Hulu Plugin (1 Viewer)

[apollocre]

The plugin now works with any resolution. I've also included the Blue3wide skin. If you want another skin, copy the contents out of Blue3 or Blue3wide, but make sure to grab the 2 images in the media folder also.

The delay until fullscreen is now customizable, in case it takes too long/is too fast for your computer. In the event that it doesn't click in the right location, you can customize where it clicks also, but you shouldn't need to.

In the future, I'll add the movies section and the ability to browse by genre.

Since I'm going to continue development, I'll call this version 0.5.

To install, extract the archive to mediaportal's install directory.

On Saturday I started a project to write a plugin to access Hulu, but then the very next day I found out about hulu's own hulu-desktop which is great. For the sake of sharing I've uploaded what I had done so far to see if anyone is interested in it.

First, it only works in 1024x768 resolution since that's what I was working in at the time. Next, once the show is playing you have to use the [ESC] key in order to get back to mediaportal. Lastly, it only works for the TV Show portion of hulu.

The website will popup and automatically go fullscreen after a few moments.

Also, it only comes with a blue3 skin. So if you feel like it, try it out and let me know what you think. This is the first plugin I've ever written for anything, so I'm open to comments/criticism.

It uses Autoit for some automation parts, which is a great tool to use to automate pretty much any Windows program.

To install, just unzip in mediaportal's install directory.

UPDATE 1/30/10:

I've been away a for another long while and didn't know the plugin was no longer working. I patched it up and have reuploaded it. If you had to adjust the time settings, you will need to again.

UPDATE 8/26/09:

Due to a change in Hulu's website, the plugin lost functionality. I've been without any computer for a few months, so I wasn't aware of it. Anyway, I've patched the issues and uploaded the new version 0.6.

The way this plugin works is via the rss feeds of each show, so in order for the episodes to list properly, the episodes must be under shown under Episodes when you view it on the website. I've only found a few that aren't listed this way, but if you find any, let me know!

As before, unzip to mediaportal's install directory.

 

[apollocre]

As it turns out, the skin will work for any 4:3 skin. Just copy the HuluPlugin.xml and the two images in the media folder over to the skin you want to use folder. The only real requirement is that the resolution has to be 1024x768, but that could be easily fixed if someone wanted me to.

 

[Kulaa]

This is awesome now can you make it work with 1080P as on a larger TV. Excellent work!!

 

[apollocre]

It can play the hi-def steam now. It uses Internet Explorer to play the show so if you create an account at hulu and stay logged in, you can adjust the settings at hulu.com to play hi-def by default.

 

[Kulaa]

I did not specify, are you saying it will work with a Skin that is 1920x1080 or just 1024x768?

 

[apollocre]

Sorry, I didn't realize what you meant. For a change like that I'd need to update the plugin. I wanted to see if anyone would use it before I continued. I'd be happy to if you'd like.

 

[Kulaa]

Hulu is the only thing missing from MediaPortal. I would love for you to work on it. I also use a Universal Remote if that affects Plugin creation.

 

[Lolento]

You should continue to work on this plugin. I use the Hulu desktop myself but would much prefer a native Mediaportal solution!

 

[apollocre]

Just letting you know I've updated the plugin, it's in the first post. Thanks for actually using it. It feels pretty cool to have someone like something I programmed.

 

[Kulaa]

Thank you for the work. If I could do it I would, glad we have this opensource software to customize.