Hacking Windows 7 Media Center

Adding Hulu Desktop to Media Center

by Michael Healy @ 9:00 am on May 30th, 2009 in plugins, programs, streaming tv with 10 Comments

hulu logo As you most likely know by now Hulu has revealed at long last it’s own desktop application for browsing Hulu content outside of the web browser. Of course, the Media Center community immediately jumped into action to bring this new platform into your Media Center setup. While not quite what would be described as “integrated” it will get the job done none-the-less.

hulu desktop

The first step you’ll need to do for all of these methods is to download the new Hulu Desktop client from the Hulu Labs website. Once you’ve done that you could do things the manual way and follow the guides on Hack7MC for Media Center Launcher and Configurator then Creating New Start Menu Strips. You could also edit one of these registry files included in the Extra Programs for our Media Browser menu strip and add Hulu Desktop to that strip.

Although, if that seems like an awful lot of legwork to you there are a few other options to have a look at. The first is this solution from Missing Remote providing a plug-in and some directions to add a Hulu Desktop Icon to menu strip. It still requires a bit of work for you and may not work fully with Windows 7 Media Center since additions to the default menu strips are no longer allowed. You should be able to find the new app listed in Extra Programs with this method however.

The other option is a plug-in from SecondRun.tv developer Yaggs. This plug-in is essentially the same as the Missing Remote except slightly simplified. For some reason you’re required to make a copy of the Hulu Desktop application in your root C:\ drive though. This should provide the easiest method for beginners but the least customizability.

hulu playing glee episode

No matter which option you choose you’ll get Hulu on your ten foot interface but it won’t be the holy grail. None of these solutions will work on extenders as Hulu desktop is developed entirely in Flash. The interface could carry some learning curve as well for the less technical family members since it’s quite a departure from the Media Center interface.

This may signal some level of receptiveness to distribution of Hulu content outside the browser but I wouldn’t hold your breath for Microsoft and Hulu to sign a deal any time soon. In fact, I’d expect to see Microsoft pushing it’s abhorrent Internet TV betas on us for the next decade or so.

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10 Comments


fl0PPsy
Comment #1350 from fl0PPsy [Reply]

Its so frustrating that all these great video services are useless to us down here in Australia. Sure we can use proxies and so forth but its never reliable.

Here’s hoping that we’ll finaly see some similar services down under.

Comment left May 30, 2009 at 10:04 pm Permanent Link

simon
@Reply #1374 from simon [Reply]

ha, ur funny – as if aus will get that. lets see…. with 4 money hungry major tv stations controlling the media and content… fat chance ull see a hulu our way any time in the next 10 years

Comment left June 1, 2009 at 9:15 am Permanent Link

PONKiE
@Reply #1391 from PONKiE [Reply]

Hi Flopsy…
Guess what !!
I’m from Holland… and I’m watching Hulu !!!
:D :D

I also watch Heroes episodes on the NBC site, even though it’s for US only.

“How on earth did he do that ?! Will work for me ?!” I hear you ask ;)
Well…
I don’t know if it’ll work for you, but it seems to work for a lot of countries.

I installed a program that masks you real location, fooling the sites into thinking you’re a local.
The program is called “Hotspot Shield” and you can find it here: http://www.hotspotshield.com/
With this program running in the background, you can watch almost anything you want.
Atleast I can.

Hope this works for you.

Comment left June 2, 2009 at 9:05 am Permanent Link

Uncle Abe
@Reply #9923 from Uncle Abe [Reply]

@fl0PPsy, I’m American Military (US Marine) and recently got stationed overseas in Europe and suddenly found myself no longer unable to access Pandora & Netflix (GEOIP blocked from outside the US). I tried Hotspot Shield and Proxies but they just doesn’t work consistently (always blocked by Hulu!) Also the same story for the other media sites (ESPN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox). Luckily, I finally found a work around for and can access both UK and US programming via a VPN connection.

Also, here’s a good regularly updated list of all the current US & UK streaming TV media sites:

http://www.vpntelevision.com

Hope this helps,

Uncle Abe

Comment left April 18, 2010 at 12:50 pm Permanent Link

fl0PPsy
Comment #1385 from fl0PPsy [Reply]

Well, its nice to want things I guess ;)

Comment left June 2, 2009 at 12:55 am Permanent Link

PONKiE
@Reply #1392 from PONKiE [Reply]

Well, you know, I’ve been seriously WANTING to watch Heroes on the nbc site. Escpecially Webisodes so I wouldn’t have to resort to illegal/rapidshare ways to get to see them ;)

I never gave up man ! lol…
And look what I found ;)

Comment left June 2, 2009 at 9:15 am Permanent Link

gilly
Comment #1597 from gilly [Reply]

What’s the deal with Microsoft’s lack of internet video integration? Also, why is everyone trying to reinvent the wheel??? Hulu is the perfect setup: a central place for accessing content. But, Vista Media Center is the perfect interface. So, why not let Hulu do what they do and collect the content, then let Microsoft do what they do best: building the interface!

It’s very frustrating that MS has not been able to wield their HUGE power in this industry to get everyone to make content available for them. I mean, they JUST got a media center plugin for Netflix… and it doesn’t even work on extenders!!! If MS wants to run the living room, HURRY UP ALREADY! The technology is there for them to have a Home Server that can store and distribute content. Extenders exist so we can grab the content. Now give us the dang content!!!

It’s frustrating when the technology isn’t quite where it should be. It’s even more frustrating when the technology is there, just not utilized.

Comment left June 12, 2009 at 2:44 pm Permanent Link

Lew V
Comment #3182 from Lew V [Reply]

I have installed Hotspot Shield in Windows 7, but it says Page not Found when I try to connect!

Comment left September 10, 2009 at 1:50 pm Permanent Link

jkelly
Comment #4037 from jkelly [Reply]

there is this new program that puts hulu in media center and gives it a nice start up icon here -

http://huluwmc.teknowebworks.com/

Comment left October 17, 2009 at 12:11 am Permanent Link

Sean
Comment #7582 from Sean [Reply]

JKelly you are the man. The hulu addin by teknowebworks is far better.

It kills MCE and Starts Hulu, and vice versa. Unlike the default plugin available from secondrun which leave mce running. (this can cause issues if you hit wrong key on remote during hulu playback!)

Remote up, down, left, right functions do not break when returning to MCE from HULU. I found this happening with second run’s plugin.

Teknowebworks also provides a better menu to access HULU.

Comment left February 10, 2010 at 9:05 pm Permanent Link

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