Boxee is rolling out a firmware update to its Boxee TV that brings DLNA functionality, 3-D streaming of Vudu titles, a more traditional TV guide, improved DVR scheduling and other features to the device. Owners of Boxee TV devices were notified of the update late Tuesday and told that it would be available to them within the next three days.
DLNA will enable Boxee TV owners to play files stored on their computers or network-attached storage drives, a feature that was at the core of Boxee’s original Boxee Box. Boxee TV also functions as a DLNA digital media renderer, meaning that users can beam music and videos straight from their mobile device to their Boxee TV, much in the same way as one would stream a video via Airplay to an Apple TV.
Boxee TV combines apps for online media services like Netflix, YouTube and Spotify with live over-the-air television and a cloud DVR that offers unlimited storage for recorded shows.
Cloud DVR functionality is currently just available in a limited number of markets, and it looks like Boxee was trying to iron out some bugs and add some much-needed features before rolling it out further. One example: Boxee TV users can now schedule recordings directly on the device. Previously, users had to go to Boxee’s cloud DVR website to schedule a recording – a step that seemed overly complicated for a pretty basic feature of a DVR.
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