Media Fandom 6

So I left my last post about trying my handy work at trolling online.  And oh my goodness. I feel guilty.  But as weird as it sounds I feel like I have accomplished something totally crazy.  I feel invigorated.  As mean as it was to purposely seek to annoy people online, it was fun.  I can definitely say I learned a few things about myself.  It was as if I was completely different person and what I said didn't matter because the only thing people reading these posts knew about me was my username.  It was great.  I could say anything.  I wonder if others feel this way.  I wouldn't be surprised to find that a large percentage of trolling is due to their need to feel some sort of freedom and loss of control.

Or it could be that people simply don't have anything better to do with their time. Ha.

Besides having done some trolling, I have been spending my last few posts on IMDb on films and shows that I actually enjoy.  I have also been looking at films that will be coming out soon and commenting on them. Click here to see what I have posted on.  

Hulu vs Youtube

Personally, I have always preferred Youtube over Hulu. Years ago I used to like Hulu better but then they redid the website and added commercials, and since then its been all Youtube for me. Now Youtube has started to incorporate some ads as well, but I still think its far less annoying to the ones on Hulu.You can also skip the ads on Youtube after a couple of seconds. As I went back to Hulu, I was very surprised and pleased to find that the quality of the videos was in high-definition. This was superior quality than majority of the videos found on Youtube. Also, I was able to watch episodes of shows such as SNL and 30 Rock on Hulu, something that cannot be done on Youtube. As I explored deeper into the site, I found that for $8 per month, you can access unlimited high-definition shows that are all commercial free. This seemed pretty cool to me, as its not something that Youtube offers. While Hulu did impress me a bit, I must say that Youtube was created so that users can post their videos to the web, and that is easily its best feature in my opinion. Any random person can upload a video of anything, and it has a chance to be "the next big thing". There are even shows on TV completely dedicated to analyzing and critiquing videos posted to Youtube, such as Tosh.o on Comedy Central. Lastly, the fact that other users can comment post their thoughts and reactions to a video makes Youtube much more interactive than Hulu. Ultimately, I was surprised at Hulu since I thought it would be way worse of a site than it is, but I still have to give Youtube the win on this one.

Hulu vs. Youtube

As a fan of both Hulu and Youtube, it is very difficult arguing that one is 'better' then the other as they are both extremely different from one another. Hulu, on one hand, is a website where videos (primarily movies and TV shows) are uploaded to the Internet by Hulu employees for the viewing pleasure of a global audience. For the most part, Hulu is licensing these videos from distribution companies, and profits off of these videos through the use of commercials, as well as a paid service called Hulu Plus which is $7.99 a month and provides access to entire catalogs of TV shows, new episodes the day/day after they air, and many films. On the other hand, Youtube is a website where videos (primarily home/amateur videos) are uploaded to the Internet by just about anyone with computer/Internet access. For the most part, the content on Youtube is not licenced and very often videos are taken down for copyright infringement. Youtube is much more of a social network of videos as users are able to upload response videos, comment, and users have individual profiles where unique personas are unveiled. For users who post videos that garner extremely large audiences, I believe there is a way to receive money through allowing advertisements on your videos, but primarily, the people uploading these videos do not receive any payment and most advertisement revenue is kept by Youtube.
Personally, I use Hulu a lot more then I use Youtube, but they both hold special places in my heart. As a film enthusiasts, I most often use Hulu and Youtube to view videos both for class and personal amusement. One of the best collections of classic films from around the world, the Criterion Collection, is on Hulu Plus (which I am subscribed to), and provides me access to many films which I could never find anywhere else on the Internet. On Youtube there are many films that you can find but many of them are uploaded illegally or do not have any copyrights. Most of the illegally uploaded films tend to be divided into 6 to 10 parts as the amount of memory most users are allowed to use to upload is significantly less than what would be needed to upload an entire film. Lastly, if I really had to chose between Hulu and Youtube, I would definitely chose Hulu as having a Hulu Plus subscription gives me access to so many extra luxuries that I can't imagine watching videos on my computer without it.

Hulu vs Youtube

I've never been a fan of Hulu. But to be fair until this assignment I've never really been on it. I've always been against the idea of commercials on what I see on the internet, that's what TV is for. The obvious reality however is that commercials are everywhere online especially on youtube. After giving Hulu a shot I'm actually surprised to report I really liked it. Yes the minute advertising seemingly every couple of minutes did get frustrating but I really didn't mind it. I watched a new Hulu original series about a conscious rap group I listen to Das Racist. What immediately stood out to me was the HD quality of video. Very rarely do HD quality videos find its way on Youtube. Hulu has a vast array of TV shows and movies online for free but the main difference, and why Youtube is ultimately better, is that it lacks original content. Anyone can post on Youtube and anything at any point can go viral; I like that a lot. Hulu does have an option Hulu Plus that for 8 dollars a month viewers can stream unlimited commercial free shows and movies. Another selling point in Hulu Plus is its extensive movies from the Criterion Collection. However to me I like youtube more because it is more interactive. Every video people can comment on and like which promotes a greater community than anything you can do on Hulu.

Oh and I recommend this Hulu episode a lot... peep it!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/350585/a-day-in-the-life-das-racist

Blog Post 6 - Youtube vs Hulu

I decided to watch a recent 30 Rock episode on Hulu, and compared it to trying to find clips from the episode on Youtube. Of course, like most people know, on Hulu, I could get the whole show, but often get interrupted by commercials. On Youtube, I could only find clips of the show, or even just commercials related to the episode, but the commercial time was little to none. Also, unlike Youtube, on Hulu, you can't really comment on the show you watched, whereas Youtube has a full comment, like, share feature. Both do have full 1080p HD for their streaming video capabilities, so technologically, both are equal. I did watch both on my iPad so the experiences might have differed a little than if I watched them on my PC.

From this compare contrast, you can really tell the different uses of both video websites. Hulu is focused on full TV show streaming and Youtube is focused on clips and short segments of video. Both are heavily commercialized and monetized, and both are technologically up to date.

YouTube vs Hulu

Hulu and YouTube are similar only as far as they both offer some kind of streaming video service. Hulu doesn't give users the ability to upload their own content. It is solely used by networks and movie studios to offer content to users online.  I noticed just by browsing Hulu that videos there are not available permanently, whereas YouTube is sort of a massive collection of millions of videos.

I can tell Hulu urges users to pay for a premium account because most of the free content is either terrible, or incomplete. I watched a random episode of some new ABC show called "TITANIC." After five minutes, I could tell it was being offered for free to try to inspire some kind of following for it. It turned out to be a boring attempt by ABC to emulate Downton Abbey. I only watched 20 minutes of it because Hulu gave me what looked like a 240p stream, and obnoxious advertisements that happened more frequently than they occur on TV. Plus, the entire background was some kind of advertisement for an urban-inspired sneaker with some no-name rapper posing like a hardass trying to make it look cool. He was in about half of the advertisements during the show. On YouTube, I watched last week's episode of Check It Out with Dr. Steve Brule from the Tim and Eric Show that airs on Adult Swim. It was the entire segment in high definition uploaded illegally by a random user. He simply mirrored the video, and put some bogus scam advertisement for Sony in the description to deceive the copyright violation. Brilliant. I got to watch it for free, in high quality, and without a single ad or interruption. I also got to enjoy a childish, uninformed argument in the content section over the uploader's moral fortitude for having uploaded the video illegally for everyone to see. This is a prime example of why I love YouTube.

Hulu vs. YouTube

For this comparison, I decided to watch two SNL shorts to see how the two sites responded differently to two very similar videos.

I watched the Hulu video first and noticed that it started with an ad that I couldn't skip through. Once my actual video started though, I thought it had really high quality and I liked the way that it was presented with a dark gray background. There was no clutter and the video was really large, taking up the majority of my screen without me having to click to the full-screen feature. I also like the way the site is laid out with other videos I might like below the video in a really clean format.

I watched the YouTube video second and didn't have to watch any ads, but I did feel like the quality of the video wasn't as nice. It was also presented in a much smaller size than the Hulu video without clicking over to the full-screen format. The rest of the site felt very cluttered to me as well with the long list of comments below the video, and the list of recommended videos to the right.

Based on my experience, I seem to have liked Hulu better because of their presentation and clean design, but I never find myself on Hulu and always use YouTube when looking for something in particular. I think YouTube has much more to offer and is quicker and easier to use. Hulu is just prettier.

Participation 6 - Hulu V. YouTube

These are two sites that I use frequently since I rarely watch TV when it is actually scheduled.  In terms of Hulu, the amount of ads that the site has seems to has increased drastically over the past few years.  It seems like I remember the ad breaks in the middle of episodes used to be 30-seconds - now it's relatively often for me to get an ad break that is 90-seconds.  It's still far better than if I watch the programming live, but it's a bit disappointing that how commercialized they have made it.

I much prefer YouTube to Hulu and spend far more time on it.  I like how the ads don't interrupt the middle of the video - once they air at the start, then they're over, every time.  It's also nice how many of the YouTube ads have the skip ad feature after a few seconds.  I also think that just the general user interface in YouTube is a lot easier to manage.  I regularly make use of the subscription function, whereas Hulu, I find myself typing in the show individually rather than subscribing to it.

Perhaps what makes YouTube the best is when you want to view a short clip of a show.  The ad is usually super short, or sometimes nonexistent, where as Hulu is a bit of a process to view just a clip.  The searchability of Hulu just doesn't compare with YouTube.

YouTube V. Hulu

I wasn't sure what videos to watch to do this post, so I just went to Hulu and checked out the front page. There was a trailer for The Cabin in the Woods that was featured, and since I was mildly interested in seeing the movie I decided to check out the trailer on Hulu and YouTube. I don't frequent Hulu that much, except to watch some TV shows like Family Guy, so I'm not as fond of the layout as I am of YouTube's. The quality might be better but I found that it tended to buffer more than the YouTube one, which really irritates me. It seems like a simple difference, but Hulu has the video title under the clip, while YouTube has it above...I really prefer it being above, but maybe that's because I'm conditioned on the YouTube layout.

I'm not a fan of playlists or autoplay when it comes to videos, so the fact that both sites have it (even if you can just simply turn it off), sometimes bothers me. At least with Hulu it gives you like 7 seconds to decide whether to play the next one or click something else. With YouTube it just goes on as soon as the video is done. In terms of comments and ratings, I like that YouTube just has comments displayed automatically under the video, whereas Hulu has various tabs you can click with Discussion, reviews, etc. Overall even though it's the same content, I definitely prefer using YouTube, at least when it comes to short clips like trailers, home videos, or music videos.

Blog Post 6-Hulu vs. YouTube

For this assignment I decided to watch The Avengers movie trailer on both YouTube and Hulu. I started out with YouTube and of course there was an ad first. But it wasn't a normal ad you would see anywhere it was a negative political ad about Scott Walker that supported Tom Barrett. Also, even though the ad was about a minute long I was able to Skip the Ad when it was 5 seconds in. When it got to the video it was a high quality video that I had not seen before-aka it was not the one that was shown in theaters. The video was 2 minutes and 4 seconds long and then at the very end there was a screen with multiple other movie trailers that you could click on and watch.

After watching the YouTube version I went onto Hulu and searched for The Avengers trailer. I clicked on the link and there was just a static five second ad about the 5 hour energy drink. This version of the trailer was one I had seen before, because it was the one that was shown in theaters. The video was about 2 minutes and 30 seconds long, so a bit longer than the YouTube video which was nice because I really like watching longer movie trailers. After the video ended there was a small LeanCuisine ad and it said that another video would start in 5 seconds. The next movie trailer, which was A Little Bit of Heaven, played right after if I did not close the window or stop it.

I think the Hulu version was a bit better in quality but I don't really like the fact that another trailer (that you don't choose) starts right away. I like the fact that on YouTube there are multiple different trailers to choose from after the video is over. Personally I still like Hulu's version better just because YouTube is sometimes hard to navigate and it is hard to find the "main" trailer because there are so many versions. Hulu's video was simple and straightforward and really only offered one video from the search menu. So Hulu wins my vote.

YouTube and Hulu

For this post I decided to watch similar videos on the two sites, so I could make direct comparisons and contrasts. I chose to watch two Glee videos. On Hulu, I watched a full Glee episode and on YouTube I watched just a single performance. With these two similar representations I think that I was really able to capture what these two sites have to offer. Within these two examples, I think the major difference was that the YouTube video I chose did no pose any advertisements before, after or within the video. This was much different than the Hulu video. When I was watching the episode on Hulu it stopped every 5-10 minutes to present two advertisements. While I found this to be of particular annoyance, it was much better than watching the entire episode on TV where you are given about 5 minutes of advertisements in that same amount of time. I'll take two minutes over five any day!

The second major difference was that when I first chose to watch the most recent Glee video on Hulu, it was not available to me for free. It gave me a preview of the episode and then I was given the option to watch by purchasing a Hulu Plus subscription, or I would have to wait until 8 days after the episode had aired. Let's just say I chose to watch an old episode instead of paying the price!

This experience was completely different than mine on YouTube, as the YouTube video was free to access right from the get go. This shows a huge change in what could potentially be occurring online. Are we going to be charge for most of our future internet usage? Or, are websites going to have to result to providing free access because people now use other websites to find the content for free? These are important questions to think about and are presented quite evidently through this YouTube vs. Hulu assignment.

Hulu and YouTube

On Hulu, I watched "This Week in Unnecessary Censorship" from Jimmy Kimmel Live, and on YouTube, I watched a video of Adam Carolla competing on Dancing With The Stars.
Hulu clearly displays its close connection to the television content it provides. The video box takes up most of the screen with little else visible unless you scroll down to find it, making the site more like watching the content on an actual TV. The ads shown before and during videos are also similar to watching regular television and serve as a reminder that, even on the internet, you have to pay the producers with your precious time can financially support your favorite shows! (edited by network censors)
YouTube's layout is more closely aligned with the amateur videos it largely consists of. The video box is offset from center and shows a number of related videos along the right side of the screen. Below the video is a large space for viewer comments which, along with the ability to upload your own videos, sets YouTube apart from Hulu in its capacity for user creation. There was no ad on the video I watched, though ads are becoming increasingly prevalent on the site.

Youtube vs. Hulu

For this post I watched this video on Hulu and this one from Youtube. These videos showcased some similarities and differences and in both cases I felt that the videos didn't quite represent the majority of videos on these sites. With the Hulu video, I picked it because it was one of the only ones on the first page that wasn't a clip from or about a TV show. Similarly I picked the video on Youtube because it looked somewhat professionally done, rather than just a music video or some other home video type thing. So, though these videos were very similar in style, the fact that they were both not the norm for the site might mean that they were not very good representations of the majority of content.
One other similarity with these videos is that they both had an ad that played before the video. This is a typical practice for Hulu, but not always for Youtube, though it is becoming more and more common. They were very short ads but ads nonetheless which just goes to show how commercialized even the extremely "produser" parts of the internet, such as Youtube, can become.

Buffy on Youtube & Hulu

I chose to view to pick one topic to search for in the browsers of Youtube and Hulu.  I picked my favorite show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  

This clip is from Youtube and is titled, “Buffy vs Edward”.

The clip above is quite different from the clips in which I found on Hulu. For one, the content is one in which a fan has sliced together with parts of the film, Twilight and parts of the television show.  This is definitely a major difference from which one sees on Hulu.  The content on Hulu only contains clips or episodes of the television show.  Yourtube on the other hand rarely contains a whole episode but does have clips similar to Hulu.  Furthermore, Youtube has the advantage in that users can also at as producers.  Hulu only gives users the opportunity to consume its content rather than make their own.    uHuHHUlu