As the price of cable and satellite TV rises, more and more fans of the boob tube are looking for ways to cut the cord. But the lack of a single device that easily brings all aspects of media together remains the largest hurdle.
The still-in-beta Boxee TV that was leaked to The Verge on Tuesday could be the the device that pushes potential cord-cutters over the edge. The set-top box has all the ingredients needed to make it the ultimate cord-cutting device. The Boxee operating system, originally based on the open-source XBMC, contains a plethora of web apps, including Netflix, Vudu and Vimeo. This new device also supports over-the-air HD channels via a TV tuner and has a DVR feature. You can record all your favorite TV Shows, as long as they’re available for free over the air.
The combination of these features would give the Boxee TV a distinct advantage over the Roku and Apple TV. Neither support recording live TV for playback. While TiVo is the leader of the DVR realm, it requires a subscription to use its scheduling service.
Before you get too excited, the Verge article says the Boxee TV currently crashes several times a day. Clearly, the device is still in the early stages. Plus, TiVo’s DVR service is still a fan favorite and hard to beat in terms of ease of use. Boxee would need to step up its UI game to compete.
No word on when this cord-cutting dream machine might be available to the public. Calls to Boxee were not returned as of press time.
