Boxee Box as an extender? (xbmc perhaps?)

[debacle]

Id be willing to help out as much as my limited schedule will allow. What language does the coding need to be done in? I dont know Java by am a programmer by trade. Once you know the logic, the rest is just syntax.

I came in during the middle of this conversation, so someone give me the cliff notes? Is this a truly viable alternative to the HD-300? If so I will order a Boxee unit Monday morning.

[Slugger]

Viable? Hmm... I'm not going to commit to that quite yet and then be on the hook when you drop $200 on a boxee and we hit an issue that can't be overcome.

However, after just 2 or 3 days of discussion and experimentation, we've come a long ways rather quickly. Take a look at the dev group we have going on Google Groups for a sneak peak at what we've been up to the last few days...

http://groups.google.com/group/sagetv-boxee-dev?hl=en

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by debacle

Id be willing to help out as much as my limited schedule will allow. What language does the coding need to be done in? I dont know Java by am a programmer by trade. Once you know the logic, the rest is just syntax.

I came in during the middle of this conversation, so someone give me the cliff notes? Is this a truly viable alternative to the HD-300? If so I will order a Boxee unit Monday morning.

Would love some help

The UI is written using xml and the backend stuff is mostly pyton (Boxee is based on XBMC). Start here for documentation: http://developer.boxee.tv/Main_Page

I'd suggest installing the PC version and the browsing the XML to get started.

[tmiranda]

Here is the latest for anybody interested. It doesn't do much but you can get a feel for where it's headed.

[jptheripper]

tmiranda - can you post some screenshots for those of us that dont have a boxee yet?

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

tmiranda - can you post some screenshots for those of us that dont have a boxee yet?

Have you tried downloading Boxee for free for windows or mac? You don't need a boxee box for this to try it out yourself.

[Apap]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

Have you tried downloading Boxee for free for windows or mac? You don't need a boxee box for this to try it out yourself.

I just tried downloading the windows version from Boxee.
My antivirus(Avast) thinks the download is malware.

[reggie14]

Out of curiosity, how fully functional are you going to try to make this Boxee client? Obviously recordings are a goal, presumably with their metadata. What about live TV and the program guide? What about scheduling? Music?

I've been on the fence about getting a Boxee Box. I tentatively decided against it- I didn't think its streaming capabilities or its media playback abilities were quite good enough to be a suitable alternative to a WD-Live+Roku combo. But something approaching a fully-functional SageTV client would certainly push me over the edge.

[PiX64]

Our goal is to make as fully functional of a boxee client as possible. Main focus right now is

- sage skin
- recordings
- playback
- live tv
- epg
- system status ( recordings/messages, etc.)
- set manual recordings.

We will also try to get (wish list)
- videos
- music
- favorites management
- multiple skins
- comskip playback

[Jason]

Originally Posted by PiX64

Our goal is to make as fully functional of a boxee client as possible.

I have been watching on the sidelines since the thread started... As an initial Boxee software alpha user, I have watched the software grow.

I poppep in the app and re-loaded Boxee and then looked around a bit.... NICE!

As an initial attempt, you guys are looking good!

I have always been tempted to buy the 'Box' but never used the software too much as I had Sage.

Is there any reason to 'think' that the Apple TV (1st gen...) port/hack/install of Boxee would NOT work with this?

Considering the initial investment of an original Boxee Box (~$200) vs an aftermarket ATV1 ($75'ish), the extender costs would go down... Just wondering...

OK... Back to your topic and sorry to divert the thread...

[PiX64]

I can't think of any reason that it wouldn't work. It will work wherever boxee is running. Boxee box, Linux, windows, mac... Is the apple tv powerful enough to run boxee?

[Jason]

Originally Posted by PiX64

Is the apple tv powerful enough to run boxee?

Here is the Boxee video...

Granted, it is a few years ago, but still... Oh, and it is ONLY the ATV1 and NOT the ATV2...

http://blog.boxee.tv/2008/10/06/how-...e-on-apple-tv/

[PiX64]

U can try it and let us all know :-)

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by PiX64

Our goal is to make as fully functional of a boxee client as possible. Main focus right now is

- sage skin
- recordings
- playback
- live tv
- epg
- system status ( recordings/messages, etc.)
- set manual recordings.

We will also try to get (wish list)
- videos
- music
- favorites management
- multiple skins
- comskip playback

Agreed. Displaying recordings and getting them to play are first priorities. Next is live TV and the other goodies.

IMHO videos and music are further down the list. Those things are already available for Boxee already in various shapes and sizes.

I'd probably move comskip playback up the list but I'm not sure if Boxee understands .edl files or not.

Multiple skins is way low on the list because the UI is a bear to work with. All of the elements have to be placed individually on the screen using XML written in a text editor. No WYSIWYG either, all of the items are placed by specifying the pixel coordinates. Anybody who has ever complained about Studio should have a go at the Boxee UI. Studio is a Ferrari and Boxee is a Volkswagen in this area.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I'd probably move comskip playback up the list but I'm not sure if Boxee understands .edl files or not.

*IF* Boxee carries over it's XBMC heritage in this area, then it should...

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=EDL

[PiX64]

Looks like u should be good with applaud


Software Requirements
Boxee currently runs on the following systems:
Windows XP\Vista\7 (32-bit & 64-bit)
Mac OS X 10.4 or higher (Intel processor based only)
Ubuntu Linux (32-bit & 64-bit)
AppleTV (firmware 2.x and above)

[tmiranda]

A couple of screenshots. The AR is messed up because this was captured on a 4x3 screen.

Not really too much to look at right now. Slugger is working on python code that will allow me to display recordings. After that I'll work on getting them to play.

[g-man]

Great start guys! I am not a programmer so all I can offer is my ability to test. I have it running on my win 7 machine and will help as much as I can.

[ThePaladinTech]

Originally Posted by g-man

Great start guys! I am not a programmer so all I can offer is my ability to test. I have it running on my win 7 machine and will help as much as I can.

+1 I'll get a boxee box if that helps matters

[willplaice]

I'm also very interested in this..

i've had a look at the sw versions ox boxee and these are a long way behind the actual device, (they say they are upgrading the sw client later this year).

whatever we need will have to be on the HW device. (at least until then)

FWIW i see that live tv support is the most important feature, because everything else is supported in some way already.

Will