NBC's online video site, Hulu, has launched a desktop app that allows Mac users to watch Hulu content without using a web browser, and with full Apple Remote support. After all of the boxee nastiness, I'm a bit surprised by the development. That doesn't mean this isn't still exciting.

For some background, Hulu has been involved in a back-and-forth battle with the social media center application, boxee, which allows users to access online content from their Mac or Apple TV and makes big-screen viewing a pleasure. The last big boxee update changed how boxee serves Hulu content, in an effort to make it more difficult for Hulu to pull the plug.

Hulu's justification (well, one of many justifications) for going after boxee was that the content is designed to be viewed from a web browser and not from the couch. Although the tagline for Hulu Desktop, "Lean-back viewing for your PC," keeps the sematic difference between a 24" LCD monitor and a 25" LCD TV in check, the execution, especially with extensive remote support, seems to say something else.

I don't know, maybe Hulu really believes that people won't be using this application with their TV-connected Macs or Windows Media PCs, but this app certainly feels like it was meant for big screens.

Regardless of the double-speak, how well does this application actually work? Well, based on my limited testing (I did want to get this post done), it is awesome. I totally want to figure out if the arbitrary system requirements can be bypassed so this can get running on the Apple TV.


The Interface

The interface is great. Although Hulu Desktop didn't take up the full-screen of my 22" external monitor when it was initially launched, a quick ⌘-F will take you full screen. I should also note that the size of the application window was larger than 1280x800 by default, so mobile users might get the "full screen" upon launch experience.

The Apple remote works flawlessly with the Hulu application. My only problem was with my screensaver -- unlike FrontRow, Hulu doesn't turn the screensaver off when playing back content. I also managed to crash the application, but that's to be expected.

All in all, finding programming to watch is easy and intutiive, not unlike the original Hulu implementation in boxee. Switching from playing a program to searching for others is easy (the Menu button) and fast-forwarding through content is a joy. As a long-time boxee user who hates trying to fast-forward or rewind Hulu playback (even before they switched serving mechanisms), this is nice. By default, my Internet connection played back everything at High Quality (you can adjust this in the settings), and the quality looked even better than in the browser.

Boxee is having a massive meet-up in NYC tonight and is unveiling a new version of the alpha that brings more features, some Hulu manageability, and a new API. Fire up the update function in your Apple TV or OS X copies of boxee and get in on the fun!

Tonight's new release brings in some new features and workarounds to existing services:

• The excellent music service, Pandora, is now built-into boxee, using the new boxee API
• Speaking of the API, it should now be easier than ever for users to contribute add-ons to the project to integrate new service
• BoxeeHQ has launched its PBS App Box app. It's pretty solid and provides access to many of public broadcasting's best content
• A new XUL-based browser for Hulu and other content. This is big, because XUL is the framework that Mozilla uses for Firefox, meaning, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to restrict access to RSS streams accessed by boxee.
• RadioTime support for over 100,000 terrestrial radio stations that can be streamed worldwide.

If you are on your Apple TV, just go to the Downloads section in Launcher and grab the latest version. Mac users can either download the latest version from boxee.tv or use the new auto-update feature to grab the latest release.

And of course, controlling boxee is now even easier using the free remote for the iPhone and iPod touch.

It's a pretty awesome day to be a Netflix fan. Not only is the Watch Instantly service officially available for OS X, it's also now working via boxee, my favorite media center application!

Boxee pushed out an impromptu update last week for Apple TV owners, specifically to address issues with the 2.3 firmware update. Today's update is targeted at all boxee versions and adds a host of new features, including the big dog: Netflix support for US customers. Note: Netflix support is currently only in the Mac version of boxee. The boxee team is working hard to bring it to the Apple TV, but they need to work around some of the hardware limitations. They'll be posting updates on the boxee blog on their progress.

Here's the rundown:

• Netflix support for Mac users
  
• Improved Hulu performance and a new Hulu interface, including access to your personal Hulu queues
• Access to TheWB.com (US only unless you use a proxy)
  
• The Boston Globe's Big Picture blog - amazing photos from around the world
• MTVMusic - songs/artists in your collection are now linked with music videos
• New YouTube interface, improved performance and .h264 support
• Custom interfaces and improved playback for CNN, Flickr and Picasa

All in all, this is a pretty stellar update. When I talked to the team from boxee last week, they made it clear that Neflix was the #1 priority. That they got Netflx running in boxee in under two weeks is nothing short of amazing. Yes, I do wish that support would be extended to Apple TV users, but I can be patient.

If you haven't tried boxee, you can go to http://boxee.tv/tuaw and get an invite. You'll need an Intel Mac running OS X 10.4 or OS X 10.5 or an Apple TV. Boxee is also available for Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04, though I'm unsure if the team was able to implement Netflix support for Ubuntu yet.

Give it a shot and tell us what you think in the comments!