Hulu is a Lulu: Video Site is Clean and Easy to Navigate

Hulu is a lulu: Video site is clean and easy to navigate — When I wanted to watch my beloved "Firefly" sci-fi series the other day, I didn’t bother renting or buying a DVD set.

I just fired up Hulu and watched all 14 episodes for free.

The video site at hulu.com, due to officially debut today with complete episodes from about 250 TV programs (along with a few feature films and other clips), has been a blessing for those testing the entertainment portal since last fall.

This is not the only place to watch shows in streaming-video form. All the top networks offer this on their own Web sites. Hulu-ish destinations such as Comcast’s Fancast also are assembling libraries of current and classic TV shows.

But Hulu, founded last year by NBC Universal and News Corp. (owners of the NBC and Fox television networks), is my hands-down favorite because of its superclean appearance, pristine video quality and brain-dead-easy navigation.

And while Hulu’s library is far from comprehensive, it rescued me more than once when I missed a current episode of "Eureka" or "Journeyman." It turned me on to old shows such as "Roswell," as well. And Hulu is the best place to watch the last batch of Super Bowl commercials.

Recent additions include videos from CNET, one of my favorite tech-related Web sites, along with current TV series I watch regularly, including "New Amsterdam,""Lipstick Jungle" and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

Beginning today and over the coming weeks, Hulu says it

will add even more stuff. This includes content from the Warner Bros. Television Group, the Lionsgate film studio, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and more. As a geek, I am delighted that "The Incredible Hulk" and "Babylon 5" will be among new offerings.

It is cool how Hulu videos can be clipped and embedded on other sites (but I’ve never availed myself of this feature).

Yet Hulu frustrates me in some ways. While I can watch episodes of the current "Battlestar Galactica" series, only a few of these are posted. Another hot Sci Fi Channel series "Stargate Atlantis" is only available in sample-clip form. Little content is in high definition. The ads are annoying (though, I suppose, a necessary evil). And I can forget about watching anything from CBS, among other no-shows.

Fortunately, there’s Fancast (fancast.com). The new site has some content overlap with Hulu, along with shows not found on the NBC/Fox portal — including the post-apocalyptic CBS series "Jericho," also available on CBS’ own site.

Fancast has other useful features, such as TV listings, a video-search tool for finding clips elsewhere, and details on recent theatrical and DVD releases, among other entertainment-industry offerings. Soon, Fancast will even let users control their home video recorders from afar, via any Internet-linked computer (though it’s not the first to offer this).

So while I swear allegiance to Hulu, I’ll continue to hopscotch all over the Web for the video I want — at least until networks wise up and team up to put their content in one place. I just pray that place happens to have Hulu hipness.

Julio Ojeda-Zapata covers consumer technology. Reach him at jojeda@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5467. Get more personal tech at yourtechweblog.com and twincities.com/techtestdrive.