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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.
For more, check our streaming services and movie rental buying guide and Ratings.
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.
