1. Meet Boxee
How does the long awaited Boxee Box compare to the Logitech Revue? Boxee’s killer when it comes to media viewing.
A few weeks ago, I reviewed Logitech’s Revue, the Intel Atom-based set-top box that can overlay Google TV on your regular TV feed. With great interest, I anticipated this season’s other major set-top release, D-Link’s Boxee Box. All signs pointed to a riveting showdown between the two. Both were based on Intel’s new 1.2 GHz CE4110 Atom processor. (D-Link and Boxee actually delayed launching the Box in order to switch from NVIDIA to Intel innards.) Both had apps. Both could bring the Web to the TV, and both had keyboards to make it happen.
At first, I was afraid that the two products would be near-clones of each other and we’d have nothing to compare. Thankfully, that notion was dead wrong. These are two very different beasts, both desirable but both appealing more to different user types. For reasons I’ll explain as we go along, I’m equally torn between the two.
If you’re new to Boxee, know that Boxee is a cross-platform home theater PC application based on the open source XBMC (Xbox Media Center) media player. Boxee went into public beta in January 2010 and proved to be a relative smash with media computing enthusiasts. In short, Boxee offers a very intuitive, simple interface through which you can access a sprawling host of media and social apps—everything from Netflix to Twitter to Pandora to Comedy Central. Boxee’s chief limitation, which still persists in the Boxee Box, is any provision for recording TV shows. In fact, the Boxee platform doesn’t even recognize a computer’s TV tuner. This is a product made by and for the Internet.
So...I’ll admit right up front that I’ve never used the Boxee application. I considered getting familiar with it in the weeks spent waiting for Boxee Box review units to ship, but I ultimately refrained so as not to prejudice my impressions of the D-Link product, which would most likely have some differences from the Windows version of Boxee. I wanted my impressions to be as close as possible to those that a first-time Boxee user might have, especially with the D-Link box arriving in time for the holidays.
Bizarre, I've yet to see a TV with a DVI port... Anyway, I don't think these sorts of boxes going to have much legs because most disk players and TVs already have similar media player capabilities.
Anyway, I have not seen a box/TV/player who's interface did not seem laggy especially compared with the 2 year old box I use for a HTPC.
I was amazed at this review. It made Boxee sound like a viable product. I own a Boxee. It's sitting next to my TV, and next to the Apple TV I bought once I realized how truly useless Boxee is. I kept Boxee, because it DOES have potential. I hope that they allow caching after some update. Unlike you, while my Apple TV plays perfectly I am unable to watch anything on Boxee without constant stutter and long-term stops. I found the lack of content in Boxee + apps mind-numbing. And with the ugly and awkward UI, it was just all-around disappointing.
I waited for Boxee for months. I bought it as soon as it was promised as vaporware. I had such high hopes. I'm sorry that the reviews I'm reading don't accurately point out it's serious and abundant flaws.
Bizarre, I've yet to see a TV with a DVI port...
That would be because TVs have HDMI... So even if you don't out put the audio through it you can still connect using DVI to HDMI and then you have the OPTION of passing the audio direct from your HTPC to the TV through HDMI... It cuts out the confusion about different cables.
Just wondering, can the boxee box support iPod touch/iPhone control? I know the boxee software for PC does it and it works like a charm...
The SPAM on Tom's is rediculous now. Get some decent CAPTCHA and account verification controls on your login. Then start banning accounts. This is 2011 now, Why are your running a tech site like 2001?