The Boxee Box's box

Boxee got a head start on the Internet TV revolution, with many users becoming familiar with the open-source media-streaming platform because it was an easy way to add functionality to their first-gen Apple TVs (albeit through an unauthorized hack). But despite that head start, the finally released Boxee Box by D-Link is already playing catch-up in a product category crowded by Apple TV, Google TV, Roku, connected Blu-ray players, and game consoles.

Though it has an attractive user interface and supports playback of almost any kind of digital media file, it currently lacks popular streaming-media services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Vudu--all of which Boxee says are coming soon. Boxee also does a decent job of trying to collate all of the free video content available online, but the information is often outdated or inaccurate. There's no doubt the Boxee Box has potential, and the company is promising many of the updates before the end of the year, but until then, buyers should hold off until Boxee catches up with the competition.