a boxee box?
when we give demos of boxee we frequently get asked the question “looks great, but how do i get it running on my TV?”. today our answer is “you need to connect a mac/windows/linux computer to your TV, or install boxee on an Apple TV”.
the issue with connecting a computer to the TV is that if you don’t have an extra one lying around, then you’re looking at ~ $500 investment (Mac Mini or Dell Studio). getting boxee on Apple TV is not simple enough for many users (plus boxee is not optimized for the Apple TV hardware, Netflix doesn’t work on it, etc.).
during CES we were approached by several device makers that wanted to speak with us about embedding boxee into existing or future products. we would love to get your input on whether it is relevant for you, what will you want to see in a boxee-based device, and how much will you be willing to pay for it..
it will take a long time till boxee will get embedded into a device, but your feedback could help us as we start talking with these potential partners.
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An affordable set top box based on Nvidia Ion would be awesome. It should be open as possible. If I can run Boxxee as well as MythTV (frontend) I would buy 3 of them. Flexibility and price are key. Encourage community involvement and hackability. DO NOT LOCK THE DEVICE! You will be amazed at what people come up with.
Boxee should steer clear of developing their own box. Perfect the software and a certification process for manufactures and others will do the hardware work for you.
With the increasing development of wifi-enabled products, set-top boxes are going to be yesterday’s fad soon enough. It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine “Boxee certified” wifi-enabled TVs and blu-ray players in the near future.
I also think Boxee should break out of the internet-to-tv-only model and work it from both sides. It would be great to see Boxee also partner with cable-box manufacturers to put Boxee on cable STBs.
I would love a boxee box for some situations, like the bedroom or guest room TV. It would be a great way to stream music videos to rooms that do not currently have that option. I wouldn’t use a boxee STB for my theater room, I already have built my own.
I love the Boxee idea and Love the proposed features, but for the love of god CAN WE HAVE SUPPORT FOR CANADA!!! get on it FCC and CRTC need to apporve this!
I wouldn’t pay for a set-top box, and I certainly wouldn’t pay the “magic” $200 price tag when you offer it for free.
I *WOULD* pay 4.99 for boxee as an application on the PS3 online store. As the survey suggests, I don’t need another box, I’d rather just upgrade the most powerful one connected to my TV.
Pitch this idea to Sony; they already have the killer hardware and this would help unify the PS community through media. Also, if you can ensure the PS3 exclusive console support they may be more willing to jump on the idea since it will distinguish them from the competition.
If you could just get Sony to help you out w/ hardware issues the PS3 is your ultimate set-top box
as long it can play 720p & 1080p MKV files thats all we need, right now apple tv can’t handle it.
I just found this yesterday:
http://beagleboard.org/hardware
It has HDMI output (only 720p, I think), some hardware accelleration and Linux.
It would be almost all you need, but I guess there isnt’t an official ARM Linux FlashPlayer available yet
I believe the best device would be a small Roku style box, possibly with a small hard drive. Make a barebones kit for enthusiasts to pop in their own HD and a finished package my Dad could use out of the box. I would infinitely prefer a BT/Wifi remote over any IR, get people to use any controller they like.
I would love a Boxee Box. Currently I am using my old Xbox with XBMC. It’s becoming outdated now that I have an HDTV and want to play HD content. I just want a cheap $200 machine to put Boxee on that will easily work out of the box.
Guys and gals,
I have way too much hardware in my entertainment center already and everything does part of what i need. If boxee does make a box, in order for me to be interested, it must replace everything except my PS3 and Wii. For posterity, the things it must replace is AppleTV (streaming boxee and media library playback), TiVo (DVR), Cable Box (on demand and HD TV), GbE network switch, and fiberchannel audio mux. OK, the last 2 are nice to haves, but why not have one box. I have a NAS, so on the box storage is not that important.
Huge thanks for all the work you’ve done so far!!
I’d buy it in a heartbeat. That said, I do have a couple requests:
1) Ability to mount any standard DVD/Blu-ray drive in the STB (unless the STB is very small, in which case, I’d be happy to forgoe)
2) Ability to use said drive to rip media to the…
3) Internal HDD, preferably accessable/changable
4) USB/eSATA for when a friend comes over with a portable drive
5) Ability to output over HDMI and composite A/V at the same time (I’ve got a channel modulator that used to serve my DVR to the bedroom. It’s been unocupied since I canceled my pay-TV service).
Oh, and keep it under $300 if possible.
I would love one. I’ve been looking for a good open source media center for my tv. and it seem simple. PLEASE make one! and if its under 300, i’d buy it.
I would buy one, can you toss one together for me right now. I am more than happy to beta test the thing. As others have said, keep it simple. Allow the user to expand it via USB or even an Ethernet port to add external storage options. I would want to connect mine to my extisting network to read my movies and music that I already have. Output to HMI, Component and composite of course as well.
I think it should be as customizable as possible. Have a base that really just streams from the internet, then have add on features like a DVD or BD drive, Tuner card, HDD (for DVR or ripping DVD/BD movies).
Are two versions too much to ask?
1) Simple & Cheap. Boots off of an SD memory card, gig network, expandable RAM With USB ports to add hard disk, memory sticks, usb tv tuner, blu-ray, and/or external dvd player. Priced < $200
2) The high-end version that includes everything (and a remote control). That costs $649 and supports HDMI.
I would buy 2 cheap ones and 1 high end. It would replace my current XBMC Xbox1 setup. Simple aesthetics to the physical box are also key to the not-as-geeky demographic.
I love Boxee – but I already have a box. Boxee and the Apple TV are perfect together. I don”t want or need another box.
I think built-in 802.11n wireless as standard is probably a must as well today(?)
A box is an option, but I think the best bet to get a wider acceptance of boxee is to make it available for the major game consoles (PS3, Xbox, Wii). These devices are already attached to a TV, and have much, much larger install bases than a boxee set-top would ever probably achieve (or that PCs/Macs attached to a TV have now).
And if you’re looking to monetize boxee (as it appears you are considering by licensing it to set-top box OEMs), then you could charge for the app and sell it through each console’s online store. (I love that boxee is free now, and would hate to see that go away, but boxee needs $$ to continue to grow. To do that, you either need to sell adds to run on boxee, or license or sell the software itself).
Simple box to reduce price and ability to store movies ect. on external hard drive thru USB. Also a remote with a type pad on it for searching ect.
PS. I love the work your doing and eagerly await further development!!!
I’d like to say the following… I majorly support the idea of Boxee itself, and a Boxee box, but these are my main concerns:
1) CableCARD + + DVR would be monstrous. It’s the one thing that has kept me from building a new HTPC – the barrier to entry with figuring out all of the CableCARD stuff seems daunting for most. My big beef with XBMC, Boxee etc is that I really want a dedicated box to do everything – my stored media AND my TV/DVR media…
2) If it doesn’t have the juice to do glitch-free 1080p video, don’t bother. I’m not interested in AppleTV specifically for this reason. Same goes for digital audio outputs – it needs the ability to do optical AND audio over HDMI (optical is important because most of us haven’t spent the several hundred bucks on replacing our stereo receivers that do not have HDMI ports yet)…
I’m excited to see what you guys can come up with! What about joining forces with the Neuros LINK box team?
With more than 140 million units floating around the world and 50+ million in North America alone, I wonder if the PlayStation 2 has enough horsepower to run boxee?
Would releasing boxee as a Playstation 2 game make economic sense?
reinharden
please Add Wii Support Fujisoft have video player for the Wii and will launch Everybody’s theare in Japan next Tuesday in Japan .
http://www.fsi.co.jp/e/solution/Video_Player_Solution/index.html
The Wii is a great little Streaming box even if its Standard Def.
If you produce a Boxee box, keep the platform open for add-ons/plugins. I can understand the BlueRay encryption issue, but why pay programmers to add ogg support if someone else will do it for free? The same goes for varrious remotes, X10 controllers, IR and serial device control, etc.
Boxee already has a set top box. It’s called Apple-TV. Instead of investing in a full blown PC/Mac I was able to order mine already pre-installed from boxeeonappletv.com .
Has all the right connectors and a remote. Took minutes to set up and has been working smoothly for me.
What else one needs of a set top box ?
oh, yeah… get it to support Netflix already..
I would buy a Boxee Box in a flash if it was around $200 and supported NetFlix streaming. I bout the Roku box for Netflix streaming and was unimpressed. I use Apple TV as my main media source and since adding Boxee it has really changed the way I control my media. If you could wrap up a DVR and a Blu Ray player into one box I would pay up to $300 for it easily! Keep up the good work!!!
This sounds great. I wanted to get a Roku box last year when I first heard about them, but put it off and eventually decided not to because they just don’t do enough. A Boxee box sounds like just the thing as long as it can connect through my WiFi connection and preferally would have a port to connect a portable hard drive to play movies/photos, etc.
I just wanted to reiterate seeing as no one replied.
Silence is golden!
If I’m watching a film, I’d like to _only_ hear the film. Not the box. That’s why I went for the appletv over something like the mac mini. If I got the boxee hardware and it was noisy, I’d have to send it back.
I WANT A BOXEE BOX AND I WANT IT NOWWWWWWW DAMMIT!!!!!!
NOW ! NOW ! NOW ! NOW ! NOW ! NOW !
But seriously I hope they don’t make it cumbersome to use with so many bells and whistles that in the end just make it difficult to use. Keep it simple, keep it CHEAP. I promise I can move thousands of units in a very short period of time JUST LET ME AT IT!
Gotta love the effort you put into this blog
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I agree with 78
Yes you need a set top box
*PLEASE READ AND IMPLEMENT*
You need to design a bad ass remote that has a sliding qwerty keyboard (just like the yet to be released connected vizio.) This alone will differentiate you and make people want to buy the set to box. No one wants to click through a tv onscreen keyboard.
i think that the BoXee Box should not get over the 300$ max and should have all the options if you want to buy a Hard Drive ou a Blu-ray and please do not take to mutch time to start selling a BoXee Box
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