D-Link Unmasked as Manufacturer
Boxee held its Grand Beta Coming Out Party Monday including a sneak peek at its social networking HDTV software UI refresh and revealing partners:- D-Link, manufacturer of Boxee Box
- nVIDIA, development support in porting to DirectX on Windows
- The Escapist, Suicide Girls, and Clicker as new apps
Andrew Kippen, VP of Marketing, provided more official details in today’s blog:
It was designed by Astro Studios, the team who crafted designs for the Xbox 360, watches from Nike, Alienware PCs. It’s being built by D-Link, the leading networking company for homes & small businesses. Working with D-Link means that we’ll be able to design, build, and release a Boxee Box at a low cost to a ton of etail and retail outlets.
Scanning the comments, most issued you may are already being voiced:
- will HDMI support audio (answer was yes)
- why only RF for the remote (USB IR dongle will be available)
- comparisons to Roku (no HDD) and AppleTV (only HDMI video)
as well as the money question, literally: will it fall under a $150 price point. If you believe the internet: no. While this may not be a deal breaker, $150 does seem like a better number than Engadget’s $200, considering:
- no HDD
- no tuner
- no assurance of nVIDIA graphics
It’s a great (and logical) guess that since nVIDIA helped switch to Microsoft’s DirectX, the graphics inside Boxee Box are powered by ION.
You’ll have to wait until January. But even then, considering Roku’s price points and new open channel policy, how much more can D-Link expect to recoup for brand recognition over the Box Formerly Known as the Netflix Player?
For those new to Boxee, please click on the video at the end of the post.
an intro to Boxee from boxee on Vimeo.
Tags: Boxee, clicker, D-Link, HDTV, nVidia, Roku, social networking, Streaming, web 2.0
After the Transition 
December 26, 2009 at 9:57 pm |
Wow! It’s a real shame more folks haven’t heard about this place, this article covered just the thing I needed today.