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How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

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Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#21
I've been a Netflix customer since 2002. Every time I attempt to use Hulu for anything other than the handful of current TV shows I watch (Fringe, Community, Chuck) I'm woefully disappointed in their offerings.

But more than that I'm frustrated by the UI and search. I don't know if that's why Hulu lost its place in a Netflix world, but it's certainly why its losing its place in mine.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#22
post #11
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).

Do you know which ports need to be forwarded?

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#23
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.

Have you seen netflix's offerings in Canada?

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#24
post #7
post #2

with the exception of sports and certain “event programs” Yeah but that's a hell of a big exception. People are willing to pay a lot of money for those. My household "cut the cord" [we're Netflix-only, no cable/satellite/OTA] and the only thing we miss are the sports - even if I had to pay $20 to, say, watch an F1 race online, I'd still be way ahead of what I used to pay for cable/satellite, so I would likely pay hul…

I'm hardly the one to pay for anything, but I do play for netflix. And at just $15, it's a far far better alternative than paying for cable. I get to watch anything, at any time that I want? It's the way TV should be nowadays. the only downside is that netflix recommendations don't work too well for me. Too often, I spend more time picking what to watch, rather than just watching something.

The other downside is you only get 2 channel audio.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#25
Here's where Hulu lost me as a consumer, it was simply the decision to make their premium service provide extra content and mobile features instead of eliminating ads. Netflix wins because it spares me from advertisements. You have no idea how much I'd be willing to pay companies [even on an individual basis] to never see another advertisement of theirs again.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#26
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…

Us Linux users are used to using unsupported/"use at your own risk" software, so that definitely lowers costs.

Right now what prevents Netflix from running on Linux is Microsoft. They will license PlayReady DRM but won't license it to run on Desktop Linux boxes, citing some sort of bogus "security" issue. I would think that an XP box would be much less secure than a Linux box. It's just a business decision masquerading as a technical decision.

http://forums.silverlight.net/forums/t/94992.aspx

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#27
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Do you know which ports need to be forwarded?

it doesn't matter -- in putty, forward your choice of ports (I use 9853 randomly), make sure the type of forwarding in putty is set to "dynamic", and set firefox to use localhost and that port as a socks proxy. works well for skype as well, by the way.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#28

I completely get why people love Netflix. But if Hulu can't be a serious competitor, who will be? I don't want Netflix to be my only appealing streaming option, and I don't want to pay cable operators a ton of money for stuff I don't watch.

Apple, PlayStation Network, Vudu, etc.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#29
post #20

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.

My roku can stream both Hulu Plus (which also costs a subscription fee) and netflix. I tried out hulu plus, but after the first commercial streamed in the middle of my show, i stopped it and stopped watching hulu plus. I'm ok paying for a streaming service, and I'm ok with free content having ads, but not both at the same time.

Re: How Hulu Lost Its Place In a Netflix World

#30
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?

What kgrin said above, but not only that, even at $20/month for 3 shows, it'll still be a good deal for a large segment of the population. The internet has disrupted TV viewing habits in a huge way - where people actively couch-potatoed themselves after work each day in the 90s, now they office-chair-potato themselves in front of the internet.
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