Hulu's new player now in the wild, guided tours available

You already read this morning about Hulu's thoughts on HTML5 -- they were subsequently stricken from record but have since returned. By now, however, it looks like everyone should be able to move on from the discussion long enough to see the actual updated player. Here's some things you'll notice: 25 percent increase in viewing space, hidden controls when being played, and some reshuffling of key buttons. On the backend, there's also adaptive bitrate streaming, ad volume normalization (for quieting those overtly-loud commercials), and a few other neat tricks. Looking for something quite meta this evening? A Hulu video showing off the new Hulu video is after the break.

[iDamien Posted May 13th 2010 10:20PM]

Man, why'd I click on the image, and expect The Simpsons to play?

You hurt my soul, Engadget. :(

[Grubasaurus Rex Posted May 13th 2010 10:31PM]

@iDamien Go Hulu!!

[eoeealknn Posted May 13th 2010 11:08PM]

@iDamien
i was hurt even more. As a canadian

[Beatnik Posted May 13th 2010 11:14PM]

@iDamien
I am out of U.S.A., cant see that HULU, seems I will have to do some "work with my ip adress"

[TheLondonExchange Posted May 13th 2010 11:27PM]

@iDamien

DAMN IT...Hulu just CRASHED Firefox for the 4th TIME IN A ROW...

I'm SO SICK and tired of Flash. This shit never happens when I just go thru the web and visit my regular websites like Engadget. Yet I see that Hulu has a new player and I was curious to see why so many people use it and whats the benefit of Hulu (turns out there is none...I searched for an episode of a show I missed and it just took me to the direct website to watch it. I thought the point of Hulu was to watch everything in one place in simplicity?)

Anyways the point of this point is to address this whole Adobe vs Apple thing.

Its gotten to the point of stupidity. Apple doesn't want Adobe on THEIR devices. And from what I've experienced with Flash on a Windows 7 laptop using Mozilla Firefox I 100% agree with Apple and Steve Jobs on this one.

This has nothing to do with the fact that I'm an Apple Supporter.

I'm just sick of Flash. I'm sick of how it crashes my browser every other day. I'm sick of it causing my computer to slow down to a halt when its NOT causing my browser to crash.

I just want to go on the internet and watch video without any fanfare or bullshit flash ads that mean nothing to me.

Lastly Apple doesn't control the other platforms. If android and windows mobile want Flash thats a okay in Apple's book. What those companies and what the rest of you want to do with Flash is YOUR BUSINESS.

But PLEASE for the love of God stop attacking those of us who just hate Flash and don't see the benefit or use of it. Furthermore stop trying to FORCE Flash onto the iPhone OS.

It's NEVER gonna happen and that's a great thing IMO.

If you want Flash though thats you're piece of cake and you know that you need to look anywhere BUT Apple for that.

And Adobe needs to move on. Its just making itself look REALLY desperate with all this bitching and moaning. Can we all agree on that? What's the point of this posturing by Adobe? Do they really think they can force Apple to do what Apple doesn't want to do based on Apple philosophy?

[Epon Posted May 13th 2010 11:37PM]

@TheLondonExchange Pfft, I have more trouble with Java than any other environment. At least Adobe attempts to improve performance by integrating their shit with native APIs

[r34p3r Posted May 13th 2010 11:42PM]

@Epon

Agreed, Epon.

It seems almost every day I come back to some sort of Java crash error message on my XP Pro SP3 machine, yet I think I've counted maybe 3 or 4 times that I have actually experienced a Firefox hangup or crash due to flash-related content.

I won't even have any programs up and running, yet somehow Java experiences some sort of program error. It's to the point where I'm going to uninstall and re-install Java to try get it to knock off the silliness.

[Prevacator Posted May 14th 2010 12:01AM]

@TheLondonExchange
1.Download Firefox 3.6.4
2. ?????
3. Never have to worry about Flash crashing your browser again, because it uses out of process plug-ins.

[Prevacator Posted May 14th 2010 12:02AM]

@TheLondonExchange
Just download Firefox 3.6.4 and you never have to worry about Flash crashing your browser again, as it uses out of process plugins.

[dark star Posted May 14th 2010 12:10AM]

@TheLondonExchange
hulu works fine on my 4 year old thinkpad . i dont know what you and steve have been smoking.

[WKCptton Posted May 14th 2010 12:13AM]

@TheLondonExchange

'I hate flash and don't want it on my machine!!'

'I hate flash and don't want it on any platform that my favorite vendor markets, even it I don't own it!!'

See the difference, wingnut?
-K

[neglewis Posted May 14th 2010 12:48AM]

@Beatnik

hulu, imdb... are .. "rcasist"
even youtube sustain the idea that some kind of people are better than other... but it is a way around : /v/ - changing the link

[infinityPlusOne Posted May 14th 2010 9:28AM]

@eoeealknn

http://www.hidemynet.com/

My fellow Canuck... If you don't mind paying a measly $5 a month, this VPN service works quite well. I get a US IP address, and my download speeds average around 600 kb/s. Certainly fast enough to stream Hulu. I've been using Hulu Desktop on my HTPC and it works quite well.

There's money-back guarantee if you try it out and decide you don't like the service within the first 5 days or something. Also, I'd suggest doing a few bandwidth tests (found on their "Network" tab) from the various servers they have to see which one you get the best average speeds from.

Give it a whirl.

[ALBGunner04 Posted May 14th 2010 12:15PM]

@eoeealknn
As a Canadian, I have access to Hulu's entire library :) (HotSpot Shield)

[ALBGunner04 Posted May 14th 2010 12:17PM]

@ALBGunner04 Oh yeah, and my option is free if anyone was wondering. This program is a life saver. Now I can relive Miami Vice :)

[10nisman94 Posted May 13th 2010 10:21PM]

they better not block the android browser, I shouldn't have to change my UA string to get this working.

[madwh Posted May 13th 2010 10:30PM]

@10nisman94 You can watch hulu on iPhone right now. http://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/c3u48/how_to_watch_hulu_on_iphone/

[furquanatique Posted May 13th 2010 10:37PM]

@madwh
An iPhone OS device connected to a Windows PC with remote-desktop running hulu *barely* qualifies as "Hulu on iPhone".

[madwh Posted May 13th 2010 10:40PM]

@furquanatique oh well, I have hulu on iPhone :D if money and bandwidth is not a problem you got hulu on iPhone right now, not when apple feels like giving us flash or hulu goes html 5 and html 5 is mature enough. Hulu RIGHT NOW.

[madwh Posted May 13th 2010 10:43PM]

@furquanatique Also, when are you ever going to fit on iPhone and convert for iPhone all the tons of GB of movies people have on computers? Air video is very awesome.

[dark star Posted May 13th 2010 11:31PM]

@10nisman94
somebody needs to hack/crack hulu so it can work on mobile phones please! Pandora and Sling are the greatest apps ever on my phone with 3g coverage everywhere in philly. heres waiting for Hulu, legally or illegally!

[cloud858rk Posted May 13th 2010 11:57PM]

@dark star I'm sure when flash comes out for Android, you can change your user agent to trick it into letting you view it. Unless Hulu gets more clever than that, which would be bad.

[Aurailious Posted May 13th 2010 10:21PM]

What is with saying meta? I have heard it a few times on the Show, I was wondering where it came form.

[Aurailious Posted May 13th 2010 10:25PM]

@Aurailious

I have to admit, the survey for ad free watching is kind of cool.

[gumbottoms Posted May 13th 2010 10:30PM]

@Aurailious I have been wondering the same thing. Its the new "it" word on engadget.

[dmshocker Posted May 13th 2010 10:22PM]

Now lets get that on the evo :)

and thats awesome! When I first tried out the new player that is the same episode I watched :D

[trippisme Posted May 13th 2010 11:20PM]

@dmshocker you should be able to, The Evo has flash support out of the box (at least according to the adverts)

[wraith404 Posted May 13th 2010 10:23PM]

Until it works on my mobile hulu can go to hell.

[serenn Posted May 13th 2010 10:23PM]

not gonna lie, it took me way too long to figure out they moved the "full screen" button down below...

[magic6435 Posted May 13th 2010 10:26PM]

maybe this one will manage to not totally suck balls when using Chrome.

[Bskballa92 Posted May 13th 2010 10:28PM]

The whaling episode of The Simpsons, I liked it...

[dariop Posted May 13th 2010 10:30PM]

I'dont care, HULU doesn't work outside US... like the rest of the streaming services.

[mukatuna Posted May 13th 2010 11:52PM]

@dariop I've been able to watch Hulu just fine in China, via a VPN. However I don't find anything on Hulu worth watching.

[jasonfreeman27 Posted May 14th 2010 5:08AM]

@dariop there is a program called hotspot shield it runs in background i watch hulu im from the uk but make sure you switch it off after you finish as it will slow computer a little

[WillSmith Posted May 13th 2010 10:32PM]

why does watching an episode of family guy on hulu drain my battery by 15%? :( i hate you adobe and your dinosaur technology that is flash

[abedinthehouse Posted May 13th 2010 10:34PM]

@WillSmith
Dude, Hulu runs off HTML5, so you cant "really" blame Adobe entirely.


......it ran on HTML5 last I checked anyway, someone confirm for me please.

[DoctarPeppar Posted May 13th 2010 10:38PM]

@abedinthehouse
HULU uses 100% flash...they said they are not going to switch to HTML5 any time soon because it's not mature enough yet and it doesn't accomodate all the other stuff that goes behind the scenes with their system.

[GoodBytes Posted May 13th 2010 10:48PM]

@WillSmith Flash 10.5 will change that as videos (videos and only videos for now), will be rendered on your DEDICATED GPU... The latest Flash player Beta, actually does supports the latest Intel graphic solution... (the one embedded in the Core i's on mobile CPU's, and desktop CPU and 4500X HD if I recall correctly).
Knowing Intel integrated GPU, I would not have my hope up for any significant improvement.

Remember that Flash 10.5 is in Beta, meaning it contains bugs. I would recommend to be patient and wait for the final version.

[Kode Posted May 13th 2010 11:10PM]

@WillSmith Don't like it... Don't use it. Simple.

[trippisme Posted May 13th 2010 11:28PM]

@WillSmith Wait, only 15% drain meaning that 85% of your battery is left?, for watching a video using WiFi on a laptop? That's pretty awesome, most of the laptops I've seen that can play Hulu take about 5% just getting on the internet with WiFi to begin with. 3 hours of streaming video on 1 charge is actually pretty good I think.

[mukatuna Posted May 13th 2010 11:55PM]

@WillSmith The solution is easy. Just don't watch Family Guy, find something more constructive to do with your time.

[jareth86 Posted May 14th 2010 3:36AM]

@WillSmith I love how nobody gave a shit about this until Steve Jobs told you to. Seriously, html5 is going to be great, but its got a ways to go. Pretending its ready and bitching like it should already be implemented is pointless.

[LMcClure Posted May 14th 2010 3:38PM]

@GoodBytes

I believe you mean 10.1:
http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html

I doubt Adobe has even started coding 10.5 yet.

[abedinthehouse Posted May 13th 2010 10:33PM]

Maybe this one will manage not to be so resource expensive on my piece of junk I call a laptop.

[Air Force One Posted May 13th 2010 10:40PM]

Quit blocking mobile, Hulu!!

Give us commercials, and ads and FREEDOM to watch our shows via mobile!!!

[Shalabi Posted May 13th 2010 10:46PM]

@Air Force One

Those aren't your shows. It's their platform.

[Air Force One Posted May 13th 2010 11:01PM]

@Shalabi Are you shitting me? You're deep man!

[fast Posted May 14th 2010 12:22PM]

@Shalabi ...hahaha priceless win.

[Mrwirez Posted May 13th 2010 10:53PM]

Froyo.. will fix everything.

[Hydra Posted May 13th 2010 10:54PM]

I gave up on hulu when they lost comedycentral