Boxee Box: The Inside Story, Swapping Tegra 2 for Intel CE4100
by Ganesh T S & Brian Klug on September 13, 2010 10:31 AM EST- Posted in
- Media Streamer
- Home Theater
- HTPC
Media streamer companies have expertise in either hardware or software, but rarely both. Boxee realized this early on that were they to go out and try to build a box themselves, they would probably fail. By linking a strategic partnership with D-Link which has experience building hardware, and also has a great retail channel presence, they managed to make up for one of their critical shortcomings. D-Link, on the other hand, had to figure out a way to handle the shift in the entertainment ecosystem. For an optimal user experience, a full solution, right from the NAS to the home network to the actual media streamer, had to be created. We have seen attempts at this from both Netgear and D-Link earlier, but all their media streamer offerings failed in terms of the user interface and experience. By partnering with Boxee, they too have managed to overcome one of their shortcomings. How well this has worked out will soon be seen, as the Boxee Box is already up for pre-order on Amazon and should ship before the end of November. D-Link and Boxee also announced that the unit would be up for pre-order internationally (including US, Canada, Australia and the EU).
This product also gives Intel a boost in the mainstream SoC market space. Being the first unit with the CE4100 (actually, any x86 based SoC) to ship to the mainstream consumer (at a palatable $199 price point), Intel would hope that its popularity would be a sign of things to come for x86 based SoCs.
For AnandTech to recommend a media streamer, it must strive to enable the consumer to watch whatever content he wants wherever he wants. Boxee Box seems to have taken this philosophy to heart, unlike some of the other recently announced media streamers. While we hope that the unit can live up to the heightened expectations it has just created, we know that the proof is in the pudding. We will be closely following this streamer as it nears release, and in the meanwhile, if you have something particular that you want to be tested on this unit, feel free to let us know in the comments.
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chickamauga - Thursday, September 16, 2010 - link
Actually they can't. The claim on their website are just false (just do a google, it's a request on the WD TV wish list for years). Same for PCH, no can do.Neither Realtek or Sigma chipsets can do true ASS/SSA
taltamir - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
it sounds nice... but why is the form factor so hideous? how do you place this in your living room? it needs to be a normal rectangular box, not this weird abstract sculpture they haveteohhanhui - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
Perhaps we could learn to appreciate art.Saosin - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
Does it have AFP support?boschMAN - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
Anand, will the Boxee Box support external USB DVB-T digital tv tuners?racerx_is_alive - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
I heard a while back that they were intending to sell the remote separately for people who had built HTPCs. Do you know if that's still the case?teohhanhui - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - link
http://blog.boxee.tv/2010/09/13/pre-order-a-boxee-...rays4 - Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - link
Will Boxee box also serve as NAS, and the Drives attached to the Boxee box via USB show up on home network? Any ideas on thatWolfpup - Wednesday, September 29, 2010 - link
So is this about the hard wired video decode abilities of Tegra 2? Because shouldn't dual core 1GHz A9s be considerably more powerful than a single core 1.2GHz Atom?If it's a GPU issue, then...well, then why the heck aren't more devices using Atom, as that's pathetic...
BoxeeWhatNow? - Monday, November 1, 2010 - link
Apologies to the cognoscenti...These two sentences, please to explain to me please:
We have been given to understand that the security processor is not disabled in the Boxee Box.
No support for playback of DRM content from external Blu-Ray or DVD drives as of now.
Er, so if I have an external USB drive, or network share that holds, backups, I would not be able to stream that content via the BoxeeBox?
Device-wise, I must be mistaken. I can't plug the DVD-drive/player into the BoxeeBox to pass thru the signal? I guess an HDMI splitter is called for. Given that these chips can handle the encoding, I wasn't planning on getting an AV receiver...(the speakers are all self-powered and wireless: Aperion)