NBC's Hulu Private Beta Goes LiveSaving corn farmers one TV show at a time... ( old news - 11:29AM Monday Oct 29 2007) tags: Video · Fileswapping · business · alternatives · contentTipped by TK Junk Mail  NBC recently demanded that the FCC force broadband providers to ban pirated traffic on their networks, using the argument that said trading hurts corn farmers by cannibalizing movie theater revenue. They also suggested putting filters in routers. NBC then went on to pull their video content from iTunes just as TV season arrived, driving many of those users to the very pirated services NBC loathes. Obviously, giving pirates somewhere to get video besides p2p networks would be a good first step in the quest to help the impoverished corn farmer. For NBC, that effort is named Hulu, and according to the developers, the service entered private beta today: Starting today, we are sending out invitations which will allow users to access the private beta at Hulu.com. If you haven't signed up, you can do so by visiting Hulu.com. . . . Not everyone will receive an invitation to the private beta today, but we will be ramping up the number of invitations to the private beta each week. Aspects of the service are a lot like YouTube, but users can't upload content. Hulu offers film, TV and short video content from a number of companies, though it only offers up the five most recent episodes of TV series. If all goes well, it should be out of beta and available to the general public within a few months.
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|
 
justaguy
@lmco.com
| If it were another company If it wasn't NBC I might give it a try. If some network that didn't first try to hamfist regulation of the internet came out with a similar service I would consider it.
Sorry NBC, you had your chance.
(Well that and I don't know that I even watch anything from NBC) | |
| 
TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
 ·Comcast
|  Hulu adds 2 more content providers today
The joint venture of General Electric's NBC Universal and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which earlier had trouble persuading other big content producers such as Viacom Inc and Walt Disney Co to join, now adds shows from Sony Pictures Television and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Hulu executives said.
Hulu will offer about 90 TV shows from the four companies and smaller partners ranging from current prime-time hits such as "Heroes" and "The Simpsons" to vintage shows "Miami Vice" and "The A-Team."
It will also make about 10 feature films available including "The Breakfast Club" and "The Blues Brothers."
Shortly after the test begins, these shows will also be made available on a handful of the biggest online distributors Time Warner Inc's AOL, Comcast Corp, Microsoft's MSN and Yahoo. 1 neat feature is sharing a link in to a portion of the full length shows.
One distinguishing features created by a team that consists almost entirely of executives from the Internet and technology industries, addresses an issue that is unique to its service -- the ability to find a spot within a show that a viewer wants to share.
Viewers can adjust a slider at the bottom of the video window to clip the exact spot within a show -- a particularly funny skit on "Saturday Night Live" for instance -- to send or embed on another Web page. | |
| 
Jwobot
join:2002-08-14
Utica, MI | No show Does this mean they will have shows on their when FOX does not show them due to sports? | |
|  | zenafu
join:2007-06-12
Brooklyn, NY | Re: No show That's a good question. One of my favs is Prison Break and that keeps getting pre-empted for baseball. | |
| 
hopeflicker
Capitalism breeds greed
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA
| OMG!! It's "private" invite only. Anyone have a Demonoid account that they would like to trade for. I'll give you my "private" invite to Hulu 
--
People pray to God because they're told to. | |
| 
aaron8301
I can't get myself to go away.
join:2005-01-03
Clarkston, WA | And they wonder why... "We don't want you to pirate, so we are going to pull our media from the market so you cannot purchase it legally."
Hmmm, back to IsoHunt, I guess... | |
| | AquaBlaze
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA
| Re: And they wonder why... *shrugs* I might, might try the service if I can see full episodes for free. Otherwise, if I can't pull the media down and play on my device of leisure, this service is useless.
Less features, less control, and less content...I can't imagine paying for this service. | |
| amungus
Premium
join:2004-11-26
America
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| a beta service? Ok, so they want to control distribution. Fine. That's cool. They ought to be able to deliver their own stuff, and be able to see how many people watched... no problem with that.
But a "beta" service for a few shows? Come on. This is 2007, almost 2008.
It's painfully obvious that people want some very simple things.
1) a whole show, in a viewable format, no drm.
2) an easy way to get it
3) free would be preferrable
How hard can it be to encode some shows, even WITH commercials, and let people download the whole thing? Sure, do some streaming for the ultra lazy, but at least make it able to do full screen, not some lame Flash window the size of a credit card.
I just fail to understand the reasoning behind waiting to do something that "pirates" have already figured out, and have been doing for ...years?
Here's another thought... Hire some of these people who have nothing better to do than encode their favorite shows. Give them a few bucks, have them do the encoding.
How hard can it be to do this right? I just don't get it. Why not offer a decent service? Why all the little baby steps when the technology has existed for years to do this right?
Heck, why not offer official torrents? They can still track those right? I'd be willing to bet that people would actually download the "official" thing, even with ads, if it were of fair quality, free, and had come from an "official" source...
Good luck on this 'service' ...I hope somebody figures out how to do it right someday. Til then, guess I'll just keep using my regular ol' DVR from Cox and the always handy fast forward button. | |
| | b10010011
Whats a Posting tag?
join:2004-09-07
Bellingham, WA
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Re: a beta service? said by amungus :...I hope somebody figures out how to do it right someday. I think Veoh (»www.veoh.com/) and Joost (»www.joost.com/) have this figured out pretty well.
The guys from the big networks just need to sell their content to or buy the technology from one of these two. | |
| | 
MrMaster
What If
Premium
join:2000-12-16
Austin, TX
clubs: | so are these shows being streamed? and by that i mean streamed for free but you pay to download them?
--
One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done. -Marie Curie | |
| | 
gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA | They have a full screen flash player now, and all the networks have most thier shows available on thier websites.
It's amazing what 2 months can do with these content providers, all the players are pretty much updated. | |
| | | amungus
Premium
join:2004-11-26
America
clubs: | Re: a beta service? they do? well that's a step in the right direction  | |
| | | |
gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA
 ·Cruzio Internet
edit:
October 29th, @12:52PM
| Re: a beta service? Check it out;
»nbc.com
»abc.com
»cbs.com
»fox.com
Ive had a little trouble streaming fron nbc and cbs, but sometimes it works Cant beat the price >> free. | |
| | | | | AquaBlaze
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA
| Re: a beta service? said by gaforces :Ive had a little trouble streaming fron nbc and cbs, but sometimes it works Cant beat the price >> free. That's for now while it's still in beta...not sure if that'll make it to final release though.
Course, if it is free...I wonder how much of an issue they'll have with adblockers? Or just people like me who get up & pee during the commercials?
I mean, it is streaming video - there is no threat you'll miss something if you get up & leave during ads. Simply rewind back to where you left to go do "stuff", and enjoy. Hell, that's what I do for all of Cartoon Network & Comedy Central's repeditive streaming ads. Just hit mute, grab some popcorn or something, then rewind to the beginning of the freshly-loaded segment. | |
| | | | | 
TOPDAWG
Premium
join:2005-04-27
Midland, ON | Wow and cause I'm in Canada I can't watch most of the shit. | |
| | | | | | AquaBlaze
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA
| Re: a beta service? said by TOPDAWG :Wow and cause I'm in Canada I can't watch most of the shit. You aren't missing much. 95% of today's priemere TV here in the states is crud. | |
| | | | | | |
TOPDAWG
Premium
join:2005-04-27
Midland, ON | Re: a beta service? Yeah I don't watch much TV. I watch wresting and as of late been watching TCM and AMC a lot. Most times on PC or talking to wife watching movies and anime together. | |
| | zenafu
join:2007-06-12
Brooklyn, NY
·Verizon Online DSL
·America Online
| "Why all the little baby steps when the technology has existed for years to do this right?"
Dude, these studios are gigantic babies and the internet is still terrifying to them, of course they're gonna take baby steps. This is frustrating to us but I get the feeling they will come around to our way of thinking eventually. Of course by then we'll have come up with a zillion new options for content distribution...etc.. | |
| axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC
·Verizon Online DSL
·Cox HSI
| cool There's plenty of room on the internet for things like this. How does this relate to their on-line streaming shows? I've watched the new season of Heroes on their website and the quality is quite good. Downside is they play the same advertisement at each break... always the same diamond ad, it gets old fast and isn't helping the advertiser.
ABC has a lot of their shows on-line, the ads aren't as bad but the quality isn't high enough. YouTube is good enough for independent stuff but it needs to be better for things that can just be downloaded elsewhere. | |
| 
punker
deleted by moderator
Premium
join:2004-06-21
Palmdale, CA
clubs: | yea right They can allways sell the corn to MAKE GAS! that is were the real money is at
--
( . Y . ) | |
| | 
Transmaster
Onward Through The Fog
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY
edit:
October 29th, @12:58PM
| Re: yea right said by punker :They can always sell the corn to MAKE GAS! that is were the real money is at This is true. Even now Mexican housewife's are bitching about the price of maize, you call corn (remember the ad ) tortillas, blaming the increased price on the US and Mexican farmers converting their crop to corn squeeze'ns, and not tortilla flour.
--
Eat pork chops for Allah! | |
| 
Airwolf
And The Heavens Shall Tremble
Premium
join:2001-10-30
Windsor, ON
clubs: | Too bad... ...their shows they allow you to watch on their website for free is not available for outside US.
So, I download them elsewhere. Fair enough don't you think? | |
| |
Transmaster
Onward Through The Fog
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY
| Wrong site name
NBC webmaster loading their high quality streaming content. |
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Eat pork chops for Allah! | |
| Eric Martin
join:2005-06-19
66308 | NBC?????? Why would anyone care about nbc programs?
We need alternative to mainstream tv if you people like nbc that much.
Very sad. | |
| | 
jtudor
Xm 60's On 6 Freak
Premium,MVM
join:2002-12-07
Morganton, NC
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: NBC?????? said by Eric Martin :Why would anyone care about nbc programs? Ummm........
Friday Night Lights maybe?????
--
Best of luck
"Do, or Do not, there is no try!" Yoda
| |
| 
dadkins
Land of Confusion
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA | NBC? Movie Theaters? WTF? NBC and Movie Theaters in the same sentence makes no sense.
NBC - Nothing But Crap... anyways, when did NBC start making movies?
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera | |
| | 
Nightshade
My political statement
Premium
join:2002-05-26
Salem, OR
edit:
October 29th, @02:15PM
| Re: NBC? Movie Theaters? WTF? When NBC bought out Universal. | |
| | |
dadkins
Land of Confusion
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast
| Re: NBC? Movie Theaters? WTF? said by Nightshade :When NBC bought out Universal. Ah... so that's why Universal has been getting sucky.
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera | |
| | | |
Nightshade
My political statement
Premium
join:2002-05-26
Salem, OR | Re: NBC? Movie Theaters? WTF? Exactly! | |
|
Hehe
@ssa.gov | How does Hulu help corn farmers? How does Hulu help corn farmers? | |
| | 
inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | Re: How does Hulu help corn farmers? i think it is a poor attempt to be funny. | |
| | AquaBlaze
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA
| said by Hehe :
How does Hulu help corn farmers?
The same way piracy hurts corn farmers.
It's just a bad, bad strain of an excuse the MPAA used (or is that campain still in use?), and I don't think they'll ever live it down. | |
| 
RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY
|  Will Viewing be Platform Agnostic?
IMO, the restricted access is IMPLICATE PERMISSION to use BitTorrent to gain access to the episodes so long as you are a Non-Windows users (or a Windows User with a version that the Network refuses to support). Either provide the content to all users (with only a restriction based on location [ie: US IPNs only]) or stop claiming that BitTorrent users are ripping you off to gain access to the content that you are providing to anyone with a Windows Machine. You can not have it both ways - It is either available or not available (not just available to those who use a Network blessed Operating System). | |
| jebba2005
join:2005-01-13
Portland, ME
·Great Works Internet
·RoadRunner Cable
 ·surpasshosting
| Still have no clue. I can catch an episode of a program I missed on NBC, CBS, ABC etc on their websites...but the quality is crap, frames stutter, volume doubles on commercials, the video pauses whenever it wants, you cant always restart it, or other issues.
or I can watch a nice copy elsewhere (cough Joox, cough) without commercials for free, or download a perfect copy without commercials for free.
hmmmmmm guess which one I prefer.
I missed survivor last Thursday (tragic I know), went to CBS Innertube to watch it on Saturday. PLayer didnt load at first, then when it loaded it was stuttering, then reloaded but wouldnt go full screen, Then it froze 10 minutes into the episode.
I know they can do better, I am willing to tolerate the commercials if the players would work. | |
| | karlmarx
join:2006-09-18
Nashua, NH
·Fairpoint Communic..
| Re: Still have no clue. You've hit the nail on the head. The studios are still WAY behind the 'other' ways you can get your media, why do they think people will put up with 'less'.
I see a couple of major problems with this
#1: Is it streaming only? That's a major problem for me, as I prefer to DOWNLOAD, and watch on my terms.
#2: Is it DRM? That's a killer, because by default it eliminates mac and linux users.
#3: I could LIVE with commercials, as long as I have the ability to FF, just like my DVR?
#4: Is the quality as good as a scene release. If it's lower quality, I will always go with a HD Capture from a private source.
Basically, if they want to STOP the piracy, they have to COMPETE with the pirates. To do that, they need to offer HIGH QUALITY, DRM FREE, DOWNLOADABLE, FAST content. If they fail in ANY of those features, 'piracy' will always win out. Though I fail to see how they can call something they give away for FREE OTA, 'piracy'.
--
Stick it to the MAN. Support your local torrent sites. Proudly providing 100mb of upstream for all your TV, Movie, and MP3 needs. | |
| | |
RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY
| Re: Still have no clue. said by karlmarx :#2: Is it DRM? That's a killer, because by default it eliminates mac and linux users. It SHOULDN'T eliminate Macintosh Users. The only reason that it does is because the studios/networks go with Microsoft DRM and Microsoft refuses to release a Mac Version of their Windows Media Player DRM Plug-In. Also, if I can get DRM protected iTunes Video, why is it so hard to issue a Mac DRM key that will unlock the content being served from their Windows DRM Protected servers or have a Mac DRM scheme (as I note, iTunes DRM is Mac and Windows compatible)? | |
| 
Tzale
Ron Paul - No Bailout Conservative
Premium
join:2004-01-06
NJ, USA | NBC Hey NBC, Suck on a BIG one!
-Tzale
--
"Do you do IT????" | |
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