Hulu: The Littler Picture

I have been without broadband for several months now and before I moved (and it was disconnected), but when I last watched Hulu, I had absolutely no problem getting full-screen video without drag. Now, I can only watch it in the small screen.

I did all the usual things - set my network configuration, switched to OpenDNS, et.al. - but while almost all other streaming media and streaming media sites are coming in great, Hulu still will not play full screen without severe drag. The measures I took improved the performance somewhat, but still did not solve the problem.

Hulu recently announced it was going to move to a pay model this year (2010). I did notice the commercials flow a lot smoother than the programs. That is when I noticed the tie-in ad box at the upper-right, above the small-frame player. While I am still troubleshooting my connection and configuring my computer, I have a sneaking feeling that Hulu has decided it's worth the pain in my (and other viewers') behinds to choke full-screen viewing so it can better serve advertisers.

However, Hulu has also seen a near 100% increase in traffic this last year, so it's just as likely the service is simply experiencing growing pains.

I am going to continue tweaking my setup and system and see if I can't isolate, and hopefully correct, the issue on my end. However, Netflix streaming video works perfectly, as does Last.FM and YouTube, so I am convinced (at this point) that at least part of the issue is on Hulu's end.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010