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Boxee to offer a device to put Web Video on TV
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 10 December 2009, 14:27 IST
New York: Boxee, a startup that is trying to bring the boundless selection of Web video to the living-room television, said on Monday that it would put its software into a set-top box that will go on sale next year.
At an event in New York City, the company announced a partnership with D-Link, a Taiwanese manufacturer of networking equipment, which will make a device that will allow people to browse Internet videos on their TVs. The companies hope to keep the price of the device under $200.
Boxee collects videos and music from Web sites like Netflix, MLB.TV, Comedy Central and Pandora, and presents it in a visually friendly format that resembles a television directory, while adding some features from social networks, reports The New York Times.
The service has caught on with Internet aficionados who say that it represents a future in which the wide selection of content from the Web wins out over a more limited television experience controlled by big media companies.
Up until now, Boxee's software has only worked on a PC or Mac, although some savvy users have installed it on Apple's set-top box, called Apple TV.
Boxee now wants to move beyond that limited user base. "Today the reality is that hooking up your laptop to your television, or putting Boxee on an Apple TV, is not a mainstream experience," said Avner Ronen, Boxee's CEO.
Ronen said that the relationship with D-Link was the first of many deals with consumer electronics companies. "A growing number of companies see a real need to bring Internet to the TV, and they realize people will pay a premium for devices like connected Blu-ray players and HDTVs," he said.
Boxee is facing an increasingly crowded market for such devices. More and more Blu-ray players, video game consoles and HDTVs can connect to the Internet and access streaming media services from Netflix, Amazon.com and other companies.
Set-top boxes that perform similar functions have not been mainstream hits. Roku, a company that sells a box that primarily receives videos from Amazon and Netflix, says it has sold only a few hundred thousand devices. But Boxee and its backers believe that these kinds of devices are too limited, and they draw comparisons to older mobile phones that receive only the Web services chosen by a particular wireless carrier.
