Home Theater On the Go: Boxee Coming Soon to iPad

Jan

2011

Robert Workman, iPadNewsDaily Contributor
04:55 AM ET

Although the primary focus was on 3-D technology and new tablet devices, there were still a large variety of applications being shown this past weekend at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Among them was a new video sharing program for the iPad that will introduce all the functionality of a media center to your device – and it’s coming your way this spring.

The program is called Boxee, and it’s been around for PC for a little while now. The iPad application works in a similar regard, as you’ll use this specific media center software to view videos on the go, based on your friends’ suggestions and any videos you had previously from suggestions through Facebook and Twitter.

Boxee, the company behind the software, has managed to set up a media server device that runs through the iPad, enabling you to sort through a virtual menu with still screens from each video, then choosing which one you want to view and streaming it within a matter of seconds. Boxee’s CEO and co-founder, Avner Ronen, was at the CES to give a brief demonstration of what Boxee is capable of on the iPad.

The most fascinating aspect of Boxee for iPad is being able to view videos using formats normally not supported by the iPad. This makes it a better universal app for accessing your video tools, compared to the default YouTube and Safari options.

Probably the biggest feature, though, is being able to stream video directly from your Mac or PC. So, if you have videos at home that you can’t access through a connected PC program, you can easily fire up Boxee and pull up your user list, seeing what videos are available and watching them in any order you see fit.

This isn’t the first time that Boxee has done an app tailor made for Apple devices (it previously released a remote app that worked with Boxee-supported electronics via Wi-Fi ) but Boxee for iPad’s expanded features and almost limitless support of video formats should make it an ideal program once it arrives later this spring. Be sure to check back in for our review.