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Boxee announces Boxee TV

Image representing Boxee as depicted in CrunchBase

Boxee disappointed us a while back, when they discontinued their software in favor of their hardware solution. From the beginning, their hardware has suffered from problems, and software updates have been too infrequent.

Boxee has been at the forefront of negotiating for the future of unencrypted basic cable. As we previously have written, we aren’t thrilled with the solution the FCC came up with. But now, it is more clear why.

Boxee has announced the $99 Boxee TV. It is a DVR that stores recordings in the cloud(for $15 a month) and uses your antenna/basic unencrypted cable to do so.  It contains many of the Boxee apps, but not as many as the legacy Boxee box. By the way, they are killing the Boxee Box, except for maintenance updates.

This is just yet another example of Boxee pivoting again, and is bound to fail again. Not because some of their ideas aren’t good. But the Boxee Box attracted Cord Cutters…and it has a mandatory(not optional), $15 a month charge. In order to store in the cloud, you need to transcode and downgrade your HD signal.

And it relies on Cloudee, their cloud video service, to remain in business for the device to work. Boxee doesn’t have the best track record so far on continuing to provide service to its users. Tested did the math and estimated at 2 hours of recorded TV per day, that would be over 50GB uploaded a month at the estimated data rate.

So, to conclude. Don’t buy it. Don’t suggest anyone buy it. Because Boxee and its people will just dissapoint.

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Published on October 17, 2012
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FCC Kills clearQAM – Everyone Needs a Box

no-cable-tv

The FCC has issued an order amending its rules to allow cable operators to encrypt the basic service tier. This tier consists of broadcast and a few other assorted stations.

Their rationale for this is that it will ‘benefit’ consumers who can have their service activated and deactivated remotely, reducing truck rolls and waits for service calls.  The problem is the “small number” of cable subscribers who will be adversely affected.

A few years ago, you could change channels directly on your TV. These were cable channels…channels you paid for. You are still paying for them, but now you have to pay to rent equipment from the cable company. The current cost of a box from our cable provider is $10 a month, plus a $4 fee. To rent a cable card is only $2.50, by comparison.

This is an issue. The $90 a year difference would pay for a cable box purchase in two years, or pay the additional cost to add a cablecard slot to the average television. This has not happened.

As a condition of the FCC Rule, operators must provide either a converter box with home networking capability that can provide access to basic channels or allow existing equipment access with software upgrades. But, we have some doubts as to the utility of these devices.

As a user of open-source software, it is unlikely that they will allow anything to be used that they cannot control. So, in the end, it is time to break out the broadcast antenna.

There is, of course, the cablecard option, however, Time Warner Cable, our local cable company, is the only company to make a cablecard essentially useless to a Linux user.

Maybe it is time to cut the cord. That’s still an option, right? You can get Internet without TV, right?

 

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Published on October 14, 2012
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681 Stations Still Shutting off Analog this Week

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Engadget HD  reports that even with the DTV Transition delay signed into law, the FCC has approved the request of at least 368 stations to switch analog off this Tuesday. Crunchgear places the number of stations at 40% of the country’s broadcast stations. Another posts reports some preliminary lists of stations going off the air.

There is no obligation or mandate to broadcast in analog, only a mandate now effective in June to cease broadcasting in analog. The four major networks have agreed to stay on the air, but that applies only to the 100 or so stations they own, not any privately owned affiliate. The FCC could also pressure broadcasters to stay on if doing so is in the “public interest”.

We’ve already weighed in on the DTV transition. We are for it. The boxes are out there, the coupons were out there, and will be again, we hope. And even without them, there are ways to get through this. Digital broadcast brings free HD, clearer picture overall, and additional bandwidth for extra channels(although we have yet to found a secondary channel we watch regularly, although NBC Weather Plus wasn’t lacking in usefulness, but it is no longer with us.).

In some markets, there are apparently channels people want to watch offered on digital subchannels. NBC offers NBC Universal Sports in many markets. RTN, the Retro Television Network, airs classic television on digital subchannels of its affiliates. Or the This TV Network, offering movies and old shows from the MGM library. As fans of classic TV no longer offered by supposedly classic networks Nick at Nite and TV Land, we wouldn’t complain if we got any of these. For a synposis of digital subchannels, Wikipedia has a good summary of possible uses.

For those of you wishing to consider dropping cable service, over-the-air digital broadcast is certainly the way to go, with or without bolstering by internet and dvd services.

Here is the supposed complete and final list of stations shutting off on Tuesday.

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Published on February 15, 2009
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Digital Television Delayed…Really This Time

HAYWARD, CA - JANUARY 28: An old analog telev...
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After initially being defeated, the bill to defer the Digital TV transition till June 12th was passed last week. However, some stations had already indicated they are sticking with the Feb. 17 date. The FCC said it had heard from 276 stations to that effect, in addition to 143 stations that had already pulled the plug, and another 60 who said they planned to do so before Feb. 17. The FCC had pointed out that some of those 276 may change their minds once the date changes. The FCC has been working on regulations that might cover the above circumstances.

But, there might be a bigger problem. Many manufacturers stopped making the boxes, expecting the demand to peak around February 17th. The trade association estimates there are approximately 3 to 6 million boxes available, and there are at least 3.7 million rebate coupons requests on the federal waiting list. Not to mention the confusion the switchover is producing on the older generation.

The NYTimes reports help is coming from an unlikely source. In Houston, which is the 10th largest TV market in the country, the local Meals on Wheels has been delivering and installing converter boxes for its clients.

For those of us who feel comfortable with such things, digital over-the-air broadcasts is an excellent way to get HD programming from local affiliates at no cost. Unlike your local cable concern, this feed is not compressed to the same degree, giving it a better quality to enjoy. We have one hooked up in addition to our cable, for this very reason.

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Published on February 8, 2009
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