Apple TV How to enable Hulu on Apple TV

[dgalvan123]

By the way, between the various plugins developed by the community of XBMC and the fact that none of the original ATV functions is altered, jailbreaking ATV2 is an absolute must!

FYI, there is an alternative to the long list of steps and typing in all that command lines. . .

Thanks very much for posting this CocoaPuff! I would endorse these alternate steps as an option for anyone who is not comfortable using the Terminal command line.

I'll just make two comments:

1. Purchase and download aTV Flash: http://firecore.com/atvflash-black

2. Run the self-installing .dmg file that will upload and install necessary files that enable a new menu on your ATV2 called "Maintenance."

3. Under Maintenance, installing nitoTV and XBMC (plus several other apps) is as easy as click-and-go.

This would replace Steps 4-9 of my original post. Note, though, that ATV-Flash Black costs $30. Without the verbose explanations in my original post, the following set of 5 commands are what you would be avoiding by purchasing ATV-Flash black:

ssh –l root 192.168.0.186 (using your specific IP address)
(enter password: "alpine")
apt-get update
apt-get install com.nito.nitoTV
killall AppleTV

ATV-Flash Black does this for you using a GUI installer instead of making you type terminal commands. Either method works, of course, but typing those 5 terminal commands is free, whereas ATV-Flash Black is not. Frankly, if installing XBMC without using the command line is the only reason the user is considering ATV-Flash Black, then I'd advocate trying the Terminal commands before paying the $30.

That said, there are other reasons one might want to purchase ATV-Flash Black: it installs a Web browser on your Apple TV, allowing you to visit websites using your remote (though it still won't play online Flash videos). It also provides a Media Player ATV application that allows you to access your remote non-iTunes content (and DVD rips) easily in a more native-looking Apple TV interface. Basically providing XBMC or Plex-like functionality with a standard ATV interface. (I haven't used ATV-Flash Black myself).

Next - Add bluecop repository to XBMC. Instead of command lines through Terminal, you can follow the alternative steps below:

4. Download a copy of free FTP software called FileZilla.

5. Load up FileZilla, select Site Manager under File, and add a New Site.

6. Enter the LAN IP address in Host, select SFTP as Servertype, enter "root" as user and "alpine" as password, and connect.

7. Copy and paste: /private/var/mobile/Media into "Remote site:" box, press enter and it will take you directly to the necessary folder.

8. Drag and drop the bluecop repository from "Local site" into the folder.

Then follow directions from 17 and onward.

This would replace steps 12-16 of my original post. This is probably an easier procedure all-around than what I posted (unless someone simply prefers to use the command line). I'll make a note referring people to your post in my original post.

 

[dgalvan123]

Is this way getting the same features as what's on atvflash (black)? How does the new 1.2 update affect this?

My original post is solely meant to allow you to jailbreak your ATV, install XBMC, and install the Hulu plugin, all for free. Installing ATVflash (black) is an alternate method that is not free, but does include additional features such as installing a webkit-based web browser and providing an iTunes alternative called Media Player to stream your non-iTunes video files from your computer. With either method, you'd still need to install the bluecop repository to get Hulu streaming.

I don't use ATV-flash black so can't comment on the 1.2 update.

and does this work with icefilms or things of that sort?

I've never tried installing icefilms. But I gather from other posts I've read that there is a plugin for it that can be installed in XBMC just like the Hulu plugin. There are a variety of plugins available both in the bluecop repository (Hulu, Amazon streaming video, ESPN3, Free Cable) and directly downloadable through XBMC (Food Network, Comedy Central, etc.) that allow you to expand the amount of streaming content you get through your ATV. Not all the plugins provide full episodes, but some do.

I have the old aTV and the new one. I assume they work very differently correct?

Yes the old ATV (big and gray) runs a version of Mac OS 10.4 Tiger while the new ATV (small and black) runs a version of iOS and is more similar to an iPad than a mac. The old ATV has an option of adding your own programs (like XBMC) that involves a USB Patchstick. Firecore also has a program (the original ATV Flash) that adds the web browser and other options (here: http://firecore.com/atvflash )

I don't own an original ATV so I don't know the details, but to answer your question yes the new and old ATV's require different methods to hack them, but there are options available for both. One option that seems available for the old one but not the new one is the ability to utilize the USB port on the device to directly connect an external hard drive. That appears not to be a possibility for the new one, though of course the new one has far more built-in options than the old one (more streaming services, for example).

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Thanks David for taking the time to put this together all in one place. And thanks for answering my questions directly and seriously, you have made this corner of the online world a better place today. So refreshing. Thanks.

No problem. When I was trying to figure out how to do this a few months ago, I noticed the resources were somewhat scattered on many different sites and forums. Since I had to re-learn how to do it when I updated my ATV to 4.4.4 anyway, I figured I might as well write it down and post it in case anyone else could find it useful. Others went through the trouble of figuring out how to do this and making it available online for my benefit. I might as well try to pay it forward.

 

[cheapa55]

Thank you again for your replies! I can't wait to get home and enable Hulu on the apple TV. Now I just need a tutorial on how to convince my wife that I'm cancelling cable.

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Yes, Icefilms indeed works. Just make sure you don't run 720HD movies from it, because divx decoder runs sluggish on ATV2 and crashes often.

Once you installed nitoTV and XBMC, both can be installed through command lines, then you won't need aTV Flash.

Thank you! I will try it out. Never knew icefilms existed until yesterday so I appreciate any tips on how to use it.

 

[dgalvan123]

Now I just need a tutorial on how to convince my wife that I'm cancelling cable.

The WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) is a significant obstacle, no joke. It took several months of me having both systems running in parallel (Hulu/EyeTV via the Apple TV AND our old Dish Network subscription) before my wife was convinced we could ditch Dish Network. If she's reluctant, the gradual approach is perhaps more likely to win her over than a "cold-turkey" cutting of the cable.

 

[CocoaPuffs]

I would pay for sports only channels if such option is available, beyond that, cable is really becoming a waste of money.

 

[marc11]

The WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) is a significant obstacle, no joke. It took several months of me having both systems running in parallel (Hulu/EyeTV via the Apple TV AND our old Dish Network subscription) before my wife was convinced we could ditch Dish Network. If she's reluctant, the gradual approach is perhaps more likely to win her over than a "cold-turkey" cutting of the cable.

Ha i am going thought that exact thing now. Running Hulu, Netflix and a host of other content channels and streams along with keeping DirecTV to show my wife she can make the switch. The mindset change I keep telling her is with my set up she decides what she wants to watch when she wants to watch it, instead of networks telling her when she can watch what they want to show. It is a hard change for some. We have been conditioned to channel surf to find something acceptable to see or to work our schedules around favorite shows.

 

[marc11]

I would pay for sports only channels if such option is available, beyond that, cable is really becoming a waste of money.

I happily purchased the MLB and nfl packages over paying for full blown cable service here in Japan. The e d savings and full sports schedule availability was well worth it.

 

[CocoaPuffs]

They don't really have college sports channels consolidated into one, else I would, too.

 

[jetlife2]

Success!

All went well with one exception: Initially I could not ssh in after the jailbreak. No password prompt with either of these:

ssh -l root <ipaddress>
ssh root@<ipaddress>

My wifi is via an Airport Extreme so in the DHCP client table I could see that the ATV had an ID string of "Apple-TV-2". So this did work:

ssh root @ Apple-TV-2.local
root @ apple-tv-2.local's password: alpine
{RSA fingerprint warning, first time only}
Apple-TV:~ root#

{note I put an extra space before and after the @, so this forum doesn't format as an email address....}

After that on subsequent logins, any method worked. Using 10.6.8 on the host mac.

Anyway, all is now cool and Hulu is up and running.

I think it is also worth mentioning the video calibration within XBMC settings. I was losing some of the screen to overscan at the edges, and that easy calibration process fixed it.

Thanks again

G

 

[mmomega]

I've had mine jailbroken for a while with SeasonPass. No use paying for a program SeasonPass is that simple.

Have Plex running on mine, full wallpaper art, etc.

Looks like I'm going to have to put Hulu on it now. Thanks for the walk-through.

 

[cheapa55]

Like others, everything went smoothly. I did notice that I had to log out of xmbc and log back on before Hulu showed up in the repository. Other than that, it works great!!!

Thanks again! I'll definitely take the advice on how to convince the wife.

 

[utbaseball30]

Thanks!

I followed all the steps, Just make sure you exit the program and come back and the hulu add on will show up along with espn and everything else

thanks again guys

 

[mrducky]

On step 13, when I type "sftp root@192.168.x.x" I receive
"ssh: connect to host 192.168.x.x port 22: Connection refused
Connection closed"

Any ideas?

 

[dgalvan123]

On step 13, when I type "sftp root@192.168.x.x" I receive
"ssh: connect to host 192.168.x.x port 22: Connection refused
Connection closed"

Any ideas?

A couple things to try:

-Are you able to successfully connect to your ATV as root using ssh? (as in step 5) Make sure you are using the Apple TV's IP address, the same one you used when you ssh'd.

-Not sure if this matters, but did you install "OpenSSH" from NitoTV on the ATV? (step 10) I'm unsure, but that may make sftp possible.

-Another thing you might try is using a GUI FTP client to transfer the zip file instead of sftp on the command line. See comment #22 above by CocoaPuff for instructions on how to do that.

 

[mrducky]

A couple things to try:

-Are you able to successfully connect to your ATV as root using ssh? (as in step 5) Make sure you are using the Apple TV's IP address, the same one you used when you ssh'd.

-Not sure if this matters, but did you install "OpenSSH" from NitoTV on the ATV? (step 10) I'm unsure, but that may make sftp possible.

-Another thing you might try is using a GUI FTP client to transfer the zip file instead of sftp on the command line. See comment #22 above by CocoaPuff for instructions on how to do that.

finally got it working!! earlier, i tried filezilla with the same connection problem. it started working after a reboot.

thanks though!

ps. this.is.amazing.

 

[thekb]

Anyone else experiencing an issue or two with the repository?
I got all the way up to finding the Hulu plugin, clicked to install it and it's stuck at Downloading 0% and never changes

The Hulu icon shows up but it's obviously not working. I don't have the error in front of me at this point but wanted to run this by everyone.

All the other bluecop add-ons show the same thing when trying to install reddit videos or amazon addon

First of all ... THANKS. Very detailed step-by-step instructions that were very easy to follow.

However, I am also having this problem. Everything I try to add sticks at 0% downloading and when I try to run it, it says Error, script failed, plug-in.hulu.something or other. The only exception is HGTV, which went to 84% and then stalled. Since the HGTV downloaded, some, I am thinking it may not be a bad zip file? Phillip did you ever get yours working?

Also, how do I change the weather to Farenheit and how do I set the clock?

 

[morval]

First of all ... THANKS. Very detailed step-by-step instructions that were very easy to follow.

However, I am also having this problem. Everything I try to add sticks at 0% downloading and when I try to run it, it says Error, script failed, plug-in.hulu.something or other. The only exception is HGTV, which went to 84% and then stalled. Since the HGTV downloaded, some, I am thinking it may not be a bad zip file? Phillip did you ever get yours working?

Also, how do I change the weather to Farenheit and how do I set the clock?

im having the same problem.

the first hulu add plays fine then i get kicked out to the previous show menu.

 

[thekb]

Success! I redownloaded the zip file from the second link OP provided and this one worked. I don't know what the problem was with the first zip file, but when I repeated the guide steps with the new download, Hulu and HGTV are now working. I will try some others as well, but wanted to report what worked for me.

PS - Still don't know how to switch from celsius or how to set the clock!

 

[Ccrew]

Curious, anyone running this under XBMC 11/Eden? I can load the repository with no issues, but no available plugins.

Yah, I know. It's a 2010 repository upload date and it's 2012

 

[marc11]

Curious, anyone running this under XBMC 11/Eden? I can load the repository with no issues, but no available plugins.

Yah, I know. It's a 2010 repository upload date and it's 2012

Yes I am. At first the plug in didn't show but logging out and back in allowed the plug in to show up. No idea why.

 

[Ccrew]

Yes I am. At first the plug in didn't show but logging out and back in allowed the plug in to show up. No idea why.

Thanks, found the problem. There's actually an update for it and until you log out and back in it's not seen. Once you do that it's available.

 

[rubencito]

atv2

Curious, anyone running this under XBMC 11/Eden? I can load the repository with no issues, but no available plugins.

Yah, I know. It's a 2010 repository upload date and it's 2012

wondering if you can give me some insight i have my atv2 jail broken and haveinstalled xmbc and 11/eden how do i get hulu and icefilms once xmbc installed do i need to install nito tv?
any help would be appreciated

 

[Ccrew]

wondering if you can give me some insight i have my atv2 jail broken and haveinstalled xmbc and 11/eden how do i get hulu and icefilms once xmbc installed do i need to install nito tv?
any help would be appreciated

Naa, just have to SFTP in and put in the bluecop and anarchists repositories.

The OP has done a good job of detailing the Bluecop one in this thread. Icefilms pretty much got kicked to the curb by XBMC and can be found here:

http://xbmchub.info/

I will say with the death of megaupload, I wouldn't be overly concerned about getting the Icefilms one to work right now, it's pretty much useless with only a small fraction of it's original content.

 

[rubencito]

Hulu

wondering if you can give me some insight i have my atv2 jail broken and haveinstalled xmbc and 11/eden how do i get hulu and icefilms once xmbc installed do i need to install nito tv?
any help would be appreciated

got Hulu going, however I live in Canada so is a no go. That sucks

 

[Morgandes]

did you find a way to install and run firefox onto apple tv2?

I'm outside US and can access hulu via server proxy only with a macbook.

I think firefox and foxyproxy plug-in could do the job but I have no idea how to mount it.

moreover, once I have installed it, could I input strings via ipad remote or alternatively via keyboard and mouse? thanks in advance for your answer, your post was very good to me as I'm new to jailbreak at all