Difference between Roku & Boxee

Roku vs Boxee

If you’re looking for a web enable media streaming device for adding to your home theater, you’ll possibly end with 2 devices – the Roku & the Boxee. Both of these devices are for streaming media on your TV and have a lot of common features. The Roku is a comparatively cheaper and simpler device of the two and Boxee offers more advanced features. Let’s check out the points where these two devices differ.

Using the Boxee, it’s possible to stream personal media content on the TV or home theater. We all have huge collections of photos, music and home videos which can be instantly streamed on the Boxee. On Roku, on the other hand, this cannot be done. You’ll need to use some hacking skills and use several third party applications for doing this. The remote on the Boxee comes with a keyboard, which can be extremely useful considering the fact that this is a streaming box.

Hunting down single letters on devices using virtual keyboards is too much hassle and this type of device requires much typing, which is very difficult unless you’re using a keyboard. For instance, if you’re logging into a service or searching for your favorite movie on Netflix, you can’t type a URL on a virtual keyboard without losing your hair! Boxee features a web browser which is not available in the Roku.

Using Boxee you can bookmark web videos for watching on it later on and this is available on your browser under the label “Watch Later”. Boxee also comes with an iPad app, which is not available if you’re using Roku. If you’re using an Apple device, you probably would love to transfer your videos from the device to your streaming box using AirPlay. Boxee makes that easy. This feature is not portrayed on Roku models. There is also one major feature which the Boxee does not have, but the Roku does.

The Roku comes with a remote which also features a built-in gyro accelerometer which you can use for gaming. Besides, Roku also features games like Angry Birds. It’s actually a lot of fun to kill the piggy on your large screened HDTV. For making the best use of this remote, Roku plans to bring on more games to the platform. When you’re comparing Roku and Boxee, it’s good to remember that it’s easier to setup the Roku than the Boxee. Besides, Roku is nearly half the price of Boxee. So if you’re not a super tech savvy user, Roku is probably the one you’re looking for!

Key Differences between Roku & Boxee:

• Boxee allows you to stream personal media content, but Roku does not.

• The remote on Boxee comes with a keyboard but the Roku does not.

• Boxee features a web browser unlike Roku.

• Roku does not allow bookmarking videos on the web for watching, but Boxee does.

• Boxee allows video file transfer from Apple devices to the Boxee but the Roku does not.

• Live broadcast TV can be watched on Boxee, not on the Roku.

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