Discussion about
avneron

I'm taking questions about Boxee and the Boxee Box

I'll be here starting 4pm ET and will hang out till midnight answering questions regarding Boxee, Boxee Box and all things Boxee :)

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286 replies
kingaaronj

Awesome! :) I can't wait.
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jctrl

can say that again!!!
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Blastactionhero

i think i will be sleeping at that time. so i post my question now...
will it be possible to put xbmc on the boxee box?
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avneron

yes, users should be able to run XBMC on the Boxee Box. we're not sure about the exact installation process that will be supported, but it is important for us to make sure XBMC runs properly on the Box
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Blastactionhero

awesome news is awesome :)
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Novettam

My only question has to do with international availability and what content partnerships will be made internationally as well.
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avneron

we're going to start with the US and Canada, but both D-Link and us have received numerous requests for International distribution. D-Link is selling in most developed markets, so it's more a question of content offering in these specific countries.

we hope UK, Australia will come first and then non-English speaking countries.
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Escmymind

In regards to eventual international availability, will you be able to buy the box now, and receive your localized software version at a later date?
Or more importantly, does it support PAL tv's in this US/Canada version? Like in a software setting?
thanks :)
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avneron

yes, it will support PAL, and you'll be able to buy the Box and then get the benefit on an increasing world of content as we bring more local partners on board
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airduce

I am so fired up about this thing I will be first in line...hopefully real soon-not June. One thing I cannot find a definitive answer for is if it will include Netflix. Anyone know for sure?
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dennbruce

Netflix was my big question too. It was my understanding (and I might be wrong) that Netflix streaming didn't work with Boxee installed on Linux (due to lack of Silverlight), and since the Boxee Box was Linux based I was afraid it might not work here either, but I would love to get a definitive answer on this.
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avneron

Netflix does not work on Linux, due to the lack of availability of Silverlight.

When it comes to the CE devices Netflix is using a different stream, so it will require a different implementation of Netflix, but it is definitely high on our priority list
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dennbruce

Glad to hear it, thank you!
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gdgteer

Since there is Moonlight for linux with will play back silverlight content and is developed by Novell which is a Microsoft partner, I still don't understand why netflix can't work in linux under Moonlight. I hear that there are some issues with DRM being written in a windows-specific way but wouldn't that also be solved by running it in a WINE emulation layer or something?

I'm not suggesting that you should do this, I am sure you have looked at this option very early, I'm just curious to understand why that doesn't work, since I still, to this day, have never found an explanation for why it doesn't work ... and I'm a curious person :)
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cconover

@airduce I second these questions.
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wizzkidd

How much will it Cost?
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avneron

D-Link is still aiming for less than $200. not sure whether it will mean $199, or less.. :)
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thx

When is the release? Can you be more specific than Second Quarter 2010?
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avneron

we don't have a set date, yet. probably late in the second quarter
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pscrzy

How will the Boxee Box work with certain plugins like the Move Networks plugin that does not support Linux?
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avneron

it will require us to do a CE specific implementation. it will not be a desktop Linux based device. we will have the advantage of using some chip-based codecs and DRM implementations
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cwburke

any plans to have a version of boxee (not the remote) for the iPad?
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avneron

we are brainstorming about it. lack of Flash is a big issue, since we don't distribute the content on our own, but rather depend on the players used by our partners (most of them Flash based).

but we are looking on how to expand Boxee beyond the TV and I am personally excited about the iPad.
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billgrant

Will the Boxee remote will be available by itself? (For a Mac, for example, rather than getting it with a Boxee Box.)
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avneron

we don't have a date for the remote, but we're going to try and get it out as soon as we can (even before the Box)
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bigmackx

any approximate price?
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avneron

have not finalized the price with D-Link, but we will aim to price it as aggressively as we can
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ryan

I know you guys are still having a major hassle with Hulu (namely, NBC), but I think most people see Boxee + Hulu as a killer app. Will you open things up so a plugin or app would be able to change the browser string and have the device identify itself as a desktop computer, thus circumventing Hulu's block on Boxee? (I know you prob can't do this yourselves, but you could theoretically leave the door open for others, right?)
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avneron

right now the best thing we could do to improve the Hulu experience on Boxee is to improve the Boxee Browser. we are working on it and over the next couple of releases it should see some major improvements that would impact playback from many sources, Hulu included.

ultimately the solution is to figure out a way to have formal partnership with Hulu. maybe once they have a subscription model it will be easier for them to engage with us.

working together we could create a much better experience than the current Browser-based support.
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elbaso

Will I be able to watch anythingthing (Movies, TV Shows, etc.) purchased or rented from the iTunes store on Boxee?
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avneron

we don't have support for iTunes DRMd videos, since they don't license their DRM.. :(
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bi3nary

I heard that we might be able to buy just the remote, for our software Boxee installations. Is that true? Same release date? Ideas on pricing? Thanks.
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avneron

true, but don't have a date yet.
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pscrzy

Will the Boxee Box have a built-In software updater or will it be some sort of update on a flash drive? Thanks for answering my questions!!
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avneron

it will have a built-in update feature, so it will be very easy to upgrade
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Neel

Does it have the codec support or the network-capability to search my NAS and display the media in it's native folder format? or put more simply... Can this device serve as a replacement for my WDTV Live?
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avneron

yes and yes
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seth

What are the (expected) hardware specs in this puppy?
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avneron

we announced that the Boxee Box by D-Link is based on the Nvidia Tegra2. it is a strong chipset that will enable us to provide a smooth UX as well as play Flash 10.1
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badbob001

Since it's linux, then I can only assume flash 10.1 would not have hardware acceleration support. Do you think the CPU is strong enough to compensate since devices running on 1+GHz ATOM platforms still see a benefit with flash acceleration?
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avneron

the good thing about using the Nvidia Tegra2 is that it does have accelerated Flash 10.1
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bigmackx

Will netflix movies/shows be reintegrated into the movies/tv sections?
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avneron

we are working with Netflix to enable it
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seth

Also, will this box be able to play DVDs/BlueRay, or will the content need to be ripped first and then streamed/copied to the box in order to play it? (Apologies for not googling before asking)
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timwoolsey

It doesn't have a DVD drive, so nope.
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avneron

no DVD/BluRay drive. no built-in love for spinning media. maybe as an add-on?
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seth

Would be great if I could stream data from Boxee Desktop to the Boxee Box (i.e. pop a DVD in my laptop, load up Boxee, and hit "play on my Box" and voila!)
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avneron

indeed!
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