Boxee beta looks pretty nice.
I decided to give the Boxee beta release a try last night by installing it on my bedroom HTPC and then creating an entry point in Media Center with it using Media Center Studio. Everything worked great except I could figure out how to get my new entry point added to a custom strip, so I just threw it in the Extras Library and launched it from there. Media Center minimized correctly and Boxee came up in fullscreen mode (I had already installed, created an account and configured it to my liking).
I only did a little browsing around with it, but it was very alpfluid and I liked the interface a lot. I didn’t actually try playing back any material as I was also in the middle of doing some Media Browser testing, but I may give that a go tonight. One thing I did notice is that neither the Back nor Exit keys seemed to work as a proper Escape function in Boxee, so I had no way of going to a previous menu or exiting out of one…I had to use the keyboard. I’m sure I can fix this in the Harmony software, but I just thought it was odd.
If you’re interested in giving Boxee a try, you can sign up and download the beta version here.
Correction:
I had incorrectly originally listed this as an alpa when it was, in fact, a beta release. This post has been updated to reflect that (thanks to dbone1026).
Browser: Internet Explorer 8.0 (Compatibility Mode) OS: Windows XP
The version you are testing is the beta version I believe, the alpha version was the version that was available to the public prior to this release.
Boxee runs as does XBMC with the remote, so the MCE functions on my Harmony are a little quirky. I think I have to use something like the “clear” button on my Harmony to exit out
[Reply]
Jon Reply:
December 18th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Actually, it’s the alpha, but I’ve incorrectly posted that the alpha is what is available. I’ve had the alpha version a while and just decided to install it when I read your post on it.
I do need to edit my post to indicate that the beta is available though :)
[Reply]
Browser: Internet Explorer 8.0 (Compatibility Mode) OS: Windows XP
Gotcha, sorry I saw the screenshot you posted was the Beta UI and not the Alpha so that is what I thought you were using.
Here is a good site for apps that you can add to boxee:
http://www.fuzzthed.com/repository.php
[Reply]
Jon Reply:
December 18th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
If the beta and alpha look different, then you are right…it must be beta. I swore what I had on that desktop was the alpha I grabbed a while back, but maybe I overwrote it at some point.
Thanks for the link! I didn’t even know things like that were available for Boxee.
[Reply]