Boxee, the creator of leanback PVR software for computers, and later a set-top box for televisions, has been acquired by Samsung for a rumoured $30 million.
The Israeli startup began its life creating free software allowing users to aggregate their media into a single place, with a large, easy-to-use interface ideal for home theatre PCs. The company later brought out the Boxee Box, co-created with D-Link, as a standalone device for storing media.
Samsung will apparently use Boxee’s technology with its Smart TV line, but there is a good chance some of that intellectual property will trickle down to its Galaxy smartphones. The Galaxy S4 comes with an IR blaster to control home theatre systems, and Boxee’s technology could make it easier for the two components to work together.
Update: Boxee posted details of their plan on their website, plus announced that the Boxee Cloud DVR will be shutting down in the coming days: “For Boxee users, we’re working behind the scenes to ensure there’s minimal impact to your devices. However, the beta Cloud DVR functionality we provided to certain Boxee TV users will be discontinued on July 10th. You will not have access to your existing recordings after that date. We realize many of you loved the service, and we’re sorry it won’t be available moving forward.”
