Testing Hulu Plus is a glimpse into the future

I managed to get an early invite to the new Hulu Plus program, and I’ve been testing it at home for the last week or so.

While there are some kinks to work out, I think the service will eventually be a huge success.

The initial hurdle with Hulu Plus is that it costs per month. Fortunately, it’s a month-to-month subscription, so you’re not locked into any kind of long-term contract.

Hulu Plus videos can currently only be watched on a very limited number of devices: a Windows or Mac computer, a handful of Samsung’s newest televisions, the Samsung BD-C6900 Blu-ray player, the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and the Sony PlayStation 3.

More devices will eventually be supported, but for now, those are your options.

While I can watch Hulu Plus videos on my Windows PCs, the quality of HD video on hulu.com is generally sub-par, with slow framerates and mediocre image quality.

Besides, I want my videos on my TV, and connecting a computer to my older LCD television is doable but annoying.

So I went with my only other option: my PS3.

For now, the only way to watch Hulu Plus videos on a PS3 is by paying for an additional PlayStation Plus subscription from Sony. That’s a pain in the posterior, but the PlayStation Plus paid subscription requirement will be dropped once the Hulu Plus preview period ends in a few months (sorry for all the “p” dropping there).

I don’t currently plan to keep subscribing to PlayStation Plus once it’s no longer required for Hulu Plus, so I went with the three-month PS Plus plan for .99 (you can also get a one-year package for ).

So, with my credit card finally put away, I hopped in.

And I’ve been very pleased so far with Hulu Plus.