[mythtv-users] The Boxee Box

[Norm Dressler]

Brian Wood wrote:
> On Tuesday 08 December 2009 07:38:22 am Matt Emmott wrote:
>   
>> The Boxee Box has been announced. It's a small D-link device similar to a
>> Popcorn Hour or Roku box that runs Boxee and outputs to your TV over 
>>     
> HDMI.
>   
>>  I watched part of the webcast last night and they claim it's fully open
>>  source inside and out, and will retail for around $200. No mention of the
>>  xPUs yet but if it really can do full Hulu, Netflix etc then one would
>>  think it would be beefy enough to run a Myth FE. A box that can do full HD
>>  and flash streaming for $200 sounds to me like a game changer. Or am I
>>  assuming too much?
>>     
>
> Maybe. It seems it does not do Netflix - "yet":
>
> http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/12/09/1323250/D-Links-New-Boxee-Box-
> Runs-Linux-Eyes-Netflix
>
> As has been mentioned, there is unlikely to ever be a truly open source way 
> to implement Netflix.
>
> The term "Open Source" is being bandying about a lot lately, often without 
> much accuracy.
>
> "Yet" sort of implies that it will, eventually, but I wouldn't bet on it. IOW 
> I wouldn't count on something as simple as a firmware update making it 
> happen, you may have to buy a new box.
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>   
Personally, I have no issue with buying a license to show specific 
content, like codecs in the Windows world.  Even the bluray issue falls 
in this category.  If i needed to buy a license to play them, I would. 

In the case of Boxee, they may have a special firmware upgrade 
eventually that you will have to pay for in order to play Netflix - 
perfectly fine with me in that regard.  If there is demand for the 
content and people are willing to pay for it, then fine.  I believe Open 
Source and closed source can co-exist and work in harmony.  They are not 
diametrically opposed.  So long as the core OS remains open source and 
that companies don't take open source product and embed it in their own 
code and label it their own or charge money for IP that isn't there's. 

Norm