Introduction
In this article I'm going to give a quick overview of three readily available smart set top boxes which can be used to extend the functionality of your existing TV.
The Boxee.
Something strange is happening in the world of IT and gadgets - The idea that you always must be online and logged into some service even if you're not doing anything online. The Boxee is another step in that direction. You've purchased the boxee, brought it home and now....you have to register with D-Link before you can use it. Sure you can link it to your Facebook account, and no doubt there are those who relish the idea of sharing their viewing habits with that person you met on whilst trekking in the himalayas, but it's not really for me. Obviously you need to be online to access online services but registered with the manufacturer? Anyhow, I digress.
During the setup I fell in love with the remote! What a great idea having a keyboard. It made entering all the setup details so much easier, yet because it's on the flip side the main remote is simple and uncluttered. (One minor niggle about it is that the Caps, Sym and Alt keys only exist on the left hand side of the keyboard.)
Assessing external media was another easy task. You can plug in devices via the USB socket, or the device is capable of using AFP, SMB, or NFS shares. So pretty much however you store your files it'll be able to scan them.
Inclusion of Airplay on the device meant playing media direct from an iPhone/iPad was easy, but not flawless.
Content streaming from providers is supported through use of Apps with Apps available for most of the main providers. There were so many Apps sometimes it was difficult to local the correct one.
AppleTV
The AppleTV's design is simple and stylish in a minimalist kind of way - I only wish it were still available in arctic white.
Again the setup was fairly straightforward with all keyboard functions taken care of using the onscreen virtual keyboard. Once configured you're greeted with the reassuringly familiar standard Apple App's screen layout. Services like Netflix, YouTube and iPlayer work via the built in Apps. Apple have a great eye for detail, little things like the reflections of the Movies cover artwork, just make the device feel more polished than the other two.
You couldn't get a much simpler remote than the AppleTV one, but that's not a criticism, it looks great and does the job.
No surprise the AppleTV supports Apple's AirPlay. Also unsurprisingly it worked flawlessly - you'd be shocked if it were any other way.
The problem with the AppleTV is its lack of support for anything other than main content providers and iTunes. No support for windows or Linux shares no usb port means you can't plug a usb hard drive in. The best it will do is connect to a iTunes library running on another machine.
WD TV Live
No problems getting the WD TV Live configured. It can be attached either using a network cable, or wirelessly. Access to content providers is in the services section where there are a wide range of Apps to provide access to the likes of YouTube and iPlayer.
One word I'd use to describe the WD TV Lives remote is "functional". It's not got the styling of the Apple remote or the ease of use of Boxee's. But it does do what it's mean to i.e. navigate round menus play, stop, rewind and fast forward media.
The WD TV Live supports reading media from locally connected storage, or on a NAS/Server. It supports NFS and SMB. Though you are unable to assign mount points to specific parts of the interface. i.e. mount you videos in the video section in the interface. For me this results in having a music folder in my videos and visa-versa.
The Interface of the WD TV Live is simple and clean, it does feel a little like you're just using a file browser, but it does support the loading of additional themes.
Conclusion
From the first few hours of using these three devices, I'd say that my favourite was the Boxee. It looks good, provides App for the content providers I was interested in and gave connectivity to external storage - be it attached or on the network. Second place goes to the WD TV Live mainly because with the AppleTV I had no way of accessing files off the network. Finally the AppleTV which I must say is still a great device and probably ideal for those without Linux servers lying round the house!
In this article I'm going to give a quick overview of three readily available smart set top boxes which can be used to extend the functionality of your existing TV.
The Boxee.
Something strange is happening in the world of IT and gadgets - The idea that you always must be online and logged into some service even if you're not doing anything online. The Boxee is another step in that direction. You've purchased the boxee, brought it home and now....you have to register with D-Link before you can use it. Sure you can link it to your Facebook account, and no doubt there are those who relish the idea of sharing their viewing habits with that person you met on whilst trekking in the himalayas, but it's not really for me. Obviously you need to be online to access online services but registered with the manufacturer? Anyhow, I digress.
During the setup I fell in love with the remote! What a great idea having a keyboard. It made entering all the setup details so much easier, yet because it's on the flip side the main remote is simple and uncluttered. (One minor niggle about it is that the Caps, Sym and Alt keys only exist on the left hand side of the keyboard.)
Assessing external media was another easy task. You can plug in devices via the USB socket, or the device is capable of using AFP, SMB, or NFS shares. So pretty much however you store your files it'll be able to scan them.
Inclusion of Airplay on the device meant playing media direct from an iPhone/iPad was easy, but not flawless.
Content streaming from providers is supported through use of Apps with Apps available for most of the main providers. There were so many Apps sometimes it was difficult to local the correct one.
AppleTV
The AppleTV's design is simple and stylish in a minimalist kind of way - I only wish it were still available in arctic white.
Again the setup was fairly straightforward with all keyboard functions taken care of using the onscreen virtual keyboard. Once configured you're greeted with the reassuringly familiar standard Apple App's screen layout. Services like Netflix, YouTube and iPlayer work via the built in Apps. Apple have a great eye for detail, little things like the reflections of the Movies cover artwork, just make the device feel more polished than the other two.
You couldn't get a much simpler remote than the AppleTV one, but that's not a criticism, it looks great and does the job.
No surprise the AppleTV supports Apple's AirPlay. Also unsurprisingly it worked flawlessly - you'd be shocked if it were any other way.
The problem with the AppleTV is its lack of support for anything other than main content providers and iTunes. No support for windows or Linux shares no usb port means you can't plug a usb hard drive in. The best it will do is connect to a iTunes library running on another machine.
WD TV Live
No problems getting the WD TV Live configured. It can be attached either using a network cable, or wirelessly. Access to content providers is in the services section where there are a wide range of Apps to provide access to the likes of YouTube and iPlayer.
One word I'd use to describe the WD TV Lives remote is "functional". It's not got the styling of the Apple remote or the ease of use of Boxee's. But it does do what it's mean to i.e. navigate round menus play, stop, rewind and fast forward media.
The WD TV Live supports reading media from locally connected storage, or on a NAS/Server. It supports NFS and SMB. Though you are unable to assign mount points to specific parts of the interface. i.e. mount you videos in the video section in the interface. For me this results in having a music folder in my videos and visa-versa.
The Interface of the WD TV Live is simple and clean, it does feel a little like you're just using a file browser, but it does support the loading of additional themes.
Conclusion
From the first few hours of using these three devices, I'd say that my favourite was the Boxee. It looks good, provides App for the content providers I was interested in and gave connectivity to external storage - be it attached or on the network. Second place goes to the WD TV Live mainly because with the AppleTV I had no way of accessing files off the network. Finally the AppleTV which I must say is still a great device and probably ideal for those without Linux servers lying round the house!
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