Any one using this? I didn't buy the Boxee Box, I downloaded the software and turned my laptop (with a broken monitor hinge) into the media center that now powers my bedroom TV. It's great! Pulls my Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, and Wolfgang's Vault from the net, plus all of the movies and music on my external hard drive across the house and brings them to one central location. It allows me to use my iPhone as a remote. I hope I don't sound like an ad (although I'm sure I do). I'm just super stoked about this. Any other users?
I used to have a TV Tuner card in my server. It was pretty nice, but haven't messed with something like that in a while. Is there a monthly subscription charge above and beyond your netflix account?
Nope, totally free download. That's what drew me in. I had all of the hardware already. I had a laptop just waiting to be recycled, extra VGA cable, extra 1/8" auidio cable, and an iPhone. The boxee iPhone remote app was even free, although I went ahead and bought Mobile Mouse Pro to have some more flexibility in my control.
This would be sweet if I had an extra laptop capable of HD laying around...or if I had an easy way to run an HDMI cable from my PC to my TV....damn. Oh well. Maybe next time
My TV for some reason doesn't support DVI to HDMI And even if it did, I would have to run a cable awkwardly throughout my house to get to my HDTV in the living room. I have a netbook that could use VGA but nobody wants to watch TV in SD. My wife's laptop has HDMI, but I hate having to hook it up that way. Maybe I'm being picky. I thought about upgrading my PCs video card to HDMI instead of DVI to see if it would mitigate the problem but I just haven't gotten around to doing that. Like I said, I would have to run a cable down the hallway and into the living room to set it up this way, which would be my preferred way. My wife's laptop isn't always here and she doesn't like me putting all of my 'downloading crap' on it.
I still watch TV in SD, but that's because I don't have any HD devices (even though both of my TV's are HD). I can see how it would be difficult to go back after getting used to HD. It's not a problem for me right now.
I did the media pc thing for a while it was a bit noisy. I had old hardware. I need to build a quiet pc to be able to enjoy something like boxee. It does have lots of great reviews.
I closely followed the release of the stand alone Boxee box a month or so ago when it was released. The pre-release buzz indicated this could be the cord cutting option so many are waiting for. Basically I kept my eye on Amazon and read through the numerous user reviews day by day. As of this date there are around 300 reviews which gives a decent enough consensus. Basically it appears that while everyone loves the PC download version, the stand alone box leaves a lot to be desired. Troublesome UI. Dead links. Poor navigation and search features. Bad remote layout. A lousy first firmware update. Most importantly it doesn't deliver on providing a vast array of free internet TV streaming to the living room set. The reviews are about 1/2 bad and 1/2 good with an average user rating of 3 stars. Most of the bad ratings revolve around the points I made above which would have been the main reasons I bought the thing. For the time being I have passed on buying this device, but will keep my eye on future developments. $200 is a lot to shell out for a device that doesn't offer what the average user wants.
Shep, That's why I think I'll stick with the software download. There was really no monitary commitment on my part, so the cost/benefit on this was obvious.
