Part of Boxee's strategy to completely replace your cable box is, of all things, to show you live TV channels. The company's newest product is the Boxee Live TV, a dongle that plugs into the back of the Boxee Box, captures live over-the-air TV broadcasts, and plays them through the streamer. It comes with an antenna for picking up the signal, or can also use a coaxial cable to find channels. We got a chance to try out the new device tonight at Showstoppers, and while it might not make us cut our cable, it should certainly be a nice add-on for those who already did. When you plug the dongle into the Boxee Box, a "Live TV" menu item automatically pops up on-screen, and one click takes you straight to the feed. You can change channels and scroll through schedules easily with the Boxee remote, and perhaps most importantly, you can rename channels — anyone without cable knows OTA channels are typically named things like "KWRTV14," and being able to name them "ABC" makes life a lot easier. Of course, the device's utility really depends on what channels are available in your area, but if you've missed having at least the basic network shows, the Boxee Live TV solves the problem pretty neatly. It'll be available at the end of this month for $49, but of course you'll need to own the $199 Boxee Box as well.
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