Boxee Box review

jmke · 17th November 2010, 12:04

It's a little strange that the Boxee Box by D-Link feels like a late entrant in this year's crowded smart TV market -- the core Boxee software has been around forever, and the Box itself was announced way back in January at CES. But a platform switch from NVIDIA's Tegra 2 chip to Intel's Atom-based CE4100 platform cost Boxee and D-Link valuable time, while the Boxee software went through a dramatic UI transformation from the beta to 1.0. What's more, Boxee's gone from being an upstart rock'n'roll rebel to a legit market player, with a Netflix deal on the books and -- wonder of wonders -- an agreement to bring Hulu Plus to the Boxee Box sometime next year. That's a lot of changes, and, quite frankly, a lot of hype -- Boxee's dedicated fans are expecting the small company and its asymmetrical Box to show up no less than Apple and Google. So have Boxee CEO Avner Ronen and company pulled it off? Is the Boxee Box the ultimate connected TV device? Or has a punk rock media revolution turned into just another polite New Wave streamer?

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/16/b...d-link-review/

jmke · 17th November 2010, 12:14

Quote:

Unfortunately, in practice the Boxee Box just isn't polished enough to be worth the hassle right now. The ideas are all there, and our experience with the Boxee team has us confident in their vision and ability to execute, but the Box as shipped feels like less of a finished product than an excellent rough draft of the future. Yes, it's nice having a ton of web content easily accessible on your TV, but that stuff isn't a replacement for the high-quality linear TV content most people want, and Boxee doesn't do a great job of delivering that. Netflix and Hulu Plus will go a long way to filling that gap, but they're not here yet, and while Vudu sounds nice it's just not enough on its own.

too bad; all we wanted was XBMC coupled to some power efficient all-in-one device and this just ain't it; have to "strike deals" make make webpages work is just a big wtf

Quote:

f you're nerdy enough to want a streamer, you're nerdy enough to grab a $299 Ion nettop and run Boxee on it, and you'll get better performance with no network content blocks.

17th November 2010, 12:04	#1
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,022	Boxee Box review It's a little strange that the Boxee Box by D-Link feels like a late entrant in this year's crowded smart TV market -- the core Boxee software has been around forever, and the Box itself was announced way back in January at CES. But a platform switch from NVIDIA's Tegra 2 chip to Intel's Atom-based CE4100 platform cost Boxee and D-Link valuable time, while the Boxee software went through a dramatic UI transformation from the beta to 1.0. What's more, Boxee's gone from being an upstart rock'n'roll rebel to a legit market player, with a Netflix deal on the books and -- wonder of wonders -- an agreement to bring Hulu Plus to the Boxee Box sometime next year. That's a lot of changes, and, quite frankly, a lot of hype -- Boxee's dedicated fans are expecting the small company and its asymmetrical Box to show up no less than Apple and Google. So have Boxee CEO Avner Ronen and company pulled it off? Is the Boxee Box the ultimate connected TV device? Or has a punk rock media revolution turned into just another polite New Wave streamer? http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/16/b...d-link-review/ __________________

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