I'm using Boxee on a MacBook Pro attached to my HDTV right now, so I kinda want one of these. (Though I wish it didn't look like a cube melting into the shelf)
A little worried for those guys, though, since it'll probably be about that time the $99 Apple TV (iPhone-without-a-screen) and Google TV devices start hitting shelves.
Forget the Apple TV. The Apple TV doesn't even play 20% of the media I own. Boxee plays 100% of it. And the Boxee interface is much better. And you can write programs to make it do even more.
I wish Boxee would have put more effort into fixing their software bugs before releasing this. The whole point of Boxee is that it's supposed to do everything and play all of you media, which I commend them for. However, there is a major flaw with their audio interface that is causing an issue for a slew of users who have AC3/DTS compatible sound systems. They don't even seem to be responding to the thread about the issue in their own forum.
I agree with djmeph. Their software is far from stable or reliable in my experience, but they're on to pushing out the box. I've more or less stopped using it and went back to the infinitely more reliable XBMC, which Boxee is based on anyway. I don't know how they can be based on such a rock-solid and proven code base but turn out such a buggy, unreliable app.
The software is still in Beta, and the box isn't being released until November. You can do an amazing amount of bug fixing in that time. Even if there are still bugs (which there certainly will be), software updates will be made available after the product is released.
This product has been leap-frogged.
My parents own one of these TVs and the YouTube integration, Netflix streaming, and Windows Media Server integration all work flawlessly.
Les, does it upscale to 1080p with XviD/DiVX/H.264 files? Is the quality good?
Boxee on my MBP does all the above, and I can use my iPod Touch as a remote control. Apple TV? Who knows, though it probably will claim to summon unicorns capable of performing fellatio. Google TV? Well... it'll probably offer zebras with braces, but the zebras will be cool to hang out with.
The software is still in Beta, and the box isn't being released until November. You can do an amazing amount of bug fixing in that time. Even if there are still bugs (which there certainly will be), software updates will be made available after the product is released.
Understand all that. My gripe was that they seem to have stopped working on the software completely to push out the box. Since they started by making a cool software platform, it just seems to me like they should work out the bugs before they get hung up making a gadget. I don't think they've released an updated version of their software since before I built my HTPC (almost 6 months ago). Doesn't seem to me like they give a crap.
This article actually reminded me to try boxee on my HTPC the other day and while I like the layout and direction it looks headed, I could not get the thing to play any streamed vid with any note of smoothness, either due to frame skipping or the stream cutting off frequently. I'll fully admit my setup isn't the best, but xbmc runs much better playing the same media for me.
I think with a fixed platform to develop on (the boxee box), they should have a much more reliable base to build from, but it will definitely be interesting to see how it works when released.
Hmm... that's strange. When I've tried to install their packages recently it tells me it's still the same version that I installed well before April. I really wish they would open a PPA repo for Ubuntu instead of just direct download for their packages. It would make trying to keep their updates straight so much easier.
mertesn
I am Bobby MillerYukon, OK Icrontian
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A little worried for those guys, though, since it'll probably be about that time the $99 Apple TV (iPhone-without-a-screen) and Google TV devices start hitting shelves.
http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=100
In the meantime I'm still using VLC to play anything with 5.1 sound.
My parents own one of these TVs and the YouTube integration, Netflix streaming, and Windows Media Server integration all work flawlessly.
(You were joking, right? For all the people that already have TVs, and comparing a $200 device to something 14 times as expensive?)
Boxee on my MBP does all the above, and I can use my iPod Touch as a remote control. Apple TV? Who knows, though it probably will claim to summon unicorns capable of performing fellatio. Google TV? Well... it'll probably offer zebras with braces, but the zebras will be cool to hang out with.
Understand all that. My gripe was that they seem to have stopped working on the software completely to push out the box. Since they started by making a cool software platform, it just seems to me like they should work out the bugs before they get hung up making a gadget. I don't think they've released an updated version of their software since before I built my HTPC (almost 6 months ago). Doesn't seem to me like they give a crap.
If you're curious, their development roadmap is here. It should provide some visibility on their progress.
Boxee is progressing well, and the number of outstanding issues before a 1.0 release is quickly dropping.
I think with a fixed platform to develop on (the boxee box), they should have a much more reliable base to build from, but it will definitely be interesting to see how it works when released.