Hey, what’s that down below? Is that…the pilot for Buffy the Vampire Slayer? The whole friggin’ thing?
Why, yes it is. Welcome to Hulu.com, the reason why NBC/Universal pulled out of their deal with iTunes. This new video hub is owned by NBC/Universal and News Corp and offers content from those companies’ outlets (Fox, FX, NBC, USA, Sci-Fi, etc.) Even though it’s still in beta, while the tech-wizards work out the kinks, Hulu is what we call a game-changer for two reasons:
1) The quality is phenomenal. No more sketchy, viewed-through-gauze YouTube clips. While it’s not quite HD, the image looks far better than the iTunes equivalent. (And it’s a lot smoother than NBC.com’s episode hub.)
2) You can embed the videos. Whole episodes. Near as I can tell, if you wanted to put the whole first season of 30 Rock (or Bionic Woman or Hill Street Blues) on your blog, you could. No charge, no repercussions. It reminds me of the moment when e-mail — which the veterans among us can remember was something you paid for — became free: suddenly, the information axis shifted.
What will this mean in the long run? It’s a little too early to tell. But, for now, it’s a shiny new toy that those of us in the PopWatch HQ will be playing with all month.
Buffy rules, best show ever.
Damn… not quite as evolutionary as sliced bread, but comparable to the corkscrew…
This isn’t the “original” pilot. The first pilot had a different actress playing Willow.
Will this site be available to people from countries outside the US? It’s annoying when I miss an episode of a show I love, but can’t watch it on their official sites because I live in Canada.
…and like TV in iTunes, not available in Canada. Just great.
Why is it never available in Canada?? Why????????
Canadians get healthcare. We get TV on the internet. Seems like a fair trade.
Thanks so much NBC and Fox for letting Canada in on this deal…. You know, technically, we’re Americans too!
So they’ll let you share copyrighted material on your blog, but not copy it to your iPod? It’s great that it’s free, but if I’m at home I watch TV on my TV. The great thing about iTunes for me is the portability. Though now that it’s free, does that mean it’s okay to find other, um, free sources for this stuff?
Canadians can get it for free too as soon as we can get Trailer Park Boys down here and that’s final. LOL
So let me get this straight…you used to have to PAY for email?!
It’s locking up the page and not letting the rest of the blog posts load, just keeps “transferring thumbnails from hulu.” Does anyone really expect NBC to deliver a good online product? I don’t see it happening.
I hope this crap is better than their nbc.com streams which stop and start like an old beater with funky valves.
Canadians blame your government.
Canada has cultural rules related to TV programming, It stem back with Canada had a county TV station and CMT in the USA wanted to be on Rogers cable. In addition CBC and others constant complaining about the three majors networks (at the time) stealing their audiences. This actually lead to a number of shows being made in Vancouver (think X-files) so they could be shown in Canada.
Now to have access in Canada the program needs to be purchased by a Canadian provider (Rogers, CBC, CTV, etc). While this only pertains to USA shows (Not BBC or JPN) is does limit iTunes and hulu.
Hulu when it works right is by far the best for viewing but when it does not, it is a waste of bandwidth and time. It is still in beta and probably will be for 2-3 more months so any review that praises or condemns its quality, is premature.
When did you ever have to pay for email?