Remember the Boxee Box, the unusually-shaped STB housing the Boxee media system? Now the company tries again with Boxee TV-- a more traditionally-shaped STB combining over-the-air TV broadcasts, web apps and DVR functionality.
Unlike the Boxee Box, the Boxee TV carries a pair of TV tuner (with coax input), an external antenna and a number of built-in apps for services such as Netflix, Youtube, Vimeo and Pandora. It plugs into the existing cable line or HDTV antenna and provides a slick user interface for live TV viewing.
But what makes the Boxee TV really interesting is cloud-powered DVR functionality-- one promising unlimited broadcast TV recording at 1080p resolution and 5.1 surround sound. The STB even lacks on-board storage, depending entirely on RAM for buffering.
Users can watch recordings uploaded to the Boxee cloud from any internet-capable device, as well as on their TVs.
One interesting element missing in the Boxee TV is the double-sided keyboard remote. Instead the package contains a simpler control solution with a limited button selection.
So far the Boxee TV will only available be in the US from November 2012, with no word whether it will cross the pond to European territories in the future.
