Hulu.com is a relatively new site which allows users to watch movies and commercial television programs for free. This website was released by NBC, Universal, and News Corp. These companies have seen their programs uploaded to YouTube, but have seen no form of revenue from their programming. It was decided that the media giants should do something in order to create a bottom line on their own property. Like the saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them,” and that is exactly what these Corporations have done.While viewing on Hulu.com is free, it is required that the user create a free account. The site boasts the best quality of video available on the Internet. There is even a section for hi-def programs. However, you must have a very fast computer and a high end video card to enjoy the extraordinary picture quality. The programming on this website is broken down into section. The main sections are “TV” and “Movies,” the respective subsections are categorized into standard genres.When I had heard of the release of this website to the public, I just had to check it out. So, I went ahead and signed up for a free account and I started browsing through the different offerings. I must say that the quality is decent, better than YouTube, but not quite astounding, especially the animated movies and series. While viewing animated series there is some pixilation during movement. Unfortunately, the hi-def section was beyond the abilities of my poor little Gateway laptop and the video was slow and jerky. However, the video was very clear and it was actually hi-def, I just wish that I could have enjoyed it.Nevertheless, this brings me to another issue with the Hulu website. Although, Hulu is touting free online programming, it seems that much of what they offer are just excerpts from TV series and movies. It is almost like watching just the special features areas of DVDs. Hardly worth the effort and when you see a link to a movie or show that they are offering on the site and it is only a ten minute clip, well the site can really start to frustrate you.
In my experience with online movies and television programming you can do much better just by going to the television shows network websites where you can watch the archived shows for free, and you do not even have to sign up for an account. If you enjoy watching classic TV shows from the 90s or even the 80s then you might want to check out AOL Time Warner’s IN2TV. On this site they have a very large selection of shows that you can watch for free.It is possible that with time Hulu may grow into something worthwhile, but for now there simply is not enough content available to really make it worth the process of signing up for the account. Personally, I will sacrifice a small bit of video quality in order to watch full shows instead of starting a show only to find out that it is only a small portion.
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