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Here comes Boxee TV: A $99 box with over-the-air TV and cloud DVR

Janko Roettgers — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:00:27 +0000

Boxee plans to announce a new device dubbed Boxee TV Tuesday that aims to combine over-the-air broadcast content with a cloud DVR and streaming services like Netflix and Vudu. Boxee TV will allow consumers to record two shows at a time, and upload each and every recording to the cloud, where it will offer unlimited storage for recorded shows. The new product is a big step for Boxee, whose Boxee Box device never managed to attract an audience beyond early adopters. “This is no longer for geeks by geeks,” Boxee CEO Avner Ronen told me during a recent phone conversation.

Boxee’s new UI focuses squarely on TV content.

Boxee TV will go on sale for $99 on November 1. The cloud DVR service will cost consumers an additional $15, which is only slightly cheaper than a month-to-month TiVo subscription, but Boxee hopes to make up for it with added features. Recordings stored in the cloud will be available for streaming both on Boxee TV as well as on any device with a web browser, including iPads and mobile phones. Native apps for Android and iOS will launch at a later time, said Ronen.

Boxee will roll out the DVR service in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia and D.C first, with Ronen telling me that the company wants to make sure that the cloud DVR infrastructure can scale up to the challenge. A launch in additional markets is planed for 2013.

The new Boxee TV device will come with a limited number of apps, which will include Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, Vimeo and Pandora. However, many of the apps available on the existing Boxee Box won’t make it onto the new device. “We don’t believe that the user experience gets better with a thousand apps,” Ronen told me.

Boxee TV will come with a limited number of apps.

Boxee TV is being manufactured by D-Link, which also made the original Boxee Box. But aside from that, there are few differences between the two products. The Boxee Box looked like a futuristic cube; Boxee TV uses a much more standardized — and thus stackable — form factor. The Boxee Box emphasized social discovery and artsy Vimeo videos while Boxee TV focuses squarely on TV shows, with TV programming running in the background as soon as you turn on the device. The Boxee Box was based on an Intel chipset; Boxee TV uses a CPU from Broadcom.

Boxee also completely rebuilt its software from the ground up, ditching the code base of the XBMC open source project and replacing it with a customized embedded Linux solution. “It was very liberating for us,” Ronen said about this step.

The introduction of the new device means that Boxee will put the original Boxee Box in maintenance mode, with Ronen telling me that the company won’t be rolling out any major firmware updates for it anymore. That likely won’t go over well with Boxee’s small but very vocal base of early adopters.

Boxee TV will offer unlimited recording space in the cloud.

Ronen said that the company will soon announce a kind of loyalty offer for existing users who are willing to switch over to the new platform, but he also didn’t make a secret out of the fact that Boxee TV is meant to target a different and potentially much larger user base. “When you start a company, you want to solve a problem for yourself,” said Ronen. Now, Boxee was out to solve a problem for mainstream consumers ready to cut the cord, and generate revenue for the first time in its history, he added.

Boxee’s cloud DVR subscription service comes at a time when there’s a bit of a comeback for over-the-air, in part because consumers have been running into restrictions with some over-the-top content. Shows like American idol still aren’t available as full episodes online, but can be viewed for free and in HD via over-the-air broadcast feeds. A number of companies is looking to capitalize on those feeds and combine them with streaming and online apps. New York-based Aereo has been sued for its offering, and Simple.tv launched its DVR for cord cutters earlier this week.

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Boxee opens up Cloudee to everyone, adds desktop uploader

Janko Roettgers — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:00:31 +0000

Boxee’s private video sharing service Cloudee just opened up its beta test, inviting everyone to upload as many videos as they like with and share them with select contacts. Cloudee, which previously only allowed uploads from the iPhone, also added a desktop uploader for Windows PCs and Macs, and improved its web UI to take some of its functionality beyond iOS devices. Also new: a better integration with Facebook and Twitter.

Boxee launched Cloudee as a private beta this summer. The service is currently completely free, without any upload and storage limits, but Boxee has said that it will eventually start charging for some premium functionality. From the announcement blog post:

Since Cloudee is still in beta, new and existing users will continue to enjoy free unlimited storage. When we introduce premium accounts, all beta users will still have access to watch and share all their videos, but may be asked to upgrade to Cloudee Premium to keep uploading additional videos.

Boxee CEO Avner Ronen told me earlier this year that Cloudee will have some form of Boxee Box integration before the service’s beta test is over, possibly through a separate tab on the Boxee home screen.

There have also been speculations that Boxee could use some of Cloudee’s infrastructure to build a kind of cloud DVR for its Live TV feature, but the company has been mum on any details on that front. However, Boxee has been increasingly reaching out to Boxee Box users to test upcoming products, and possible candidates applying to be part of the company’s early access program are being asked which broadcast TV stations they’re receiving in their area — so we shouldn’t be too surprised if Boxee’s next big announcement is going to have some live TV component.

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Meet Cloudee: Boxee launches cloud video sharing app

Janko Roettgers — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 14:00:34 +0000

Boxee launched an iPhone app for personal video sharing with a closed beta test Monday. The app, dubbed Cloudee, is available for free during the test period, but could eventually become Boxee’s first real revenue generator. The app focuses on the iPhone and iPod touch for now, but Boxee CEO Avner Ronen told me during a phone conversation a few days ago that tight integration with the company’s Boxee Box will follow soon. “We think it’s gonna be a core offering of what Boxee is,” he said.

With Cloudee, Boxee isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel. Many cloud storage services already offer users private file sharing, and a new generation of media-centric cloud offerings has been popping up on tablets and connected devices in recent months. And then there are the numerous video sites, including YouTube, that also offer some level of private clip sharing. However, Ronen told me that Cloudee’s focus on private sharing only sets it apart from other services out there. “YouTube, in people’s mind and in reality, is a very public place,” he said.

At the same time, New York-based Boxee makes it clear that it doesn’t want to become a second hard drive in the sky for each and every video you’ve ever shot. Cloudee’s Terms of Service expressively state that the service is “not a backup service,” and Ronen told me: “We are not trying to replace your Dropbox.”

So what does Cloudee want to offer people? iPhone video sharing is a first step, and users invited to the app’s private beta test get unlimited storage. Ronen said that Boxee wants offer have a premium level of the service once it’s ready to open the doors for everyone, which will likely also have little to no bandwidth and storage restrictions. The app will also offer video sharing via email and SMS, and support for additional devices, likely including the iPad and Android.

Integration with the Boxee Box will be rolled out even before the beta test is over, Ronen promised. Cloudee users will likely get to see their clips and videos shared with them in a separate tab on the home page, next to menu items like Movies and TV Shows.

Speaking of which: The last big addition to Boxee’s home screen happened when the company started to ship it’s Live TV tuner in January. Since then, there have been persistent rumors that Boxee might eventually launch a DVR service for Live TV users as well. These were only fueled by a survey the company sent out in February, asking Live TV owners how much they’d pay for the ability to record “300 hours of TV” programming.

Ronen declined to comment on any forthcoming DVR service, but the line of questioning in the February survey, suggesting a service-wide limit of the amount of recordable content, brings up an interesting possibility: What if Cloudee is Boxee’s DVR in disguise? It’s possible that the company is just testing the waters with personal video sharing, only to roll out a paid cloud DVR tier further down the road. Pulling off such a service would be a major undertaking – but if would definitely put Boxee, which has only seen modest sales of the Boxee Box, back on the map in a big way.

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5 Questions With…Boxee CEO Avner Ronen

Liz Shannon Miller — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 08:01:42 +0000

Avner Ronen

For this week’s Five Questions With…, we’ve got someone who’s never been afraid to speak his mind about the industry. As the CEO of Boxee, Avner Ronen has become a fierce advocate for the viability of streaming content (not to mention a vocal critic of other companies). Below, he shares one of the stranger videos I’ve ever seen, addresses the potential alienation of early Boxee adopters and proposes a radical new distribution plan for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

1. What’s the one big issue/law/attitude/restriction that you think is holding back the industry?

The biggest issue still remains access to content. The Internet is still being discriminated against — would love to see some affirmative action. There is no reason the Internet can not be the fourth distribution network for content (adding to the existing cable, satellite and IPTV platforms).

Netflix and Hulu have shown that the Internet can provide a great VOD experience and MLB and ESPN3 are showing that you can stream live HD events in great quality with a truly interactive experience. There is a generation growing up with the Internet as its main source of video. They want to watch the content they love on the platform of their choice, and they are willing to pay.

2. What industry buzzword do you never want to hear again?

“Analog dollars to digital cents.” The Internet does not mean free. As a content owner you can control the number of ads you insert in a video and enjoy higher CPMs — plus these ads can’t be skipped — and you can set the price for subscription of pay-per-view. Analog dollars can actually turn into digital Euros.

3. If someone gave you $50 million to invest in a company in this space, which one would it be? (Mentioning your own doesn’t count.)

I would write a check of $25M each to Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart and ask them to go 100 percent Internet. Charge $4 a month for access to both shows and otherwise only release short clips, 24 hours later, on YouTube.

4. What was the last video (that you weren’t personally involved with) that you liked enough to spread to others?

I watched it over and over again. I believe it sets several world records: Most times someone was able to say “very, very” in less than 90 seconds, longest interview given using the smallest vocabulary…

5. WILD-CARD: Boxee’s done a great job of building up a loyal user base, but is also looking to expand its audience, especially with the launch of the Boxee Box. What’s your strategy for bringing in new users without losing your early adopters?

For us, breaking through from being a geeks-only product to the broader early adopter audience will be a combination of getting more distribution on TVs and Blu-ray, as well as bringing more premium content and simplifying the user experience. We are working on all these fronts.

Some early users may feel we’re spending cycles on the wrong kind of stuff, but we’re going to try and maintain Boxee as a power-tool for the more advanced users. As an example, go into our settings section or bring up video settings on playback. You’ll see that there is a lot you can tweak and control, most of it will be incomprehensible for a “normal” person.

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Boxee CEO on Apple TV: Not Enough Freedom

Janko Roettgers — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 14:30:02 +0000

Speaking with Boxee CEO Avner Ronen, you don’t get the sense that his company is nervous about playing in the big leagues. Boxee’s first hardware product, the Boxee Box by D-Link, has been available for preorder since yesterday, and will squarely compete with similar products from Apple and Google. So how does Ronen feel about facing off against the big boys? “We think the Boxee Box will compete very well in that environment,” he told me yesterday during an interview in San Francisco (see the complete interview embedded below).

In fact, he criticized Apple for limiting the Apple TV’s choice in video sources to Netflix, iTunes and YouTube. “I think in 2010, people want more freedom,” he said.

Watch this video for free on GigaOM

Ronen was a little more nuanced when talking about the Google TV. He doubted that concentrating on a search bar is a good value proposition for a mainstream audience, but acknowledged that Android’s openness would be beneficial for the set-top box market. “Google could be (a) good partner for us,” he added.

That doesn’t mean Boxee has completely given up on Apple either. The company is currently working on an iPad application, Ronen said, which will work for video viewing and as a companion device to the Boxee Box. However, bringing the Boxee experience to the iPad has been challenging. “There (are) format limitations that are out of our control,” he told me, alluding to the fact that the iPad doesn’t play Flash.

Ronen also said the company is planing to do an Android version of Boxee as well, but work on this platform hasn’t begun yet.

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Incumbents vs. Innovation: The Online Video Battle

Michael Wolf — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:00:34 +0000

Much in the way we saw (and continue to see) the big players in music struggle to stay ahead of technology innovators, incumbents in video entertainment are having a difficult time staying ahead of pesky upstarts like Boxee. This week, the freeware media center startup has found yet another way to sidestep maneuvers by Hulu to block its software from getting feeds of the NBC/News Corp. joint venture’s highly desirable premium content. This shows a couple things: first, the continued ability to show Hulu and other premium content is really one of the core appeals of Boxee. Secondly, Boxee may be proving itself, even as it shows its resourcefulness as a company, to be too much of a tinkerer’s solution for those of us who simply like to watch TV without much effort.

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