Last night, the Boxee Box by D-Link officially started shipping. Boxee started off as software you could install on your computer which gave you access to online shows and videos. Rather than visiting a bunch of diferent web sites, Boxee pulls in all that content and stuffs it into a beautiful and easy to navigate interface. The Boxee windows client came out last June and Boxee announced the Boxee Box at the end of last year. Earlier this month, we got word that the Boxee Box would be launching on the 10th of this month and now it’s here.
Many of us have been watching more and more TV online and Boxee feels they are the best way to do it:
Tons of Movies and TV Shows, Netflix, VUDU and Hulu Plus
There is a whole generation out there for whom Movies and TV shows are synonymous with Netflix and Hulu. We have some good news for these users. Both Netflix and Hulu are going to be part of the Boxee Box.
If you’re like us, you are a Netflix member instantly watching unlimited TV episodes & movies, and you want to rent new titles from a service like VUDU. It’s a killer combo and both will work great for you on Boxee.
If you opt for a Hulu Plus account, you’ll be able to watch Hulu content on your Boxee Box. Netflix is coming by the end of the year. Early on, Boxee and Netflix didn’t get along so well. Hulu wasn’t too happy about its content showing up on Boxee, so they blocked the service early on. Now that Boxee has morphed into an actual piece of hardware, they’ve called a truce.
Unfortunately, Hulu is still blocking access to their free content for Boxee users and this block seems to have had unintended consequences. Many Windows 7 and Mac OS X users have been greeted with an error telling them that they’re trying to access the service “from Boxee” when they’re obviously not. According to Engadget, it seems that the problem has been fixed, but Hulu will need to think really hard about this whole Boxee blocking procedure. They are doing well for the time being, but can’t afford to lose any eyeballs.