# online entertainment - boxee box, or laptop?



## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...since i'm hoping to avoid having a cable subscription, i've begun investigating online options.

anyone else going this direction?


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Ya we cut the dish off in Feb...been using Megauploads which connects through ice films IceFilms.info - Quality DivX TV & Movies


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

I am an HBO junkie. as well, I love HDTV and couldn't be bothered to download everything i watch so i have a cable sub.

if netflix was as good here as it is in the USA, I'd go that way...but its not.


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2011)

We use Netflix in our house almost to the exclusion of all else. For that purpose we have an XBox 360 and Playstation 3 as streaming devices. Occasionally we'll rent a movie from the Zune library on the XBox or from iTunes and just hook the laptop up to the TV to watch it. Since I'm a Rogers high speed internet customer I have access to some streaming content from their online service and it's so-so. I ditched the media PC as it was too costly to keep it powered up (it was a big old Dell 610 tower) and too much time to maintain; the XBox and Playstation do just about the same duty, have functional remotes and way less power drain.

In the end it boils down to neither the wife and I watching much TV. 2-3 hours a week plus a movie. So it works for us.

I am looking at using a VPN for access to Hulu in the US. This is a grey area. The content is "illegal" in Canada because the rights to distribute it in Canada aren't licensed to Hulu here. But watching it, via a VPN, from Canada doesn't mean people aren't getting paid. It's a legit stream in the US and payment to the content owners occurs if you use it via VPN from Canada.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...i'm curious to know the best method of getting tv shows, movies, radio broadcasts etc from the internet to my tv and stereos.


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## snacker (Jun 26, 2008)

i bought a boxee box last week and so far it's great - streaming netflix through it and using it mostly for TV shows - i also changed ISPs to teksavy since they have an extreme internet package with 300 gig cap for half the price of rogers


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## iblastoff (May 14, 2011)

boxee box sucks besides the remote. if you could replace boxee and install xbmc on it that would be better. i just use a tiny acer revo mini computer attached to the back of my hdtv. it runs windows 7 + xbmc + remote torrents. i haven't had cable in years now.


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## Beatles (Feb 7, 2006)

I picked up a Boxee Box on the weekend. I think this thing is absolutely great. No need for Netflix, I installed an application called navi-x. Way more movies than Netflix and more recent releases. Boxee now has released a new add oncalled Boxee Live. It's a usb stick (49.95) that allows you to watch live television channels. The reviews sound pretty good. I'm only interested in live news, so this should suit me perfectly. Bye Rogers.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

I just got the new TViX Xroid. For these units, the Dune HD and TViX provide some nice hardware. This is my second TViX unit. I also got the WDTV, but that sucked hairy balls.............


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

There are other options besides Boxee Box as well. I have used an Apple TV2 for a year now. I am testing a newest Western Digital Live right now as well which is also pretty cool. WAY better than the previous versions. It's built like crap compared to the Apple TV2, but has a lot of the same functionality and plays more types of media stock.

iblastoff, With a jailbroken ATV2, you can install XBMC on it. I have it on mine.

Re Beatles' post and Netflix. I am making an effort to use all legit services now. So while I know Icefilms and Navi-x are available, I am trying not to use them. I have the US Netflix, and I rent through iTunes. Just my personal ethics, and I don't care what anyone else does. It's just that I always said when some of these pay services improved, I would use them.

If all someone wants is movie rentals, netflix, radio, and youtube, either the Apple TV2 or the Western Digital boxes are great solution. They are dead easy to setup and work well. There are also sports subscription services on both, but I know nothing about them.

Snacker, my concern with Techsavvy is they are only leasing Roger's lines and Rogers (and Bell) are on a constant mission to bury companies like that. UBB is not dead, the telecoms are just regrouping. At a minimum the big telecoms are going to eventually try to jack those smaller companies rates through the roof. I have heard Tech Savvy's rates are going up 15% already. I hesitate to tie any of my services to those companies in the meantime. Unless something happens to stop the big telecoms and allow some competition, I do not have high hopes for those smaller companies.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I download most of the shows I watch strictly because I'm never home when the air and I don't have a PVR (which I really should take care of). I normally go the bit-torrent route. The only issue with this is that downloading shows really kicks up the bandwidth usage. On top of that, I'm only downloading SD not HD since I have an old-school 36" CRT display.

I could quite easily get rid of my Bell subscription, other than the fact that I _do_ watch a lot of live sports, which I wouldn't want to watch after-the-fact. But yeah, it's important to note that getting rid of your TV subscription and going the route of downloading or streaming will significantly increase your internet usage, which means you'll likely start going over your cap, and if UBB is ever passed, could easily become more expensive than your TV subscription.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

hollowbody said:


> I download most of the shows I watch strictly because I'm never home when the air and I don't have a PVR (which I really should take care of). I normally go the bit-torrent route. The only issue with this is that downloading shows really kicks up the bandwidth usage. On top of that, I'm only downloading SD not HD since I have an old-school 36" CRT display.
> 
> I could quite easily get rid of my Bell subscription, other than the fact that I _do_ watch a lot of live sports, which I wouldn't want to watch after-the-fact. But yeah, it's important to note that getting rid of your TV subscription and going the route of downloading or streaming will significantly increase your internet usage, which means you'll likely start going over your cap, and if UBB is ever passed, could easily become more expensive than your TV subscription.


From my experiences so far, the bandwidth costs at this point aren't near what my costs would be for cable TV. And, with Netflix (or downloading) I can watch any show I want. There are shows I would have had to get a really high end cable package to watch. The old "if you want this channel, you have to buy these 10 other ones" cable scam.

I have the Roger's extreme package. We stream or download everything we watch, and I have never exceeded the cap.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

Eventually it will get like the US where you can just go to a networks website and stream past and present shows. I was looking at cable in the US and they usually give it away as long as you get your internet from them. I'm sure Rogers and Bell have seen that and thats why they bought a TV Network as well to prepare for the day the middleman is cutout...............


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

torndownunit said:


> From my experiences so far, the bandwidth costs at this point aren't near what my costs would be for cable TV. And, with Netflix (or downloading) I can watch any show I want. There are shows I would have had to get a really high end cable package to watch. The old "if you want this channel, you have to buy these 10 other ones" cable scam.
> 
> I have the Roger's extreme package. We stream or download everything we watch, and I have never exceeded the cap.


Depends on your usage. I have the Bell super-duper package and I regularly go over my cap. It's a $25 hit all the time.

Also, while there is currently a maximum on your overage, again, if UBB is ever passed, that will change dramatically.

Lastly, while it's no biggie to me (I don't have an HD display), I can't see how streaming HD content won't eat up your bandwidth. The HD stream from Netflix averages 1GB/hr. Watching a couple shows and a couple movies here and there will easily rack up 100+GB pretty quickly. I guess you could stream the lower-quality, but then what's the point of the fancy tv?

If the providers give up on UBB, then things like Netflix are a bargain compared to TV subscriptions, but if UBB ever gets passed, it will pretty much kill off streaming services unless the prices are stupid low, which they won't be.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Accept2 said:


> Eventually it will get like the US where you can just go to a networks website and stream past and present shows. I was looking at cable in the US and they usually give it away as long as you get your internet from them. I'm sure Rogers and Bell have seen that and thats why they bought a TV Network as well to prepare for the day the middleman is cutout...............


Yeah, I'm waiting for that too. Doesn't make any sense to have to pay additional to stream from them when you don't have to pay additional to watch it live (or re-run, timeshift, PVR, etc.)


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## PaulS (Feb 27, 2006)

My Samsung Blu-Ray player has LAN connections, setup for Netflix and youtube. Also has a USB port which allows multiple formats of video files ( MKV, MP4,, AVI, WMV etc...). Pretty handy when you have over 100 blu ray movies downloaded waiting in cue.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

hollowbody said:


> Depends on your usage. I have the Bell super-duper package and I regularly go over my cap. It's a $25 hit all the time.
> 
> Also, while there is currently a maximum on your overage, again, if UBB is ever passed, that will change dramatically.
> 
> ...


Well for me it's simple. I only watch a maximum of 2 hours of movies or TV a night...If that on average (there are nights I don't watch anything). Being that I can target my viewing so precisely now and that I am not watching commercials, I don't require much more. Which was one of our goals cutting the cord. No more watching crap TV just because it's on.

I use Rogers Extreme Plus, which gives me 150 GB a month and adequate speeds for any streaming. 25 GB of that is likely used for my work on average, and the rest for general computer use, music, and movies/TV. I have yet to exceed that.

If you are someone who wants the TV on all the time, then no, streaming solutions won't be for you. And UBB could affect you big time.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

torndownunit said:


> No more watching crap TV just because it's on.


Here is where I cut out bigtime. Most TV is shit. I would rather rewatch old shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Gallactica, Lost, Twilight Zone, Seinfeld, then to sit thru the shit they have on the air. However it is worthwhile to download all the BBC miniseries they make but dont show here...........


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Accept2 said:


> Here is where I cut out bigtime. Most TV is shit. I would rather rewatch old shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Gallactica, Lost, Twilight Zone, Seinfeld, then to sit thru the shit they have on the air. However it is worthwhile to download all the BBC miniseries they make but dont show here...........


Ya, a lot of that content you mention is on Netflix.

A lot of people have a habit of just leaving the TV on the whole time they are home. Some just like it as background noise. I used to do the same thing. There is nothing wrong with it, but I felt like a huge chunk of my cable bill was dedicated to that. And there are definitely times I would watch some crap just because it was on. I enjoy being able to watch only want I want on demand.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

i strangely have not commented yet...

we cut our cable months ago...it worked out pretty good actually...google "project free tv" they have movies and tons of tv shows...we've found that within 5 minutes of the show being over, its online...

for sports...frontrowsports.eu...


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

I have not even heard of half the things being talked about here. If it was not for the NBA, NFL and a few shows on the History channel and maybe Discovery I would never turn the TV on. Is that worth a $100 a month for Bell Sat... I assume not


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## PaulS (Feb 27, 2006)

Rarely watch normal TV. Gave up Bell a year ago. I prefer to watch what I want, and when I want.


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## flashPUNK (Feb 16, 2006)

I've had a boxee box since it was released, I was actually one of the beta testers.
I seriously love the thing. It's user friendly, easy to set up, and works with netflix. I used a service (http://www.unblock-us.com) to access the American Netflix. Also super easy to set up.

I just ordered the boxee live tv dongle which we're going to try with our cable and the antenna, can't comment on it yet as it has yet to arrive, though, pretty excited about it!


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## iblastoff (May 14, 2011)

The boxee box sucks. The only good thing about it is the remote control. Any cheap htpc with xbmc installed will be way better and have much more flexibility.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

You can watch the Saturday night hockey games on CBC on your computer plus some other sports. That's good enough for me. Plus we get some videos from time to time from the library but often they have to go back before we watch them.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

When I can't get the nascar broadcast I use justintv.com. Lots of tv shows there.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

iblastoff said:


> The boxee box sucks. The only good thing about it is the remote control. Any cheap htpc with xbmc installed will be way better and have much more flexibility.


Im not a BoxeeBox user, but I understand its used for people who use it in a certain way. All of these devices are going for different parts of the market. I believe the BoxeeBox is for those who primarily stream. I run a home theatre with a large investment and run things on about 50TB of storage. I dont stream, so I dont own a BoxeeBox. For me, the TViX and DuneHD as the best choice. For those who just watch on a regular sized TV and do both I think the WDTV Live and BoxeeBox are fine for that job. As for htpc and xbmc, they have their uses as well. I dont think I would ever use one, but I know people who do..........


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## flashPUNK (Feb 16, 2006)

iblastoff said:


> The boxee box sucks. The only good thing about it is the remote control. Any cheap htpc with xbmc installed will be way better and have much more flexibility.


I've had experience building my own PC's, using mac mini's, hacking the older apple TV's, using network drives holding terabytes of movies/tv/music, and I finally settled on the Boxee box because it's simple. After all the time and money I spent trying all of these things I've found that the simplest experience in the boxee box is what I want for my home theatre (I don't want a home computer connected to my TV, i'd like to watch tv and movies thanks).

So say what you will about the Boxee box, but I think it's got a good mix of what your XMBC system has, and a home computer all mixed into one. The only thing I can think of that it can't do is download torrents, and that is illegal - isn't it?


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

flashPUNK said:


> I've had experience building my own PC's, using mac mini's, hacking the older apple TV's, using network drives holding terabytes of movies/tv/music, and I finally settled on the Boxee box because it's simple. After all the time and money I spent trying all of these things I've found that the simplest experience in the boxee box is what I want for my home theatre (I don't want a home computer connected to my TV, i'd like to watch tv and movies thanks).
> 
> So say what you will about the Boxee box, but I think it's got a good mix of what your XMBC system has, and a home computer all mixed into one. The only thing I can think of that it can't do is download torrents, and that is illegal - isn't it?


It's interesting because a lot of people dislike the Boxee box because they DON'T find it simple. A lot of people hate it's interface, which is a big deal for a lot of non-tech users. As far as ease of use, the stock ATV2 is about as simple as it gets. But, if you want to access local files you have to have a computer running as you mentioned. As far as running Netflix, renting movies, using YouTube and listening to Internet Radio it's the most intuitive interface and easiest to use IMO. If I was going to recommend a device to someone who wanted the quickest and easiest ways to access those functions, I would recommend it.

The new WD unit I got also has a better interface than Boxee (in my opinion) and i can can plug whatever USB drives or Flash keys I want into since it has 2 USB ports. It's not as intuitive as the ATV2, but it has those ports and is still pretty easy to use. I am in the process of testing it along with the Apple TV2 to see which to keep.

I use my girlfriend as a gauge of what is simple to use lol. She is pretty much computer illiterate. She loves the ATV2 and has no problems using it. Which is likely why I will end up having to keep it over the WD unit even if I prefer it.

There are new players coming out every day that look interesting though. There are a few new ones I'd love to try out.


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## flashPUNK (Feb 16, 2006)

torndownunit said:


> It's interesting because a lot of people dislike the Boxee box because they DON'T find it simple. A lot of people hate it's interface, which is a big deal for a lot of non-tech users. As far as ease of use, the stock ATV2 is about as simple as it gets. But, if you want to access local files you have to have a computer running as you mentioned. As far as running Netflix, renting movies, using YouTube and listening to Internet Radio it's the most intuitive interface and easiest to use IMO. If I was going to recommend a device to someone who wanted the quickest and easiest ways to access those functions, I would recommend it.
> 
> The new WD unit I got also has a better interface than Boxee (in my opinion) and i can can plug whatever USB drives or Flash keys I want into since it has 2 USB ports. It's not as intuitive as the ATV2, but it has those ports and is still pretty easy to use. I am in the process of testing it along with the Apple TV2 to see which to keep.
> 
> I use my girlfriend as a gauge of what is simple to use lol. She is pretty much computer illiterate. She loves the ATV2 and has no problems using it. Which is likely why I will end up having to keep it over the WD unit even if I prefer it.


The Boxee box has 2 USB ports, I haven't found a drive I haven't been able to plug into it, i've also plugged a wireless mouse dongle into it and use that occasionally.

The new Boxee Live TV dongle connects via USB, and lets you connect an antenna or a cable line directly to the box allowing you to view live tv from within the boxee interface. There's also talk of potentially integrating a TIVO like device for it (on their forums).

I consider myself pretty techie (web developer), and although I like to be able to tweek and mess with settings etc, I find that having the simplicity of being able to turn on the tv, turn on the boxee box, and know that it's going to work the way I want it to the best for me.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

flashPUNK said:


> The Boxee box has 2 USB ports, I haven't found a drive I haven't been able to plug into it, i've also plugged a wireless mouse dongle into it and use that occasionally.
> 
> The new Boxee Live TV dongle connects via USB, and lets you connect an antenna or a cable line directly to the box allowing you to view live tv from within the boxee interface. There's also talk of potentially integrating a TIVO like device for it (on their forums).
> 
> I consider myself pretty techie (web developer), and although I like to be able to tweek and mess with settings etc, I find that having the simplicity of being able to turn on the tv, turn on the boxee box, and know that it's going to work the way I want it to the best for me.


I have no problem with tech gadgets. Again, I use my girlfriend as the test. I am not saying the Boxee is not more powerful. I am just saying, as far as a solution for the basic tasks I mentioned, ATV2 is hard to beat. I am not saying it's better, I am saying it can be better for some people with basic needs. If the Apple TV2 has issues while I am away, I am fully confident my girlfriend can get it running again. With Boxee, or WD, not as much.

As someone who enjoys tinkering with gadgets, if it was just for my use I would give the Boxee a second shot.


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## flashPUNK (Feb 16, 2006)

torndownunit said:


> I have no problem with tech gadgets. Again, I use my girlfriend as the test. I am not saying the Boxee is not more powerful. I am just saying, as far as a solution for the basic tasks I mentioned, ATV2 is hard to beat. I am not saying it's better, I am saying it can be better for some people with basic needs.


Yup, agree fully. Love the Apple Tv, it's going to be great when they start building it into TV's


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## captainbrew (Feb 5, 2010)

I've had great success using the Apple TV 2 and jailbreaking it to allow XBMC to run on it. I have all my movies/shows/music on either a pc or a USB drive plugged into my router. Works beautifully.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I've been reading up on the Boxee Box because it seems like a really good alternative to what I normally do (download torrents of shows), but what I'm wondering is:

a) how good is the selection of natively available shows on the boxee w/o having to use a service like netflix?
b) when do these shows become available? is it live streaming when the show airs? shortly after it airs? a week or so?

We're planning on cutting out our home phone soon and if I can justify cutting the satellite as well, I will do so, I just wanted some more info. 

I don't mind d/ling shows currently, but having to wait til someone u/ls them to a torrent site is annoying, so if the boxee (or another device) can provide the content faster, that would sell me on it.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

hollowbody said:


> I've been reading up on the Boxee Box because it seems like a really good alternative to what I normally do (download torrents of shows), but what I'm wondering is:
> 
> a) how good is the selection of natively available shows on the boxee w/o having to use a service like netflix?
> b) when do these shows become available? is it live streaming when the show airs? shortly after it airs? a week or so?
> ...


The thing with Boxee is that it has some massive potential. From my experience, and other reviews I have read, not all the functions always work though. It definitely has the most potential to 'watch tv for free' though out of the box. Once you get things setup to your liking you will get way more streaming TV content than with ATV2 or WD. Or at least without a Jailbroken ATV. A Jailbroken ATV2 running XBMC has plugins for pretty much every network and access to a mind boggling amount of non-legit sources. It's not easy to setup, but the content is ridiculous. 

As for when shows come out, if using legit streams (EG Networks, Hulu), it's up to the networks when the shows become available. Sometimes it's the next day, sometimes it's later. In a lot of cases you can get a torrent quicker.

If you don't mind downloading torrents etc, the best solution to get shows quickly is to run a program that harvests RSS feeds to find torrents. I have 'TV Shows' on my Mac. It has a list of shows, and it will go find the torrent files, open them in my client, download, and move them to the directory that Media Player on my jailbroken ATV2 uses. There aren't many shows I do this with those because I am perfectly content in most cases to wait until the end of the season and watch it on Netflix. I only do this with shows I can't watch on Netflix. The downside, which was mentioned by FlashPunk is that to do this with the ATV2, you have to have the computer on where the files are stored. Or have a NAS drive running.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

torndownunit said:


> The thing with Boxee is that it has some massive potential. From my experience, and other reviews I have read, not all the functions always work though. It definitely has the most potential to 'watch tv for free' though out of the box. Once you get things setup to your liking you will get way more streaming TV content than with ATV2 or WD. Or at least without a Jailbroken ATV. A Jailbroken ATV2 running XBMC has plugins for pretty much every network and access to a mind boggling amount of non-legit sources. It's not easy to setup, but the content is ridiculous.
> 
> As for when shows come out, if using legit streams (EG Networks, Hulu), it's up to the networks when the shows become available. Sometimes it's the next day, sometimes it's later. In a lot of cases you can get a torrent quicker.
> 
> If you don't mind downloading torrents etc, the best solution to get shows quickly is to run a program that harvests RSS feeds to find torrents. I have 'TV Shows' on my Mac. It has a list of shows, and it will go find the torrent files, open them in my client, download, and move them to the directory that Media Player on my jailbroken ATV2 uses. There aren't many shows I do this with those because I am perfectly content in most cases to wait until the end of the season and watch it on Netflix. I only do this with shows I can't watch on Netflix. The downside, which was mentioned by FlashPunk is that to do this with the ATV2, you have to have the computer on where the files are stored. Or have a NAS drive running.


Thanks! I'll keep thinking about it. I have to get around to setting up the RSS for tv shows, but I usually don't mind dling them in the morning to watch when I get home later.

I have my PS3 connecting my PC to my TV right now and it works pretty well, so I guess I might as well leave it alone for now unless I see a really compelling argument to make a change.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...i have no problem waiting for shows to become available legally. i can wait years, in fact. i'm not sure what the urgency is. there is so much to watch, and so little time.



torndownunit said:


> The thing with Boxee is that it has some massive potential. From my experience, and other reviews I have read, not all the functions always work though. It definitely has the most potential to 'watch tv for free' though out of the box. Once you get things setup to your liking you will get way more streaming TV content than with ATV2 or WD. Or at least without a Jailbroken ATV. A Jailbroken ATV2 running XBMC has plugins for pretty much every network and access to a mind boggling amount of non-legit sources. It's not easy to setup, but the content is ridiculous.
> 
> As for when shows come out, if using legit streams (EG Networks, Hulu), it's up to the networks when the shows become available. Sometimes it's the next day, sometimes it's later. In a lot of cases you can get a torrent quicker.
> 
> If you don't mind downloading torrents etc, the best solution to get shows quickly is to run a program that harvests RSS feeds to find torrents. I have 'TV Shows' on my Mac. It has a list of shows, and it will go find the torrent files, open them in my client, download, and move them to the directory that Media Player on my jailbroken ATV2 uses. There aren't many shows I do this with those because I am perfectly content in most cases to wait until the end of the season and watch it on Netflix. I only do this with shows I can't watch on Netflix. The downside, which was mentioned by FlashPunk is that to do this with the ATV2, you have to have the computer on where the files are stored. Or have a NAS drive running.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

david henman said:


> ...i have no problem waiting for shows to become available legally. i can wait years, in fact. i'm not sure what the urgency is. there is so much to watch, and so little time.


There isn't really a legal issue with tv shows if you're paying for the content, which as a Bell subscriber, I am. I just usually am not home to watch when the shows air and I don't have a PVR.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

david henman said:


> ...i have no problem waiting for shows to become available legally. i can wait years, in fact. i'm not sure what the urgency is. there is so much to watch, and so little time.


I feel the same. It's not a priority for me at all. But for some people it's their main priority. The only shows I don't download through Netflix are ones they don't have.

Even if I do download a show through torrents, I don't watch it until the season is over. I like the watch the shows on my own schedule.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

hollowbody said:


> There isn't really a legal issue with tv shows if you're paying for the content, which as a Bell subscriber, I am. I just usually am not home to watch when the shows air and I don't have a PVR.


I think a Boxee Box is about $189. What does a PVR cost?


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

torndownunit said:


> I think a Boxee Box is about $189. What does a PVR cost?


hah! more than I care to spend! 

although, to be honest, price isn't my #1 motivating factor. I'm more concerned with content and ease of use.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

I have seen some amazing next generation media players that have all the functionality of Boxee, Boxee to Go, and a PVR in one unit. And for not much more than the Boxee. Some even ran Android as an OS. They are all from smaller companies, and I don't have any links handy. But when I was researching them awhile back I was pretty blown away.


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## Beatles (Feb 7, 2006)

For myself, the cost of the Boxee was not really the issue. It was a) getting away from paying for Rogers basic cable service that IMO was not worth the 75 bucks a month (and rising) and cable reception was horrible and b) not having a Blockbuster or whatever close by to rent movies when I wanted to. I did have a look at Apple TV, which was cheaper, but from what little info I did read, I decided to go with the Boxee. As for the ease of use, as for anything new (for me) it takes some time to adjust to get familiar with what it can do. So far, I have no complaints. There is a lot of content. As far as all the OP's who are way more familiar with this kind of technology, I only wish I had your savvy. I have no idea about how to run a media server, or running everything from my laptop. I just wanted somethng that would hook up to my TV and do the job easily. I will order the TV dongle to the Boxee as well.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

torndownunit said:


> I have seen some amazing next generation media players that have all the functionality of Boxee, Boxee to Go, and a PVR in one unit. And for not much more than the Boxee. Some even ran Android as an OS. They are all from smaller companies, and I don't have any links handy. But when I was researching them awhile back I was pretty blown away.


My latest TViX runs on Android. Its quite useful, and can run apps...........


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I tried NetFlix.

I was getting dinged about $60 a month in "usage" fees by my ISP.

$8 a month is a bit misleading.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Milkman said:


> I tried NetFlix.
> 
> I was getting dinged about $60 a month in "usage" fees by my ISP.
> 
> $8 a month is a bit misleading.


There are options in Netflix now to reduce the quality of the stream, which should lower your bandwidth usage, but yeah, if you don't take into account the bandwidth, you could be in for a surprise.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Milkman said:


> I tried NetFlix.
> 
> I was getting dinged about $60 a month in "usage" fees by my ISP.
> 
> $8 a month is a bit misleading.


While it sucks, that is not Netflix's responsibility. You know there is data use when streaming, so you need to look into if your internet plan can handle it. That doesn't just apply to Netflix of course, if you do any large amount of streaming or downloading and don't have a higher tier internet plan you are going to quickly have issues. As mentioned, my plan is 150 GB a month to compensate for this.

The $8 a month is a pretty great value IMO. If you rented one season of a TV shows you'd be looking at 3 times that. And buying a season about the same. Buying or renting through any online services, you have the cost of the show plus data as well. I think with Rogers my plan it comes out to about $.50 cents a GB or something under the normal monthly rate, with overage fees of $1.25 a GB. So Netflix costs me $8 a month, a 13 episode season of a TV show (at 45 minutes a show probably uses about 800 MB an episode in HD, but I will round that up to 1 GB to over compensate) costs me about $6.60 in data fees. I still think that is a good value.

If I watched 2 hours of TV a night in HD (a movies a night, or 2 hour long shows a night), I'd be looking at 60 GB a month, plus the Netflix fees. Personally, I am pretty content watching a lot of shows in SD though which Netflix allows. There are still a lot of old shows that are only in SD, and are still 4:3 aspect ratio. So I use more like 700 MB/hour on average.


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## flashPUNK (Feb 16, 2006)

Just thought i'd post and tell you guys that my Boxee Live TV adapter arrived today!


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## Guest (Feb 9, 2012)

That plugs in to Boxee or straight in to your TV?


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## flashPUNK (Feb 16, 2006)

It plugs into boxee, and attaches to either an antenna or a cable line


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## Beatles (Feb 7, 2006)

Interested to hear your feedback on this, as I am looknig to order one as well. Thanks for posting.


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## flashPUNK (Feb 16, 2006)

Beatles said:


> Interested to hear your feedback on this, as I am looknig to order one as well. Thanks for posting.


Yeah i'm pretty excited to try it out.

I'm not sure how my antenna signal will be where i am, but i'm going to try it with my Rogers cable as well.

Will post in this forum my findings.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

flashPUNK said:


> Yeah i'm pretty excited to try it out.
> 
> I'm not sure how my antenna signal will be where i am, but i'm going to try it with my Rogers cable as well.
> 
> Will post in this forum my findings.


When we moved into our new house, it came with an old antenna. I was hoping to use it for OTA, but never had any luck getting any channels with it. We kind of sit in a basin here with no site line to Toronto. I have heard of people having some luck here, but they are using some pretty high end antennas as well.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

I'm intrigued by the Boxee, but other than the hardware, additional bandwidth, and a Netflix sub, are ther other ongoing costs that could be expected? Assume I wanted to watch some network tv, hockey games, and some specialty programs from discovery, history, hgtv, Nat geo, food and comedy network. That's about 90% of what gets watched in this house.I just want to make sure I'm actually cutting costs, and not just lifting and shifting bill payees.


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## Brennan (Apr 9, 2008)

Diablo said:


> I'm intrigued by the Boxee, but other than the hardware, additional bandwidth, and a Netflix sub, are ther other ongoing costs that could be expected?


Nope, those are the only costs. Bandwidth usage is the big one as it adds up pretty quickly. Many newer routers and modems will allow you to monitor your bandwidth usage, and even block usage once you near/reach the cap to avoid costly bills if you are worried about going over.

Personally I use a custom built HTPC running XBMC, as I like the added functionality and the ability to customize just about everything. Luckily I have a grandfathered unlimited bandwidth high speed account through Bell, so downloads aren't a problem for me.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Diablo said:


> I'm intrigued by the Boxee, but other than the hardware, additional bandwidth, and a Netflix sub, are ther other ongoing costs that could be expected? Assume I wanted to watch some network tv, hockey games, and some specialty programs from discovery, history, hgtv, Nat geo, food and comedy network. That's about 90% of what gets watched in this house.I just want to make sure I'm actually cutting costs, and not just lifting and shifting bill payees.


The only issue is Brennan mentioned is bandwidth. You can get in a mess with overage chargers if you aren't careful. Look earlier in the thread at my posts about my data usage, and it can give you a rough idea of how much data is used. If you have anything but an unlimited plan, you can't just leave the TV on all day for example. Any programming in HD is using about 1 GB per hour. A lot of people only have the entry level internet plans of 25-60 GB when they try out these services, then they get shocked when they get nailed with tons of overage fees.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Thanks for the quick responses, guys.One other question, I may have missed, is ther the ability to connect an external hd to have some more long term storage capability ie like a pvr? I'd love to be able to record shows/ movies and take them to the cottage, where high speed is unavailable.


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