Hulu launches with HD Flash and a Crap-Ton of Content

Posted on by

I feel like a punk because I don’t have a Hulu invite and they’re launching today with a ton of content. Hulu was one of the first companies to embrace the HD-Flash revolution with H.264 content and they’ve pushed on as one of the more interesting video plays in the space. They have a plethora of multimedia content all delivered in Flash and frankly, the list of partners they’ve amassed is impressive:

FOX, NBC Universal, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros. Television Group, as well as Access Hollywood, AST Dew Tour, BNET, Bravo, Broadway Video, CenterStaging, Chic.tv, Chiller, CHOW, CNET, Comedy Time, E! Entertainment Television, ExerciseTV, FEARnet, Ford Models, Fox Atomic, Fox Movie Channel, Fox Reality, Fox Searchlight, Fox Sports, Fox TV Studios, Fuel TV, FX Networks, G4TV, Gamespot, Gamespy, Hidden Universe, IGN, Image Entertainment, Lionsgate, LX.TV, MEN7, Mojo, Movieola, My Network TV, National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Digital Shorts, NBA, NBC Sports, NBCU TV, NHL, Oxygen, Paley Media, Red Bull, Reveille, Salient Media, SciFi Channel, Shout! Factory, Sleuth Channel, SpaceRip, Speed, Sundance Channel, Taste TV, The Fight Network, The Golf Channel, The Onion, The Style Network, Thought Equity, TV Guide, TVG, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Twentieth Television, Universal Pictures, USA Network, Versus, Vuguru, WatchMojo, Wine Library TV and World Wrestling Entertainment®.

Did you see that? NHL. In FLASH VIDEO, Let’s hope I can get some sweet clips from the future 2007-2008 Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche on Hulu when it launches tomorrow. Why do people use Flash video? Because it works and it provides a great experience. Props to Hulu and their partners for recognizing it.

[tags]Hulu, Flash video, Flash, Rich Media[/tags]

Related posts:

  1. MySpace Launches Video Sharing Service and it Uses Flash
  2. Boeing Launches 787 With Flash
  3. The Importance of a Unified Platform – Nimble Content
  4. Adobe King of Digital Content?
  5. Yahoo! Launches a Flash Blog
  • http://www,sustainableGIS.com/blog/cfg11n/ PaulH

    “Watch your favorites. Anytime. Anywhere.” what a load of baloney. anywhere, anytime as long it’s in the US. geez.

  • mattjpoole

    I was going to post something similar, its a shame, I guess the rest of the world will follow, they prolly dont have the CDN coverage yet.

  • http://vellandi.wordpress.com Mario Vellandi

    Ryan, email me and I’ll send you an invite. I’m checking it out now, it’s so awesome

  • Matt_

    Now only if Abode would get off its backside and provide the Flash SDK for Devices with support for Flash 9 so we could actuly enjoy services like HULU from our TVs instead of our computers .

    The Wii is screaming for TV like services with its Intuitive UI and unique remote but Abode still continues to sit on its hand even when the install base is in the Millions and Opera has been asking for over a year for Flash 9 support for the Wii Internet Channel .

  • Ted

    why did they not use On2 VP6-S video codec?
    Its as good but cheaper.
    I am sure they offload the extra H264 cost to the viewer (me), so why did they not choose something with the same quality/bandwidth ratio that costs me less?

  • http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com Ryan Stewart

    That sucks, I didn’t realize it was US only. Sorry guys!

  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    re: device support, you might want to re-read some of the recent interviews with Kevin Lynch. We’re definitely working on reconciling the desktop and pocket platforms. This is difficult, considering that pocket devices are still typically underpowered, and certainly have different display capabilities. But that’s the goal.

    (Don’t ask for “Player 9 support on devices”, because we’re quite far along in the Player 9 lifecycle already.)

    Geographic restriction by content providers is also an issue that the Adobe Media Player team is dealing with. Content providers make the vids, and know their audiences… Adobe just provides the publishing capability.

    jd/adobe

  • Matt_

    @ John how about any device support on (like the Wii) beyond Flash 7.

  • http://www.lesliewong.us/ Leslie Wong

    I saw your comment on newteevee.com about the full screen mode being choppy.
    How, exactly, do you get into full screen mode?

    Thnx.

  • JT

    “why did they not use On2 VP6-S video codec?
    Its as good but cheaper.”

    Because they’re probably not invested in On2 like you and don’t care. Seriously though, I don’t know. I think it would be cheaper to use VP6(S) but I don’t know that for sure.

  • Daniel Niland

    From my experience at Disney, I can give some explanation for the geographic limitations. There are basically licensing restrictions for content; any large media company has different distribution deals with media outlets in every country, with completely different timeframes and price structures for showing content, etc. Basically if someone in Germany (or even Canada) can see a licensed show that your contract stipulates won’t be shown in that country until such and such a later date and for such-and-such a price, then your German (or Canadian) distributor will be extremely ticked off and might not be very nice to you the next time you’re negotiating a distribution deal. The logistics of putting together all the contracts to conglomerate as much content as is on Hulu pretty much boggles the mind, even for US distribution. You’ll never go broke being a contract lawyer.

    It sucks, but unfortunately that’s the reality for any company broadcasting “legal” copyrighted video in the “international” internet. To see the same breadth of content legally on a web site in Germany or Canada, there would probably have to be a different site that went to the mat negotiating all those contracts for local distribution. It would have to be limited to that country and it probably wouldn’t be the same subset of content. That’s pretty expensive to do for every country so most companies won’t bother unless they have a pretty strong partnership with another company internal to that country. Ah, international law.

  • Matt_

    @ Daniel Neiland if you worked at Disney you will of course know the story of when a Disney employee showed a High def version of Desperate Housewives to a ABC executive meeting the day after it aired .That Show was available 15 mins after it finished .Anne Sweeny said that was the main reason ABC/Disney got onto iTunes and we have seen what a failure the download model is .

    With the advent of streaming bittorrent clients and high speed connections Bittorrent still beats HULU ,ABC Online and Joost at ingesting content and Anne Sweeney has admitted piracy is a competitive business model .

    The reason ABC ,NBC , FOX and CBS have had to go online is because the effectiveness of Bittorrent as a distribution method and the next thing they have to realise is that Global Distribution Windows have already failed so those contracts are useless in the Internet age .And there is no global restrictions on that data.

    The distributors of those shows in various countries around the world would be better off hiring a ad agency than IP lawyers .

  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    Thanks for the context, Daniel. It’s rare to hear someone talk about those business aspects, even though everyone wonders about them. Thanks.

    Matt, the manufacturers announce new devices, new capabilities. The desktop profile is at SWF9, as an extension to browsers. Some mobile devices can already handle this, but most are still at a SWF7 type of viewer, albeit with device video: the Flash Lite series of engines. I have no idea what Nintendo might have in the pipeline.

    (BitTorrent always bemuses me… lots of people give advice to “stupid networks”, but then they want to see the content those allegedly stupid forces create. Make your own movie.)

    jd/adobe

  • Matt_

    John the folks at Opera and developers keep saying the ball is in Abodes court when it comes to the Wii and keep pointing to the FLash SDK.

    http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/2007/04/13/wii-browser-out-but-why-flash-7-and-not-8-or-9
    http://blog.ffwd.com/2008/02/20/the-wii-is-a-social-entertainment-device/
    http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/channelsInternet.jsp#faqApplications
    http://my.opera.com/community/forums/forum.dml?id=2081

    Nintendo probably wont release a new console until 2010 .

    People would have more reason to buy a Wii ( or any other device that can render a browser and connects to a screen ) if they could use Flash 9 .

  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    Hi Matt, thanks for the links, and I understand the concern. I’m not sure of that conclusion though.

    I stayed out of that conversation when it first appeared (I remember the Opera blogpost), because I knew there were private backchannel communications to which I was not privy. The actual Flash SDK is current, but Opera would likely be wanting a runtime engine’s source code… but my Nokia 810 with Opera browser already has an Adobe Flash Player 9 within it. It’s unclear to what the writer is referring.

    jd/adobe

  • Matt_

    John the Nokia 810 is a Linux Based device so it uses the linux version of Flash 9 so that doesnt really fly or compare to the Device SDK .

    The HULU embeds Audio does play on the Wii but no video so there must be some compatibility there .

    The Shows on the HULU website need flash 9 .

    It seems Abode doesnt want to adress this issue after a year or more and the offical Playstation 3 browser can also only play Flash 7 .http://community.eu.playstation.com/showthread.php?t=125819&page=2

    The PS3 hardware is more than capable of Handling Flash and can run linux if one wishes to jump through several hoops.

  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    You really need to talk to the device manufacturer, sorry. If they see the demand they can press it in their own business discussions, and drive porting initiatives. That’s ‘way beyond my own scope, regrets.

    jd/adobe