People want to do much more with their iPhone then Steve Job allows. So they jailbreak it. The same goes for the Apple TV. While it is a great and relatively cheap media center, it has restrictions, just like the iPhone. Wouldn’t it be nice to play xvid videos, stream shows from Hulu, listen to LastFm, Twitter the name of the movie you are currently watching or see what music your friends are listening to on your big screen TV connected to an Apple TV? Well, you can do that with Boxee!
Boxee is an open source media center, with social networking features, currently in an invite-only alpha stage. It is a fork of XBMC, a media center initially designed for the Xbox, but then ported to run on all major platforms. Boxee runs on Linux, Mac, and soon Windows. You can put it on your AppleTV with a grandma-simple “hack“, with no adverse effects.
What does it do?
As other media center software, Boxee allows you to browse and play media files (movies, music, photos) from local hard-disks or DVD drive and can stream music and videos from the internet or other computers in the network (SMB/SAMBA shares). It supports 1080p HD and it reads virtually any type of media, except DRM-ed files.
Boxee scans your default media folders and downloads the related metadata and artwork for your music and video files. Unfortunately, it doesn’t import your iTunes or iPhoto libraries – a big loss for Mac users.
When playing a song you can choose to see the lyrics (especially useful for a karaoke night) or display information about the band or artist.
Boxee seamlessly integrates with online video, music and photo websites and can actually download public torrent movies. You can also configure media feeds for your favourite podcasts on the Boxee website or choose one from the built-in Podcasts directory.
- Video : CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, Hulu, Movie Trailers, MySpaceTV, Next New Networks, ON networks, Revision3, YouTube.
- Music: Jamendo, Last.fm, NPR, SHOUTcast, BBC.
- Photos: Flickr, Picasa.
Social Features
Boxee wants to turn the TV in to “a social media center”. To achieve that, it gives the users the ability to rate and recommend content to their friends. The dashboard displays friends’ recommendations and the media they’ve recently watched or listened to, facilitating the discovery of new quality content.
On Boxee’s website you can set up your Twitter, FriendFeed or Tumbler account to be updated with the current playing media or media you recommended.
Interface
Boxee is not the first nor the last to bring to the table all the features mentioned earlier. The utility of a media center software is given by how fast and how easy you can get to the media files you want.
Boxee has a very clean and slick interface, and after little time to get used to, the menu is a breeze to navigate, especially if you have an Apple remote. It has no manual so you must figure out how to use the keyboard or the remote, but it’s pretty intuitive.
One key feature of the interface is the sliding panels approach for showing the menu. It uses the screen real estate very efficiently and in terms of usability it may be one of the best solutions for media center software I’ve seen.
What’s the catch?
None! Boxee is and will remain free. The business model is not yet established, but it should be based on content referrals or advertising. Being in Alpha it is buggy and crashes from time to time.
Is this the end of cable/satellite TV? Well, not really. But more and more people watch videos online, in detriment of traditional TV. And now, with media boxes that can stream content from sites like Hulu, for many of us there aren’t many reasons left in favour of cable TV.
Tags: apple tv, boxee, media center, music, videos
Looks great, I have no TV with being in student accommodation and finding streaming TV from all the individual sources takes ages and I usually end up missing something. Could do with iPlayer support if that’s possible.
Thanks for the article. I started reading up on Boxee because it looks like an up-and-coming contender to other media center solutions (I’d love to see a comparison article between Boxee and, for example, Mythbuntu).
I was also wondering how Boxee could maintain a private beta, while still claim to be open source. After all, if the source is available, couldn’t anyone build it on their own?
It turns out the question of licensing was previously brought up in the forums here:
http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=382
The final word on the question comes from one of Boxee employees, and states that the source code will be made available to all alpha testers. In fact, “even though we only need to provide it to whom we distribute the software to, i.e. alpha users, we oblige every code request with simple invitation to our alpha”.
So, if you’re ever looking for an invite to their closed alpha, you can simply ask to see the source code, and you’ll receive an invite.
Great tip, thanks Scott!
This looks promising… I’m still trying to find a media player for Linux that plays video and music, but also allows for organizing of libraries. Amarok would be perfect if it did video. As much as I hate to say it, Windows Media Player is a decent app that plays all your media, but also allows for fairly robust library management. Hopefully this will be the Linux solution.
Thanks for this great article. It would be great to have more independence from overwhelming corporate media influence.
Looks impressive. I wonder if it works outside of USA.
Everything but Hulu should work outside the US. I know Hulu uses a geolocation tracker to block access.
Looks cool.
How does it work combined with at mythtv backend?
And i would like to be a alpha tester too.
There’s currently an issue with mythTV but it appears to be high priority so expect it to get fixed.
I have been considering purchasing an Apple TV. I will make that purchase a certainty with an alpha invite.
Would love an invite. Thanks!
I have used XMBC for a while,Boxee sounds more exciting.I would like to get a beta invite. Thanks!!!
Bogdan, thanks for the review!
Anyone looking for invite can ping @boxee on Twitter for an invite or email me avner at boxee d0t tv
Looks cool. Any chance of an invite?
Invites sent to all who asked so far.
More available.
@Avner Ronen Thanks for the comment!
I really like Boxee. I said ‘Bye Bye’ to FrontRow, but is there any chance of iTunes/iPhoto integration for us Mac users?
I would love an invite if you’ve still got one! Thanks!!
I have an appletv. I saw this Boxee thing and got VERY excited. I know Apple will fight this service with updates, but I don’t care! I want in!
Looks like a big improvement on entertainer or elisa, I hope it works out.
I’ve been using the xbox 360 media streaming portion, but would love to switch to a system such as this.
I would love an invite if you still have some left.
Thanks.
Looks awesome
Interesting stuff. I’ve got to buy an Apple TV now.
Looks like a really killer app. Can this be used to replace front row on macbook pros?
I would love an invite, have been a long time XBMC user.
I am number 26 on the comment. Awesome application. Invite? Looks like alot of ppl stop commenting when it hits 20.
Nice. I am in..
This is great. This is the one thing I need more then anything right now. I need a way to break away from my cable bill. $200 a month just to get ten channels is garbage. Comcast and others are ripping us off. iTunes is no better. This is right up my ally. Thanks for the report guys. Any invites left?
Looks great. I heard the founder of Boxee on Cranky Geeks podcast a while back and have been wanting to try it out ever since. I have an Apple TV but find having to convert videos extremely frustrating.
I would love an invite if there are any left.
Thanks.
Pat
This sounds great! I would love to check this out.
If I could get an invite to this I’d buy an Apple TV. Thanks – Steve
I would LOVE an invite is at all possible. Thanks.
More invites sent to all of the people with valid emails. We still got some left.
Would like to mention that we could use a small donation to keep the site running; the traffic bill is growing very fast. PayPal button on the right sidebar. Thanks!
I am in the process of building 3 xbmc boxen, but would love to check this one out!
Looks Sweet. Please send me an invite. Thanks!
Bah… 27th =) I’ve been using XBMC for longer than I can remember. If you by chance still have any extra invites I’d love one.
Sounds great…! Let my try it out
All requests so far were sent invites. The Invite box still works so we’ll keep giving them away.
I would definitely like to try this out, I’ve been testing a lot of the different ones, and this is exactly what I have been attempting to find. It doesn’t look like I am in the first 20, but I will be keeping my eyes open for this.
This sounds great I would love to try this out I will be on the lookout for invites thanks!
Looks awesome, I would love to get an invite!
Thanks!
Excellent article! Invite, please. Thanks!!
Hoping for an invite, great review
I’ve been waiting for an invite for a long time now. If you have extras it would be much appreciated!
I’d love to test something like this out
chris
Cool program Invite please. I would like to test the beta. Thanks
Boxee looks really cool.
I would like to test this out
Hulu on XBMC? Finally!
id love to try this out on my brand new macbook