Hulu.com is a new social video site that represents one of the first major steps toward offering network video content for free online. Hulu is currently only open to a small population of beta testers but should be launching to the public sometime later this year. Here we take a look at the future of both online and network video.

Overview:

Hulu is a joint venture between News Corp. (which also owns MySpace) and NBC Universal. It offers programming from partners Bravo, E! Entertainment, FX Networks, Sci Fi Network, Sundance Channel, USA Networks, and more. Popular network shows like SNL, Family Guy, Heroes, and Prison Break are all available for free through the site. Check out a complete list of current network partners and available shows here.

Initial Thoughts:

Our first reaction is (no pun intended) Bravo! Finally a good move from the big guys to enter the social video scene. Not only does Hulu make network programming available online, it enables users to share it via an embed code similar to YouTube. Want to embed your favorite episode of Family Guy on your MySpace page? You can. At least we expect you will be able to. Presently there are only 3 episodes available from Family Guy, all of which are from the most recent season. Whatever content is on Hulu CAN be embedded, however. What if you don’t want to embed an entire show on your profile? No problem, Hulu allows you to clip just your favorite scene straight out of the episode and embed away. Can we say it again? Bravo.

Walk Through:

For a quick walk through of the platform check out the below screencast:

When watching Hulu videos on a high speed connection they played flawlessly and immediately. When testing Hulu on a Sprint air card for broadband anywhere, however, it was never able to get past buffering. By comparison, a video on YouTube will play somewhat choppily right when you open it or else buffer rather quickly and then play seamlessly. I’m sure the higher resolution of Hulu videos (the full screen version looks great) makes for much heavier data streams. Regardless, given the backing behind the site I’m sure they will have any bandwidth problems ironed out before going live to the public.

To complete the review, here is an embedded clip from the popular Family Guy clips on Hulu… The Salesman/Peter interactions are always priceless: