Boxee The Boxee remote control offers a full keyboard for searching video online.As the sofa wars heat up and big companies like Amazon, Google and Apple push their way into the living room, there are smaller outfits in this market that are offering some interesting and enticing options too.
So, enter Boxee. On Monday this small New York-based start-up, which has until now been a software company, announced that its own set-top box, called the Boxee Box, is now available for pre-order online. The $200 gadget plugs directly into a television and connects to the Internet to access video, music and hundreds of free video-enabled applications.
The box was originally going to be released in June, but the company decided change some of the guts inside, specifically moving to an Intel processor, to accommodate more online video technologies.
If you’re wondering why Boxee would move into hardware, going up against some of the hardware giants that are also offering technology for the living room, the company’s approach can be summed up in one word: open.
Unlike Apple TV and other closed platforms, which lock people into a few video options, Boxee gives people access to a plethora of online video content and doesn’t distinguish between “amateur hour” and professional Hollywood movies and TV shows.
Idan Cohen, co-founder of Boxee, said in an interview that the company doesn’t draw a line between types of content because its users don’t either.
Boxee The Boxee Box.“We’re seeing on Boxee that 50 percent of the content is user-generated high-quality video,” Mr. Cohen said. “They are not watching ‘Charlie bit my finger,’ they are watching real, high-quality, amateur video content.”
Another unique feature of the new box is the remote control. One side is a minimalist, yet standard-looking TV remote, but its back side offers a full keyboard that can be used to search for video online.
The box comes with a number of other hardware features that many competitors don’t offer, including an SD card slot to load content from a camera or other device, and USB ports that can connect to external hard drives.