30-second delay starting a Hulu stream?

[marcel]

if you try Hulu via a web browser are you still having the same problems

[tking8]

agentlame and marcel,

I was refering to using a web browser. I have not experienced this with boxee because my host file in on a windows box and I have not "yet" received the download of this version. I have only used boxee on Ubuntu and have not experienced the delay. I was just suggesting that he (Tom Dibble) might have some sort of ad blocking software that might be causing Hulu to just go black during commercials. Thats what it does for me on the website. Its is about 30 seconds on the machine that I have modified my host file, but only 7-15 seconds on my server which I have not modified.

[travistubbs]

If I could so ahead and mention that I too have been having the same issue, unfortunately it's sporadic. There doesn't seem to be a specific show that this is occurring with.

What I do is pull up Hulu from the Internet Videos section, browse to either Recently Added Episodes or Tv Shows Full Episodes. I select the Show or Episode I want to watch, select Play at the "Play/Read More" selection screen. At this point, the Spinning Wheel/Wait Icon appears, then the screen goes black. After waiting for 30 to 60 seconds, the Hulu "Loading video..." screen will eventually appear. Sometimes, pressing Menu and selecting the show to Play again will get the "Loading video..." screen to appear faster.

Since some shows are not appearing in the list of Hulu shows in Boxee (another issue I'll post about elsewhere), I can confirm that this does not happen on Hulu's web site.

If there are any additional details I can provide, please let me know and I'll provide what I can (you may have to tell me where to find what ya need depending on what ya need).

[theprepmaster]

Hi folks, I just updated to the latest boxee version (ending in 77) and I've noticed a drastic reduction in the quality of all Hulu streams, as well as a framerate drop of at least half. This is in addition to the 30 to 60 second delay in the initial stream. It's the worst playback I've seen yet. Basically any Hulu stream is unwatchable as of the latest version. Any suggestions? Or, does anyone know of a way to revert to the version before the one ending in 77?

[sketchstudios]

I too can second what theprepmaster is saying,

The Hulu quality has gone down overall, I am connected via Ethernet cable and its definitely not my internet speed. I was on wifi before and it didnt have nearly as much "jumping" or "frame skipping" as before.

Im not sure if this could be the issue but Im going to take a stab in the dark at this, could it be because there are torrents running in the background while people are watching Hulu videos? That would be my best guess as why there are random frame skips. After my torrents Im downloading now finish I'm going to restart Boxee and watch some Hulu movies/tv shows and see if I notice a difference. Ill post the results later. Could anyone else who is not running any torrents in the background watch some Hulu content and see if they notice any difference in quality if you had the previous version of Boxee as well?

[andreslucero]

I've experienced this issue with Hulu as well, and only through Boxee. Click play, get 30-60 seconds of complete blackness (although the bezel shows the timer advancing), and then the "Loading video..." message comes up and the show starts playing.

Here's a screencast: http://screencast.com/t/JT0JBqip

[Tom Dibble]

As an update ... this went away for a while, then came back, and is currently happening about 50% of the time. No rhyme or reason to the specific videos; we've restarted a video it happened on and had it NOT happen, and vice-versa.

[agentlame]

+1... confirmed.

@marcel:
it is strictly a boxee+hulu issue.
doesn't happen on hulu.com

[anarchivist]

Confirmed, as of right now - but I'm having more than a 30 second delay!

[marcel]

thanks guys for the report..we will look into this issue.