Hulu launches private beta
Don Day October 28th, 2007
The NBC Universal/News Corp. joint venture “Hulu” is up and running for users who got the private beta invite (nothing in the mail yet over here at the LR Boise bureau). Since we’re still waiting for our ticket to the party, we’ll lean on the TechCrunch blog, which has a great write-up and dozens of screen shots. Also, here’s a list of the shows available on the service from 24 to WKRP.
UPDATE:TechCrunch also points out you can embed videos, even without an invite to the beta show - though the default width is 520px, too wide for the LR content well - making the adjusted results a bit funky:
17 Comments Add your own
1. discreet_chaos | October 28th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
I don’t know if it has anything to do with the Hulu beta, but I have noticed that Fox hasn’t been updating their “On Demand” offerings for a while. For example, I missed this week’s episode of “House” and though I could’ve caught the last half, I didn’t sweat it becuause I “knew” that I could watch it online. Unfortunately though, they haven’y updated “House” since 10/9 according to the timestamp and a couple of other Fox shows that I’ve been watching online appear to be in a similar boat. NBC seems to be keeping-up because whenever I’ve gone to their site to watch my usual shows, they’ve been available, but it’s like Fox just quit sometime in the first half of this month.
PS) If you get any extra invites in Boise or anywhere else…
2. discreet_chaos | October 28th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Sorry for the spelling errors, but the two year old jumped in my lap and started demanding a DVD, so I got distracted and didn’t proofread before hitting post. Whoops.
3. Michael Gay | October 29th, 2007 at 6:25 am
The hulu logo sure is similar to the CW green…
4. Brink | October 29th, 2007 at 6:45 am
…which is odd, because I don’t know anyone who thinks the CW “green’ image is very good…or will last.
5. Joe | October 29th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Don’t worry, Brink. Hulu won’t last either. Can’t say the same for Jeff Zucker, though.
6. discreet_chaos | October 29th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Perhaps it’s a result of LR’s resizing, but I’m not seeing a pause button on the embed. Since this SNL short isn’t very long, it’s not a problem with this particular clip, but I can say from experience that one would be necessary for a complete embedded show and along those same lines, I really hope they aren’t going to lose NBC’s “chapter menu”.
For some reason, I’ve had a bit of a problem with CBS’s player over this pasr weekend and though it may be related more to a issue with my daughter’s IE, as I had to fast-forward to find her place in “Kid’s Nation”, I really learned to appreciate the NBC feature.
7. discreet_chaos | October 29th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
OK - The second time through, the pause button was there, but it really wasn’t there the first time through, so something was either buggy with the embed or the player.
8. thedetroitchannel | October 29th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
you’dathunk goog would have been halved in value with all this hype.
instead it’s up $4.
9. TR | October 29th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
DC…the pause/volume bar has an auto hide function like windows task bar…
10. discreet_chaos | October 29th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
TR - The first time through, a bar exposed, but it didn’t have a button. It did come up and was visible the second time, but unfortunately I had posted by that time, but still, I also have to give a shout to NBC’s “chapter menus” because after going through the pain of trying to get back to the right spot in some CBS videos over the weekend, I can see where the chapter thing really serves a purpose.
11. Michael Gay | October 29th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
DC, you weren’t seeing things. It looks like they’ve improved the way the embedded player resizes. Earlier today it wasn’t as functional as it is now. It’s pretty rare to see a company fix things that fast. I’m impressed.
12. Michael Gay | October 29th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
PS, send me a beta invite!
13. Don Day | October 29th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
It was reallllly screwed up when I embeded it - but seems better now.
14. discreet_chaos | October 29th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
PS and only slightly related) But, I’ve noticed that many of the NBC shows which don’t have full episodes available on the NBC site are also not listed in the Hulu textfile.
I haven’t looked in a few days, but if you go to the show sites on NBC[dot]com, you’ll find that the majority of the top messages on their messageboards are people begging for full episodes. At first, I thought it may be a licensing issue, but I’m under the impression that NBCU owns a huge chunk of the “Law & Order” franchise and though there was a “full episodes” prompt during last week’s “ER” broadcast, it’s still not available on the website. I’m pretty sure there are other Warner shows available for streaming, so I’m not sure why “ER” isn’t available. After all, judging from the messageboards, there is a demand.
Signed;
Guy who is suddenly finding himself streaming 5+ hours each week of first-run shows
15. discreet_chaos | October 29th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Note: Maybe I should’ve looked before posting, but all of the viewer messages about full episodes are comments visible on the show’s video pages and aren’t as easily found on the full messageboards.
16. clément | October 29th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Damn it ! Videos are available only to viewers inside the US. Fair enough, I understand the need to protect the value of international rights on TV shows (working for a French distribution company myself), but if embedded hulu videos start to show up on every blog and I can’t play any of them, that will really suck.
17. Steve Safran | October 29th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
The Natalie Portman SNL video short remains my favorite. Way better than Chronic, Punched and even, yes, D*ick in a Box.
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