Boxee Box & Remote Control (QWERTY Keyboard)
Written by John Thompson on January 21, 2010 · Filed under Gadget Gift Ideas, Software, Tech
If you’re a Boxee media center user, you’re going to love this little accessory that wasn’t given much attention alongside the new Boxee Box at CES! You may have guessed that I’m referring to the newly developed remote that you use with the Boxee set-top box, which not only includes your standard media buttons, but a full QWERTY keyboard on the back!
When using a system such as Boxee, navigation can sometimes be awkward, especially with lots of content. With the QWERTY keyboard built in to the remote, you’ll now be able to quickly search through your media content and find what you’re looking for in seconds, this is definitely something that I’d like to see more of as typing with a numberpad seems to take forever!
The new Boxee Box itself comes packed with HDMI and an optical audio output, along with 802.11n Wi-Fi, 2 USB ports, an ethernet port and even an SD card slot to go along with the remote. As you’ve probably noticed already, the design and shape of the Boxee Box is certainly a little diffferent, it’s not traditional box that for sure – I’m guessing it’ll be at the top of your audio-visual stacking system unless you’re very good at balancing your AV equipment!
Although still in Beta for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, Boxee’s software platform is a very exciting prospect for both computer users and those who intend to purchase the Boxee Box when it’s released in a few months as we’re big fans of home theatre PC (HTPC) systems and set-top boxes that allow us to enjoy online TV content on big-screen HDTVs sat in the comfort of our sofa.
The choice to release the Boxee software not only for Windows, but also Mac OS X, Linux and even Apple TV is certainly a great move by the developers as it will open up content for more people to access on different platforms. Do you see yourself moving away from subscription-based TV services and using more online TV services like Boxee, BBC iPlayer and the forthcoming SeeSaw? Let us know in the comments!
Via – Geeky Gadgets, Broadband TV News & My Media Tank
