BTW, the DLINK box will be OPEN. They're expressly allowing you to install whatever you want on it in addition to Boxee.

Oh, and my apologies, but that box I linked to doesn't have HDMI. DVI isn't good enough for me. I'm only seeing $300 and up for something with HDMI in it...

I picked up an Acer Aspire Revo R3610 for £180 last week (eBuyer were offering them without Windows). That works out at $263. It's got HDMI. In the end, however, I've used it to replace my old file server, because the fan sounded like it was on its last legs. The new one is also much much much quieter.

I might pick up another one next month to use for HTPC duties.

A Skype plugin to Boxee or similar would be a useful feature. Granted I'd still need a simple Skype solution for my mother....but I don't think anyone is building a single button solution.

Oh, that's cool. Still, it's an ARM architecture, so your choices would be limited.

Zotac Zbox: $229

Acer Revo: $199

Both of these are recommended by Boxee themselves.

Ooma

tanstaafl.

...I'm only guessing, but I think he was talking about video, and Ooma has nothing to do with video. It's pretty different from Skype in general...


Hmm, hadn't seen that Zotac box. I wasn't entirely sure the Atom 230 could handle 1080p, though I guess it's the same clock speed, just single core.

Still, you have to buy the remote separately, and that's a big consideration for me, because it's one of the primary reasons I'm excited about the Boxee Box.

That's what the ION bits give you: an HD coprocessor.

I haven't seen one in the flesh, but I think the Asus Aiguru Touch is at least aiming to be the thing you're looking for.

Peter

Boxee might have another problem when it's released. Some are thinking that the new XBox 360 might have a cheaper counterpart come the holiday season. The idea is that as the current inventory of the "old" model 360 is depleted, it would help Microsoft to have another "Arcade" model with a smaller hard drive that could run $199. At $199, I'd really have to think about the value I'm getting with a Boxee Box.

Does anyone know if the XBox can play MKV files? I'm assuming no, so that would be a big minus.

What about the Boxee remote, the reason you don't want to pay $199 for a more generic box?

No. The 360 doesn't understand MKV containers.

Also the Boxee box should be silent unlike the 360.

An excellent point, but I feel the value exchange makes up for that. For some reason, despite the generic box being a fully-capable computer, I feel like the XBox has more home theater functionality than either the generic or the Boxee Box.

Plus, I'd love to one day have the house outfitted with 360's on each TV, to play content from a workhorse media center box with multiple tuners.

However, the flexibility of formats with the Boxee Box is appealing to me...

True, but apparently the new 360 is significantly quieter.

Whether it's significantly less red-ring-of-deathier remains to be seen.

(Still seriously considering getting one.)

The RROD appears to be mainly caused by excessive heat generation. If Microsoft hasn't fixed it by now after multiple generations of the original 360 hardware and now a completely new redesign then they're seriously slacking off in R&D.

As with any new design though I guess it would be prudent to wait for the bugs and issues to be worked out.

How quiet is your room where you'll be using the Boxee/360?

Based on the fact that it plays games? That I'll agree with; anything else and I'm pretty sure you're 100% wrong. My experience is that anything that claims to do double-duty as a home theater device does it very poorly. After all, that's why XBMC was developed in the first place.

360 is a shitty media device. If you want a good game experience, get a console. If you want a good media experience, get a (XBMC|Boxee|whatever else dedicated). If you want just one box and don't care about good media experience, get a console.

Hot off the presses: Apple has updated the Mac Mini. $699 gets you a fairly capable machine, notably including an HDMI connector and an internal power supply. It's a bit pricey if all you want to do is run Boxee, but if you want a full-blown HTPC, it might be attractive.

Yeah, I saw that this morning, and $699 is a bit ridiculous for an HTPC with no DVR or BluRay functionality.


No, I base it on a few things (granted, several of them are rumor). Once they add the search functionality, it'll be the best Netflix playback device available. There's rumor that Hulu will be coming to it (though I'm not holding my breath). And like I said, as a Windows Media Center Extender, there are few devices better at it.

The XBox 360, combined with a Windows Media Center PC, is IMO the easiest and least expensive way to get a whole-house media experience. I'm sure I'll get some arguments for other platforms, but from what I've seen it's hard to beat.


I would be shocked if they hadn't addressed this issue. It was the single largest problem with the console, after all, and the new design is clearly meant to address the heat issue. It seems like every side is covered in vents. However, I agree that it's wise to wait and see if any problems come up.

And by the way, I'm just thinking out loud on this XBox 360 thing. Besides, I'm years away from having the cash to drop on the big central HTPC that I'd require to make the extender functionality of the 360 any use to me.

I strongly suspect that when the Boxee Box comes out, I'll still be buying one.

Oh, I forgot about the Windows Media Center Extender thing. And about Windows Media Center, for that matter.

The most significant part about the Mac mini which makes it a shitty HTPC is that it's got a fan. And can't/won't do much more than a $200 dedicated box will in that role. Yes, you can run SageTV on it with some external capture devices. You can even run EyeTV (a Mac-oriented PVR) if you wanted to. But it's still got that fan.

I'm sure Apple intends to update their AppleTV. But I'm also sure it's not going to play all the codecs and container formats and will still be tied to iTunes in at least some way.

If the current rumors are true it sounds like it will be tied to iTunes in every way, even more than the current model.

Also, I prefer the way you said "can't/won't do much more than a $200 dedicated box will in that role." That's the key. I don't want to make it sound like I'm hating on the Mac Mini, because I really dig the new revision. I think it's a great box and would definitely be the Mac I'd get. The price is decent for a computer, and they've changed a lot of things I didn't like about it before, like easily upgraded RAM slots.

Having a fan doesn't bother me. Having a quiet system is what matters to me, and unless I force my (not new) mini to spin the fan at full speed, I never hear it above the noise of my DLP TV.

Correct Matt. Ideally it would connect to the telly, the bigger image been easy on my mothers older eyes, and be dead simple to use - my mother is in her 60s and has no interest in computers, which is really the only way she is going to see my daughter. Skype do have something along these lines, but it calls for a Skype enabled TV

As for Skype been different then Ooma, both can do cheap calls, so I see where tanstaafl was coming from.

Thanks Peter, I'll look into the Asus Aiguru Touch.

I have a first gen Intel Duo mini and I could never use it as an HTPC, even if it were capable in terms of processing power. It's just far too loud. I don't know how yours stacks up, but even though I may have the volume on the source loud enough to drown out a fan, it still increases the noise floor significant;y enough to bother me. Not to mention the times where the volume is very low or muted/off completely. I'm a firm convert to the client-server methodology when it comes to HTPC and media distribution.