Oh man, I just read up a bit on Boxee due to the hoopla from yesterday's launch event (link). I'll be the first to express my love for Apple products, the engineering, the design and the simplicity - but man, Boxee certainly seems to be the box we've all been waiting for. Even those hacking the ATV2 are mostly adding features that are already in the Boxee. But does that make it worth the extra $99? I'm not sure.
So I turn to those of you with a ATV2 to find out. Here's my plan and my needs, I'm pretty sure the ATV2 fits the bill, but we'll see.
I have my soon-to-be replaced iMac in my office, as well as my big LCD and PS3. I have a ton of media that I plan to or already have ripped to my iMac. When I upgrade I plan to move all my media (pics, movies, music) to an external drive, possibly NAS or RAID (or both if I can get a Drobo). This media is shared with the PS3 and will be shared with the TV in the living room once I pick up my ATV or Boxee.
My main goal is Netflix streaming for the living room. We sold our Wii recently, and that was how we were consuming most of our non-Cable related media. When the ATV2 was announced it seemed like the obvious choice, I'll have my iTunes library on the ready and my Netflix access. Up to this point, I haven't used iTunes to manage video, it's not something I look forward to, but for the ATV2, I'd have to give in. My iTunes library is already pretty large (80GB+) and on my current iMac, it loads and saves very slow. This may not be an issue when I upgrade, but I just have never been fond of the way iTunes manages my video like it's audio.
Thus far the ATV2 meets my needs - but - there are some great Boxee perks. Hulu and Pandora are my main interests. I'm the only person in our family that actually listens to music as "albums" - everyone else just logs onto some online service and streams whatever they're in the mood for. My wife uses Pandora A LOT. I could see her really digging Pandora in the living room. I like to catch up on TV shows via Hulu - I can use my cable providers On-Demand service for this, but the interface is horrible, I can't stand using their On-Demand service. Hulu in the living room would give me easy access to my queue, just the things I want to watch, without the drudgery - not to mention the lack of selection - of my On-Demand service. Vudu would be the other perk. I wouldn't necessarily use it very often, but I could see where it would come in handy (between disks on netflix - new release not on-demand or watch instantly and the kids have some friends over - wouldn't mind dropping $6 in that case - would rather them be in the living room than on my PS3 anyway). Then you have the typical list of web video sites, YouTube, DailyFail, etc.
Not really enough for Boxee to win hands down, but enough to make it a contender, at least for me. Unless these features make their way onto the ATV2. I'd rather not Jailbreak my ATV if I get one, I'd hope more for an Appstore, or something similar, or some officially sanctioned add-ons that support Pandora and Hulu. But we know how locked-down Apple can be.
So, to those of you with an ATV2 - how's it going now? Have any of the tinkerers found a good way to do more than what Apple allows (besides the current massive jailbreaking/hacking effort)? If you were in the market for this same device now, would you still go with the ATV - any regrets not waiting for the Boxee? Will consumer demand push Apple to open the ATV up a bit - especially with Roku and Boxee breathing down their necks? This is, after all, the first iteration of the new device running iOS - which opens up all kinds of possibilities. But will it be this time next year before we see Apple update any of their "hobby's" capabilities or software?
Let me know your thoughts, thanks.
So I turn to those of you with a ATV2 to find out. Here's my plan and my needs, I'm pretty sure the ATV2 fits the bill, but we'll see.
I have my soon-to-be replaced iMac in my office, as well as my big LCD and PS3. I have a ton of media that I plan to or already have ripped to my iMac. When I upgrade I plan to move all my media (pics, movies, music) to an external drive, possibly NAS or RAID (or both if I can get a Drobo). This media is shared with the PS3 and will be shared with the TV in the living room once I pick up my ATV or Boxee.
My main goal is Netflix streaming for the living room. We sold our Wii recently, and that was how we were consuming most of our non-Cable related media. When the ATV2 was announced it seemed like the obvious choice, I'll have my iTunes library on the ready and my Netflix access. Up to this point, I haven't used iTunes to manage video, it's not something I look forward to, but for the ATV2, I'd have to give in. My iTunes library is already pretty large (80GB+) and on my current iMac, it loads and saves very slow. This may not be an issue when I upgrade, but I just have never been fond of the way iTunes manages my video like it's audio.
Thus far the ATV2 meets my needs - but - there are some great Boxee perks. Hulu and Pandora are my main interests. I'm the only person in our family that actually listens to music as "albums" - everyone else just logs onto some online service and streams whatever they're in the mood for. My wife uses Pandora A LOT. I could see her really digging Pandora in the living room. I like to catch up on TV shows via Hulu - I can use my cable providers On-Demand service for this, but the interface is horrible, I can't stand using their On-Demand service. Hulu in the living room would give me easy access to my queue, just the things I want to watch, without the drudgery - not to mention the lack of selection - of my On-Demand service. Vudu would be the other perk. I wouldn't necessarily use it very often, but I could see where it would come in handy (between disks on netflix - new release not on-demand or watch instantly and the kids have some friends over - wouldn't mind dropping $6 in that case - would rather them be in the living room than on my PS3 anyway). Then you have the typical list of web video sites, YouTube, DailyFail, etc.
Not really enough for Boxee to win hands down, but enough to make it a contender, at least for me. Unless these features make their way onto the ATV2. I'd rather not Jailbreak my ATV if I get one, I'd hope more for an Appstore, or something similar, or some officially sanctioned add-ons that support Pandora and Hulu. But we know how locked-down Apple can be.
So, to those of you with an ATV2 - how's it going now? Have any of the tinkerers found a good way to do more than what Apple allows (besides the current massive jailbreaking/hacking effort)? If you were in the market for this same device now, would you still go with the ATV - any regrets not waiting for the Boxee? Will consumer demand push Apple to open the ATV up a bit - especially with Roku and Boxee breathing down their necks? This is, after all, the first iteration of the new device running iOS - which opens up all kinds of possibilities. But will it be this time next year before we see Apple update any of their "hobby's" capabilities or software?
Let me know your thoughts, thanks.
TV. It really isn't up to the task since the ffmpeg decoder doesn't use hardware acceleration. I love Plex, but depending on what the consensus is on the new Boxee Box, I may have to change allegiances.
