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Did you miss Justin Timberlake on Saturday Night Live this weekend? Want to see Jon Stewart’s latest rant? Have you always wanted to watch Lost from beginning to end? Want to catch up on your favorite soaps? Check out the shows on Hulu Plus.
Whether you’re looking for ways to cut your cable TV bill or want to supplement your viewing selections, you should check out Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus is a subscription streaming service with a large library of TV shows and some movies. A free version of the service, called Hulu, is also available with a more limited library.
What Is Hulu Plus
Hulu Plus is a video subscription service that brings TV series and movies to your computer, TV, and mobile devices.
Hulu vs Hulu Plus
If you like to watch your TV shows and movies for free, you should check out Hulu, the Lite version of Hulu Plus. Hulu is a free service that provides TV shows and movies on your computer. Hulu+ is a paid video subscription service that allows you to watch content from a larger video library and watch it on your TV or mobile device, as well as on your computer, for $7.99/month.
Hulu has a more limited library than Hulu Plus, showing only the most recent episodes of TV series and fewer movies. The videos on Hulu stream in standard definition while Hulu Plus shows videos in HD where available.
Here’s a video from Hulu about the free Hulu service:
http://youtu.be/TX4oJnPw2b0
What You Can Watch On Hulu+
Hulu+ features TV series from NBC, ABC, Fox, PBS, Comedy Central, and other networks. Check out shows like 30 Rock, Glee, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Grimm, Downton Abbey, Family Guy, Modern Family, The Tudors, and plenty of other hit shows.
Many TV episodes are available on Hulu+ the day after they air on TV. Past episodes of TV shows are also available, often with entire TV series included, such as Lost, The Office, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy and others. Spanish language shows from Univision are also available.
Wondering if Hulu Plus carries your favorite TV shows or movies? You can search through their library on the Hulu Plus website.
Note that due to the messy and complex nature of digital rights, not all shows are available on all devices.
Kids’ Shows
Kids’ shows are aired ad-free on Hulu+ and include series from PBS, Nickelodeon and others. Check out Sponge Bob Squarepants, King Fu Panda, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thomas the Tank Engine, Caillou, Care Bears and Bob the Builder.
All My Children and One Life to Live
The formerly defunct daytime series All My Children and One Life to Live will be resurrected this spring and available to watch on both Hulu and Hulu Plus.
Hulu and Hulu Plus also carry the latest episodes of Days of Our Lives and General Hospital.
Original Series
Hulu+ also offers original series such as Up to Speed, Battleground, Rev., The Booth at the End, and Spoilers with Kevin Smith.
How to Watch Hulu Plus
You can watch Hulu Plus on your computer, TV or mobile devices.
Computer
You can watch Hulu and Hulu Plus directly on the Internet by visiting the Hulu website or by downloading the Hulu Desktop player. Both methods will let you watch Hulu shows, but the player will give you added controls.
TV
You can watch Hulu Plus on your TV using a(n):
- gaming device such as a Wii, XBox 360, or PlayStation 3
- set-top box such as a Roku or AppleTV
- Internet-enabled TV or DVD player
- TiVo Premier
Mobile Devices
You can watch Hulu Plus on your smartphone or tablet using the Hulu+ app for:
- iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch at the iTunes App Store
- Android devices at Google Play
- Kindle Fire and Android devices at the Amazon Appstore
- Microsoft Surface at the Windows Store
A complete list of Hulu Plus enabled devices can be found at the Hulu Plus website.
Hulu+ vs. Netflix vs. Amazon
For a detailed comparison of the three major video streaming services, check out Netflix Instant vs. Hulu Plus vs. Amazon Instant Video from Digital Trends.
Ads? Seriously?
To keep the subscription price at $7.99, Hulu Plus runs limited advertisements during some shows. Kids shows, PBS series and some other shows are ad-free.
The number of ads is much smaller than watching on-air television. But if you prefer to fast-forward over ads on your DVR, watching even a minimum number of ads may be be annoying to you. Or, you may be the type of person who doesn’t mind ads and prefers a snack break or is eager to see commercials.
When I watched Hulu Plus through the website on my computer, I was given a choice to watch one of two or three different ads, which made me feel a bit better about the ads I was watching. You can also tailor the ads to your preferences in your Profile Settings.
Availability
Hulu and Hulu Plus are available in the US and Japan. You can find out more about watching in Japan at the Hulu Japan website. Due to the complexity of international digital rights laws, Hulu and Hulu Plus are not available outside the US.
Hulu Plus is available for a free trial, after which the service costs $7.99/month. If you go to the website to sign up, you will get one week free trial. If you use a friend’s referral link, you and your friend will each get two weeks free (up to 52 weeks for your friend). You can sign up for Hulu using my referral link or, if you’re a Hulu Plus subscriber, leave your referral link in the Comments section below for Wonder of Tech readers to use.
Bottom Line
Check out Hulu and Hulu Plus for the latest TV episodes, series, movies, kids’ shows, soaps, original content and more!
Have you checked out Hulu or Hulu Plus? Are you looking for a way to save money on your cable bill? Have you ever missed a TV episode and wished you could go back in time? Are you excited for the return of All My Children and One Life to Live? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Sounds interesting Carolyn!
I loved the name ‘Hulu’ 🙂
Though it’s available only in the US and Japan, I guess other countries like ours, might be having something local set up that does the same things as Hulu and Hulu+. We do have our own dish television too that cater to a lot of channels, and similarly they have a + version too where we can record the serials we might have missed out, just as you mentioned, and can see them at a later date. But that’s about all – they still need to do a lot more, and aren’t as advanced as Hulu, though they are there in small numbers.
Even the rates sound pretty reasonable enough I think for anyone to now miss out things. I remember I always wanted to see ‘Lost’, though never quite got down to seeing the whole series till now. 🙂 This might be the answer 🙂
Thanks for sharing this with us. 🙂 Have a wonderful week ahead 🙂
Hey Harleena, Yes, Hulu+ is very cool. I like that you can watch these shows from your TV, computer or mobile device. I can pause a show on my computer and then pick it up and start watching it again on my iPad.
I watched Lost when it was on the air and loved it. The series finished just as I was moving back to the US so I wasn’t able to follow along with it very well. I would like to go back and watch season 6 (the last season) so I can see really how it ended.
On Hulu+ I started watching Downton Abbey over the weekend. So many friends told me I had to and now I’m hooked! When you can watch these shows as you’re doing chores, the chores seem to speed along much faster. 🙂
I remember you saying something about Hulu before Carolyn.
That sounds like a pretty cool service for all those mobile or tablet users. I prefer sitting in front of my TV if I’m going to watch a program mainly because the screen is bigger, I’m finally away from my desk and it has the closed caption for me.
I’m not much on reruns of shows I’ve already seen so that wouldn’t be something that I would be interested in. Now maybe if I decided to go back and start watching something that I’d never see before. But for the most part, you can watch a lot of the past shows on their websites, at least for a certain time.
I know this will be enticing for a lot of people though. Especially those that travel a lot and hate missing programs.
Pretty cool.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, Yes, you’re not alone. Many people want to watch shows on their televisions, which is why it’s so great you can watch Hulu Plus on your TV if you want to.
I thought you might really be excited about the return of All My Children. They announced the first show date today: April 29th! I can’t wait to return to Pine Valley. 🙂
Do you know if AMC will have the same cast? Gosh, I hate that will be the only place we can watch it. I hate to pay money to watch just one show you know! I really limit myself when it comes to TV. Never enough hours in the day as it is. I know, I’m horrible!!!
Yes, they will have many of the same actors. You will recognize most of the faces. Here is a link to the AMC Facebook page with the latest cast picture as the Cover Photo: https://www.facebook.com/AllMyChildren
You can watch AMC for free with Hulu on your computer or pay $7.99/month for Hulu+ to watch it on your TV (and mobile devices).
I am so excited that they are really going to have All My Children back on the air!
Carolyn,
That’s nice app from Hulu. 🙂
These days online steaming devices and video subscription apps are becoming more popular due its high flexibility. Like, Roku, Western Digital Steam box, Apple’s stream device, Dish-net one the go mobile and few others..
Record and watch experience is really a cool feature and saves lot of time with today’s busy world.
Thanks for sharing the info Carolyn.
Hi Vijay, You bring up an excellent point. There are many options for watching TV shows, but Hulu gives you quite a few options for free. Hulu+ also has a very large library of TV shows that you can stream from many devices. How wonderful to have so many choices!
Often I don’t want to miss any programs I prefer to watch. Of course because I may not spend most of my time in front of TV. But this kind of service can help me a lot even to record any favourite program to rewatch at any time I like. We have the similar service or program on our country, too. It is quite useful you know. Great posting. We should share our similarities and don’t show the differences if we want to live harmoniously. Is that right?
Hi Heru, You’re right, it’s important to share our similarities, Heru. With Hulu, you don’t actually record a program. Instead, you watch the program through streaming video, which is very handy because you don’t have to remember to record a program. But you do need to be connected to the Internet to watch a Hulu show.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, Heru!
Thank you for your nice response and explanation Caroline. It helps me to understand better.
I’m so glad, Heru! 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for passing this information.
I have already downloaded the entire Lost series from torrent but
it is tough to find all the latest serial episodes. Hence Hulu would be a far more better option.
It will help me to cut my cable bill and save some bucks.
Looking forward for many TV serials.
Hi Nelson, With Hulu you don’t download anything so you don’t have to take up space on your computer or device. You stream the videos with Hulu, which means you must be connected to the Internet.
I hope you are able to cut your cable bill with Hulu, Nelson!
I have been wanting to subscribe to Hulu+ for a very long time, well, for as long as I have known about it. The problem, like you said, is that it’s not available in Norway. I am not going to move to the US because of Hulu+, but it has been close a couple of times 🙂
Hi Jens, Yes, when I lived in the UK I really wanted to watch Hulu there! But alas, I could not. It’s not the fault of Hulu, I’m sure the company would really like to offer its services worldwide. But the international laws on digital rights are very complex, making obtaining worldwide rights extremely challenging.
I didn’t move back to the US to watch Hulu+, but it was a nice bonus for coming back.
Maybe some day I will find some tech that is tempting enough to bring you and your family here! 🙂
I know that they are not completely worldwide and they don’t accept users from all the countries. I will be honest, i would gladly pay ~$8 to have access on those tvshows which are far better than what we have on local tv channels.
I wonder when they will change their policy…
Hi Radu, Yes, $8/month certainly seems like a great deal to get unlimited streaming of these TV shows. International rights to stream these shows are different for other countries so broadcasting outside the US and Japan is very complex. I’m certain Hulu would prefer to offer its services worldwide!
Bye bye never-ending annoying ads!!!
Hulu+ sounds like a lot of fun. TV experience needs to be redefined and I guess this can be the next big step toward the big change.
Thanks for this wonderful info!!!
Hi Rashmi, Well, Hulu Plus will show you fewer ads but it won’t eliminate ads for you. You’re right, though, with more alternatives to traditional TV we don’t have to depend on one source for our TV shows. And isn’t choice nice?
Yeah, we all love alternatives. It is just embedded in fabric of life. More choice more rejoice 😀
Lol, Rashmi, great way of putting it!
Hello Carolyn,
Hulu is a great internet tv that has almost every programs and it’s a great way to relax. But i’d say that hulu is restricted for some countries (like my country) but i still watch them when i use my vpn.
it’s like its for Americans only ! but i love everything about them and with the plus added it will be a killer 😉 Thanks for this lovely post and do have a blissful week ahead
Hi Babanature, Yes, when Hulu was launched I was living outside the US so believe me, I completely understand how frustrating it is to not be able to subscribe to Hulu Plus outside the US.
I believe a great business for someone would be to have a worldwide clearing house for digital rights!
Hulu is really amazing Carolyn, I mean we all have missed a lot of TV episodes of our favorite shows because of reasons whatsoever but hopefully HULU will give us a chance to catch up with all those missed episodes. I am really looking forward to it, thanks for sharing.
Hi Nathan, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m glad you like Hulu and will have a chance to catch up on your missed TV episodes. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us. 🙂
This sounds like a great service for a reasonable price.
I know you gave a link for a Netflix comparison, but has anyone here actually used both? I’d like to hear a person comparison story as to which is better. Or maybe there pretty much the same?
I’d like to hear.
Hi Ron, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I use both Netflix and Hulu Plus. In a nutshell, Netflix has more movies and Hulu Plus has more TV shows. Hulu Plus also has more current TV shows, including shows from seasons that are currently on the air, while Netflix TV shows are at least a season old.
You could try Hulu Plus and Netflix for free to see which one you like better.
Thanks for the tip.
I guess it comes down to whether I want to focus more on movies, or television series.
A test drive of each sounds like a great idea!
That will be a fun test for you to conduct, Ron! I hope you have fun watching videos this weekend. :-bd
Sounds like a good idea for those of us who have disconnected from cable. Thanks again, Tech Lady.
And happy birthday!
Hi Gramps, Thanks so much! I had a wonderful birthday. 🙂