![]() ![]() Born from their excellent software, originally designed to work on PCs, Macs and jailbroken AppleTVs, it was a streamer’s dream. “Boxee Box was light years ahead of any media streaming devices at its time. He offers some insights from those years that he used the device. Mike Agerbo, host of the Get Connected technology radio program on 980 CKNW, was an early adopter of the Boxee Box. Boxee was eventually acquired and shut down by Samsung, possibly because the Korean company had notions for streaming platforms of its own, but also possibly because of legal hassles concerning some of the software in the Box device. While revolutionary, and marketed widely in more than 30 countries, Boxee Box was not long for this world. One problem: you couldn’t have more than one unit in the house, as the RF remote for one would affect any others within range. Distinct from TV remote controls of the day, all infrared, the Boxee Box remote was radio frequency (RF) based and could be used in any orientation (a definite requirement for the use of the keyboard). In addition to the unique shape of the Boxee Box, the device came with an equally unique remote control, basic buttons on one side and a full Qwerty keyboard on the other. ![]() Boxee Box, the actual device, was essentially a joint venture between the two companies.īoxee itself had roots in the free open source media software XBMC, which later became the foundation of the Kodi platform. No rules, no contracts.”Īlthough Boxee Box was marketed by well-known modem and router manufacturer D-Link, Boxee, the underlying software, came from an Israeli company. We’re all over it –introducing the Boxee Box by D-Link: click, follow, watch – you are now in full command of your TV for the first time. “We get it – you want Internet freedom on your TV, but you want it to be the stuff you actually want to watch in HD and you want to enjoy it from the comfort of your couch. Here’s a marketing line from the manufacturer at the time. ![]() And yet by the end of 2012 it was effectively gone. I wonder if anyone reading this remembers the Boxee Box? While quirky for its shape, basically a cube with a pyramid cut from two corners, Boxee Box was one of the first widely distributed devices designed to bring internet television and other streaming media to home sets. It is a Boxee Box, a device well ahead of its time when I acquired it more than a decade ago, in early 2011, for around $200. Seeing more frequent use is a Roku device, an Ultra, which handles streaming from various platforms (for example, Netflix, Prime, YouTube).īeyond those, though, is an odd-shaped device that is now more of a curiosity than something that actually still serving a useful purpose. Among them is a Google Chromecast, a second generation of that technology for connecting external devices to the television display. That TV manufacturers might buy up some of the streaming services seemed like a likely next step for both parties.Sitting beneath my main television set beside equipment needed from the TV and internet service provider is a small collection of additional devices. Samsung’s only similar products come in the form of its Android TouchWiz interface and the smart TV interface it uses perhaps a Boxee-like service that provides streaming video and integrated DVR service synced across smartphones, tablets, computers, and TVs could give Samsung’s products a competitive edge. Samsung has confirmed the purchase but not the amount and has given no indication of how it intends to put Boxee or its developments to use. Last October Boxee added cloud DVR storage as well as a live TV dongle that can grab antenna channels, but the company has still struggled to find funding recently. Although Boxee’s hardware and services were met with initial excitement, they have failed to gain as much traction as Roku and Apple TV. The price Samsung is paying matches the totality of the funding Boxee has received since 2008. The acquisition will likely bolster Samsung’s own proprietary smart TV platform and augment the cable and console services that its televisions feed to living rooms. Samsung has acquired the video streaming service Boxee for a reported $30 million, according to reports from AllThingsD and The Marker. Boxee's box is not what Samsung is after.
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