Launching Hulu Desktop from Front Row

If you use a Mac, you’ll likely know about Front Row, the included Media Center interface built into Apple’s OS X software. It is a very elegant and easy way to access your media content on your computer. That’s nice, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could access Hulu’s free television over the internet from that very same pretty interface? With a free Front Row plugin you can. Read on to find out how.

Front Row is a convenient media center experience. When activated (either by choosing Front Row from the application menu, clicking the menu button on your Apple remote or hitting the command and escape keys together) the computer screen slides away to reveal a media menu that allows you to listen to music, podcasts, watch movies or browse your photo collection. The problem is that you only have access to your media associated with iTunes or iPhoto. Nice, but somewhat limiting. You probably enjoy watching free TV on Hulu, or better yet, use the free Hulu Desktop application to watch your favorite shows. With the free Hulu Front Row plugin, you can add an option to your Front Row menu to launch Hulu Desktop. Choosing Hulu from the menu will launch the desktop application and closing Hulu will return you back to Front Row.

Here’s how to do it.

1) Install Hulu Desktop
The first thing you need to do is install the Hulu Desktop application [ADD LINK] by following the instructions in the link. You should run the Hulu Desktop app at least once so that you accept the End User License Agreement (EULA). So open the app, accept the EULA and then quit Hulu Desktop.

2) Work out which version of Mac OS X your have
Next we need to know what version of Mac OS X you are running. The plugin works with the Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard versions of the operating system on Intel Macs but there is special version of the software for the latest, Snow Leopard version. To tell which version you have, click the Apple logo at the top left corner of your screen and choose ‘About this Mac’. What I see on my Mac is show below.

If you see Version 10.6.something (the current version at the time of writing is 10.6.3), then you have Snow Leopard and you should use the Snow Leopard Hulu Plugin Link. Otherwise (10.4 or 10.5) you should use the Older Hulu Plugin Link.

3) Download and install the Plugin
Click the appropriate link for you above and follow the instructions to download and install it. A DMG file will download and should then display a Finder window like the one below that will allow you to install the appliance by dragging it to the alias to the Plugins Folder in the window.

That’s it. Start Front Row and you should have a Hulu option front and center to choose from. Happy viewing!!

Thanks to Hole in the Ceiling for developing these excellent plugins!!

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