diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 48fbb11e..d42c3805 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ logging = [
     "dvclive>=2.12.0",
 ]
 extra = [
-    "hub-sdk>=0.0.2", # Ultralytics HUB
+    "hub-sdk>=0.0.5", # Ultralytics HUB
     "ipython", # interactive notebook
     "albumentations>=1.0.3", # training augmentations
     "pycocotools>=2.0.7", # COCO mAP
diff --git a/ultralytics/__init__.py b/ultralytics/__init__.py
index 5673168c..9a5b1ee3 100644
--- a/ultralytics/__init__.py
+++ b/ultralytics/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Ultralytics YOLO 🚀, AGPL-3.0 license
 
-__version__ = "8.1.32"
+__version__ = "8.1.33"
 
 from ultralytics.data.explorer.explorer import Explorer
 from ultralytics.models import RTDETR, SAM, YOLO, YOLOWorld
diff --git a/ultralytics/engine/model.py b/ultralytics/engine/model.py
index ace045f7..ef5c93c0 100644
--- a/ultralytics/engine/model.py
+++ b/ultralytics/engine/model.py
@@ -119,30 +119,27 @@ class Model(nn.Module):
         self.metrics = None  # validation/training metrics
         self.session = None  # HUB session
         self.task = task  # task type
-        self.model_name = model = str(model).strip()  # strip spaces
+        model = str(model).strip()
 
         # Check if Ultralytics HUB model from https://hub.ultralytics.com
         if self.is_hub_model(model):
             # Fetch model from HUB
-            checks.check_requirements("hub-sdk>=0.0.5")
+            checks.check_requirements("hub-sdk>=0.0.6")
             self.session = self._get_hub_session(model)
             model = self.session.model_file
 
         # Check if Triton Server model
         elif self.is_triton_model(model):
-            self.model = model
+            self.model_name = self.model = model
             self.task = task
             return
 
         # Load or create new YOLO model
-        model = checks.check_model_file_from_stem(model)  # add suffix, i.e. yolov8n -> yolov8n.pt
         if Path(model).suffix in (".yaml", ".yml"):
             self._new(model, task=task, verbose=verbose)
         else:
             self._load(model, task=task)
 
-        self.model_name = model
-
     def __call__(
         self,
         source: Union[str, Path, int, list, tuple, np.ndarray, torch.Tensor] = None,
@@ -190,8 +187,8 @@ class Model(nn.Module):
         return any(
             (
                 model.startswith(f"{HUB_WEB_ROOT}/models/"),  # i.e. https://hub.ultralytics.com/models/MODEL_ID
-                [len(x) for x in model.split("_")] == [42, 20],  # APIKEY_MODELID
-                len(model) == 20 and not Path(model).exists() and all(x not in model for x in "./\\"),  # MODELID
+                [len(x) for x in model.split("_")] == [42, 20],  # APIKEY_MODEL
+                len(model) == 20 and not Path(model).exists() and all(x not in model for x in "./\\"),  # MODEL
             )
         )
 
@@ -215,6 +212,7 @@ class Model(nn.Module):
         # Below added to allow export from YAMLs
         self.model.args = {**DEFAULT_CFG_DICT, **self.overrides}  # combine default and model args (prefer model args)
         self.model.task = self.task
+        self.model_name = cfg
 
     def _load(self, weights: str, task=None) -> None:
         """
@@ -224,19 +222,23 @@ class Model(nn.Module):
             weights (str): model checkpoint to be loaded
             task (str | None): model task
         """
-        suffix = Path(weights).suffix
-        if suffix == ".pt":
+        if weights.lower().startswith(("https://", "http://", "rtsp://", "rtmp://", "tcp://")):
+            weights = checks.check_file(weights)  # automatically download and return local filename
+        weights = checks.check_model_file_from_stem(weights)  # add suffix, i.e. yolov8n -> yolov8n.pt
+
+        if Path(weights).suffix == ".pt":
             self.model, self.ckpt = attempt_load_one_weight(weights)
             self.task = self.model.args["task"]
             self.overrides = self.model.args = self._reset_ckpt_args(self.model.args)
             self.ckpt_path = self.model.pt_path
         else:
-            weights = checks.check_file(weights)
+            weights = checks.check_file(weights)  # runs in all cases, not redundant with above call
             self.model, self.ckpt = weights, None
             self.task = task or guess_model_task(weights)
             self.ckpt_path = weights
         self.overrides["model"] = weights
         self.overrides["task"] = self.task
+        self.model_name = weights
 
     def _check_is_pytorch_model(self) -> None:
         """Raises TypeError is model is not a PyTorch model."""
diff --git a/ultralytics/hub/__init__.py b/ultralytics/hub/__init__.py
index b46bea40..4ea2fff8 100644
--- a/ultralytics/hub/__init__.py
+++ b/ultralytics/hub/__init__.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ def login(api_key: str = None, save=True) -> bool:
     Returns:
         (bool): True if authentication is successful, False otherwise.
     """
-    checks.check_requirements("hub-sdk>=0.0.2")
+    checks.check_requirements("hub-sdk>=0.0.6")
     from hub_sdk import HUBClient
 
     api_key_url = f"{HUB_WEB_ROOT}/settings?tab=api+keys"  # set the redirect URL
diff --git a/ultralytics/nn/autobackend.py b/ultralytics/nn/autobackend.py
index 89057be5..abd255c9 100644
--- a/ultralytics/nn/autobackend.py
+++ b/ultralytics/nn/autobackend.py
@@ -603,7 +603,7 @@ class AutoBackend(nn.Module):
         from ultralytics.engine.exporter import export_formats
 
         sf = list(export_formats().Suffix)  # export suffixes
-        if not is_url(p, check=False) and not isinstance(p, str):
+        if not is_url(p) and not isinstance(p, str):
             check_suffix(p, sf)  # checks
         name = Path(p).name
         types = [s in name for s in sf]
diff --git a/ultralytics/utils/checks.py b/ultralytics/utils/checks.py
index e584a5b7..5d908851 100644
--- a/ultralytics/utils/checks.py
+++ b/ultralytics/utils/checks.py
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ def check_font(font="Arial.ttf"):
 
     # Download to USER_CONFIG_DIR if missing
     url = f"https://ultralytics.com/assets/{name}"
-    if downloads.is_url(url):
+    if downloads.is_url(url, check=True):
         downloads.safe_download(url=url, file=file)
         return file
 
@@ -498,7 +498,7 @@ def check_file(file, suffix="", download=True, hard=True):
             raise FileNotFoundError(f"'{file}' does not exist")
         elif len(files) > 1 and hard:
             raise FileNotFoundError(f"Multiple files match '{file}', specify exact path: {files}")
-        return files[0] if len(files) else []  # return file
+        return files[0] if len(files) else [] if hard else file  # return file
 
 
 def check_yaml(file, suffix=(".yaml", ".yml"), hard=True):
diff --git a/ultralytics/utils/downloads.py b/ultralytics/utils/downloads.py
index c9c33a85..6191ade2 100644
--- a/ultralytics/utils/downloads.py
+++ b/ultralytics/utils/downloads.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ GITHUB_ASSETS_NAMES = (
 GITHUB_ASSETS_STEMS = [Path(k).stem for k in GITHUB_ASSETS_NAMES]
 
 
-def is_url(url, check=True):
+def is_url(url, check=False):
     """
     Validates if the given string is a URL and optionally checks if the URL exists online.