Without a doubt the biggest news in the Media Center community this week was the launch of a new plugin called SecondRun.tv. The premise is simple, and it only takes one word to get you excited: Hulu. If you’re unfamiliar with the service let me briefly bring you up to speed. Hulu is the granddaddy of streaming television content on your PC. Hulu is deals with most of the major networks plus many cable channels.
Almost since the launch of Hulu Media Center users have been longing to access it through their favorite HTPC software. So when Yaggs announced earlier this week that he had Hulu working in Media Center you can understand why just about every MC blog had a story up about it. Frankly, I’ve never seen so many people get this excited about a Media Center plugin before it was even available!
So now that you are up to speed its time to get into the details. First off: installation. It installed with absolutely no problems on my Windows 7 box, so fortunately there isn’t much to talk about there. Once inside Media Center you can find it in the Extras Library. Fire it up from there and you are greeted with a beautiful screen displaying all of the different networks that are available. The list isn’t small either. One day after its official release and I have access to 19 different networks including Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC, Sci Fi, Disney, and more.
Select your network and it displays all of the available shows from that network. It displays beautiful posters for most of the shows. Some of the shows don’t have posters yet, but Yaggs has said that they will be coming, and that you won’t have to reinstall the plugin to get them. Hopefully the posters are enough for you to identify the shows, because while the title is below them, along with a description, the font is entirely too small to read. Honestly the descriptions of the shows could be filled with vulgar language and “your mom” jokes and I would have no idea. This really isn’t a big deal though as the posters are so beautiful.
After selecting a show you are taken to a screen that displays all of the available episodes for that given show. This screen is even more gorgeous than the previous as it displays another poster for the show that takes up about 75% of the screen. There are then thumbnails for the individual episodes below.
Select an episode and the magic happens. After a brief pause, about 10 seconds for me, the Hulu window with the episode inside of it fills the Media Center display. Give it a few more seconds and it goes full screen.
So, does it work?
Absolutely! There are still missing posters, but those should be up soon. There are some big delays while waiting for the content to load, but it still beats waiting for a show to download over bittorrent! Does it totally fill the screen, even in SD? No, but its definitely big enough. There actually is one other quirk that most people, myself included, have ran into. The first time you attempt to watch an episode a dialog appears telling you that the content you are watching is not designed for Media Center. There is a check box to make the dialog never show up again, and a Watch Now button to press, and you’ll never be bothered by it again.
So, does it work on extenders?
As most of you know, this is a huge question for me as 95% of my Media Center usage is through my XBOX 360. It doesn’t entirely work. The menu system works great, but the streaming of the shows still has a lot of issues. The biggest two are: no sound, and the video doesn’t go into full-screen mode. Those are obvious deal killers.
So, would I recommend it?
It depends on how you’re using Media Center. If you’re using a computer, and not an extender, then it totally works. If you’re using an extender, you’re going to have to wait. Overall it shows great promise, and Yaggs has shown great commitment to quickly squashing bugs and churning out new releases. Definitely keep your eyes on this plugin.