Couldn’t care less about your cable companies’ thousands of channels? Join the throng. But if you’d still like access to the free stations and you have a Boxee, the company just showed off a solution: the Boxee LiveTV.
The add-on dongle lets you hook up your set-top box to an HDTV antenna, letting you enjoy local over-the-air broadcasts in high-def. That means you don’t have to miss out on live episodes of X Factor (because you want to know who to vote for, dammit) even without paying for cable.
Aside from getting ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS in HD onto your set, the Boxee LiveTV also comes with a user-friendly show-finding interface that lets you receive show recommendations from friends. We’re not sure, of course, if that’s a good thing because all your friends ever watch are reality shows and Law & Order (aren’t you glad there’s only one of those on TV anymore?)
The add-on won’t affect the rest of your Boxee set-up, so you can still get your Hulu, Netflix and Vudu fix as you’re used to them. Except now, you can watch Simon Cowell and that lanky British robot host without having to pay another monthly subscription. The catch? If the live sports you want to watch are on cable, you’re screwed. But hey — win some, lose some.
For those already streaming their shows through a Boxee set-top box, the Boxee LiveTV could prove just the add-on dongle that you’ve been waiting for. It’s available now, priced at $50.
[Boxee]