Hulu Plus got a lot of attention in its iPad/iPhone incarnations. But it's also the smoothest, most polished media experience I've ever had on my PS3. And to some extent, it really is the Holy Grail: Hulu on TV.
Let's back up a second. The PS3 is the Blu-ray player I'd recommend to anyone. But BD discs were never meant to be navigated with a Dual Shock. Beyond the obvious quality boost that Blu-ray brings, the experience of watching a movie on the PS3—wielding that odd pop up menu, figuring out if I'm hitting the right buttons on the title screen, accidentally fast forwarding at 100x speed when my cat bumps the controller—has never been wonderful. There's a disconnect between me and the media as soon as I need to interact with the machine. Resolution aside, watching a BD on the PS3 is no more pleasant than watching a DVD on a PS2.
I've also downloaded quite a bit from PS Store. If I can get over the fact that shows cost $2/pop (and more in HD), I must say, I prefer the method to watching Blu-rays. No annoying menus are required just to watch my show. And Sony's SD-quality downloads beat the HD quality of my DirecTV box. Still, the PS Store is...just OK. The interface is often sluggish as it struggles to propagate images. I've gotta buy funds for my wallet to buy the movie to download it to watch it. There are just all these unnecessary steps.
And as for Netflix. Look, it gets the job done. But I have an Xbox 360. And it works better on the Xbox. So which one am I going to use?
In terms of pure usability, Hulu Plus is better than any of these options.
Once you download the app, syncing your account with your PC is literally instantaneous. And what you're greeted with is a stuffed but easy-to-navigate menu. Navigate around with the D-Pad. Click what you want with the...whatever the shape on that one button is. You know the button. It's the button that makes things happen on the PS3 controller.
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