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As Boxee Grows, It Should Remember Two Things

All the way back in August of last year, we reported on how open source media center software player Boxee was racing to bring its platform to consumer electronic devices. A Boxee blog post at the time announced: To make Boxee more accessible for a mainstream consumer it?s important for us to get Boxee embedded into connected TVs and Blu-Ray players, game consoles and set-top boxes. We?re already talking to device makers to ensure Boxee works on a variety of platforms for 2010. As Boxee recently announced, that vision has become a reality. The open source software platform will ship on a hardware device in 2010, and will likely go on other ones. What should Boxee keep in mind as that happens? Here are two essential things for the company to focus on.


Boxee Investors See it As "Firefox for Media," Aiming High

Last week, we covered the news of a new $6 million round of venture capital funding for Boxee which is behind the very popular Boxee open source media center application. Open source applications for managing videos, music, television content, movies and the like have been maturing, and the VC community is definitely waking up to Boxee's potential. The company's latest round of funding was led by Boston-based General Catalyst with participation by prior investors Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. Now VideoNuze has a very interesting interview with Boxee investors Bijan Sabet and Neil Sequeira.?


With New Funding in Tow, Boxee Will Head for CE Devices

Among open source media center applications for managing video, music and other entertainment content, Boxee has emerged as a clear leader. This week the company announced that it has received a $6 million injection of venture capital funding, led by Boston-based General Catalyst with participation by prior investors Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.

The investment brings Boxee's total funding to $10 million, obtained in under a year. As Boxee officials noted in their announcement of the funding: Boxee today is mostly serving a tech-savvy audience ? those who feel comfortable connecting a computer to a TV. For example, Boxee is very popular with Apple TV users, who manage media with it, and are able to watch video content on big-screen TVs. So what lies ahead for it, and how can it gain appeal beyond a tech-savvy audience?



Boxee's Media Center Platform Gaining New Apps and More

When online video powerhouse Hulu recently released its own application for watching video, many observers interpreted the move as explaining why Hulu had asked open source media center player Boxee to remove support for its content. Hulu had been the number one type of content that Boxee users watched, and there were a lot of people who forecasted that Boxee was doomed. That's not so, though.?

Boxee officials have steadily posted workarounds for watching Hulu on Boxee, and Boxee continues to do very well on Apple TVs, where Hulu has no presence. The company is making some other new moves as well.?



Boxee CEO Discusses Hulu's Desktop App

When online video powerhouse Hulu recently released its own application for watching video, many observers interpreted the move as explaining why Hulu had asked open source media center player Boxee to remove support for its content. Hulu had been the number one type of content that Boxee users watched. Over at NewTeeVee, you can watch a video interview with Boxee CEO Avner Ronen, where he discusses the release of Hulu's competitive application. He holds out hope that Boxee and Hulu can mend fences, and claims that Hulu's move validates the worth of media applications like Boxee. Check it out.?


Boxee Media Center Is Out In a New Linux Version: Speaks Hulu

As reported on DeviceGuru and the Boxee blog, there is now a new Linux version of the Boxee open source media center application, including support for Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope (9.04). The new release adds many of the features that have already made it into the Mac OS X and Windows versions of Boxee, including App Box (a Boxee application store), Pandora and RadioTime for radio, and a customized browser that offers support for what Boxee officials have said is the number one form of requested content on its platform: Hulu. With Boxee out in rich, flexible versions on multiple platforms, there could be even more opportunities for hardware bundles and other commercial opportunities than ever.?


Hulu Content Back on Boxee--In a Roundabout Way

Last month, we covered the news of online video powerhouse Hulu's removal from the open source Boxee media center. Boxee has become a very popular and flexible media center application, allowing people to break away from their computers and watch online content on big screens with remote controls. It's especially popular for use with AppleTV. However, under pressure from large broadcaster content providers such as NBC, Hulu was forced to reluctantly request that Boxee remove support for it. In a blog post, Boxee officials lamented that Hulu was the most requested content provider on Boxee. Now, you can get Hulu on Boxee again. Here's how.


Open Source Media Center Apps Are Growing Up

Back in December, MediaPortal 1.0, an open source application that turns a PC/TV into a sophisticated media center and digital video recorder, arrived. Originally based on the XBMC project, version 1.0 was a nearly complete redesign, and has gotten quite a bit of notice, despite a few bugs. On March 15th, the folks behind MediaPortal plan to release a 1.0.1 version with usability improvements. Along with the Plex media center for Mac OS X (MediaPortal is Windows only), Boxee for Linux and the Mac, and MythTV for Linux, the open source community is pushing strongly into video and rich media content management. Here are some good resources if you're evaluating these media center apps.?


Plex Open Source Media Center App Works With Hulu

As noted on Lifehacker, the new beta version of open source media center application Plex offers support for Hulu. Plex is for Mac OS X users only, and is noted for its glitzy, skinnable interface. Like Boxee, which was recently forced to remove support for Hulu content, Plex is a fork of the XBMC Media Center project. Here, you can view screencasts showing how Plex and its galaxy of plug-ins work.


Why Boxee Might (One Day) Make Me a MythTV Ex-Pat

Boxee is just one of several open source media center applications. Sam recently compiled a round up of some of the most popular, and I have been using MythTV for over a year now as a TiVO/DVR alternative.

I like MythTV for several reasons. It's not a project for the faint of heart, but it's less the fault of the software than the wild array of hardware that can be conceivably used in nearly every imaginable configuration. It is quite stable, and doesn't require hefty system specs. I didn't think overly about Boxee when I first heard of it. MythTV worked for me.

One thing that MythTV can't do, of course, is stream Netflix movies. I've all too frequently, now, run into problems with Netflix disks being a little too rough to run in my MythTV box's DVD player. This isn't the fault of MythTV -- it's a hardware/media issue.

Boxee is bringing Netflix onboard. There are a few catches, and a few bits that are a little unclear, but this might lead, at the very least, to Boxee running alongside my MythTV installation.