Why no iphone version???

**michelle_cat** · April 15th, 2010, 02:02 PM

I saw the add for developer on your site. I hadn't paid much attention to boxee before, but I started looking over your api and it seems to be based simply on xml, javascript and php. The point is I don't see why you don't have an iphone app yet.

There are two approaches, i mean other than simple html5 which we find really limiting.

Approach one is live streaming, but really writing a transcoder/segementer is a pain unless your dealing with a single format to convert, I known, I've been there.

Approach two is to decode on the device, which is the approach we take, our app works with various dlna servers, including playon which allows us to offer Hulu over a wifi connection. Apple probably won't let us stream over 3g. They are kind of evasive when you broach the issue.

But the one interesting aspect of our approach is that mpeg2 decoding provides much cleaner and clearer output than h264 under many conditions.
Tuesday's v episode looks great on an ipad for instance.

Why am I posting , I am not a lurker... looking over the boxee api and how you are actually doing your streaming we realize with just a little bit of restructure a varient of the application we have under development could used as a boxee client for the iphone. Most of our project is and will always be open source and we invite boxee developers to look at our code because it could definitely provide a headstart.

**agentlame** · April 15th, 2010, 02:08 PM

Originally Posted by michelle_cat

I saw the add for developer on your site. I hadn't paid much attention to boxee before, but I started looking over your api and it seems to be based simply on xml, javascript and php. The point is I don't see why you don't have an iphone app yet.

You have no clue what you are talking about. Boxee is written in C++, and makes use of SDL. Boxee's API is in XML/Python, that is not Boxee's source.

Porting Boxee to the iPhone/iPad would be an a feet of monumental proportions. It's not to say it won't happen, but it will take quite a bit of work.

**dan1son** · April 15th, 2010, 03:00 PM

Ummm...

She made it pretty clear she wasn't quite sure about boxee. She also mentions "iphone client" in the post, not necessarily an iPhone version of boxee.

**agentlame** · April 15th, 2010, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by dan1son

Ummm...

She made it pretty clear she wasn't quite sure about boxee. She also mentions "iphone client" in the post, not necessarily an iPhone version of boxee.

Even a 'client' would be a huge undertaking. I was more responding this part:

The point is I don't see why you don't have an iphone app yet.

Porting--or, reimplementing--even JUST the app framework, would still be a huge project. It is all built on XBMC's guilib, which in turn, uses SDL.

And then there would be the apps them selfs. Remember, you can't have interpreted languages on the iPhone, so no Python. So, all the app devs would need to rewrite Boxee for iPhone apps. That MIGHT work for some RSS-style apps, but must of the fancy ones need to do some client-side scripting. The app I'm working on wouldn't even be possible, as it is completely client-based, and requires Python for API access from another service.

While I think Boxee will likely do something to this affect, these are just a FEW of the reason there is no app yet.

**dan1son** · April 15th, 2010, 04:15 PM

That depends... if boxee supports a UPNP server for all of its streams (even the apps streams, via another API) you could write an iPhone UPNP client that could pull that information in. Even a boxee branded one.

Yes you'll likely lose the look and feel of the apps to a large degree... but it'd make a streaming client.

**agentlame** · April 16th, 2010, 10:58 AM

And there you have it:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/tech...medium=twitter

**darcilicious** · April 16th, 2010, 11:02 AM

Rock. On. !!

**rsava** · April 16th, 2010, 01:47 PM

That may be the deciding factor for me to buy an iPad.

**RussBrown5** · April 16th, 2010, 09:52 PM

Originally Posted by agentlame

And there you have it:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/tech...medium=twitter

The picture for that article is kinda funny, there are 2 Boxee Boxes that don't appear to be hooked up to the TV, but the Revo is hooked up. Does that mean Boxee runs better on the Revo?

Just thought it was funny since I am debating on getting a Revo now or waiting for the Boxee box.

**agentlame** · April 16th, 2010, 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by RussBrown5

The picture for that article is kinda funny, there are 2 Boxee Boxes that don't appear to be hooked up to the TV, but the Revo is hooked up. Does that mean Boxee runs better on the Revo?

Just thought it was funny since I am debating on getting a Revo now or waiting for the Boxee box.

Well, the Boxee Box is a box built by Boxee to run Boxee. That would be like Apple building a Mac that doesn't run OS X well.