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Boxee Box Pre-Orders Start At $229

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the a-little-late-i-think dept.

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.

16 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. 'All in one media player' exists already... by Lukano · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:'All in one media player' exists already... by Anonymous+Showered · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not trolling, but how's 1080p x264 playback with that setup? I have a Popcorn Hour A100 (old-school) that does it all except DTS audio... :\

    2. Re:'All in one media player' exists already... by FrYGuY101 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not trolling, but how's 1080p x264 playback with that setup? I have a Popcorn Hour A100 (old-school) that does it all except DTS audio... :\

      Fantastic.

      The important bit to note is the ION. If you have a NVidia GPU, you can use the Live or Linux (And at this point, I think the Windows version supports GPU acceleration) versions, and if you enable VDPAU (Or the Windows equivalent), and it will happily accelerate the video. I get full 1080p playback with no dropped frames or stuttering on a Asus AspireRevo that is almost completely silent.

      --
      "If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."

      - Seneca
  2. You already can by Pojut · · Score: 2, Informative

    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
    1. Re:You already can by Overzeetop · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not even close for 99.99% of the population. Hell, I'm a tinkerer and have been for 30 years and I can't get a box to play everything that is also stable enough for my wife and daughter to use for more than a month or two without having to update or reset something.

      Setup linux without ever having used the OS? Good fucking luck - you'll end up buying $200 extra in compatible components because you're almost guaranteed to get a device that isn't compiled into the standard kernel on the first try out. Especially if you want to use an old or wireless network card. Played many encrypted bluray discs recently (i.e. stick in your 6 year old's new BR from WalMart and have it play seamlessly?)

      WMC can't play shit out of the box. Mkv? nope. FLAC? nope. Anything apple? nope. Sure, you can go get codec packs, but most cause as many problems as they solve. Shark mostly "just works," but you'd better strip out all the subtitles and extra audio streams from them, 'cause WMC can't choose either on the fly.

      Apple? Right - you'd better just start recoding now.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    2. Re:You already can by jedidiah · · Score: 2, Informative

      > Setup linux without ever having used the OS? Good fucking luck - you'll end up buying $200 extra in compatible components

      Nonsense. You can get an entire box that is that much that is VERY Linux friendly.

      All it takes is a little research. You would need to it for a Windows based setup anyways because some hardware just isn't up to the job regardless of what OS you're running.

      Admittedly few consumers want to put any thought into what they buy (especially research).

      > Not even close for 99.99% of the population. Hell, I'm a tinkerer and have been for 30 years and
      > I can't get a box to play everything that is also stable enough for my wife and daughter to use
      > for more than a month or two without having to update or reset something.

      You should turn in your "tinkerer" card. You don't deserve to tell anyone that you are such a thing.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  3. Re:Intel CE4100... Where Can I find more about it? by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 4, Informative

    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?
  4. Details from the article by slapout · · Score: 3, Informative

    "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
  5. Re:Intel CE4100... Where Can I find more about it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Block Diagram here.

    That "Multi Format HW Decoder" block is probably Imagination Technologies' VXD core.

  6. Re:It's not a settop box and it's not a setbottom by jeffmeden · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  7. Re:It's not a settop box and it's not a setbottom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I prefer the open source PS3 Media Server myself.

  8. Lust for the day? by LanMan04 · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.
    1. Re:Lust for the day? by majortom1981 · · Score: 2, Informative

      nO it doesnt I thought macs do not play blu-ray

  9. Re:It's not a settop box and it's not a setbottom by aztracker1 · · Score: 2, Informative

    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
  10. 4.5 x 4.5 x 4.6 inches ; 2.5 pounds by Shivetya · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.
  11. Re:Troll! by jedidiah · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.