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Iomega's TV with Boxee (Box) hitting Europe by 'by mid-October,' or so it says
Forgive our skepticism, but when your product has missed its original ship date by over half a year, we aren't believing anything until we see it. Or, should we say, our colleagues in Europe see it. Iomega's Olivier D'Eternod -- Head of Product Marketing for EMEA -- was recently on-hand at IBC in Amsterdam, and he was quoted over at Intel's blog as saying that the 'TV with Boxee' would be "available in Europe by mid-October." For those who can't remember last week (let alone January), here's a bit of a refresher -- the company actually demoed its own version of the Boxee Box at CES, and promised then that it'd be out in February. Since? Radio silence. If all goes as planned, though, consumers in Germany, UK, Sweden, Spain and France should see it in around four weeks, with Holland, Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland and Portugal in line behind 'em. He also hinted at a future where "access to premium content" was available, but smartly suggested that the company "bring this one to market first" before looking too far forward. Smart man.
MOG brings its music streaming magic to Boxee
Do you own a Boxee Box and have an account with a little streaming music service called MOG? Well, soon enough you'll be able to pick and choose from the company's 11.5 million song strong library right on your TV. That's 320kbps audio and album art in 1080p that you can peruse using your double-sided Boxee remote and a welcome expansion of the media box's music repertoire -- which currently includes Last.FM and Pandora. You can try MOG for 14-days for free, but after that you'll have to sign up for either a $4.99-a-month basic account or a $9.99-per-month Primo account if you want to keep enjoying its streaming audio selection. Check out the PR after the break. Update: We just got word that MOG should be live on Boxee around 6 a.m. on Tuesday, so get ready to crank those speakers and wake up the neighbors.
Hands on with Boxee for iPad and Boxee Box v1.2
The long-awaited Boxee for iPad app went live yesterday and quickly rose to the #13th most popular free app for iPad. Simultaneously, Boxee released a new firmware version for the Boxee Box set-top media player, v1.2, with some new Apple-friendly features like AirPlay and AFP support. We've gone hands-on with all the new functions. Airplay for the Boxee Box Probably the biggest news for me isn't the iPad app at all -- it's Airplay support for the Boxee Box. This is something I've been hoping for ever since our own Erica Sadun started to help reverse engineer the AirPlay protocol, eventually leading to her AirPlay receiver software for OS X BananaTV. You need to enable AirPlay first, as it's an "experimental" feature. Turn on your Box, go to the Settings page, and navigate to Network > Servers and tick "Enable streaming from iOS devices". Immediately, "Boxee" should show up in your Airplay settings in compatible iOS apps. In fairly brief testing, I received somewhat mixed results. Photos, Videos and YouTube worked fine sent from my iPad 1 and iPhone 4. Video playback was slightly laggy, but no more so than when using an AppleTV or any other AirPlay receiver. The Boxee remote is capable of basic transport control -- play/pause works with video content, as does the d-pad for fast forward and rewind. It doesn't, however, do next/last picture when the Box is showing photos, nor can you start or stop slideshows with the remote. Sound was less successful. The native iPod app on both my iOS devices detected the Boxee Box, but I had several instances where the stream got "lost" -- the device thought it was sending it to the Boxee but no sound came out. I also had one crash which required me to hard-reset the Boxee. On the other hand, when it did work it worked well -- and in a neat touch, the Boxee activates its sound visualizer during music playback to give you something to look at. Spotify also didn't work at all, I couldn't convince it to make any noise. I had the same problem when trying to stream audio from iTunes 10.4 on my Mac to my Boxee Box. As this option makes the Box appear to be a normal AirPlay client, all iOS apps that support AirPlay video and audio streaming should work with it, notwithstanding crashes on Boxee's end. Note that it also isn't listed as supporting the new iPad 2 mirroring mode in iOS 5, although we weren't able to test that. Again, however, this feature is clearly advertised as being experimental. Streaming content from your network to the iPad On to the iPad app itself now, then, and the first big feature is the ability to stream arbitrary audio and video content within your network to the app. My first big disappointment: this is really just a lukewarm rework of Air Video. Like all these streaming apps, the Boxee version needs an intermediary computer that consumes the video content and converts it into an iPad-friendly video stream. I had initially hoped that the Boxee Box itself would be able to fill this role, so I wouldn't need to leave a computer switched on for it to work. No such luck in this release. For the iPad app to work, then, the Boxee Media Manager (BMM) has to first be running on a Mac or PC on your network (minimum supported OSs are OS X 10.5 or Windows XP). Very similarly to how Air Video works, the BMM has a minimal UI that allows you to select which folders of content will be visible to the app. Switch to the iPad, and your content is there, presented in a reasonably attractive UI. Now, there are downsides. Like all of these pieces of software, there's a quality drop from the conversion process. That process also creates lag -- it takes a few seconds after pressing Play before you see any video, for example, and trying to fast forward to a particularly point in the video rapidly becomes quite frustrating. Compared to more established solution like Air Video the Boxee app has several other important drawbacks. It offers limited customisation, whereas Air Video lets you fine-tune the conversion process to trade off lag, quality, and network bandwidth. Even worse is the lack of support for not-on-local-network streaming. With Air Video, wherever you are in the world, you can enter a PIN into the app and all of your content will stream out of your home connection, across the internet, and down to your device. Boxee cannot do this. On the other hand, if you don't have pretty significant bandwidth both at home and wherever you are, this often ends up looking pretty ropey anyway so (at least for me) this isn't a killer feature. Finally it's worth pointing out that the Boxee Media Manager app has no hardware acceleration so has to do all the video conversion heavy lifting on the CPU alone. This translates to a lot of heat, a lot of fan noise, and video playback that might be jerkier than it has to be if your Mac's CPU isn't particularly powerful. Of course, Boxee is free, but then Air Video is only $3. One last note: if you really, really like Inception, a trick presents itself: when playing back media, the Boxee player itself has AirPlay support. Which you can then direct to a Boxee Box for those dream-within-a-dream moments. Well, in theory; in practice, this just resulted in gray screens and lockups whenever I tried it. It's a silly thing to do so that doesn't strike me as a significant problem. Social integration & Watch It Later That's not the only trick up the Boxee app's sleeve, however. Boxee has long supported social integration to its server-side accounts, with two key features. These are visible as soon as you load the Boxee app. Watch It Later is rather like Instapaper for video. You install a special bookmarklet in your web browser. Whenever you find yourself browsing to a video you don't have time to watch right now, click the bookmarklet. Next time you load the Boxee iPad app (or turn on your Boxee Box) all those videos will be arranged in order for you to catch up on. The social integration is similar, but it's for videos other people post. You link your Boxee account to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Any video link that any of your friends post will be collated automatically and, again, presented for you to skim through and catch up on. If like me you often browse Twitter in quick bursts where you rarely have time to watch videos, but you never remember to go back and look them up later, this can be a really useful feature. Looking to the future I chatted with Andrew Kippen, Boxee's vice president of marketing, as I was composing this review. I asked him how he thought the launch had gone and what Boxee's short- and longer-term plans were to develop the software. TUAW: Any thoughts on how the launch of the app has gone? Was it well received? AK: Really well received. We're #13 on the App Store for Top Free Apps -- not bad for 24 hours. TUAW: Any immediate plans for bugfixes or changes? AK: I think we'd like to smooth out a few things in the first time experience and we're listening to forums/Facebook/Twitter/Email to hear how things are going for people -- mostly all positive, but we're hoping to squash any bugs that come up quickly. TUAW: Why can't Boxee Media Manager run on the Box itself -- am I right in thinking there's not enough CPU grunt? AK: It's something we're going to work on. We wanted to get it out there for Windows and OS X, before we baked it into the box. Always good to get first reactions so second effort has everything people want. TUAW: I've seen some crashes using the AirPlay streaming (which is perfectly understandable, I know you've worked to a reverse engineered standard and it's clearly marked as experimental) -- will this improve in future releases? AK: Yep -- obviously there's only so much we can test with early access users (~200) vs. the tens of thousands that are using the app now. TUAW: Will Boxee Media Manager be getting GPU acceleration anytime soon? It runs my poor MacBook Pro pretty ragged right now! AK: It's something we want to support. Just working to find time & resources to make it happen. TUAW: Longer term, where is the app going? Are you going to add the plethora of options contained in Air Video, for example? Any plans to support outside-the-local-network streaming? AK: Lots of plans for where we can go, but you'll have to stay tuned for that. The bottom line In this launch, Boxee has presented us with some experimental-but-cool stuff (AirPlay), some genuinely neat new stuff (social features in the Boxee iPad app), and some promising-but-needs-work stuff (media streaming to the iPad). In any event the app and the Media Manager software are both free, so you've nothing to lose by giving it a go. %Gallery-130373%
Boxee launches iPad app, new Box update, media server and bookmarklet today
The long awaited Boxee for iPad app is finally ready to launch, and coming with it is a fresh update for the Boxee Box, plus new Media Manager software for your PC or Mac to make streaming locally stored files to the tablet or PC even easier. We got an early look at the iPad app (which lacks access to the Box's apps) and while the interface had been lightly reworked since our last hands-on experience at CES it was very crash prone, with a tendency to close suddenly while streaming videos from YouTube or a connected PC. Boxee Box owners may not have to worry about that however, since the new v1.2 update adds AirPlay compatibility as an "experiment" for any online content (check after the break for the full list of changes). The Media Manager software on the PC makes it easier to organize content for playback on the tablet or Box, while a new Watch Later Bookmarklet also makes one-click sharing of online video from browser to device possible. All in all the idea is to make Boxee the "one place to discover, watch and share video" no matter where you are and we can see it getting there -- once everything stays up and running consistently. %Gallery-130236%
D-Link brings the Boxee Box remote to PC, Mac users
Boxee users on PC and Mac should no longer feel ignored, with promises of updated software on the way and now the option to use a Boxee Box remote from D-Link. The two sided QWERTY design is unchanged and the included RF dongle means your HTPC can stay safely out of sight while you enjoy some branded remote control action without selling out for a one-size-fits-all box. The roll your own media player crowd can pick up the remote at a penny under $50 at a variety of online retailers right now, the long awaited software update is still due this fall.
Boxee 1.2 update will bring order to apps with categories
It may not be as swanky a revamped browser, but Boxee has revealed that the v1.2 update for the Boxee Box will help users browse through the available apps by adding more categories. NewTeeVee points out a blog post directed at developers to show how their app can be assigned some of the 14 new categories, an upgrade over the three (video, photo, music) available previously. The new version is expected to drop in "a few weeks" so we should find out then what else is in store.
SlingPlayer for Boxee Box hands-on (video)
Sling Media teased its SlingPlayer for Connected Devices with a Google TV demo last month, but we had a chance to go hands-on with the TV streaming service on a Boxee Box at tonight's gdgt event in NYC. The player launched without issue on the demo system we saw, and the interface should feel familiar if you've used any of the SlingPlayer mobile apps. Sling says the application will appear in the list of Boxee apps and in the Spotlight on Google TV when it hits public beta within the next month, or you can sign up to be notified on Sling's website. Post-beta pricing and availability details haven't been released, but you can get your TV fix for free for the duration of the beta period. Jump past the break for a quick peek in our hands-on video.
Boxee users without a Box on PC, Mac or Ubuntu are getting a fall update, open source release
Ever since the Boxee Box was released fans running the software on their PCs have been left by the wayside, but as we expected that changes this fall with updates for the PC, Mac and Ubuntu versions. CEO Avner Ronen announced on the official blog that while updates for the downloadable version "will most likely lag behind the versions of Boxee for devices" the company hopes to keep them more up to speed going forward. Still think you could do a better job of updating the software yourself? Done, since Boxee also plans to make an open source version available. There's no date attached to that effort and given past experience with delayed Boxee releases we wouldn't clear our college football watching schedule just yet, but for everyone who would rather roll their own media device there is still a future in the Boxee platform.
Boxee offers sneak peek at iPad app in London
Boxee showed off its iPad app at a small East London gathering this week. The new app is not yet available, but those who attended the sold out event got a sneak peek of what Boxee has in store for its iPad users. Boxee is home theater PC software that runs on a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer. The company also produces a set-top box that takes the place of the computer and lets you watch streaming video on your TV. The tablet app will bring Boxee to your iPad and let you watch streaming content, video shared by your friends and video files from your local network if you run the Boxee Media server. If you own a Boxee box, you can also send content from your iPad to your TV. No word on when the app will debut in the app store, but if Boxee is showing it off to people, the launch can't be too far away. [Via CrunchGear]
Boxee hits London with updated iPlayer app, Blinkbox video and new Media Server
Boxee threw a meetup in London last night where it revealed the return of its BBC iPlayer app and upcoming addition of streaming movies and shows from Blinkbox. This continues a trend that has seen the addition of Headweb video on-demand for Scandinavian regions and Databazaar's library of Bollywood flicks in the last week. Boxee had iPlayer before but it stopped working after some technical changes, while the blog post reveals Blinkbox support is expected arrive around the end of the year. Boxee flashed its iPad app at the party too, promising to bring the existing experience to your tablet plus the ability to send video back to a Boxee Box for watching on the big TV screen. Finally, VP of marketing Andrew Kippen mentioned streaming locally stored video to the iPad from new Boxee Media Server software. While adding Plex-style functionality is nice by itself, we're just excited to see any kind of reference to the software for PC and Macs that seems to have been ignored since Boxee got into the Box business.
Boxee Box survey floats the possibility of premium channels, PPV sports
If you're wondering in which direction the developers over at Boxee may be thinking about heading you can consider the questions in the latest survey mailed out to users. The second round of questions gauges the interest people may have in subscribing to premium channels over the internet, like HBO or Showtime and how much they would be willing to pay, with another question focusing on the possibility of pay-per-view football games. Of course, actually negotiating for access to premium channels (HBO Go works through the browser after the v1.1 update) or anything NFL Sunday Ticket-related is a more complicated issue, but it is a possibility. Previous polls checked the temperature on features we've seen added like Netflix or a $199 price tag for the Boxee Box, and things that haven't shown up so far like CableCARD / OTA support or a version for videogame consoles. Get your opinion counted at the source link and yes, there is a write in portion for you to request updates for the PC version.
Boxee Box patch fixes surround sound problems, brings back volume control
Good news for those left less than satisfied by their auditory experience after the recent Boxee Box 1.1 update, the company has completed work on a fix and released the v1.1.1 update earlier today. Owners of the box can now matrix stereo audio sources through their surround sound setup again and if you prefer volume control to be on, it's just a click of a settings checkbox away. One change that is remains is that it still no longer decodes Dolby TrueHD to 5.1 channel PCM internally, which appears to be the change originally intended due to the licensing between Dolby and D-Link. The update should be downloaded automatically shortly while those who are more impatient can go the manual update route, all the necessary instructions can be found at the source link below. [Thanks, Neil]
Latest Boxee Box update leaves surround sound speakers silent on stereo sources (Update)
It wasn't long after the Boxee Box v1.1 update started to roll out that users with surround sound systems found a major issue with it: besides the removal of volume controls (confirmed to return as an optional setting in the next update), there was an undocumented change to the way it handled stereo PCM audio sources for users with surround sound systems. Instead of sending it on to the user's receiver as a two channel source so it could be processed to fill all the speakers, it is sent as a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio source and only plays audio through the front left and right speakers, with no audio coming from the center channel or rear speakers. That's a major problem for people trying to watch Netflix streams, MLB.tv, listen to certain lossless audio files or any other stereo audio source and enjoy an audio experience that takes advantage of their setup. A Boxee developer on AVSForum indicated the change was due to a licensing agreement between the manufacturer of the box, D-Link, and Dolby, and would need to be left up to them for a fix. We've reached out to both Boxee and D-Link for word on their issue and while we haven't received a detailed response (expect more information tomorrow at the earliest), there is a notation on the JIRA bug tracker for the issue by "yuvalt" indicating the team is working on a fix for this and other issues which will hopefully be available within days. Check out the forum threads for more detail on the issue as well as temporary workarounds, we'll let you know if we get an official response on why this is happening and if / when there's a fix incoming. Update: Per Boxee VP of Marketing Andrew Kippen, the problem was the result of a "miscommunication" and a fixed update for that and the volume control toggle will roll out this week. Check after the break for his words verbatim, but owners of the Box can rest easy knowing their surrounds will be back to work shortly. [Thanks, Neil]
Boxee Box v1.1 update includes improved browser, playback controls and more
Early previews of a new update for the Boxee Box mentioned a couple of different version numbers, but now the company has settled on v1.1 for the software update (sorry, still nothing for PCs) it's rolling out over the next few days with a slew of new features. VP of Marketing Andrew Kippen confirms the "huge browser update" he'd mentioned earlier is included with the following features: favorites, history, a better UI to show more of the picture and include more options, plus expanded HTML5 capabilities that should fix login problems for HBO Go. There's no mention of iPad support, but the whole on screen display has been trimmed with a new seek bar for more precise FF/Rewind action, along with support for customized local metadata and NFO files, a new MLB.tv app and two new content partners including the worst TV channel ever and SnagFilms. One thing that's been removed? Volume controls, which Boxee says "improves consistency" and makes it the same as any standard Blu-ray player. As usual, the update will be issued automatically, but if you just can't wait you can force it manually, check the source links for details, more screenshots and a full changelog.
Boxee to add iPad support, more in May
Boxee confirmed on its blog that its next update will add support for the Apple iPad. The streaming content provider will release the Boxee for iPad app that will let you stream content from your Boxee Box to your Apple iPad over a wireless connection. This feature would be ideal for some late night Boxee watching from your bed or some entertainment while you log miles on your treadmill. Besides iPad support, the browser will be faster and offer new on-screen controls. New languages such as French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish and several bug fixes will also be included in this update. In keeping with its three-month update schedule, the new Boxee Box firmware will arrive in May. [Via Engadget]
Boxee details next Box update with iPad support and more in May
We refuse to be surprised that the next Boxee Box update isn't actually arriving by the end of March, but just to tide us over CEO Avner Ronen has picked up his blogging pen and revealed many of the changes on the way. As mentioned on that Australian podcast, the browser will be faster, as well as a new on-screen display for FF/RW controls, options for sorting local files and additional language support. A smiley face is reserved for the news that support for Boxee for iPad will be included, before moving on to a list of bugs that will be stamped out. Early access users should expect to see test builds rolling out shortly, with plans for major updates to the Boxee Box (and "other Boxee based devices") every three months or so, we should expect this one in May -- no word on anything for the PC clients. Until then hit the source link for all the details or just relive our special CES hands-on time with Boxee for iPad in the gallery. %Gallery-113152%
Boxee 1.05 bringing 'huge browser update' by end of March
There's still not a ton of specifics on this one just yet, but Boxee's VP of Marketing, Andrew Kippen, has confirmed on the TechWebcast podcast that the Boxee 1.05 update will be rolling out by the end of March -- which, last we checked, wasn't that far away. The big news there is that it will boast a "huge browser update" that will not only speed up the browser considerably, but add compatibly with far more video-minded websites. Kippen also mentioned the iPad app we first saw back at CES, which will let you stream content from your iPad to your Boxee Box, and adds some social features like the ability to see what your friends are watching. Still no word on an exact release date for it, but it will apparently only be compatible with the iPad 2 for reasons unknown. Update: Fear not original iPad owners, Boxee just informed us that the iPad app will in fact work on all iPads. It's also let us know that the Boxee Box update will actually be version 1.05, not 1.5, but it will still include everything described.
How would you change D-Link's Boxee Box?
Yeah, Boxee just gave you all what you've been asking for, but here's the real question: what else does your little heart desire? D-Link's Boxee Box has most certainly shaken up the industry, providing a killer UI and a not-so-AV-cabinet-friendly design. You've got more media streamer options than ever before, and if you held out to buy the D-Link-built box, you've a right to throw your opinions in comments below. Would you have made the chassis a bit more typical? Changed any of the outputs? Added any hardware features? The floor's wide open, so don't let this chance go to waste. You know what Lee Ann Womack says about getting the chance to dance... don't you?
Netflix on the Boxee Box is a much better Valentine's Day gift than what you had planned
These days, a media streamer isn't really in the game unless it has Netflix streaming and thankfully, the Boxee Box has finally corrected its most glaring content hole -- sorry Hulu Plus. According to a blog post by CEO Avner Ronen, the oft-delayed addition has been the most common request by users so far but obviously they've cleared all remaining DRM hurdles, so once the latest software update is downloaded, either automatically or by manually checking, owners can enjoy everything the latest Netflix interface has to offer, whether they're in the US or Canada. Of course, that's not all there is to this update, with support for Dolby Digital TrueHD bitstreaming, high resolution SRT subtitles and updated support for IR remotes. All the details are in the changelog, although we figure most of you will just get straight to watching The Human Centipede or something similar. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Boxee delays Netflix integration again, cites security requirements as the culprit
We hoped Boxee would surprise us at the eleventh hour and announce it had finally added Netflix to the service -- technically making good on its end of January deadline. Instead, the company's blog is now reporting that the service is "anticipated soon." Apparently, the service is running fine on the device in the company's offices -- which, mind you they said back in December too, -- but it still failed to satisfy Netflix's security requirements. While that sounds like a big thing to miss in our books, a comment by Boxee's VP of Marketing, Andrew Kippen, suggests the company just discovered the issue only an hour before midnight. This marks the second time users have been asked to re-adjust their expectations for when the big red box might pop up on their favorite media manager, but to Boxee's credit, we were glad to see the company come right out with the situation instead of leaving us all on pins and needles. Now, let's just hope this whole incident gets sorted out pronto, so we don't have to break bad news to our Watch Instantly lovin' hearts ever again.
