Apple TV and Boxee
The Apple TV always seemed like one of those devices that didn’t quite fit my needs. It lacks one very important component from being a good DVR, the actual TV tuner to record from. It lacks one thing from being a super DVD player… the DVD player. So what is it good for? Streaming media from the Internet or your home network, and it does it well. Out of the box, this device is very polished, but limited to YouTube as its source for Internet media. While this seems nice at first, it gets old very quick. This is where the ATV USB Creator comes in. This project has tapped into hidden resources of the Apple TV by exploiting a USB designed for Service Only, and opening up capabilities that were disabled by Apple. Probably one of the most important features is enabling SSH on the Apple TV so the device is now reachable via command line as well as through SFTP. The feature that caught my interest was the ability to add applications to the set available through the Apple TV interface. More specifically, I wanted to install Boxee to gain access to Hulu.com through my television. Boxee is in Alpha testing at this time, but I was given access to test, and test I did. Though the occasional bug does popup, its performance is very good. The only issue I’ve found is getting a decent wireless connection from my office to my television downstairs.
Would I recommend the Apple TV? If you are really into media and streaming media (videos, music, photos) to your television, and you’ve bought into the Apple way of doing things, this is a great addition. Otherwise, I would suggest a Linksys or Sonos media device.
Would I recommend Boxee? If the performance only gets better with Beta and Public Release, I can whole-heartedly recommend this as one of the best media center applications available.
NOTE: I got my Apple TV from Craigslist, and for quite a steal, I think. I paid $140 for the typical $229 device and it is in near mint condition.
One Response to “Apple TV and Boxee”
Posted by: Guillermo - 05/20/2009
Another good option, but somewhat more expensive in the first thought, is a Playstation 3. You may think what it has to do with it?? Well, it turns out it is a pretty awesome Streaming Client, you get the best Blu-ray player in the market, as profiles are updated and features added with the PS3 firmware update, and you have a decent hard drive (easily upgradeable) to store streams locally.
Plus, you get the PS3 game console if you ever get bored ..
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