Boxee heads to the living room

Boxee, the downloadable application that makes it easy to view online content via your TV, has found a hardware partner.

D-Link, best known for its networking products, has signed to create the Boxee Box – a standalone hardware device that will become available in the first half of 2010. Pricing on the device is still being determined. D-Link will tap its network of etail and brick and mortar retail partners to carry the product.

The standalone device means people won’t have to task a computer to run Boxee- and won’t have to go through the sometimes complicated process of setting a PC up to run on a TV screen. The Boxee Box will come with an HDMI port, 802.11n WiFi (as well as wired Ethernet) and two USB expansion slots to allow for expansion.

"We are happy to be working with D-Link as a hardware partner because we share the same vision for creating solutions to help anyone get the most out of technology," said Andrew Kippen, vice president of marketing for Boxee. "D-Link has great reach and together we are able to offer consumers an attractive inexpensive solution to bring the Boxee experience directly onto the TV."

Boxee has had a big past couple of days, signing deals with Clicker and Sony’s Crackle division. A new beta of the product launched earlier today as well.

Still missing is a Hulu partnership, which could give the product a real boost at retail – but the announcement of a physical hardware product is a big step in getting the application into homes.