To enjoy videos at Hulu, you will need the following software installed on your computer:
In addition, you will need an internet connection with sufficient bandwidth. Our videos stream at 480Kbps or 700Kbps, and we'll adjust our stream based on your bandwidth, but we recommend a downstream bandwidth of 1,000Kbps or higher for the smoothest playback experience. You can test your downstream bandwidth at http://www.speedtest.net. Once there, click on the yellow pyramid on the map (if none of the pyramids are yellow, select one that is closest to your geographic location). This will initiate a speed test. Once complete, your downstream bandwidth is displayed in the "Download" box near the top of your screen.
Some of our videos now come in a 1,000 Kbps, H.264, 480p stream. You can recognize these streams by the 480p Hi-Res button that will appear in the lower right of the player. To watch these high-resolution streams, you'll need to upgrade to Flash Player 9.0.124.0 or later. We recommend a downstream bandwidth of 1,500Kbps for the smoothest playback experience.
You'll also need Flash Player 9.0.124.0 or later to watch the 720p clips in our HD Gallery. Those are encoded at 2,500Kbps, and we recommend a downstream bandwidth of over 3,500Kbps to stream those. You can also pause the video and allow the streams to buffer before playing.