Like Paul Hewson and Declan MacManus—Bono and Elvis Costello, respectively—Boxee is hoping there's some magic in a name change: The company is rebranding its Boxee TV media player as the Boxee Cloud DVR. The price will remain at $99.
The box, which we covered when it was launched, still delivers free over-the air TV signals when paired with an antenna. But the new name highlights another of its unique features: a virtual DVR that lets you record and save shows on the company's cloud-based servers.
There are two cloud DVR options. One is a new free service that gives you 5 hours of storage per month and the ability to save recordings for up to 90 days. The other, $10 per month, gives you unlimited storage so you can keep recordings indefinitely, plus the ability to access them from portable devices.
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There are still a few limitations. For one, you can still record only a limited number of channels, including CBS, CW, Fox, Ion, NBC, PBS, and Univision. And the Boxee Cloud DVR service is still available only eight metro areas: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
Still, the Boxee Cloud DVR is different from many of the other set-top boxes we've recently tested, including the new Roku 3 and Google TV media players from Sony and Vizio.
