Scott's Boxee Box Review

[DustoMan]

Engadget has their review up:

Boxee Box by D-Link review -- Engadget

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Well after reading a number of reviews I am happy to see that the other reviewers opinions matched mine.

I spent an hour today with Boxee's CEO in his Q&A chat and he actually answered a lot of questions for me. The box is not done yet but boy do they have some great plans for it.

 

[tomcrown1]

Scott how did you get the update? I am still on 101.

 

[TRG]

Guys, what kind of broadband connection are you using? I'm using a DSL line thats rated between 3-5 mbps. I continually get over 3 but never hit 5. For now my HDTV is only 720P. That may change in the future but not in the near future. Do you think this will be enough for streaming video content on a boxee box? -Thanks.

 

[digiblur]

Guys, what kind of broadband connection are you using? I'm using a DSL line thats rated between 3-5 mbps. I continually get over 3 but never hit 5. For now my HDTV is only 720P. That may change in the future but not in the near future. Do you think this will be enough for streaming video content on a boxee box? -Thanks.

Have a 20+ megabit connection here... I gave my Dad a Roku for Xmas last year and his 3 megabit DSL would rarely ever pull enough bandwidth on the test Netflix does when a movie is started to register for HD. The PPPOE overhead garbage that AT&T pulls would only give you about 2.8 megabits on speedtests though. I believe they say for HD streaming on Netflix, they recommend 3.5 megabits.

 

[diogen]

Anand chimes in

Pros:

1. Great UI & simple setup
2. Convenient remote control, small hardware
3. Can easily replace a entry level HTPC with respect to local media streaming features
4. Things can only get better
5. Proactiveness in bug fixing by Boxee. Engineers are on the lookout in various forums (not only Boxee's but also AVSForum). A bug regarding AAC multichannel decode was immediately acknowledged and a quick fix was committed for availability in the next release
6. $199 is cheaper than Google TV

Cons:

1. Green firmware at launch - multiple stability/compatibility issues and many bugs
2. Non-availability of premium content partners at launch
3. Standby power of 10W is laughable
4. Priced too high compared to other media streamers
5. Boxee is reliant too much on the file extension to determine the container, while other streamers tend to look at the header for this purpose
6. Inferior web browsing experience to Google TV

The Boxee Box Review - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Diogen.

 

[tomcrown1]

Happy thanks giving all Boxee Box just gave us a hugh thanks giving bug fix, here is the link to what they have fixed

Boxee Blog » Thanks giving, Bug fixing

The next update due in two weeks should fix the UI and give us Vudu with maybe netflix---this thing may yet be the box to beat.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Just got another update... GO GET IT!

All my Bluray ISO's that I have tried so far are playing back FLAWLESSLY! Before they would all rebuffer every 10 to 20 seconds making them unwatchable. I have not had a single rebuffer since upgrading!!

Very positive progress forward!

 

[digiblur]

Another update today....love the first item..


Changes in this version:

* Enabling user flavor selection (online/local inclination) during first login and via Settings - defaults for users selecting local will direct to local content and will not mandate multiple clicks to get to local content
* Added alphabetical scrollbar for local content
* Enhanced sorting options in browse screens (A-Z, Z-A, most popular, newest/oldest...)
* Main menu supports additional filter options
* Mark items as watched/unwatched from the Action menu
* Added option for hourly scan of local libraries
* When watching side-by-side or over/under video, the subtitles and OSD would not be visible when wearing 3D glasses. The user now has the option, under Settings, to have the user interface properly displayed when watching this kind of content
* Added SMB client defaults to network settings

Bug fixes

- Do not de-interlace of video when the TV is in interlaced mode (e.g. 1080i)
- HFS+ volumes display UUID instead of volume name under some conditions
- Video OSD text background too small for text title when playing video with long titles
- When connecting to VPN, Boxee didn't refresh region code
- Boxee doesn't change DNS configuration when VPN is set up
- Can't connect to hidden wireless networks
- Cannot connect to network using WPA passcode with special characters
- When Internet connection is restored, menu doesn't show online channels
- DVD .iso playback aspect ratio incorrect
- DVD playback displayed some artifacts
- "Resume From" doesn't work on DVD ISO/Folders
- Zoom on DVD (.iso and folder) video does not work as expected
- .vob files playback (standalone files) is stuttering and low FPS
- DVD .iso playback over Wireless N: excessive buffering, playback speed issues, random exits
- "Vietnamese" character set is misspelled in System Settings
- Show "Remove From Favorites" button in episodes list, even if no episodes are available
- SMB credentials are not saved upon restart
- Write failure when accessing Box-attached disk over SMB
- SMB file sharing of external HD size reporting is wrong
- Become unresponsive and hang during playback of AVC .mkv file from SMB mapped drive
- Crashes when indexing some videos inside .rar files
- Crashes indexing mp3 file with corrupt embedded thumbnail
- Stretch 16:9 and Stretch 14:9 not working properly
- Shoutcast and Radiotime: Switching stations or Cancel causes interface to freeze and console output to crawl
- Some .mkv files do not playback properly (some flavors of H.264)
- Support packed bitstream muxing mode in .avi
- Some .wtv files do not playback properly
- Constant buffering on 1080p BD .mkv files accessed wirelessly on Boxee
- Boxee crash when browsing into unidentified Files
- Playback choked and crashed during viewing of .mp4 file

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

This update seemed to cause a few more issues then it solved for me.

I have a HD WMV that played fine in the old version that is now all Pixels and garbage when played back with the new software.

If I try playing back anything from Youtube all that I see is green pixel boxes on my screen.

I have tried watching a few TV shows, The Jetsons, The Love Boat and a few others without success. I see a commercial first and then the show starts playing. I can hear it but the last frame of the commercial is shown over the top of it.

I see they added support for 3D. How do I rip my 3D Blurays so that I can watch them on my Boxee? Think AnyDVD HD will work?

 

[digiblur]

I rip my Blu-ray movies with the free ripper in DVD Fab. Then I use Handbrake to compress the M2TS file into a MKV with some custom compression settings.

 

[tomcrown1]

This update seemed to cause a few more issues then it solved for me.

I have a HD WMV that played fine in the old version that is now all Pixels and garbage when played back with the new software.

Scott try a fresh install

Hold down the off button for 7 seconds. Then pick restore to factory settings. Then follow the on screen prompts it should fix the issuses you are having.
If I try playing back anything from Youtube all that I see is green pixel boxes on my screen.

I have tried watching a few TV shows, The Jetsons, The Love Boat and a few others without success. I see a commercial first and then the show starts playing. I can hear it but the last frame of the commercial is shown over the top of it.

I see they added support for 3D. How do I rip my 3D Blurays so that I can watch them on my Boxee? Think AnyDVD HD will work?

Scott try a fresh install.
1 hold down the power button on boxee for 7 seconds.
2 turn unit on and pick factory restore.
3 follow on screen prompts and all should be good to go.