i think it's a pretty good first effort on Hulu's part, but very, very sketchy given all the effort they've done to shut others down. I've got a whole writeup at MissingRemote: http://www.missingremote.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3497&Itemid=236

this works great... this is what internet tv should be. installed in about a minute, not set up to speak of, intuitive controls, auto adjust to higher resolutions.

Now if only they did 720p 5.1 audio, it would be perfect

Edit: Use Secondrun.tv or MissingRemotes installer instead.

This is REALLY cool. I just used MC MenuMender to add it to my VMC TV Pack machine and it TOTALLY rocks.

Just a simple checkbox in MCMM to tell it to stop playback of the now playing upon launch and that's it! Launches full screen--MCE remote works great--clicking exit in the app or the green button brings her back in VMC.

Now that I have an xbox I have to be like all the rest of the extender folks..... Will this work on an extender? :) (My MCMM App doesn't show up on my xbox)

The biggest thing that annoys me about it is that it starts playing some random video when you start it.  Doesn't seem to be any way to keep it from doing that.

digitalfreak:

The biggest thing that annoys me about it is that it starts playing some random video when you start it.  Doesn't seem to be any way to keep it from doing that.

It's not entirely random. It actually will continue the last video that you were playing. I'm sure it's convenient for some, but i'm with you, i would wish they would make it a feature that could be enabled.

3rob3:

Thought I'd share an installer I made to launch Hulu Desktop from Media Center. This was made by modifying MissingRemote.com's Boxee launcher. Instructions: 1. Of course first install Hulu Desktop 2. Download HuluMCE.zip from here: http://users.zoominternet.net/~robrogers/Files/HuluMCE.zip 3. Unzip it to C:\HuluMCE\. From that folder run InstallHulu.cmd as admin. 4. That's it! You can start it from the Extra's strip in Win7, or the Picture & Videos strip in Vista. This is for x86 installs. If you are on x64 you will need to edit the .cmd and xml files. The launcher is supposed to automatically maximize Media Center after exiting Hulu, but it is not working on my Win7 install. It may work correctly in Vista.

Stupid Question: Does it work on Extenders?

no. Hulu Desktop is a Flash/Windows Application, so it will absolutely NOT work on Extenders (which would need to be in MCE/MCML to work)

shadymg:

no. Hulu Desktop is a Flash/Windows Application, so it will absolutely NOT work on Extenders (which would need to be in MCE/MCML to work)

How does XM radio work on extenders.  I'm pretty sure that's flash.  If you don't have flash installed when you first try to run XM app on the extenders it will tell you that you need to install Flash.  I have a feeling you could get this to work on an extender.

http://www.secondrun.tv/

From Yaggs.... check it out he built a plug in that launches the Hulu desktop app. This guy is great.....honestly.

I'm very very happy with this addition.  I've always hated having to get up, go over to the TV and try to navigation a 42" Plasma with a regular mouse and keyboard, and go to hulu.com, etc, etc.  I loved SecondRun when it came out, but of course this is a bit easier to use.  So this is much more convenient, and I can see my wife actually using this.  I still haven't gotten it to run from MC, but will work on that over the weekend.

I tried secondrun's quick add-in, but the button doesn't work.  I'll have to figure out what I did wrong, or try one of the other add-in's.  I am on Vista MC, so should probably upgrade to 7 and see what that experience is like.

Nice work by Hulu.  I don't know why every other media application hasn't adopted the MC and Apple remotes.  Not that hard to program, come on.

Richard

Chris - Moderator:

The name "Hulu Desktop" still doesn't imply they want it on a TV.  Their marketing for it seems to be very focused on PC.

Brent has a great post that looks at the TOS for Hulu Desktop and specifically notes that it is for "Personal Computers" only.
http://www.geektonic.com/2009/05/hulu-desktop-fine-print-non-computers.html

Chris - Moderator:

Chris - Moderator:

The name "Hulu Desktop" still doesn't imply they want it on a TV.  Their marketing for it seems to be very focused on PC.

Brent has a great post that looks at the TOS for Hulu Desktop and specifically notes that it is for "Personal Computers" only.
http://www.geektonic.com/2009/05/hulu-desktop-fine-print-non-computers.html

Media Center is that fine line...because it is a computer app and a good chunk of people use it as that, not everyone here has it setup as a dedicated HTPC.

With that being said, will we see a intergrated Hulu plugin for MC ? No, I don't forsee it coming...

I'll take what we have though, load it the same way we have been loading blu-ray players for a while now, as seamless as we can get with it out being a native app. The quality is a major step up from even internet tv in MC, so far, so good.

Just wish they would enable the DVR controls (play, rew, ff, pause, stop), then I would be fully happy.

DavidinCT:

Just wish they would enable the DVR controls (play, rew, ff, pause, stop), then I would be fully happy.

On HULU desktop? They did. On the remote, it's the navigation buttons. OK = PLAY/PAUSE, left/right is RW/FF. Or did you mean you wish they would map those to the correct keys?

I'm just keeping HULU open full screen on the PC and closing MC using the remote when I want to use it. When I'm ready for MC I just green button it.

mjp14:

I dont want to steal his (Mikinhosoft) thunder but this program does just that.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Launchers-Shutdown-Tools/Media-Center-Launcher.shtml

I have this working and it works pretty well.  You just have to change the .ini file to call the hulu exe instead of the powerDVD.

Actually, this is a more flexible launcher program:

http://chaddyess.com/2009-01/media-center-launcher-configurator/