boxee alpha opens up on Mac, Ubuntu January 8; Windows invites to follow

Six months and 150,000 signups later, boxee is preparing to move from alpha to beta status, ready to drop any unsent invites on all interested parties by the 25th ahead of the open alpha period starting January 8, 2009. While OS X / Apple TV / Ubuntu have been the required attire so far, Windows users won't be out in the cold much longer, as CEO Avner Ronen revealed in comments on the boxee blog that the Windows alpha program will start "early 2009" with thousands of invites sent out every week. That enough to pique your interest in this media streaming set-top box software?

[Via A VC]

[Boarderwoot @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:23PM]

I find it hard to support a company that has a drunken frog as its logo.

[dcoaster @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:44PM]

LOL

[DefPo3t @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:45PM]

lol
thanks for the spilled coke on keybooooooooooooooooooooooooooorad

[dj @ Dec 23rd 2008 11:07PM]

I always thought i looked like the frog with the "crazy eye"

[dsfreak17 @ Dec 23rd 2008 4:34PM]

hahaha ur right but I'm tryin it anyway

[happy_penguin @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:00PM]

HA! Good spotting that one!

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:01PM]

Frog that got kicked in the nuts, perhaps?

[giuliop @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:57PM]

Not if you're an investor who likes to lick toads.

[spiderp @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:35PM]

I use that altha version of boxee. And it so far i think it has a ton of potential. All they need to fix is the problem with Itunes. i think it is a big problem

[Rick @ Dec 24th 2008 9:34AM]

And Hulu. Right now, Hulu isn't watchable, so that's 2 pretty big deals that need to be fixed. it also needs to support more file formats.

[spiderp @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:37PM]

my bad for the horrible grammar .

[D.S = digtal shit @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:42PM]

Talking about grammar engadget need to learn some
boxee alpha opens up on Mac, Ubuntu January 8; Windows invites to follow
The first letter of the title need to capitalized

[giuliop @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:53PM]

@"D.S"

Oh boy, you're a real mess.

[nate @ Dec 23rd 2008 9:03PM]

@d.s. - I think "boxee" is a brand name with all lowercase letters... thus "b" not "B"

anyway - good eye for catching the unimportant and insignificant

[gfar @ Jan 18th 2009 5:18PM]

One of these days you'll learn that you can use the word "needs" instead of "need" so you don't look like a moron when you're trying to correct someone else.

Oh shit; looks like that day is today, rookie biotch!!

[Bob @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:44PM]

I've been using Boxee on Apple TV for awhile now and I love it. The Hulu interface alone is worth it. Keep up the good work, guys!

[dustin @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:46PM]

I'm pretty sure it will still be alpha on Jan 8th. They are just opening the alpha up to the public.

[Joey @ Dec 23rd 2008 3:56PM]

Oh, you'll get an invite, alright, just don't count on it being boxee related...

[Brendon @ Dec 23rd 2008 4:12PM]

Boxee + Apple TV ftw.

[owl @ Dec 23rd 2008 4:22PM]

I have been using it on my AppleTV, while the idea is great the performance is rather poor. I am sure the developers are doing what they can with the AppleTV hardware, but unless there is a huge performance increase soon I don't see many AppleTV users wanting to use it.

-owl

[onetrack @ Dec 23rd 2008 4:26PM]

So why use this over Plex ?

[[e-mail] @ Dec 23rd 2008 4:38PM]

I don't get it... Why is this so much better than Tversity? Plex? It doesn't seem to be anything new or innovative. My T-Mobile G1 seems less complicated and more stable when using the GMote application to share files.

[Riley @ Dec 23rd 2008 4:59PM]

I got it installed, but apparently I don't have enough GART memory for it to run :/
Oh well, looks neat and I'll definitely keep an eye on it

[Dan @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:14PM]

You can haz viagra.

[Fitz @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:25PM]

Can this record HDTV channels from cable or satellite? If so, please show me where to research this further...if not, boxee/xbmc/etc... is worthless.

This so called HD content on Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, and ComedyCentral still looks like crap on an 88" screen. I'm looking for a dedicated media center and I don't care who makes it! Just allow me to record 4 HD channels at once and I'll buy it. As far as I know Vista Media Ceneter is the only software that allows this. Please correct me if wrong.

[Wenke @ Dec 24th 2008 1:13PM]

MythTV with the right hardware can do all that, as long as you can get around the cable co.'s encryption. Another fail for DRM and digital media.

[User7 @ Dec 24th 2008 9:44AM]

I love my boxee ( ubuntu version)

[boxeeftw @ Dec 25th 2008 7:49AM]

I finally got my boxee alpha invite after 3 weeks waiting, and ill say it was worth the wait. It has turned my mac into a media machine. Although it has taken some time for my entire music library to be recognized. It plays 720 video flawlessly. Hulu works great, once you figure it out, aka google, and so does every other part of the application. If this is only going to get better than i can't wait.