Welcome to Thunderdome

Posted: **Sat Feb 26, 2011 3:05 pm**

Seems to be a network media tank. In addition to playing media over your network from your server, it also has net access to Netflix, Vudu, etc for about $200, a hundred less than a PS3.

It seems to have more of those apps than does the PS3, so I was thinking about how I might get one of those for my basement man cave instead of another PS3... but then I realized I still need PS3's bluray player. So I dunno.

I'd like to see if I could survive down there without paying for another cable box from Time Warner.... sort of a "proof of concept" experiment on the concept of living without cable TV in the house and still watching everything I want to see free (or nearly free, ie Netflix) over internet streaming.

So, anyone ever ownh Boxee? Good video demo here: http://hothardware.com/Reviews....x-Ready

Only real negative I saw, aside from no BD player, was the lack of gigabit ethernet. MAYBE I'd never use the full gigabit, but I would still pay an extra $10 to have it. You know how it is.

Posted: **Sat Feb 26, 2011 6:33 pm**

You can download Boxee for free to your PC to try it out. I've got it installed on my media PC, but I don't really use it. It was pretty clunky once upon a time, and I've not tried it again since it's been updated.

I'm using XBMC instead. Also clunky, but the bits I need work better than Boxee did.

Posted: **Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:16 pm**

I liked the Western Digital versions of this type of device. However, I went with a $120 BD player with Netflix and other features built in, instead. I realize you want to stay true to Sony and their perfect BD support, but if you want something that will play BDs, do Netflix, stream from your server, and other services, take a look at BD players. If you find something your non-Sony BD player can't play, rip it with your Sony and stream it to your basement.

Posted: **Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:08 pm**

Cakedaddy wrote:I liked the Western Digital versions of this type of device. However, I went with a $120 BD player with Netflix and other features built in, instead. I realize you want to stay true to Sony and their perfect BD support, but if you want something that will play BDs, do Netflix, stream from your server, and other services, take a look at BD players. If you find something your non-Sony BD player can't play, rip it with your Sony and stream it to your basement.

Not so much I want to stay "true to Sony." Yes, I do like they they update faster than anyone else. And the PS3 has load speeds 10x faster than the other Samsung BD player I had.

But I decided I also want to play games on the PS3 in the man cave, so that decision is made.

The bedroom, however, is open for debate. When it comes time to put a player in there, I will probably look at cheaper BD appliances, then.