I don't get it, but want to...

[machinehead]

Wait that title didn't come out right.

What I am mean is I don't understand, I already have and Apple TV, I can stream music, movies, etc. from my iMac, watch YouTube, look at flikr. What functionality do I get with BOXEE?

Can I surf the web from my couch with my wireless mouse and keyboard?

Can I added a USB hard drive to my A-TV? (if not then this is my biggest feature request Mr. Admin).

I have read some of the posts and not sure what functionality I am getting above my A-TV. I am not interested in the social networking. I am really interested in adding an external harddrive because wireless streaming really sucks, too much stuttering, even on music, HD movies are a whole other story. Secondly I want 1080P resolution.

Lastly any features the could improve sound quality, I am really into high end stereo stuff etc.

[dave]

Flickr and YouTube on Apple TV 2.1 are great. But what about Blip.TV, Picasa, and future streaming sites that we add to the platform? Think about the big picture with were the Internet is going with streams and know that boxee will be there. Apple wants you to stream H.264, and we stream all codecs, DivX, etc... Our XBMC platform is MUCH more robust for all media types.

As for 1080p, until we are able to use the hardware acceleration within the Apple TV, we can't go that high. But a Mac Mini will do it through its DVI port (compatible with HDMI via a cheap pin converter or cable)

Adding a USB drive is a great idea. But the NAS/UPnP streaming built into boxee means that you do not need a dedicated drive on your box. You can put a FreeNAS or other Ethernet connected storage device on your LAN and pull files from it. You are not required to sync with iTunes. This to me is the best feature of boxee on AppleTV.

As for surfing the web on your TV - do you REALLY want to do this? It's a pain to navigate a mouse and keyboard on your couch. We pull the same "web content" but through our 10-foot remote control user interface. It's a much better experience, and you do not have to balance a keyboard on your lap. :)

Sound quality on boxee is DTS, AC3 through the optical out on your PC (Mac Mini, Shuttle, etc) or the HDMI digital output on Apple TV. It's sounding great on my JVC HDMI switching digital receiver.

The best thing about boxee on AppleTV is you can now run a low cost ($229) boxee device in your living room instead of a $500 Mac Mini or Ubuntu Linux device.

[machinehead]

Cool Dave, thanks for the reply.

It get what you are saying, now I can have access to more website feeds than
Apple is currently allowing. Good stuff, cause I use Picassa, not Flickr.

I don't understand what you are saying about the network connected hard drive vs. the USB drive I want to use. I have plenty of room on my iMac, but the streaming quality is poor. If I used an ethernet connected harddrive to my router I would have the same problem, I can't hard wire the Apple TV to the network. If I missed something please advise.

As for sound quality AC3 is below what I was looking for I want FLAC or Apple Lossless for true CD quality sound.

Also, how will this play with Apple software updates? Will it brick the unit?
If I don't like it can I go back?\
About the USB harddrive, will I still have to install a hack to make the A-TV boot to the external drive?

Thanks.....


I put my name in the hat for Alpha test group.

[agentlame]

In regards to Boxee and USB HDD, etc...

The only thing that Boxee is is a software app that can now be installed/launched on the ATV. It's no different then if you could now run, say, Quake3 on the ATV. Boxee does not alter the underlying platform in a way that would allow it to add missing functionality.

Not to say it COULDN'T be done, just that it seems an unlikely goal for the XBMC/Boxee teams.

As far as the social networking stuff... It's a lot cooler then you'd expect. I'm not fan of MySpace, Faceboock, etc. But it is REALLY neat to see what other people think is good or bad, that coupled with the fact that you can recommend any streaming media that Boxee supports make for a really neat mixture of content you wouldn't normally see.

There are sooo many podcasts/bands/YouTube videos... It's nice to see that two people really like something before you bother with it. Or, to see what other people are playing.

One of the Boxee devs always plays Massive Attack... I don't care for them too much, but I do like Portishead and Sneaker Pimps... So I know our tastes are pretty close... If I see him playing "Band X" three days in a row, I KNOW it's something I'm gonna want to check out. All I do is click on "Tom played 'Band X'" and I'm offered the chance to play them from Last.FM.

[cdude]

Wait that title didn't come out right.

What I am mean is I don't understand, I already have and Apple TV, I can stream music, movies, etc. from my iMac, watch YouTube, look at flikr. What functionality do I get with BOXEE?

Can I surf the web from my couch with my wireless mouse and keyboard?

Can I added a USB hard drive to my A-TV? (if not then this is my biggest feature request Mr. Admin).

I have read some of the posts and not sure what functionality I am getting above my A-TV. I am not interested in the social networking. I am really interested in adding an external harddrive because wireless streaming really sucks, too much stuttering, even on music, HD movies are a whole other story. Secondly I want 1080P resolution.

Lastly any features the could improve sound quality, I am really into high end stereo stuff etc.

As you've read, you're simply not going to get 1080p out of the ATV until they release a new one with beefier hardware. Boxee can't help you there.

Once your ATV is hacked via the PatchStick installer, YES there is a way to add a USB external hard drive to your ATV. I don't know if/when they will (or if they already have) added this functionality to the super easy GUI patchstick creator, but it's definitely possible once you've hacked your ATV and have a way in. I think the creator software at least installs SSH, which is the first step to finding a way in and setting up the really cool add-ons.

The other thing this will do, though, is give you a way to view other video files you download off the internet. The H.263 format Apple locked the ATV down to is pretty rare on the 'net... most stuff is Divx, MKV (Matroska), etc. and thus unplayable on your ATV without spending hours doing complex conversions. Adding Boxee lets you play these other files. And frankly, this is the biggest, and most important, advantage.

[Apek]

machinehead: Probably you have a very bad wireless setup. I have a 54G network and I can stream SD movies with no problems. I can stream some HD movies (720p) as well depending on the codec.

I suggest you check your network, and maybe you should upgrade to N-technology since an N-router costs about 50 bucks nowadays.

I have all my media in a Linux server, but soon I will replace it with a NAS and I will change my old Linksys router.