Introduction
With lots of smart boxes available on the market to extend the functionality of your existing TV it's difficult to know where to start. In this article we'll take a look a three of the readily available alternatives.
The Boxee.
Something strange is happening in the world of IT and gadgets - The idea that you always must be online and logged into some service even if you're not doing anything online. The Boxee is another step in that direction. You've purchased the boxee, brought it home and now....you have to register with D-Link before you can use it. Sure you can link it to your Facebook account, and no doubt there are those who relish the idea of sharing their viewing habits with that person you met on whilst trekking in the himalayas, but it's not really for me. Obviously you need to be online to access online services but registered with the manufacturer? Anyhow, I digress.
During the setup I fell in love with the remote! What a great idea having a keyboard. It made entering all the setup details so much easier, yet because it's on the flip side the main remote is simple and uncluttered. (One minor niggle about it is that the Caps, Sym and Alt keys only exist on the left hand side of the keyboard.)
Assessing external media was another easy task. You can plug in devices via the USB socket, or the device is capable of using AFP, SMB, or NFS shares. So pretty much however you store your files it'll be able to scan them.
Inclusion of Airplay on the device meant playing media direct from an iPhone/iPad was easy, but not flawless.
The apps section of the device had a multitude of player for a seemingly endless list of content provider, including the main player like YouTube and BBC iPlayer.
AppleTV
It's Apple, it's got that minimalist Apple style.
Again the setup was fairly straightforward with all keyboard functions taken care of using the onscreen virtual keyboard. Once configured you're greeted with the reassuringly familiar standard Apple App's screen layout. Services like Netflix, YouTube and iPlayer work via the built in Apps. Apple have a great eye for detail, little things like the reflections of the Movies cover artwork, just make the device feel more polished than the other two.
I do like the Apple remote, shiny, metallic and slim (maybe a little slim), but again it's beautiful to look at and does the job well.
No surprise the AppleTV supports Apple's AirPlay. Also unsurprisingly it worked flawlessly - you'd be shocked if it were any other way.
The problem with the AppleTV is its lack of support for anything other than main content providers and iTunes. No support for windows or Linux shares no usb port means you can't plug a usb hard drive in. The best it will do is connect to a iTunes library running on another machine.
WD TV Live
Another simple setup procedure: Select either wireless of wired network, enter the relevant details and away you go. Again, like the other two there's a selection of App's for your favourite content providers NetFlix, YouTube etc, which all work well. Like the AppleTV entering details is through use of an on screen virtual keyboard.
The WD TV Live's remote isn't the best looking especially when compare to the looks of the Apple Remote, or the functionality of the Boxee's. But it does the job.
External media can be accessed using local devices (attached to the USB port), SMB/NFS shares, or a media server. This was all fairly easy to set up, however you only seem to be able to give it the server, not the mount point on the server, so I end up with both folders appearing within Videos and the same for Music.
Of the three the WD TV Live's interface seemed the least polished. I felt it was a little clunky at times and I was just left with the feeling that it was a very thin veneer over what is essentially a file explorer.
Conclusion
Despite my dislike Boxee's registration requirement, I think overall I'd have to say my preference is for the Boxee, with second place going to the WD TV Live, Apple having a more polished feel, but being much more limited.
With lots of smart boxes available on the market to extend the functionality of your existing TV it's difficult to know where to start. In this article we'll take a look a three of the readily available alternatives.
The Boxee.
Something strange is happening in the world of IT and gadgets - The idea that you always must be online and logged into some service even if you're not doing anything online. The Boxee is another step in that direction. You've purchased the boxee, brought it home and now....you have to register with D-Link before you can use it. Sure you can link it to your Facebook account, and no doubt there are those who relish the idea of sharing their viewing habits with that person you met on whilst trekking in the himalayas, but it's not really for me. Obviously you need to be online to access online services but registered with the manufacturer? Anyhow, I digress.
During the setup I fell in love with the remote! What a great idea having a keyboard. It made entering all the setup details so much easier, yet because it's on the flip side the main remote is simple and uncluttered. (One minor niggle about it is that the Caps, Sym and Alt keys only exist on the left hand side of the keyboard.)
Assessing external media was another easy task. You can plug in devices via the USB socket, or the device is capable of using AFP, SMB, or NFS shares. So pretty much however you store your files it'll be able to scan them.
Inclusion of Airplay on the device meant playing media direct from an iPhone/iPad was easy, but not flawless.
The apps section of the device had a multitude of player for a seemingly endless list of content provider, including the main player like YouTube and BBC iPlayer.
AppleTV
It's Apple, it's got that minimalist Apple style.
Again the setup was fairly straightforward with all keyboard functions taken care of using the onscreen virtual keyboard. Once configured you're greeted with the reassuringly familiar standard Apple App's screen layout. Services like Netflix, YouTube and iPlayer work via the built in Apps. Apple have a great eye for detail, little things like the reflections of the Movies cover artwork, just make the device feel more polished than the other two.
I do like the Apple remote, shiny, metallic and slim (maybe a little slim), but again it's beautiful to look at and does the job well.
No surprise the AppleTV supports Apple's AirPlay. Also unsurprisingly it worked flawlessly - you'd be shocked if it were any other way.
The problem with the AppleTV is its lack of support for anything other than main content providers and iTunes. No support for windows or Linux shares no usb port means you can't plug a usb hard drive in. The best it will do is connect to a iTunes library running on another machine.
WD TV Live
Another simple setup procedure: Select either wireless of wired network, enter the relevant details and away you go. Again, like the other two there's a selection of App's for your favourite content providers NetFlix, YouTube etc, which all work well. Like the AppleTV entering details is through use of an on screen virtual keyboard.
The WD TV Live's remote isn't the best looking especially when compare to the looks of the Apple Remote, or the functionality of the Boxee's. But it does the job.
External media can be accessed using local devices (attached to the USB port), SMB/NFS shares, or a media server. This was all fairly easy to set up, however you only seem to be able to give it the server, not the mount point on the server, so I end up with both folders appearing within Videos and the same for Music.
Of the three the WD TV Live's interface seemed the least polished. I felt it was a little clunky at times and I was just left with the feeling that it was a very thin veneer over what is essentially a file explorer.
Conclusion
Despite my dislike Boxee's registration requirement, I think overall I'd have to say my preference is for the Boxee, with second place going to the WD TV Live, Apple having a more polished feel, but being much more limited.
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