Hulu+ And You

So the oft-rumored and highly anticipated “Hulu+” is going live ‘soon’ and will bring the huge video streaming service to tons of devices all over the country. These devices include Apple’s iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. I received my invite last night, and promptly did some test viewing to see how it held up.

In general, I’ve noticed that loading the app and all its content happens pretty quickly, over Wifi and 3G. The app will open and display all the content available at a very decent speed. It’s when you choose a video that the delays start.

I noticed between a 5-10 second pause every time I started a video, either on WiFi or 3G. This is almost ten seconds of a straight black screen, so I’m never quite sure if something froze or if its just loading. Once the black screen goes away, you see the typical network bumper, and then a “brought to you by” message. After that, either your show starts or a commercial plays. I’d say it has been about 50/50 for me. Maybe a bit more in the “video starts instantly” boat. I’ve also noticed that resuming your place in a video takes a little longer as well. It’ll either jump right to your spot after the initial messages, or will play the beginning for a few seconds before pausing and jumping ahead to where you left off.



On 3G I was more impressed than on WiFi. Videos loaded nearly as quickly as they did on Wifi, maybe even slightly faster believe it or not. The black “waiting” screen wasn’t as prevalent, and the video quality looked very smooth and impressive on the iPhone 4’s screen. It wasn’t super-HD quality, but for streaming off the cell network, onto a phone, I was pretty impressed.

So far, for having tested during the last 12 hours or so, I’d definitely say this has tons of potential. After all, it’s still in the “preview” period, and will only get better with time. I’m not saying this because it’s bad now, but because I can’t imagine how much better it’ll get in time. Loading up Fallon while at a stoplight and having it play pretty quickly on the fly was very cool. Having my iPad in bed and watching the latest Cleveland Show episode was very cool too. This service shows a lot of promise.

I took some comparison shots over the course of last night and this morning. They were taken under a few different conditions:

A. At home on Wifi.
B. At work on Wifi.
C. Out and about on 3G.

Here are some comparison screenshots of all the different conditions and devices. As I spend more time with the service I’ll continue to post my thoughts and more screenshots.

iPhone 4:




iPad Wifi:




iPad Wifi (Low Quality):