Vudu Added to Boxee Box

Boxee announced Wednesday that Vudu's on-demand HD streaming service will be available on the Boxee Box this afternoon.

The addition will come via a firmware update that also fixes some bugs and enhances the Boxee browser, the company said.

"Vudu on the Boxee Box means: access to the largest selection of HD movies on-demand, new releases (same day as DVD), thousands of movies available for rental at $2 for 2 nights," Boxee chief executive Avner Ronen said in a blog post.

Boxee promised 1080p video at 24 frames per second and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound. "It takes advantage of some crafty engineering from Vudu dubbed TruFilm, which optimizes the encoding, transmission and display of HDX movies on 40-inch HDTVs and larger screens," Ronen wrote.

To kick things off, Vudu is offering every new Boxee Box customer a $5.99 credit towards a first rental or purchase.

Ronen also said Boxee is on track to start offering Netflix by month's end, and promised another update about that next week.

The $199 Boxee Box in early November, with services like Netflix, Vudu, and Hulu Plus noticeably absent. Vudu was on the Boxee Box in November and Netflix by year's end. Boxee also said at the time that it was working with Hulu to bring Hulu Plus to the Boxee Box, but didn't commit to a firm date. A December provided few answers. A full run-down of the enhancements and bug fixes made in this firmware update, however, is available on the blog.

For more details, see PCMag.com's of the Boxee Box and the slideshow below, as well as our .