The difference between the standard Hulu service and the Plus level is that you're afforded the ability to play your shows on supported TV sets, Blu-Ray devices, and on Apple mobile devices as well instead of just on a computer. Another difference is that the standard service only lets you have access to a selection of the content in the Hulu library, where a Plus subscription will afford you access to all there is to offer, including episodes from the current season of shows. Now that you know what the service is all about, let's have a look at the PS3 client.
You'll notice right away that Hulu Plus has a very polished look and feel. It's clear that they took great care to have a very simple, but very beautiful interface. We decided to watch a couple of episodes of Modern Family to put it through it's paces. The first drawback of the service is that it does not take advantage of the PS3 remote if you own one. The second, is that the use of the PS3 controller doesn't seem to work as I would expect. I hit the down key and rather than have a highlight appear over the play/pause button, the video just resumed. These things seem like something that can be corrected, but it's surprising to me that they exist at this point even in a preview. The next point that hit me straight away, and this may just be with this particular program, or it may be because I'm a bit under the weather right now and couldn't hear it, is that it does not appear that we're picking up any type of surround sound. I only seemed to discern audio coming from the front speakers of my surround setup, another disappointment. This may be due to the fact that until the Plus version launched, they only expected to deliver audio through computer speakers. Lastly, unlike if you had recorded these shows using your DVR, you will have to suffer through commercials. The upside is that at least currently, there are no more than two commercials per stoppage, and no more than a minute of total stoppage. At least in the Modern Family episodes we watched, there were only three commercial breaks in the half hour show.
On the positive side of things, the high definition video is gorgeous, and in the two episodes we watched, we had no buffering issues, which is saying a lot when you're streaming high definition video over the Internet. It's also saying a lot considering the amount of time it takes to download anything off of the PSN, regardless of how fast your Internet connection is.
For a service that will set you back $9.95 per month, whether I can recommend it depends on what your situation is. If you're a cable or dish consumer already with a DVR, I can't give this service a full recommendation. The only thing you gain here is the ability to play these shows on the go on your Apple mobile device. But even that feature wouldn't make me inclined to recommend the service to a cable or dish subscriber. However, if you're in my situation and have eschewed traditional video service this service looks to be a serviceable replacement for the cable company. In my situation, it's a savings of about $45 per month over having cable, and though you do give up some features, it is after all still the preview. Some of these pieces may yet show up, and even now, the service is worth the money to someone without a current video service provider.
Hulu Plus Preview
Cost: $9.95 per month subscription
Pros:
- Very polished interface
- Beautiful HD video with no buffering problems
- Access to current seasons of many popular shows, as well as a large back catalog of shows
- PS3 remote does not currently work with the client
- Control via PS3 controller sometimes performs unexpected functions
- No surround sound
- Commercial interruptions
Veteran Gamer Score: Three out of five stars
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