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Hulu Plus streams Criterion

post #1 of 22
2/15/11 at 7:57am
Thread Starter 
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/15/c...ybe-sanjuro-a/

Quote:


Hulu Plus just got a whole lot more appealing for cinephiles. The streaming service just rolled out 150 properties from the Criterion Collection, perhaps the premiere pusher of amazing films, with that number expected to top 800 in "the coming months." It'll include the regulars, like plenty of offerings by Kurosawa, along with some films "so rare that they have never been seen in the U.S. in any medium." Indeed this deal is available only in America, so we'll send our apologies to our friendly neighbors to the north, but you're certainly welcome to come on down on movie night. Just bring some popcorn. Naturally the quality here won't match a Blu-ray and we're guessing the usually epic Criterion special features won't be streaming, but you can't have everything for $7.99 a month.

cool stuff
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post #2 of 22
2/15/11 at 2:25pm
Thread Starter 
http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/2011...on-collection/

exclusive to Hulu, no Netflix
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post #3 of 22
2/16/11 at 5:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by b_scott View Post

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/2011...on-collection/

exclusive to Hulu, no Netflix

Guess Netflix has some competition now.

Guess people who previously streamed Criterion titles on Netflix have to pony up another $7.99 for Hulu soon.

This sounds familiar - one camp getting exclusive studio support - wherein consumers have to buy into both "formats" to get access to all films.

Netflix will no longer have any Criterion streaming content - so if ones wants access to that - they have to buy into the competing service Hulu. Say hello to $7.99 X 2.

Is this the future of streaming? Netflix and Hulu signing up exclusive studio support?

If Hulu is owned by Universal, Disney and Fox - what is to stop them from pulling their content from Netflix in the future and making it exclusive to Hulu?

So Netflix will have Viacom, Sony and Warner and Hulu will have Universal, Fox, Criterion and Disney.....why does this all sound so familiar??
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post #4 of 22
2/16/11 at 6:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bt12483 View Post

Is this the future of streaming? Netflix and Hulu signing up exclusive studio support?

How could you expect anything different? Recently, I was surprised to see season 8 of 24 show up on Netflix since it was previously exclusive on Hulu Plus. Just like TV syndication shows go to the highest bidder.
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post #5 of 22
2/16/11 at 6:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bt12483 View Post

If Hulu is owned by Universal, Disney and Fox - what is to stop them from pulling their content from Netflix in the future and making it exclusive to Hulu?

Nothing. A service provider will only have access for the term of the current contract. When it expires the content owner is free to license the content as it sees fit. No First Sale Doctrine protection here.
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post #6 of 22
2/16/11 at 7:26am
Thread Starter 
I wonder when this will start. Stuff in my queue like Slacker and 8 1/2 are still there on Netflix.
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post #7 of 22
2/16/11 at 2:21pm
Meh...I guess its OK. But I rarely have interest in old black and white or semi-color films, well that is unless its the twilite zone. Hulu+ still is not worth it to me.
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post #8 of 22
2/16/11 at 3:42pm
Criterion has given their response as to their dissing of NF. I agree with them completely. I have said for a long time that NF does a pathetic job promoting the streaming titles on their web site. I should not have to go to other sites to find what should be available on NF. I hope NF takes this as a lessons learned and work to improve their site. I prob will call NF and et them know how they dropped the ball with criterion.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/the-cr...50093182038562

We love Netflix, and they are still one of Criterion's most important partners, but Hulu demonstrated a real commitment to the Criterion brand that persuaded us they would be the better home base for our streaming efforts. It has never been easy to find Criterion movies on Netflix — "Criterion" is not even a searchable term there. Compare that with Hulu's willingness to develop a whole area of their site around us, brand the films associated with us, and develop the capability to show many of our supplements alongside our films. The energetic, independent, creative team at Hulu was willing to build their business around us in a way that just wasn't in the cards anywhere else.
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post #9 of 22
2/16/11 at 4:00pm
Odd cause I just did a search for Criterion at Netflix and got back a bunch. Admittedly I'm not overly familiar with everything Criterion has but you can definitely search for what Netflix has.

Of course I don't blame Hulu for bending over backwards for them...they have to somehow make that service appealing.

Also, that whole diatribe sound so....uhm....I dunno. Like they think they are so important that they can't be subjected to being mixed in with the "commoners" and must have their own dedicated section. Kindof rubs me the wrong way, I guess.
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post #10 of 22
2/16/11 at 4:36pm
Thread Starter 
i'm not sure why Criterion should care, as long as they're being paid.
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post #11 of 22
2/16/11 at 4:36pm
Supposedly NF just recently added the ability to search on criterion... It should have always had the ability. IMHO NF should have a tab, like they do with Starz, to showcase the major studio's stuff. NF website is kind of a mess...maybe they should buy instantwatcher.com? They have to be careful to not treat the studios content (and NF subscribers) too much like a commodity as some do take pride in their work. As NF gets bigger and bigger, they have to be careful to not turn into comcast.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mproper View Post

Odd cause I just did a search for Criterion at Netflix and got back a bunch. Admittedly I'm not overly familiar with everything Criterion has but you can definitely search for what Netflix has.

Of course I don't blame Hulu for bending over backwards for them...they have to somehow make that service appealing.

Also, that whole diatribe sound so....uhm....I dunno. Like they think they are so important that they can't be subjected to being mixed in with the "commoners" and must have their own dedicated section. Kindof rubs me the wrong way, I guess.
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post #12 of 22
2/17/11 at 12:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cygnus2112 View Post

Criterion has given their response as to their dissing of NF. I agree with them completely. I have said for a long time that NF does a pathetic job promoting the streaming titles on their web site. I should not have to go to other sites to find what should be available on NF. I hope NF takes this as a lessons learned and work to improve their site. I prob will call NF and et them know how they dropped the ball with criterion.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/the-cr...50093182038562

We love Netflix, and they are still one of Criterion's most important partners, but Hulu demonstrated a real commitment to the Criterion brand that persuaded us they would be the better home base for our streaming efforts. It has never been easy to find Criterion movies on Netflix "Criterion" is not even a searchable term there. Compare that with Hulu's willingness to develop a whole area of their site around us, brand the films associated with us, and develop the capability to show many of our supplements alongside our films. The energetic, independent, creative team at Hulu was willing to build their business around us in a way that just wasn't in the cards anywhere else.

"Develop the capability to show many of our supplements". I think this shows a commitment on the part of Hulu to build an experience for users. Most streamed movie titles have no extras and there is a trend towards rental discs with no supplements either so this development is good.
Before streaming you had big mainstream movie rental shops and independents that did niche and foreign films. There is room on the internet for Netflix and more specialized film streaming. I wonder what else Hulu has up it's sleeve.
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post #13 of 22
2/17/11 at 5:31am
A small sample of comparisons suggests Hulu's versions are either genuine HD or, at least, streamed with much higher bandwidth than NF. I looked at Yojimbo and Fritz Lang's M for starters, and Hulu's presentation was obviously clearer and more detailed than that of Netflix.

This is potentially earthshaking for film enthusiasts.

A bonus is the possibility of streaming films not otherwise obtainable. The entire 18-film high definition Zatoichi package from Criterion can't be purchased at any price, it would seem. But you can watch it all on Hulu Plus, commercial free, for a low monthly fee.

The future has arrived. Wow.
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post #14 of 22
2/17/11 at 5:35am
I've been hearing hulu plus does offer at least some special features, anyone know for sure? If so that's a pretty huge deal for criterion titles.
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post #15 of 22
2/17/11 at 6:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. A View Post

I looked at Yojimbo and Fritz Lang's M for starters, and Hulu's presentation was obviously clearer and more detailed than that of Netflix.

Also checked out Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Hidden Fortress, Cronos, and more-recent (i.e. Technicolor) Thief of Baghdad. From "better" to "wow, much better" in each case.

Something genuinely significant has taken place.
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post #16 of 22
2/17/11 at 6:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. A View Post

A small sample of comparisons suggests Hulu's versions are either genuine HD or, at least, streamed with much higher bandwidth than NF. I looked at Yojimbo and Fritz Lang's M for starters, and Hulu's presentation was obviously clearer and more detailed than that of Netflix.

I have been saying this from day one... Netflix needs help. Also, it makes the silly 1080p or not from Netflix (virtually) irrelevant.
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post #17 of 22
2/17/11 at 7:52am
Thread Starter 
what are you guys playing Hulu on?
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post #18 of 22
2/17/11 at 8:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. A View Post

A small sample of comparisons suggests Hulu's versions are either genuine HD or, at least, streamed with much higher bandwidth than NF. I looked at Yojimbo and Fritz Lang's M for starters, and Hulu's presentation was obviously clearer and more detailed than that of Netflix.

What device are you using? If it's noticeably better than Netflix on the PS3 then I might pony up for Hulu Plus to compliment it.
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post #19 of 22
2/18/11 at 6:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. A View Post

A small sample of comparisons suggests Hulu's versions are either genuine HD or, at least, streamed with much higher bandwidth than NF. I looked at Yojimbo and Fritz Lang's M for starters, and Hulu's presentation was obviously clearer and more detailed than that of Netflix.

So far, it seems very difficult to learn which movies are in HD at the Hulu web site. The only way I've found is to place my mouse cursor over each title to see if it says "Subscribe to Hulu Plus to watch this show in HD on TV, mobile and web." Apparently, if the movie is NOT in HD, the phrase "in HD" does not appear.

At least half of the Criterion titles are not in HD on Hulu (or Hulu Plus) per this method.
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post #20 of 22
2/18/11 at 7:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mproper View Post

What device are you using? If it's noticeably better than Netflix on the PS3 then I might pony up for Hulu Plus to compliment it.

I'm using a PS3 with HDMI 1080p output for both Hulu Plus and Netflix.

Netflix HD looks fine, and many (not all) SD films/tv shows are acceptable to good. Hulu Plus, by contrast, looks excellent.
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post #21 of 22
2/20/11 at 9:55am
Roku was offering a month of hulu plus free as part of their 1 million promo (not sure if that's the same as the standard hulu plus trial offer? When accessing the Criterion page directly, they seemed to only be offering a one week trial) . I checked out Hulu Plus listing just to see what was available. It was interesting to see that the things I might be interested in, such as films in the criterion library, were (when ranked by popularity in the full hulu plus line up) clustered at the very end of the 50 pp of content. Conversely, the criterion page highlights these films and offers 30 pp to click through (but there's only one 5 thumbnail strip of movies per "page" click)

http://www.hulu.com/criterion

I haven't been interested in hulu plus up to now, but it might be worth checking out , especially if they give a month long trial. Would prefer having these on Netflix, as roku is so nicely integrated, but it seems as though a lot of the classics formerly in my queue have dropped off.
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post #22 of 22
3/4/11 at 1:31pm
La Strada standard def doesn't stream smoothly on Hulu+ or Netflix, via either web, Roku or LG BD player. Slightly choppy and stuttery compared to my DVD.
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