Boxee Box pictured in the wild: it's small!
By Nilay Patel 
posted December 9th 2009 3:34PM
posted December 9th 2009 3:34PM
Whoa, we sort of guessed the Boxee Box was going to be small from those press pics we saw the other night, but we didn't know it was going to be freaking tiny -- check out this shot of the asymmetrical set-top next to a Coke can just posted up on the Boxee blog. Sadly, neither Boxee nor D-Link has updated us on what's actually powering this little guy, but we do now know that it'll have an RF remote control and S/PDIF and RCA audio outputs in addition to HDMI, SD, USB, WiFi, and Ethernet. Sounds like a tiny little chunk of awesome -- we're looking forward to finding out way more at CES.
...thats what she said!
@Skate It Dont Spray It
maybe to you, buy Boxee loved my big "package" you know to fit in her "Box"
Hi! My Name is Boxxy!
Now with more features!
@Constantine
Boxxeh? MOAR!
@Constantine Oh gosh, please don't...
@Constantine Are we going to get this on every Boxee post?
mmmmm Coca-Cola. Now I'm thirsty.
what if its a huge coke can?
@yode as well as abnormally large patch cables, usb, etc. ???
@Brak sarcasm detector not working?
It's still fugly and still made by D-Stink, but I'll take that Coke.
What's with the shape? It makes it hard to put stuff on top of it, and makes it require more space than it needs to.
@pika2000
Have you heard it's called Boxee? Maybe that's why it's a box? Yeah it's slanted to take up less space and cool, but not flat...
You have to sign up for the beta - it's private. I signed up the other day and havent heard anything.
@pika2000
its so it has to be on the top ;)
@pika2000 They're taking a cue from the PS3. Arrogant electronics: we tell you who's on top.
I agree. I would have prefered it to be the same size and shape as an TV but you can't win 'em all. Though with an RF remote I can put it behind everything else an avoid cable mess problems.
@(Unverified) At least the PS3 can be put vertically.
@pika2000 they didn't feel like making it durable, so they made it impossible to put things on top of.
BTW, is there a way to download the beta software?
@pika2000 go here and click download. http://www.boxee.tv/
it's on windows, mac, and linux.
@kjsin1994 : wrong, the beta will be officially released in january AFAIK. until then you can only dl the alpha
I actually like this box. Still, if I do an HTPC without DVR-functionality, I'd go for an Acer AspireRevo with the dual core Atom or for a Dell Zino HD with boxee and XBMC. I'd love to use a Mac mini (I'm a Mac user with a 13" MBP) but it doesn't have HDMI...
@attilag78 I use my MBP and Macmini as a HTPC and the DVI to HDMI cable works fine for me. Seperate cable for the audio to optical in..Yeha yeah its an aditional cable but cmon Plex on a Macmini beats any HTPC Gui even windows media center..Tho WMC does have that Tv guide which is sweet.
@neeko18 OK, one more cable isn't a tragedy. Plex however is a tragedy in my setup, it's scrapers don't really work for me - just like boxee alpha has issues with recognizing my video files correctly. For media on my hard drives is XBMC a clear winner (for me, and you can have the same skin what Plex has by default), boxee scores heavily with streaming (Netflix, Hulu).
So Plex will let anyone on the home network just "drop" files onto the media server and Plex and MacOS will be fine with whatever format that video happens to be in? It supports the HDHR and the HD-PVR and all the other devices that MCE and MythTV users get hot and bothered about?
If not then Plex isn't "clearly superior" by a long stretch.
@attilag78
mac mini has a displayport, adapts to HDMI
@jedi boxee and Plex are forks of XBMC. Whatever XBMC can play, boxee and Plex should be able to do it, as well. Important to mention that Plex is OS X (Intel) only while boxee and XBMC support Windows, Linux etc.
But: these applications don't have DVR support. XBMC can work as a MythTV frontend, I don't know whether boxee or Plex would do the same. I can support Ben Drawbaugh's opinion that 7MC is the best DVR currently (UI, usability, wife acceptance etc.).
@(Unverified) I know, just like my MacBook Pro. I like simplicity, that's why I'd like to have HDMI. I know, the world is not perfect :)
@attilag78
it's quite simple, buy a HDMI to mini DisplayPort cable, Apple doesn't use HDMI because they don't feel like paying
@(Unverified) You're right, I know. I will consider all - for me - relevant options.
Man, that's a huge coke can.
oh wait...
First the horrible shape, then they use an RF remote? Did these guys even think about usage scenarios?
With an RF remote (assuming there's no IR input provided) this is worthless in any system with a custom remote control (à la Harmony). I guess they figured it was so ugly everyone would want to store it in a closet, so they needed the RF remote.
And now Boxee's interface is uglier than ever (subjectively, of course). I'm glad I had an old Mac Mini to throw Plex on. My Harmony has full control (including power on and off), it was easy to set up, and I still get Netflix, Hulu, etc. Oh, and it is media-oriented, not social-oriented.
@OverZealous
I'm very curious how my Harmony would work with this, unless it supports Z-Wave, then I can control it directly. Otherwise we will need something like the PS3 adapter :(
or that Coke can is very big.
It's weird how cables don't really convey the same sense of scale. I work it with theme every day. USB Ethernet A/V or their ports.
Does anybody know if this can bitstream DTS-HD and Dolby Digital Master Audio? Or at least decode them and send it via 8 channel LPCM on the HDMI?
@SirMaster
This is my biggest concern too. The current xbmc live cannot do 8channel over LPCM nor does bitstreaming
Does anybody know if this can bitstream DTS-HD and Dolby Digital Master Audio? Or at least decode them and send it via 8 channel LPCM on the HDMI?
@SirMaster
double post ftl
this thing won't play local streaming media. Might as well get a PS3 for $100 more, and run Netflix (with the disc), hulu and local media from a server. That, or get the WDTV Live for local media (it can be bought for $100.
@Nicnac Why wont it play local streaming media? The current boxee software is quite capable, and has nice network library features as well. I'd assume this will have all the features of the alpha software and more.
@Nicnac Boxee certainly doesn't have a problem playing any local networked content I've thrown at it, and there's no indication that the Box won't do it.
What the hell are you talking about, or are you trying to sell people on the 'convenience' of PlayOn?
@Alan Strangis
Actually you can see from my post, I don't find PlayOn to be a good solution at all.
I was - obviously- unaware Boxee did local media streaming, presuming it was like other gimped boxes (Vudu, Roku, etc)
Now that I know it actually does, it seems like a good box.
Why Coca Cola? Why not Pepsi? Mountain Dew? Sprite? Sunkist? Fanta? Sierra Mist? Ginger Ale? Dr. Pepper? A&W Root Beer?
OK soda was great and I miss it
@pax copia
Do you remember the 1-800-I FEEL OKAY number? It was quite funny. The drink was pretty good too.
Whats that thing next to the odly shaped box? Is that smart phone?
Small? Not really; it's a lot bigger than the sublime Roku. What a piece of shit this Boxee is. Its target market is the top percentile of geeks and goobers the world over -- i.e. it will sell less than 10k.
I'll wait for the next incarnation of Apple TV, kthx.
Good. I was worried, I would still prefer the a dvd player size version but at least this is small enough to be stashed.
that's another thing she said.