Boxee Box: The Inside Story, Swapping Tegra 2 for Intel CE4100
by Ganesh T S & Brian Klug on September 13, 2010 10:31 AM EST- Posted in
- Media Streamer
- Home Theater
- HTPC
Media streamer companies have expertise in either hardware or software, but rarely both. Boxee realized this early on that were they to go out and try to build a box themselves, they would probably fail. By linking a strategic partnership with D-Link which has experience building hardware, and also has a great retail channel presence, they managed to make up for one of their critical shortcomings. D-Link, on the other hand, had to figure out a way to handle the shift in the entertainment ecosystem. For an optimal user experience, a full solution, right from the NAS to the home network to the actual media streamer, had to be created. We have seen attempts at this from both Netgear and D-Link earlier, but all their media streamer offerings failed in terms of the user interface and experience. By partnering with Boxee, they too have managed to overcome one of their shortcomings. How well this has worked out will soon be seen, as the Boxee Box is already up for pre-order on Amazon and should ship before the end of November. D-Link and Boxee also announced that the unit would be up for pre-order internationally (including US, Canada, Australia and the EU).
This product also gives Intel a boost in the mainstream SoC market space. Being the first unit with the CE4100 (actually, any x86 based SoC) to ship to the mainstream consumer (at a palatable $199 price point), Intel would hope that its popularity would be a sign of things to come for x86 based SoCs.
For AnandTech to recommend a media streamer, it must strive to enable the consumer to watch whatever content he wants wherever he wants. Boxee Box seems to have taken this philosophy to heart, unlike some of the other recently announced media streamers. While we hope that the unit can live up to the heightened expectations it has just created, we know that the proof is in the pudding. We will be closely following this streamer as it nears release, and in the meanwhile, if you have something particular that you want to be tested on this unit, feel free to let us know in the comments.
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quiksilvr - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Seriously this sounds awesome. Who would have thought Intel of all companies would come out with a GPU that nVidia (or AMD, I guess) could not make for Boxee.mados123 - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Well, it not really the GPU functionality that is the limiting factor here. From what I understand it is the other aspects of the SoC (System on a Chip), the CPU that is keeping it from breaking the 10Mbps+ threshold.ganeshts - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
mados123, it is not the CPU that is the issue here.It is probably a problem with the video decoding unit having too high a latency for high profile videos.
Spivonious - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
They all have GPUs that can handle this. It's the Tegra SOC (system-on-a-chip) that couldn't handle 1080p h.264 at reasonable framerates.Chris Peredun - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Technically it's Imagination Technologies you should be thanking for the GPU, it's a PowerVR SGX series.And yes, you can haz in netbook - you just get it renamed as the GMA500. The only problem is that it's lacking the necessary driver support. Of course there are unofficial ways of making that work.
ganeshts - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Yes, it is the SGX series which is responsible for the snappy Boxee UI on the Boxee Box. The video decode, though, is handled by the VXD series IP.By the way, this IP isn't worth waiting for driver support over. It is best used as a CE device with prebuilt firmware support.
If you are going the notebook or HTPC route, there are much more powerful decoders with inbuilt video processing functions available.
AgeOfPanic - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
that there is no talk about which services it actually supports. I assume Netflix is, but for instance Hulu Plus would be a major bonus too. That said, this looks like a very nice solution. If they can take the XBMC/MediaPortal experience and make it usable for the general public, this could be a hit.ganeshts - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Boxee/ D-Link couldn't get the agreements in place in time for IDF (with which this PR is coinciding).They are talking to almost all the top premium service providers, but, being under NDA, I am unable to comment further.
If Netflix and Hulu are important to a particular person, they should wait for the PR announcing them as content partners before placing the pre-order :) ( or, if they are the cautious type like me, just wait till the thing is released to the public and reviewed thoroughly :) )
AgeOfPanic - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Of course. Reviews are always good. I just realized actually that Hulu Plus works fine through your browser, so you should have access indirectly.tipoo - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
" Tegra 2 was incapable of playing back high profile 1080p H.264 videos at even 10 Mbps"Interesting, Apples spec page lists a low 2.5Mbps limit for MPEG-4 for the Apple TV with the A4 chip in it.