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Tag: Boxee Box

  • FCC Proposes New Rule That Could Hurt Boxee Sales

    FCC Proposes New Rule That Could Hurt Boxee Sales

    The FCC is proposing a rule change that could alter how Americans watch television forever.

    That might be pushing it a little too much, but the FCC is proposing a change to a provision in the Cable Television Protection and Competition Act that requires cable companies to to provide unencrypted basic tier cable.

    The rule change, obviously supported by cable companies, would enable the encryption of basic tier cable. This means that people who jack in and get free cable from local providers would be required to get a set-top box.

    The rule change could make it so that people who previously relied upon free cable would be hit with service charges and the need to buy a set-top box. Public Knowledge has petitioned the FCC to at least allow a “transition period” and require cable companies to give low-income families free set-top boxes to ease them in to the new regulation.

    That’s not the main issue though – Boxee would be hit hardest with this new rule. They recently offered a Live TV stick for their set-top box that allows users to jack into local stations. The company said that 40 percent of their users use the Live TV stick to stream local content. That alone makes Boxee the most compelling device for people who want to cut their cable. Seeing that makes it obvious why cable companies would support this new rule.

    Boxee put together a presentation to the FCC that argues against the proposed rule as it would hurt them and any other startup wanting to innovate in the field of television. Their main argument is that encryption would harm competition and require everybody to subscribe to cable companies for even basic tier cable.

    Boxee also brings up the good point that encryption would render TV tuners useless, which are used by many PCs and HDTVs to stream over-the-air unencrypted local cable.

    It’s strange to see the FCC even contemplating a rule like this as they are one of the few government agencies that seems like they’re on the side of the consumer since they were the group who proposed net neutrality rules.

    They could make a decision on the new rule within the next few weeks. Boxee encourages their users to contact the FCC on their behalf to stop this proposed law from taking effect.

  • Boxee Box With Intel Atom Processor Coming Soon

    Boxee Box With Intel Atom Processor Coming Soon

    The Boxee Box is due out in November, just in time for the holidays. It will come out looking to compete with the likes of the much-hyped Apple TV and Google TV. Here’s what Boxee’s Avner Ronen had to say on the Boxee blog after Apple launched its newest Apple TV device:
     
    We think people want to be able to watch anything that they can watch on their computer, only on their bigscreen TV.  There is an overwhelming consumer expectation that the content we can consume in our cubicles, our dorm rooms, and in our laps should be available in our living rooms, in full 1080p with a gorgeous interface.  It’s a simple premise, but the challenge is to do it in a way that makes sense in that space, so you can put your feet up, grab a remote and start watching. No keyboards, mice, windows or labyrinthine menus. It should be calm and it should be beautiful. And it *must* be open.

     

    Boxee and D-link announced today that the Boxee Box will be powered by Intel’s CE4100 Atom processor. The Box is touted as the first media device capable of playing all major media formats and codecs within a home network along with free and premium TV shows and movies, videos, music, and photos from the Internet, with support for full 1080p HD and 5.1 surround sound.

     

    Boxee Box Coming in November

    "This represents long overdue innovation to the entertainment experience that D-Link will help consumers quickly deploy through their home network. These exciting new capabilities align closely with Intel’s commitment to improving how people access and enjoy digital content on their TV," said Lou Reda, Vice President and General Manager, Consumer Division, D-Link. "We are leading a revolution that will offer tremendous new possibilities in the home."

    Boxee and D-Link also announced today that Canadian customers can now pre-order the Boxee Box through Best Buy and Future Shop. The Boxee Box will begin shipping in November in the US, Canada, EU and Australia.

  • New Boxee Beta Resolves Over 500 Issues

    Update: Boxee has just announced it has released an updated version of the Boxee Beta, after making over 500 adjustments to it. On the Boxee Blog, Avner Ronen writes:

    Since releasing the Beta we have seen significant uptake in usage. Some stats:

    • 150,000 new users joined Boxee
    • 3 million Boxee apps launched
    • 1.5 million TV episodes and Movies were watched

    The new version of the Beta includes almost no new features, but rather is focused on bug fixes. We focused on stability issues. Many hangs and crashes were identified and resolved. We spent a bunch of time trying to improve the never-ending saga of handling SMB shares.

    Original Article: During the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Boxee made the beta version of its free software publicly available for download. Boxee’s software brings together video content (and photos, music, etc.) from various web sources as well as your hard drive and circle of friends from social networks all into one interface that you can use to navigate through it on your television, assuming you have a computer hooked up to the TV.

    There will soon be another way to access Boxee though, and that is through the Boxee Box from D-Link, which was also unveiled at CES. Boxee’s Chief Product Officer took over the WebProNews mic to tell us just how this box works and demonstrate the things it can do. Watch the following clip:

    It was made pretty clear through a number of products shown off at CES that the way people watch television is going to change significantly. As Boxee’s Zach Klein mentions in the above video, "the future of television content is about watching anything you want, any time you want, on demand."

    You may watch your television like this already to some extent, whether you use DVR, have a computer hooked up to your TV, or already have an Internet-ready TV. Maybe you access content from your XBox or Playstation. The on-demand way of watching content on your TV is growing and will only get more sophisticated.

    Boxee and the box are about the interface and ease-of use for watching the content you want to watch. As more people create apps for it, the amount of available content should only grow as well. Things are going to get really interesting for television viewers.

    The Boxee Box should come out in May, and will be available for around $200.
     

    Related Articles:

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    > A Close Up with Sony’s New Personal Internet Viewer

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