Hulu Beta Finally Came Through

I had applied for the Hulu Beta back on October 29th and I got the invite for it a few days ago. I’ve been trying it out some today and it’s pretty good so far. I watched episodes of The Office and The Simpsons in full screen and the resolution is much better than what you see on YouTube most of the time.

It is ad driven, you have to watch ads before and during the show, no TiVo-ing past them. I’m not sure exactly what other limitations there will be with the service but hopefully they’ll keep it fairly open where you can embed video clips like I’m doing below and that the service will be free except for premium content.

One of the neat things is that they’ll allow you to show short clips on your blog, like these two classic Saturday Night Live skits. Usually when these show up on YouTube they’re taken down quickly with a DMCA request. But, with Hulu, they’re legit.

First, here’s the SNL ‘lost ending’ to the Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life

Next, it’s John Belushi’s classic Samurai Delicatessen skit.

The programming selection is from Fox, NBC, Bravo, Universal and others. It will be interesting to see how they bring this service public and if they screw it up or not.

What do you think? Are you on the beta? Did the embedded videos work for you? Let me know what you think.

Cool Stuff, Television
Beta, Hulu, It's a Wonderful Life, John Belushi, Samurai Delicatessen, Simpsons, SNL, The Office