Hulu Plus

Hulu Plus (*Est. $8 per month) is the subscription version of the free Hulu.com website, a joint effort of ABC, NBC and Fox Broadcasting. Hulu Plus adds some important benefits to the free version of Hulu, but also introduces some drawbacks.

First and foremost, Hulu Plus is the simplest means of getting Hulu's content to a living room TV screen. It's currently supported on a growing variety of TVs, Blu-ray players, set-top digital media players, gaming consoles and portable devices.

On the content front, Hulu Plus offers seasons and episodes from over 1,000 current and classic series, including all episodes from all seasons of many. That number also includes all the current season episodes of over 230 programs. Most of the content is from U.S. networks, though some foreign and web-only TV shows are also carried. In contrast, the free version of Hulu offers a wider selection of series, but not the full lineup of shows and seasons in many cases. In addition, only the last five episodes of current series are available, not the entire season to date as with Hulu Plus. Still, that means that some shows and episodes available on free Hulu.com are not available -- at least not yet -- via paid Hulu Plus, and that's one of the chief annoyances cited by the video-streaming service's critics. Another is that the embedded commercials -- albeit shorter ones than if watching over the air -- found in the free version remain in the paid version.

The final difference is that Hulu.com offers content in standard definition only, while Hulu Plus streams in 720p HD. That's significant, as reports say that picture quality via Hulu Plus is pretty good, and a notable improvement over the 480p content delivered via Hulu.com. The Hulu Plus interface is described as easy to navigate.

Up until recently, Hulu wasn't a great destination for feature-length films, with most of the content consisting of titles that are so obscure that they are not even available on DVD. However, in February 2011 Hulu signed a deal to bring the entire library of Criterion Collection films to Hulu Plus. Criterion Collection titles, while not mainstream, are highly regarded by movie aficionados. All of the films are available on Hulu Plus, with the free Hulu.com website carrying a small, rotating selection. Criterion Collection films on Hulu Plus are shown without commercial interruption (though commercials will appear before the beginning of the movie), but those on Hulu.com will still see periodic commercial breaks. Hulu Plus has also added films from Miramax, including titles like "Good Will Hunting," "Pulp Fiction" and others.

While critics say that Hulu Plus is the best single destination for viewing streaming TV programs from the current season, they also say it's not the only game in town. You can purchase current season TV episodes for streaming from Amazon Instant Video (*Est. $1 to $6 per rental) and iTunes (*Est. $1 to $5 per rental). If you are most interested in seeing episodes from past seasons, Netflix includes an impressive number of TV shows as part of its subscription-based video streaming service (*Est. $8 per month).

Hulu Plus has received a good amount of editorial commentary. It's included in the round-ups of top video streaming services at Mashable.com and Wired, and in the analysis of the best spots to view current-season TV programming at TNL.net. TechOfTheHub.com runs through content, pricing and features to see where Hulu Plus stacks up against its competitors. Additional coverage can be found at PCMag.com, About.com and The Verge.