Hulu may go down as the strangest name ever for an online video service, but it sure looks to give video sites like Joost and YouTube a good reason to look over their shoulders.

The Web child of NBC Universal and News Corp., Hulu (hulu.com) streams tons of television shows, movies and more from Fox, NBC, Warner Bros. and other content providers. You can watch new shows like “The Office” as well as classics like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” as well as flicks like “The Usual Suspects” and “The Big Lebowski” in all their unedited glory. And it's all free.

Hulu is ad-supported but you'd hardly notice; ads and commercial interruptions are innocuous and limited at best. Honest, you shouldn't get the fast-forward twitch during programming. What you will get is a clean interface with a crisp presentation.

Hulu's airy look makes navigation a veritable breeze. What you watch looks just as nice — Hulu's video bit rate varies between 480Kbps (kilobits per second) and 700Kbps, depending on your bandwidth, making for a pleasing playback. Some content clocks in at an even more appealing 1,000Kbps (look for the 480p Hi-Res button) and Hulu's HD Gallery sports some high-definition movie trailers.

Since the Web is all about sharing, Hulu has several ways to spread the love. You can e-mail a video, embed it in your Web site or send it to sites such as Digg, Facebook and MySpace. Personalization is another plus. Hulu lets you edit the length of a clip you want to share as well as subscribe to shows, add reviews and craft a profile page.

Hulu probably won't replace your typical TV-viewing habits, but it works as a cool kind of TiVo for your desktop or notebook computer. And if you ever groused about NBC or other networks clamping down on online clips, take heart — Hulu's offerings look and sound so much better.

René A. Guzman | 210SA contributor