[mythtv-users] The Boxee Box

[Yan Seiner]

On Wed, December 9, 2009 7:35 am, Norm Dressler wrote:
> Brian Wood wrote:
>> On Tuesday 08 December 2009 07:38:22 am Matt Emmott wrote:
>>
>>> The Boxee Box has been announced. It's a small D-link device similar to
>>> a
>>> Popcorn Hour or Roku box that runs Boxee and outputs to your TV over
>>>
>> HDMI.
>>
>>>  I watched part of the webcast last night and they claim it's fully
>>> open
>>>  source inside and out, and will retail for around $200. No mention of
>>> the
>>>  xPUs yet but if it really can do full Hulu, Netflix etc then one would
>>>  think it would be beefy enough to run a Myth FE. A box that can do
>>> full HD
>>>  and flash streaming for $200 sounds to me like a game changer. Or am I
>>>  assuming too much?
>>>
>>
>> Maybe. It seems it does not do Netflix - "yet":
>>
>> http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/12/09/1323250/D-Links-New-Boxee-Box-
>> Runs-Linux-Eyes-Netflix
>>
>> As has been mentioned, there is unlikely to ever be a truly open source
>> way
>> to implement Netflix.
>>
>> The term "Open Source" is being bandying about a lot lately, often
>> without
>> much accuracy.
>>
>> "Yet" sort of implies that it will, eventually, but I wouldn't bet on
>> it. IOW
>> I wouldn't count on something as simple as a firmware update making it
>> happen, you may have to buy a new box.
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>>
> Personally, I have no issue with buying a license to show specific
> content, like codecs in the Windows world.  Even the bluray issue falls
> in this category.  If i needed to buy a license to play them, I would.

+1.  That would be my preferred solution - if someone (a large
entertainment outfit) was to charge me a reasonable fee for a codec, and
then a reasonable monthly fee for watching all their content, I'd probably
do it, depending on the content.  Right now I'm not willing to pay a huge
monthly fee for 99 channels of crap and maybe 5 hours of programming a
month I'd really want to watch, so I get my programming OTA and don't pay
a dime.

The problem is that the companies won't do this - at least from past
experience, we'd see limited support for the platforms that can use the
codec, limited support for the codec, limited time when the codec might be
used, and very high fees all around.

I don't understand this attitude.  My customers pay me a reasonable fee
for a piece of hardware and then a reasonable fee for the service I
provide.  (It must be reasonable to them - they keep paying).  I'm not
sure why the entertainment industry giants don't understand this simple
truth.

--Yan

-- 
If you have eight hours to chop down a tree
spend six sharpening your axe.
--Abraham Lincoln