Thought you guys might be interested in this :-

Boxee Box

It has a built in VPN client, so that you can play BBC iPlayer onto the TV with no mucking around.... Tested it and works fine, though I couldn't get the BBC HD streams to play, the standard streams work fine. It will play all manner of downloaded stuff also.

It's a bit rough around the edges at the moment, but they're going to be updating it over the next few weeks to make it more robust (and to add Netflix support).

If they get rid of the bugs, then I think it's $199 well spent...

So you can watch BBC channels live on the TV? I've gotta say thats pretty neat. I've certainly never seen one that supports actual PPTP VPNs like that, nice find.

I haven't tried live - but I have tried the watch again feature on iplayer. I'm assuming the live would work too since it's basically just a flash player in a web browser wrapped by a web app.

Presumably you still need to pay for a VPN service.

This does look good - I like the idea that it can save any video stream for playback later. If it can handle full 1080p at a decent frame rate with no choppiness or break ups I'd definitely consider something like this. Though I might not need to - is the UI the same as the boxee application you can download for the mac?

Yes, you still have to cough up for the VPN - I use StrongVPN, it worked fine with them.

Like I said, there's some bugs right now - on the whole it works quite well, had no problems with the 1080p files I've tried..... The watch later thing works, but only with sites that the bookmarklet recognises - I managed to get it working with youtube etc though.

The UI has changed from the PC/Mac client and has received a certain amount of consternation on their forums for it. The PC/Mac version will be going the same way shortly though I believe. I don't find it a massive problem - I'm sure it's going to improve as it evolves. Having covers/listings for all of your local files is very nice indeed.

Yes, I like that it does that. Especially the full episode name and details.

I have just set up a VPN with these guys. http://www.expatshield.com/ it works well and there is no charge.

yeah i've got me a boxee box. Still thinking about putting in a proxy or vpn for seesaw and iplayer...expat shield thing works well on the pC. Would it transfer over the settings to the boxee? Hmm will have to check

Came across this yesterday not sure if it fits the bill for VPN but does have a built in 1 Terabyte hard drive.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=891

Available at Best Buy in Canada for $219.99.