Boxee demonstrated on iPad

Posted Jan 9, 2011 at 4:05AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: iPad App Reviews Tags: apple

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Boxee (officially trademarked as BOXEE) is a cross-platform freeware HTPC (Home Theater PC) software application with a 10-foot user interface and social networking features designed for the living-room TV. Boxee was originally a fork of the free and open source XBMC media center software which Boxee now uses as an application framework for its GUI and media player core platform, together with some custom and proprietary additions.Marketed as the first ever "Social Media Center,"[citation needed] Boxee enables its users to view, rate and recommend content to their friends through many social network services and interactive media related features. One notable feature missing in Boxee is the ability to watch and record live TV received via over-the-air TV, cable or satellite signals.

As soon as we heard that Boxee was demoing their iPad version at this year's CES conference, we had to hunt them down and see it. We found them over at Iomega's booth (stay tuned for a writeup of an Iomega product designed to help iPhone backups as well), and asked to see the app. It's about what you'd expect from a Boxee interface -- slick and clean, with four different options across the top. Friends videos are first, allowing you to tune in to any videos your friends have flagged on various social networks. Featured videos is the second option, where you can watch any videos that Boxee wants to show off. Watch Later allows you to watch any videos you've marked on the Boxee service. And Files is the last option, letting you pull up any videos (in almost any format) stored via a Boxee media server on a Mac or PC on the same network.

As you watch any of the videos, you can click a button in the iPad's interface that will also send that video right off to your own Boxee installation to watch. It's pretty awesome -- browse around for a video on your iPad, set it to start playing, and then either watch it there, or send it AirPlay-style right out to your Mac, PC, or a media player equipped with Boxee. Boxee says the app will be released for free later on this year, with another version for iPhone and iPod touch eventually as well.

Check out a video of it in action on YouTube.

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