Set Top Boxes offer a great opportunity to download movies in SD, HD, and HDX. Many also come with a variety of third party features including Netflix Instant, Pandora, Flickr and YouTube. Things you should look for are the variety of movies available through the set top box service and how it can fit in your home entertainment center. We have listed some of our favorite.

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Blu-Ray Players

This is not your mother’s DVD player. Blu-Ray has arrived and it has brought with it a multitude of features through third party online features including Vudu, Netflix Instant, Pandora, CinemaNow, Flickr and YouTube. Also many Blu-Ray players could connect to social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, making it a device for the whole family to enjoy. While there are many Blu-Ray choices out there, our editors have compiled a list of their favorites based on functionality, design, utility and price.

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Video Game Systems

Cost: $700

What to enjoy:
The Mac Mini has a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 320 GB Hard Drive and 2GB of memory. It’s compact size makes it easy to take on the go or fit in the smallest of places, out of the way.

Features:
The Mac Mini works well with Boxee and Final Cut, making the small device quite a good the Home Theatre Personal Computer.

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Editor’s Assessment:
Even though the Mac Mini has the high price tag of 700 dollars, certain people swear by it as the go to device for home theatre. It gets high ratings as a excellently executed home PC and it could hook up to almost anything but the high price tag may make certain consumers wondering what extra features they could get for the same price in the PC world.

Cost: $500

What to enjoy:
Apple’s newest innovation sports a glossy screen that surfs the internet, checks email, provides access to movies and television. The device works through a wireless connection or a 3G version, with data plan, is available for an extra 129 dollars.

Features:
With a number of applications made and many more in the works, the apple iPad offers a variety of options for the consumer, including a easy to use Netflix application as well as Apple’s own iTunes.

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Editor’s Assessment:
The iPad seems to be the magical product that Apple claims, building more and more applications every day. While the 500 dollar price may be high for some consumers, the Apple iPad shows to have multiple uses, from a media player to ereader to a home entertainment remote. And with over 3 million ipads sold, it seems like Apple has found another winner.

Image Source: Engadget

Cost: $300

What to Enjoy:
While D-Link’s Boxee Box has a Tegra 2, NUU Media’s NUU player runs XBMC on a more powerful Atom Processor. It also has a 160GB local hard drive and runs a WebKit browser, compared to the Boxee Box’s no local storage and Mozilla. The NUU Player will come with two USB ports, an HDMI port, and an Ethernet hook-up.

Third-Party Features:
The NUU Player offers integration with Boxee, as a licensed partner, YouTube and, most impressively, Skype with Bluetooth Support. With Skype’s recent announcement of transmitting HD quality through televisions this addition seems to have great potential.

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Editor’s Assessment: The Nuu Player is 100 dollars more than the Boxee Box but it’s added hardware is not to be ignored. An Atom Processor is much more powerful than a Tegra 2 and for anyone that is putting Skype as a priority, and it seems that Skype-oriented televisions are an addition to the not too distant future, the Nuu Player may be a worthy jump investment.

Cost: $200

What to enjoy:
After connecting to your tv, viewers get the easy to use Boxee menu system that plays content partners (Netflix, MLB, Wired, Clicker and even Suicide Girls).

Third-Party Features:
The Boxee Box has an HDMI output, an analog RCA audio, two USB ports, and a SD slot. It also has Wi-Fi, Ethernet and can be used anywhere in the house.

What can’t you get with Boxee? Primarily, it does not support DRM files”files protected by Digital Rights Management. This includes iTunes downloads (prior to Apple going DRM-free earlier this year), and downloads from MSN Music and Audible.com.

The big site not found on Boxee is Hulu. Both companies are in the midst of a battle and the much-ado, which really is about nothing more than the right to display content, can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Sales Info & Figures:
Video Business (08/13/2009): Boxee streams in $6 million for funding – “Internet TV software startup Boxee — which is hoping to score partnerships with cable and media companies — closed $6 million in financing led by venture-capital firm General Catalyst, with participation by prior investors Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.” {Read more}

Latest Press Releases:

Editor’s Assessment:
Boxee is looking to be a big player in the getting internet television and movies to your tv industry that has boomed over the recent years and, with an easy to use interface and a very customer friendly approach, it’s easy to see why. Crowned Last Gadget Standing at the 2009 CES Conference, the Boxee Box is a set top box to eagerly anticipate in 2010.

Cost | What to Enjoy | Features | News & Reviews | Press Releases