I was welcomed home from work this past Wednesday with a package containing the new Boxee Live TV dongle which I had pre-ordered late last year.
I demoed the Boxee Box when it first came out in November of 2010. Now, the Boxee Box has just gotten a whole lot better with Live TV capabilities via a USB dongle and antenna that receives over-the-air HD transmissions from local broadcasters.
The setup is crazy simple. Stick one end of the dongle into the USB port of the Boxee Box and connect the Antenna to the other (coaxial) end of the dongle. After booting up the Boxee, an initial set-up scan of channels takes place.
After the initial setup which takes less than five minutes, the Boxee is now ready for live television. You’ll note my jaw literally dropped when I saw that the HD over-the-air picture quality was more crisp and clear than that of my HD cable picture.
Along with the dongle, Boxee also recently announced its Facebook Open Graph application that automatically shares what you’re watching into your Facebook ticker and timeline. Imagine my excitement to discover that the original 1983 He-Man cartoon was on :-)
With this addition, I could see the Boxee Box being a one-stop shop for some (perhaps many) “cord cutters.” Am I that person? No, not yet – I am way too hooked on CNN, a heavy time-shifted TV watcher, and I can’t get enough of the “play now” feature on my Xfinity TV iPad app.
But one thing is certain. If and when the time comes where I have to cut the cost of my monthly television bill, Boxee is without a doubt the solution -- the only monthly cost to watch TV is the cost of an Internet connection.
I can’t wait to see what Boxee has in store next…