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Boxee Box Pre-Orders Start At $229
Engadget is reporting that Boxee is taking pre-orders at $229 for their set-top box that is utterly guaranteed to not fit into any stereo component rack you might have. They also have switched chipsets from the Tegra 2 to the CE4100. I'm not sure about this thing, but I'd sure like to play with one as I lust for the day when every piece of media I have can be played from a single device. I suspect it'll never happen.
Seriously, the 'all in one' solution you dream of exists - in XBMC. A cheap Atom/ION nettop for ~$200, install XBMC (live, ubuntu, win7, doesn't matter) and go to town.
I'd sure like to play with one as I lust for the day when every piece of media I have can be played from a single device. I suspect it'll never happen
HTPC = every piece of media you have can be played from a single device.
With the advent of how powerful (and inexpensively) you can build miniITX systems now, plus being able to buy 2TB hard drives for around the $100-$110 mark, building an HTPC has never been cheaper, easier, or smaller.
Living With a Nerd
Hardware acceleration. The CE4100 is an integrated CPU + GPU package from what I can tell - the Atom core itself is kind of weak, but the integrated GPU on that particular part is what handles all of the heavy lifting for VC-1, MPEG-2, and H.264.
A normal Atom CPU can achieve the same thing when paired with a capable video chipset - however it usually doesn't have a capable video chipset paired to it.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
"Update: We just learned that Amazon will be selling it for $199, though the MSRP will remain $229.
At a rendezvous in San Francisco, Avner Ronen told us the decision to abandon Tegra 2 was about performance and nothing more: "The major problem we had with the Tegra 2 was support for high-profile HD playback," he said. "You can do high-profile VC-1 with Tegra 2, but not H.264." It was a problem of bitrate, he told us, and while NVIDIA's dual-core Tegra T20 was apparently not up to the task, the team had internally tested Intel's CE4100 decoding streams at up to 90 megabits per second. The newly revamped Boxee Box is now capable of 1080p H.264 playback at 60fps, and... well, that's actually about it."
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Block Diagram here.
That "Multi Format HW Decoder" block is probably Imagination Technologies' VXD core.
So you make a device that's stackable, and you know that a good number of customers prefer to put their equipment in a cabinet, and yet you blame the customers when they do so, the device creates enough heat to cook it, and it fails?
Problem 1: not enough fans or vents / device designed for too low of a temperature envelope
Problem 2: No hardware fail-safe / device can go into thermal run-away and not shut down before permanent damage is done
I say that lack of very easy fixes for these two problems are *definitely* the manufacturer's fault.
"A mouse is better at a computer interface than a remote but most people don't want a computer interface when dealing with a media center"
But a computer in your living room necessarily is a computer interface. So what's the problem. And I don't care what "most people" think or want. Most people are idiots.
"If you're watching a show and you decide to fast forward, how do you do that with a mouse?"
God, can't you read?! I specifically addressed that. You use the scroll bar feature on the bottom of Media Player Classic.
"Also with a mouse you need some sort of surface."
The arm of the chair. Next to me on the couch. My leg. On the floor. We keep two blu-tooth mice around like remotes.
"Most consumers use remotes because it's rather simplified."
I've already explained how using a mouse is more simple. I can double click an icon on my "desktop" it opens and I have access to hundreds of movies. I then use the scroll wheel to find the one I want, double click it, and I'm watching. I can quickly skip through using the scroll bar on the button and not have to waste time fast forwarding or rewinding.
So I can access hundreds of movies or shows in under ten seconds. How fast could you do that with a remote?
"A mouse while workable isn't what they want."
Once again, I don't care what they want, but at least you agree that it's "workable."
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
I prefer the open source PS3 Media Server myself.
I lust for the day when every piece of media I have can be played from a single device. I suspect it'll never happen.
Um, I bought a Mac Mini in 2006 that does exactly that.
With the first link, the chain is forged.
I've got an HTPC setup myself... I use boxee mainly with an MCE remote, and a wireless keyboard (when needed). I've been considering switching out to a general device, and if it weren't for my utter despising of Sony, would probably go the PS3 + TVersity route. The 360 works too, but the PS3 adds BluRay. I've done 360 + TVersity, and it works pretty well. I do prefer Boxee over about everything else at this point, but do wish that some of the apps were a bit better consolidated, and the feeds worked a bit faster in some of them... The Revision 3 app is about the best one available... I've never gotten much use out of the "friends" portion of Boxee though, and don't really care to broadcast everything I watch (I disable this). Just adding some worthless commentary to the fray. One thing I do want to do as soon as it's available is order the separate remote.
Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
uh... so I turn it on its side, what did that gain me exactly?
Its a cube. It is also taller than many other components in most TV stands which are modeled to hold dvd players; most are slim; and receivers/av which stack nicely with other components.
This device is just odd for odd's sake. At least the new Apple TV is black meaning I no longer have to work to hide it, it blends now.
There just is no point in making this device in the shape it is. Its more gimmick than anything else.
Oh, Amazon sells it for $199 and has the dimensions and pictures
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038JE07O
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Boxee is a fork of XBMC with social networking addons much like what Apple has just been credit for inventing.
The Boxee box would be a nice box if not for it's "we aren't going to let you put anything else in the media cabinet" approach to design.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
it's the height of a can of soda....it'll fit just fine in the cabinet. everyone acts like this thing is the size of a PC. It'll fit in the cabinet just fine. plus it's got an RF remote. put it wherever the hell you want.