on the other device. Snazzy. The iPhone version also supports iOS 4.0's backgrounding. As such, we look forward to this implementation on the iPad later in the fall.
The quality over Wi-Fi and 3G both are phenomenal. We can see this eating into our limited bandwidth with AT&T far too quickly, if we aren't careful. There are more visible artifacts over 3G, as expected, but nothing to get upset about, and shows load quickly. The software adjusts the quality of the video feed depending on your connection, so those with great 3G reception should expect better results.
The quality is unsurprisingly good, given what we've seen with the Netflix app.
Hulu is promising full seasons of popular shows on the major networks (as opposed to limited seasons on the free browser experience) and entire series catalogs for many popular TV shows.
We'll continue to toy with the free content while we wait for our subscription invitation, so check back soon for a more detailed review.
Hulu Plus
10 Comments
Hmmmm, $120 a year subscription. I think I'll pass...hopefully that free content section will always be there, if not this app will be useless.
If the content really expands, this could be worth it if it allows you to safely cancel your cable or satellite subscriptions. Unfortunately, I'm on a 2-year contract with Dish Network.
Because I want my 56" HDTV to gather dust while I watch shows on my 3.5" iPod touch.
Well, if your HDTV is Internet-enabled, you can probably use the Hulu Plus service soon. Or if you have a game console that connects to WiFi and your HDTV.
Yeah, that might be worth it if it wasn't so easy to hook up my laptop to the TV with HDMI cables and play his stuff for free on the HDTV anyways...hmm, maybe there's a Hulu XBMC extension.
I'm thinking this is why Hulu is refusing to switch to the faster HTML5, to charge it's fans $120 a year with non-Flash devices to play the otherwise free ad-filled content. Horrible way to make your fans pay for free content...wish they would have just got rid of crappy Flash or just make their Hulu app free as I think it should have been...aren't they making money off the ads anyways? That's why the content is free anyways.
I do think it's a bit funny that from the app you can transition to their website, which boldly proclaims "free TV."
Disappointing that even with a paid subscription, there are ads.
Nonetheless, it seems like it could be worth it if it streams well over 3G. And now I'm really really happy I signed up for unlimited 3G on my iPad while I could.
This Hulu Plus service will be worth it if it can beat out Netflix Online in terms of content - ie: more shows and movies than Netflix. To be completely honest, I use Netflix on my XBox360 more than actual TV! And I use Hulu instead of my DVR!
It would be nice if we were given the free service automatically and given the option to upgrade to Plus. Is this the case? Or do we only get free Hulu on our computers and Hulu Plus on all other devices?
Beyond the free sample content, you can only use Plus services on the iPad and iPhone; it's most likely going to be the same on PS3 and Xbox 360, both of which require their premium paid services on top of the Hulu Plus fees. Sigh.
Well that is just stupid! I guess it makes sense though... Hulu is guessing that we are going to be so excited about the ability to access Hulu on new devices that we will not even notice the cash they are slipping out of our wallets.
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