At the moment I’m using a Western Digital HD Live, which streams the HD content from my linux server. Works fine as in: 1) GF can control it, 2) boots up in seconds, 3) remote control.

In that respect, boxee has nothing to offer against my WD box, however, from what I’ve seen user interface wise, there’s a big usability step up. Another big plus is the access to all of this online content, where I now only have access to Youtube with my WD, a whole world of content is freed with the Boxee.

I say yes to Boxee, and cannot wait for the moment the little box enters my home!

This is shaping up to be a major piece of Open Source awesome. I have to say that with Boxee shipping at circa $200, if iPads were priced at $200, there would be a marginal debate. Get a Boxee which is gorgeous, original and does something useful and cool? Or get an iPad which is goergeous and er um, that’s it. But they’re not $200. Boxee is $200, iPad is $600. If there is any justice in the world, you shouldn’t be able to get these out the door fast enough to keep up with the demand.

Doesn’t do Blu-Ray, but does everything else, and I’ve got a homemade PC running on a 23″ monitor in my bedroom for gaming : )

The worrying this is, they’re going to charge for the Boxee box. I hope the software is more stable and smoother than the current Beta.

for people who want to pay for dessert, we just want to give them that option : )

the goal of the payments platform is to help content providers put more of their content online, content which otherwise wouldn’t be feasible to make available via an ad-only revenue model.

As content providers are able to make more money distributing over the Internet, we think the idea of geo-locking becomes less appealing for them and their customers. It’s going to take some time for those negotiations to happen, but we think they will.

certainly there will be people who still want broadcast TV, but the eventual ability to place-shift and time-shift any content using Internet delivered content is awesome.

No such thing as a free lunch it seems.

Besides, if you really do want a permanent archive of a show on your harddrive Boxee has torrent support…

Would be great if there was an easy way to turn the VPN on and off from within Boxee. Seen an app for openvpn but not pptp on a Mac. Anyone seen one?

The fact that I can click play on a TV show and have it randomly play one from the series’ entire run makes the idea of going back to disc-based content laughable.

What might be a nice addition would be a Boxee brand NAS, assuming it works in roughly the same way as XBMC?

I’m from The Netherlands and when I try to buy music downloads for Amazon for example it tells me:

“We could not process your order. The sale of MP3 Downloads is currently available only to US customers located in the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia.”

Stuart mentioned BBC iPlayer and when I go there I get:

“Currently BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only, but all BBC iPlayer Radio programmes are available to you.”

I go to Hulu and it tells me:

“Sorry, currently our video library can only be streamed from within the United States “

You gotta be shitting me…

The stupid and outdated idea of geographical limitations prevents users in Israel or Albania (just as an example) from viewing most online content. The relatively small audiences and the apparent need to have content accessible in the local language (through subtitling or dubbing) makes delivering geographically limited content to small or developing countries financially unfeasable.

Until people drop the stupid regioning logic, internet media remains viable only in three English speaking countries and internet-only devices will be just useless desk ornaments even in Boxee’s homeland.

Maybe it’s because my rl social circles weren’t on Boxee so I didn’t have anyone I really wanted to connect with on Boxee.