Leaked Boxee TV adds HDTV antenna and DVR to let you ditch cable for good
The Verge has obtained photos of Boxee TV, a device that aims to combine over-the-air live TV broadcasts, DVR functionality, and web apps into a single home theater solution. It's a markedly different strategy …
Context & Ripple Effects
Boxee had already tested a low-cost Live TV offering framed around cord cutting, while its 2011 release plan made version 1.5 the last desktop edition. The leaked device points to a sharper living-room hardware focus, after earlier coverage had identified problems with the Boxee Box approach.
The report is based on leaked photos, so the antenna, DVR, and web-app combination remains unconfirmed. Its significance is that Boxee appears to be bringing broadcast reception and recorded programming into the same interface as internet apps rather than treating them as separate products.
First-order effects
- If the leak is accurate, Boxee gains a single-device proposition for households that want antenna-based live television, recording, and web apps without a cable subscription.
- Boxee's product strategy shifts further from desktop software toward a dedicated home-theater device.
Second-order effects
- Cable providers face a more direct alternative for viewers whose local programming needs can be met by over-the-air broadcasts and recorded viewing.
- Standalone DVR vendors must compete against a device that treats recording as one feature within a broader app-based television interface.
Third-order effects
- If integrated antenna-and-app devices gain traction, cord cutting becomes less dependent on assembling separate tuners, DVRs, and streaming boxes.
- The television-device market is moving toward software-led interfaces that combine broadcast television with internet services in one screen experience.
The trend: Boxee TV is one data point in cord cutting's shift from standalone software and DVRs toward integrated living-room devices that unite broadcast and web video.