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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.
And for that reason alone I won't get it. I love the idea but more than sick of "edgy" for its own sake. Mebbe I can come up with a new business that creates a case it will slide into allowing it to fit on everyone's furniture.
I've love to see the Boxee Box succeed, but its price point is pretty high compared to its competitors. The WD TV Live set-top is half the price, and the Roku HD player is even less. A netflix/youtube enabled BluRay player is comparable in price, but includes the BluRay functionalities. Ditto for a PS3. I realize that the Boxee may have other functionalities that set it apart from the others, but I'm not sure if the average user will realize that.
My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
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.
This one works for me.
http://www.captiveworks.com/cw4000hd.php
One of the advantages of the PS3's otherwise ridiculous use of Bluetooth for the DVD remote is that the whole console can be out of site. Mine sits vertically behind the TV which gives it lots of room to breath and since it does triple duty as media server, Blu-Ray player, and gaming console it means that I really don't have much cluttering up my entertainment center; just a cable box and a stereo receiver.
TVersity + PS3 (or Xbox 360) = unlimited entertainment.
Living With a Nerd
The case is a box, with one corner lopped so it sits at an angle (hence the part in the summary about how it won't fit in a rack.). As if this weren't enough to make it call attention to itself, the default color scheme is carbon and acid green.
The design is meant to sell to people who want to show off how they have one, and create consumer envy as a way of moving more units. The problem is, some customers will be turned off by that - for example, they want a device that blends with the others in their viewing room. The color scheme makes this effect worse - after a certain point, the Boxee Box is already distinctive, and has caught the attention of that market share that values gadgets standing out from the crowd - so more distinction will only cost them customers. Acid green is a color that came into style briefly a few years ago, and is now dated to the people who have strong interior decorator modes and really care about such trends - using it this late in the trend cycle comes off a little like making the device in the customer's choice of Almond, Harvest Gold or Avocado.
If they had kept the price under 200$, all that might have flown, with sales to the college dorm crowd and the general youth market, but with the new price point, the design is aimed at a slightly older demographic, one that will actually care about this sort of thing.
As final proof that the Boxee Box isn't going to sell well, I'd buy one, even at the new price. It triggers geeklust in me. The very last tech-thing I bought was a Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver replica (Matt Smith version). Does that sound like a real market exists?
Who is John Cabal?
SGX is a 3D accelerator only. I'm sure there is something in that system that is doing video acceleration, but the SGX isn't it.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
I tried to use Boxee on the Mini attached to my TV for a good month before giving up in frustration - it was buggy as hell, crashed daily, refused to recognize any of my media without them being named in a maddeningly specific way and without them being organized in a manner that IMDB would be able to parse without any manual override. Practically every fix required a keyboard and mouse to implement which completely defeats my assumption of how a media center is supposed to work.
I'm assuming they've fixed these problems? Because as it stands, you'd be flat-out nuts to lay down 200 bucks for something like that.
How the fuck is discussing the summary offtopic?
I've found that it works better in some ways, but worse in others.
Sometimes my PS3 has trouble finding it, while TVersity never has that problem. TVersity's use of bandwidth is also far more efficient, even if I crank the quality way the hell down on PS3MS--high quality standard-definition movies will halt frequently to buffer with PS3 Media Server over my 802.11G wireless network, while TVersity can usually play 720p over the same connection with only rare hiccups.
On the other hand, TVersity doesn't always like to transcode files, sometimes simply telling me the format is not supported, and PS3 Media Server has better thumbnail capabilities.
Overall, I'll take the watchable TVersity over the often unwatchable PS3MS. If I ever get around to running a cable from the router in the basement to the PS3 upstairs, though, I'll probably switch.