Hands-on with the Boxee Box
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted January 5th 2010 7:30PM
posted January 5th 2010 7:30PM
posted January 5th 2010 7:30PM
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I could understand some of these peoples complaints if the box wasn't so small... Think I will actually pick this one up if it works as promised. I think the whole family could get some use out of it. I wonder if it has any sort of parental settings or filters so the kids could get down on it.
My exact words when I saw this: "God damn, thats gaudy."
Seriously, what are they thinking with this design??
From what I've seen so far it looks amazing. I will wait to see some actual reviews before I get to excited. Does it have WiFi built in?
Yes it has wireless built in. More complete specs are available at http://boxee.tv/box
I'm really unfamiliar with these multimedia streamers so bear with me. Are you forced to have an SD card in there or is it just for additional storage? It kind of kills the aesthetics with that little guy sticking out of the side.
@pcll4678
It's just for additional storage, or to go from a digital camera or camcorder directly to the Box. It's not necessary, and most people will probably never use it at all. The primary use for this device is to stream video from your PC or from online sources like Youtube / Hulu / Netflix.
I don't like devices with only HDMI out, let them add some more options, composite or vga, something that works on older displays too, and isn't DRM'ed either.
Iy's funny if you are in a large electronics store you see the brandname devices with somewhat reliable quality but everything has its wings clipped, and then there's the chinese stuff that has what you want/expect but you can't be sure about the quality, this world is pretty fucked up in every area isn't it.
@Wwhat And maybe add a rotary dial on the remote as well.
Hey rotary dials are pretty damn nice, they have a natural ergonomics and feel nice to use and have a good feedback, and you can buy multiple hundred costing fancy deluxe (htpc-)keyboards that give people what they really need: rotary dials for volume and such, there's nothing invented that beats it.
@Wwhat Sorry, ergonomics of a rotary dial are only natural if you were born before 1980. Yes, I was born in 1951 :)
@Wwhat
I demand all my gadgets be able to communicate in Morse Code via smoke signals. Anything else is just fancy gimmicks.
someone just pointed out how similar to Boxxy this is spelled. i am now unhappy. :-/
totally awesome,my WD tv live is FIRED!
Just to clear things up, in addition to all of the online stuff you can do with this, you can also plug in an external HD (or flash or whatever) and play the contents you have stored there, right? Like with the WD TV and Seagate Theater?
@AndrewJackson
Yes.
I assume the remote isn't infrared (as you have to turn it sideways to type) so does anyone know what this is using? I would so love to have a bluetooth version for my home media set up...
The remote is teh hotness !
But the box itself is quite odd. Most likely, I would find a place to "hide" it instead of show it off.
I just hope the remote will have RF. Typing would be really hard if the IR led is on top...
from boxee.tv
avner ronen says:
January 6, 2010 at 9:18 am
it does not have bluetooth, it’s using RF.
but will be sold independently with a small dongle for your computer.
@kklier
Wahoo! That's what I wanted to hear!
@kklier Does anyone know if it will have IR though? While I think the remote looks awesome and will definitely be useful, I've already got a Harmony remote without RF and there are times when I'm just going to want to navigate through the menus and not type anything.
the Boxee Remote will also be sold separately, so you can use it with any device running Boxee bit.ly/5fnhiX
@willowtwf
Thanks for the link!
If I can plug a blu-ray player into this, and/or easily connect to a home media server and control a blu-ray player through that...
I NEED ONE.
No DVD player on it. I was hoping to install XBMC on it ... but not worth it :( This will be a great unit if it sells for $199.
@digitaldoctor You do realize that Boxee is a fork of XBMC, right? It will do pretty much everything XBMC does.
Maybe Elijah Woods will get one. Then he can Dancey Dance with his Boxee Box!
if this thing had a dvd drive or even blu-ray with the ability to rip that dvd to your collection, with recordable tv pass-through it would be the perfect machine to accompany my tv.
@techgroupie does any1 know another machine that could do this that isn't a HTPC?
are you guys going to swing back around? I'd really like to know your finale thoughts it.
@joshuahhh - Ditto...I am waiting on the edge of my seat in hopes that this will be the answer to my DSM-520 woes.
Or, is the PopcornHour box?
wat does this thing do?
I'm buying this thing only for the remote.
Wonder how long till other hackit sites figure out a way to get the remote working universal.
Can someone explain to me how this article gets top billing on EngadgetHD for weeks with the subtitle "...we've got all the details", when in reality the article has few details and is a "Hands On" in the literal sense only? On top of that, the article promises more and was never updated. Is anyone paying attention on this blog?