As I am typing this, I am watching the latest episode of Heroes on Hulu.com.  It’s difficult to watch my favorite TV shows when I am on the road, so my wife and I often have a TV Show Marathon Night when I return.  But now, thanks to Hulu, I can watch NBC, Fox, and Comedy Central shows on the road and not fill-up the DVR.

I gave Hulu a spin about a year ago, but really did not like it.  It was slow, awkward, and had limited viewing options.  In fact, I completely forgot about it.  It’s funny what a clever commercial during the Super Bowl with an A-list actor can do to promote a website.  So here I am again, after Alec Baldwin turned into an alien, checking out the site.   And I have to say… it’s the bee’s knees.

My Internet connection on the road is my Blackberry Pearl tethered to my MacBook Pro (there will be another post on how to successfully tether a Blackberry to a MacBook later).  I use VZAccess from Verizon and get decent speed, but certainly not broadband speed.  That being said, the buffering speed from Hulu is very fast within the “natural” segments of the show.  There are 30 second commercial breaks before each segment, as well.

The Hulu video player is close to perfect

The flash-based web video player is fantastic!  The stream buffers when the player is paused, which is essential.  There is a buffer meter to help those on slower connections, like myself, to know when it is safe to start playback without worrying about the stream stalling.  You can watch it in full screen 480p if you have a fast connection.  You can also pop the screen out in real-time.  There are embedding options to post on websites, as well.   There is even an option to “lower the lights” to darken the browser surrounding the video player.  It’s pretty slick.

Hulu movie and TV clips

One of the things I really love about Hulu is the ability to watch and post movie and TV clips.  Although, it’s hard to navigate without some trial and error.  If you search the “most popular” or “highest rated” movie clips, for example, you will find that various frat-favorites like Porky’s, Animal House, and American Pie dominate the search results.  So if you have kids, you may want to save the Ice Age clips in your queue, instead of searching for it with them.  I did a search for the Three Amigos and found this clip below.

Full length, commercial interrupted movies and TV shows

There’s actually a decent amount of movie titles, especially for independent films.  Each movie has commercials inserted, just as if you were watching a movie on a network television station.  Personally, I think it’s great.  I would much rather endure a few 30 second commercials than pay a monthly subscription fee for a service I may or may not use.

The amount of TV shows Hulu has to offer is ridiculously good.  Almost every NBC and Fox show is represented, as well as favorites from other networks such as Comedy Central, PBS, USA Network, Bravo, Fuel TV, FX, SPEED Channel, Sci Fi, Style, Sundance, E!, G4, Versus, Noggin TV, Nick Jr., PBS KIDS Sprout, Disney Channel and Oxygen.  The only catch is that most TV shows only provide the last five episodes.

Scott Stafford [dot] com subscription recommendations

Alright, it’s time to set-up my queue.  Here are some quick recommendations for new TV shows for all you road warriors and non-digital converters out there.  In alphabetical order:

24, 30 Rock, Chuck, Colbert Report, Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Fringe, Heroes, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Medium, The Office, The Simpsons, and Spaceballs: The Animated Series.  Have fun!