Hulu Finally Launches In Private Beta | More Promising Now That It Has Launched?

I doubt anyone has actually forgotten about Hulu, but it may be
worth looking back over the mixed history it has had so far as it has
now finally launched with a private beta.

It is the joint
venture between News
Corp. and NBC
Universal that was announced
in March, unnamed until the end
of August, and delayed from a September private beta launch until
now, the end of October.

As expected, the online video service launched today to a
limited crowd of private beta testers, and dare I say it actually looks
promising.

Hope Over Hype?

Ok… So I haven’t actually tested the service or
even received my invite yet, but to see screen shots and information
about the service itself and not the company is enough to give me hope
for this long-hyped video portal.

Now when accessing the Hulu home page, visitors will find a
new logo and a redesigned page with login access for those who have
already been invited.

“Hulu offers current primetime shows like The Office, Prison
Break, Bionic Woman, House and Bones, and episodes from TV classics
like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Miami Vice, Arrested Development and
more.

We’ve also partnered with premier content owners like E!
Entertainment, FUEL TV, SciFi Network and USA Networks to add to our
growing collection of premium programming.”

“Starting today, we are sending out invitations which will
allow users to access the private beta at Hulu.com. If you haven’t
signed up, you can do so by visiting Hulu.com.

As well, this week we’ll start serving Hulu’s
content lineup to our distribution partner websites, which include AOL, Comcast, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo.”

Embeddable Videos

As showcased on the latest Hulu
blog entry, the videos from Hulu are embeddable within other
sites, and the service has already amassed a crew of partner sites (
AOL, Comcast, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo), each with its
own customized video player, where visitors can view the same
programming available from Hulu.

Judging from the early screen shots released, the interface is
very simple and well-designed. In the ‘Browse Titles’ section, the
shows are displayed in a paginated, grid format (complete with
thumbnails) that allows for easy browsing.

The video viewing interface continues the focus on simplicity,
containing icons beside the video for useful features such as full
screen video, embed code, share links (for sharing the entire video or
just one scene), and feedback (for users to express thoughts/ideas to
the developers).

Users can also pop out the video player into its own windows
to be resized and placed anywhere on the screen. Most interesting
though, is the ‘Lower Lights’ features that allows you to “dim the
lights and mute the rest of the browser window so nothing distracts you
from the video you’re watching.”

Competition For Joost

With its programming selection, Hulu is more competition for
Joost than YouTube, and,
judging from what I have seen so far (without hands-on testing), it
looks much better than the bloated and slow-loading GUI in the Joost
program.

Also, I would much rather be able to view programming in a web
browser than have to download yet another software application onto my
PC as Joost and
VeohTV require.

For those who signed up for an invite into the beta and have
yet to receive one, Hulu has stated, “not everyone will receive an
invitation to the private beta today, but we will be ramping up the
number of invitations to the private beta each week.”

I am not the only person to find myself in awe over what has
finally been released from this joint project, as Kara Swisher has also
found herself eating
her words. Perhaps Hulu may have been worth the wait after
all, although it should have been released publicly rather than as a
private beta.