Roku And Boxee Get Some Competition From Popbox TV
take care out Roku and Boxee, there’s a new kid in town. Due to be released in the next month or so and priced at $129, the Popbox set-top box streams Netflix videos on accurate, has interactive ‘popapps’ to use on Facebook and Twitter. The clever box can also scans your home vaneed computers and show your home videos and pic slideshows.
The Popbox itself looks like your standard black A/V set-top box, all over with HDMI and component-video outputs, USB and SD ports for plugging in memory sticks or external hard drives (reps for Popbox claim the twist will play just round any non-protected video file you can throw at it), along with keep for 1080p video streaming. For $149, you can also get a Popbox with 802.11n Wi-Fi capabilities.
Popbox competitor To Roku And Boxee
The Popbox interface has sailing tabs along the top of the screen, a row of “popapps” with widgets for time and date, current weather, and Twitter, a “movies” screen that displays placard art and other info from IMDB for any movies that feel to be on your local network, and icons for a variety of online streaming services, ranging from Netflix and Photobucket to Facebook, Revisions3 podcasts, and streaming Shoutcast channels.
The Popbox list of more or less 20 providers/partners are:-
BlipTV: Distributes 48,000 independently-produced Web shows
Clicker: An Live Internet TV guide that catalogs all broadcast programming online, along with TV-quality Web originals, making it easy to discover what’s available to watch (and what isn’t) online, where to watch it and what’s worth watching
Eyecon: Enables consumers to connect to their content and seamlessly route it to any compatible playback device in the home
FunSpot: A casual gaming service that offers everything from multiplayer board, arcade and card games to puzzles, strategy and quizzes
Internet Movie Database: (IMDB) A video search locomotive engine that supplies the metadata that integrates a consumer’s video collection with the corresponding movie’s artwork.
Internet Video Archive: The entertainment industry’s in the lead aggregator of movie and TV trailers, game previews and music videos. The channel features 500,000 unique video assets from over 1,200 content providers
MalaysiaKini: An independent media organisation that streams Malaysian video news and views
MetaChannels from Channels.com: A video aggregation and distribution service that enables device manufacturers and application developers to integrate the best shows on the Web into their product offerings
Netflix: The world’s top online movie rental service, with more than 11 million subscribers
Photobucket: The premiere site on the Internet for uploading, sharing, linking and determination photos, videos and graphics
PicoChannel: A service that makes it easy for people to share their personal photos and videos with friends and family on attached TVs and picture frames
Twonky: Streams music, photos and videos to compatible devices in the home
Waterfront Entertainment: Develops casual games for internet TV, Web, fluid and emerging platforms
WeatherBug: The leading provider of weather selective information services that manages and operates a proprietary network of over 8,000 WeatherBug Tracking StationsSounds good, although you may have noticed the omission of the mighty Hulu, Syabas would not discuss their plans for hereafter “popapp” except to prognosticate that more are in the works. in time do not expect Hulu anytime soon. Hulu are not big fans of sharing their TV shows and streams with third-party TV set-top boxes.
