How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World • Hacker News Board

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#11

Post by mayank » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 7:26 PM UTC

cryptoz wrote: post #6

As an Ubuntu user in Canada, they've both lost their place in my world. Netflix is here, finally - 12 or 13 years later than the USA - but they don't support Ubuntu. And Hulu's still constrained to There's so much room in this space to innovate, with Step 1 being LEAVE THE USA! And Step 2: Use the WEB! Why can't we get rid of these proprietary plugins? Any company that does both 1 and 2 will be immensely successful.

Netflix doesn't use Flash Player, so you can use the "watch instantly" feature anywhere in the world with a simple SSH proxy (Putty+Firefox works nicely for me when I'm traveling).

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#12

Post by MikeCapone » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 7:35 PM UTC

Semi-OT: Has Netflix's selection in Canada improved since they launched? It was kind of pitiful compared to the US.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#13

Post by isleyaardvark » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 7:35 PM UTC

TomOfTTB wrote: post #8

I'd like to see this statement sourced... And studios, despite some hemming and hawing, would ultimately rather make a lucrative — reportedly up to $100,000 per mid-season episode — deal with Netflix than rely on middling ad revenue on Hulu. $100,000 isn't that much. Put it this way. The show Two and a Half Men pays its three stars a combined $3.2 million per episode. Another example is Big Bang Theory which just mad…

This article (previously featured on HN) mentioned that Netflix pays much less than cable: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywood-execs-privat.... I think the point of that statement is that Hulu pays much less than $100,000 per episode.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#14

Post by kgrin » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 7:39 PM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #9

allwein wrote: post #4

I'm waiting for netflix to start cutting deals to stream shows the day after they air, a la Apple. I'd happily subscribe for $20/show to subsidize additional costs on netflix's side.

Unless you only watch 3 shows, isn't cable with a DVR a better value?

I think it's $20/show per season, whereas cable runs ~$60/month.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#15

Post by SteveJS » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 7:51 PM UTC

joelrunyon wrote: post #10

Hulu started to lose when they started limiting the devices that could access it. Ubiquity is the new exclusivity.

Or failure is the new success metric, when you are partly owned by a cable company.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#16

Post by PostOnce » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 7:54 PM UTC

cryptoz wrote: post #6

As an Ubuntu user in Canada, they've both lost their place in my world. Netflix is here, finally - 12 or 13 years later than the USA - but they don't support Ubuntu. And Hulu's still constrained to There's so much room in this space to innovate, with Step 1 being LEAVE THE USA! And Step 2: Use the WEB! Why can't we get rid of these proprietary plugins? Any company that does both 1 and 2 will be immensely successful.

It would probably cost Netflix more to add Linux support (and test it, and continually support/update/test it for the rest of forever) than they would ever make off of it, at this point.

And that's without the cost of advertising that feature.

I have always thought that if you choose to run Linux, you're smart enough to figure out a way to get things to run on Linux that don't officially support it. (What percentage of Linux users know how to program in at least 1 language, vs. what percentage of Windows users? 98% and <0.5%?)

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#17

Post by theBobMcCormick » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 7:56 PM UTC

What I love about Netflix streaming is that it completely severs the old TV-viewer relationship of having to worry about "what's on now" and "when does my program start". Since we started using Netflix streaming, we spend a lot more time watching what we want to watch when we want to watch it. Instead of having to worry about having dinner done in time for your favorite program, your favorite program now starts whenever the hell you're ready for it. :-)

I also like that I can start watching a series from the beginning, no matter how long its been on. As an example, my wife and I are currently hooked on the show "Weeds". It's been on for 6 seasons already, so trying to get into it now on cable would be...difficult. But with Netflix we've been able to start watching from the first episode with no problems.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#18

Post by drivebyacct2 » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 8:00 PM UTC

Hulu lost it's place when it basically stopped working at all in Linux. Today I tried to watch the latest episode of the Office. Even in Incognito mode (no personalizations/extensions) the video never loaded, just the gray background across the whole mid section of the page. In Firefox, it played halfway, then skipped to the end-screen, and upon trying to replay, told me that "This video is unavailable. If this message continues, restart your browser".

So I went back to plan A. TPB: "s07e12 The Office", and I was watching it in VLC 7 minutes later.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#19

Post by gamble » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 8:02 PM UTC

MikeCapone wrote: post #12

Semi-OT: Has Netflix's selection in Canada improved since they launched? It was kind of pitiful compared to the US.

It's still pretty thin compared to the US, particularly for television. There haven't been any dramatic changes since the launch.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#20

Post by Legion » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 8:09 PM UTC

I own four set-top devices that support browsing and viewing Netflix streaming content directly from the device.

I own zero devices that can do the same with Hulu.

This is the #1 reason Netflix gets subscription money from me and Hulu does not.