You might remember a previous post in which I rant about Hulu, and how everybody was telling me to catch something I missed on Hulu. If you don’t remember it: here you go.
Today, things have changed.
For today, friends, I’ve downloaded Hulu Desktop.
I’ve got to say, the app itself is exactly what I was waiting for – gorgeous, gives me access to all the same content as the site. I’ve still got ads to deal with, but I get the content free, which is an acceptable trade-off to paying for the content on iTunes. And the actual app itself is far more beautiful, and usable from a remote, than the Hulu site itself.
Now, I’ve still got that same DSL connection that I had when I wrote the original post. I’d really love to see the Hulu app be able to pre-cache the episode – especially if I “subscribe.” Get the first 5 minutes of each episode so that I can watch anything I’ve subscribed to, and watch it immediately. If my DSL connection becomes a problem for the Hulu Desktop app, I’ll scrap it.
“What can Hulu do about my internet connection,” you ask? Well, here’s the situation: I also have a Blu-ray player with Netflix Instant Streaming built in. Although I do get the lower end of the quality compression spectrum, I still get served. It works well, the quality is good enough (read: not annoying, but not cinema, either), and I can count the times the picture has stuttered or rebuffered on one hand since January. This problem has been solved, so hopefully Hulu solves it too.
And yes, I’d love it, AT&T, if you would upgrade your local switchboxes so I can get faster DSL. That would be great. We’d be best friends forever. Ahem.
So thumbs up Hulu Desktop App, thumbs down AT&T until you upgrade your POTS network, and outlook unclear on the viability of Hulu watching in my home.
Rock & Roll, everybody!