set top box

Fame does have a price, as the Kodi, formerly XBMC, community is now finding out the hard way. The popularity of cord-cutting and set-top boxes led to the popularity of the open source Kodi home theater platform, which, in turn, lead to explosion of third-party add-ons. Not all add-ons, however, are created equal and some of them carry some legal liability. The worst case scenario did happen and one such add-on has been sued, causing other add-ons to quickly abandon ship before matter got worse.

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Roku has announced the launch of the Twitter live streaming video channel, enabling users to watch videos hosted on the service. The Twitter channel, as with its video app for other platforms, presents both the video and a relevant tweet stream, giving viewers the best of both worlds. This represents a big launch for Roku, bringing an often requested video service to the popular streaming set top boxes and sticks. This video app has already been available on Apple TV and Android TV, among others.

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Apple is working on a new Apple TV model, according to sources, and it’ll offer Ultra HD 4K video support, among other things. According to the leak, this upcoming Apple TV model has the internal codename ‘J105,’ and will possibly be released within 2017, though that date sounds tentative at best. The rumored model is a bid to boost Apple TV sales, the sources suggest.

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The face of TV has changed, both literally and figuratively. We get our content from so many sources, most of them with their own sanctioned device or hardware, not to mention software gateway. As such, watching TV has become more varied but also more involved, requiring nothing less than a juggling act to make sense of anything and everything. This is the chaos that Caavo wants to tame. Yes, it’s another box to add to your other boxes, but one promises to keep all of them in line.

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If you thought Facebook already has enough presence on the screens of your various devices, get ready for one more: the TV. The social network behemoth is gearing up to expand its ever-growing advertising network with a test that will run video ads within certain apps on the Apple TV and Roku set-top boxes. The tests could start as early as next week, but there's no word yet on a pre-determined video length.

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In case you'd forgotten, Xfinity and Netflix are teaming up to bring the streaming service to Comcast's X1 set-top box. The partnership was announced way back in July, and at the time, neither company said when Netflix would be available on the X1. Today, Comcast announced that the nationwide roll out will begin next week.

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Jide has made a name for itself for pushing Android to the desktop, in places and ways that Google may not necessarily approve of. Although it is hardly the only one to do so, no other startup or project can boast of the hardware, software, and business that Jide enjoys. Spurred by that success, it is taking yet another stab at the Android PC market, but this time with a slightly different bent. One that bundles PC, TV, and console in one small package: the Remix IO, or Remix In One.

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At the start of the year, the FCC announced plans to overhaul the set-top-box market, putting cable providers on guard and earning praise from many consumers. Summer has passed, though, and winter is right on the horizon, with it coming the start of a new year, a new presidential administration, and a quickly dwindling timeframe to get several regulations pushed through. In light of all that, it’s no big surprise that the FCC has delayed its set-top-box vote.

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Roku has opened the floodgates today, announcing a total of five new streaming players at a variety of price points. These new Roku streamers range from the fairly basic to feature-packed, and aim to satisfy everyone regardless of if they're using a composite A/V cable set up or a 4K HDTV. This announcement follows a number of leaks, with the latest happening just a few days back.

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In case you’ve forgotten, Xiaomi has a sleek looking Android TV device in the pipeline called the Mi Box. This set-top-box will compete with the likes of Roku and Amazon as a consumer video streaming device, one that brings fairly high level specs compared to similar products. We’ve got a bunch of pictures and all the details in our hands-on from May, and now we may have a price: $69, at least per someone who spotted the Xiaomi Mi Box in a Walmart.

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The living room entertainment market is getting a bit more crowded, with an increasing number of players in the smart TV, set-top box, and streaming markets. In order to maintain its prominence as the set-top box brand, Roku is expected to do a refresh of its entire line, from top to bottom. Instead of the numbered models from 1 to 4, this latest leak shows five, yes five, models to take their place. With features that sometimes bleed into each other, the Roku Express, Express Plus, Premiere, Premiere+, and Ultra could give consumers more options, or confuse the hell out of them.

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Xiaomi fans in the US might continue to be disappointed at the company’s slow US march, but next month it might get a step closer. According to sources, Xiaomi’s teased October reveal will feature an Android product, but it’s not the smartphone you are looking for. Instead, it will be all about the Mi Box Android TV set-top box that will allow Xiaomi to compete in the US in a market that’s relatively young and relatively unconquered, ensuring it can leave a stronger mark on consumer’s minds before it takes on the smartphone giants.

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