Hulu Does Not Suck…Much
This Hulu review seems preoccupied with what Hulu is not, rather than what it is. Starting with the assumption that the evil networks behind Hulu would do nothing to jeopardize any traditional revenue stream, the reviewer goes on and on about the lack of good content. The truth is that Hulu is not designed to be a comprehensive archive of every movie and tv show ever made. Being disappointed about that is like being upset that a Ferrari doesn’t float.
Hulu is great because of what it does offer – the five latest episodes of most first run television programs, in addition to an eclectic collection of movies and old tv series. Babylon 5 and Stargate SG-1 are two popular sci fi series offered in full, and are a little more recent and popular than Alf and the original Battlestar Galactica (the only two examples the author could come up with).
In fact , my only problem with Hulu is that it doesn’t seem to work very well – for me at least. Despite having a stable 4 Mbps Internet connection, Hulu streams are constantly buffering and choppy, making the service almost unusable. In addition, Hulu will only buffer a small amount of video, no matter how long you pause a program. Where other streaming sites like YouTube and Netflix (which understands buffering) perform almost flawlessly, Hulu consistently chokes. It may be that the older PC I use for streaming isn’t up to the task, but then why do other sites work relatively well? I may try a new router and a better home theater PC (both are at the top of my after Christmas shopping list), but I don’t think that will fix every issue I’m having. Hulu could be made better by offering smaller streams as an option, improving their buffering technology, and perhaps even caching content temporarily. This is where I start to share some of the paranoia of the article I linked to – perhaps the studios don’t want the Hulu experience to be too good. After all, they still need people to watch traditional tv, where ad rates are much higher.
But it could just be that Hulu is a work in progress, and will continue to improve. That’s what I’m hoping for.
