D-Link debuts Boxee Box at CES 2010

It's official, the Boxee Box is on the way to bring us the free entertainment the Web has to offer

D-Link, the company which is manufacturing the long-awaited Boxee Box, has officially debuted the device at CES 2010.

In case you don't already know what the device has to offer, it basically aims to bring all the free entertainment you can catch on the Web, to your televisions.  This is great for somebody who isn't capable of hooking up their computer to their television...or for those who are, the Boxee Box wants to make it a lot easier.   The product was announced last month at an event hosted by Boxee, the company which develops the software behind the magic. 

As described in D-Link's official press release, "The Boxee Box by D-Link reinterprets what TV should be. The Boxee Box delivers movies, TV shows, music, and photos from a user's computer, home network, and the Internet to their HDTV with no PC needed. Additionally, Boxee's core social features make it easy for friends to discover new content from each other through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and more."

The whole point is to bypass scanning through the plethora of sites on the Web, and instead click through apps that reorganize this information with a remote control...kind of like watching Comcast's OnDemand.

Some of the entertainment destinations that will be available as apps on Boxee will include Netflix, Pandora, Last.fm, and Next New Networks.  And just like the Boxee software for your computer, users can add RSS feeds, XML feeds, or install other apps onto the box of their favorite Internet entertainment destinations.  Unfortunately due to legal issues, Hulu won't have it's own app, but that would make this thing a whole lot cooler if so.

The Boxee Box should also appeal to social media users: it's set to support Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, with the click of a remote.  

At the same time, users can also add their own media as long as they fall under compatible file formats which D-Link listed out in the press release.  I've re-posted them at the bottom of the article.

No official price on the box yet, but it's said to retail for under $200 and available sometime in the first half of 2010.

Before purchasing a Boxee Box, I'd register to try out the free Boxee Beta on your PC...see if you like the interface.

Supported file formats:

VIDEO:
Adobe Flash 10.1
H.264 (MKV, MOV)
VC-1
WMV
MPEG-1
MPEG-2
MPEG-4
AVI
Xvid
Divx
PCM/LPCM
VOB

AUDIO:
MP3
WMA
WAV
AIFF
FLAC
AAC
DTS
Dolby Digital
Ogg Vorbis

PHOTO:
JPEG
TIFF
BMP
PNG