It's finally time to cut the cable. Boxee Box reviewed

primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
edited October 2011 in Science & Tech
It's finally time to cut the cable. Boxee Box reviewed

Comments

  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited October 2011
    I'm really happy with my WD TV Live Plus that supports every format. Use it in the bedroom and it's only $79

    Also, software wise XBMC>Boxee

    Now, the Boxee remote is badass. Even more badass is that it works with XBMC and MPC (media player classic) out of the box.

    imo, build an AMD E350 HTPC and use XBMC. Then you won't have that ugly Boxee box sitting next to your TV :p

    edit:> also the boxee box only has a 100mbps ethernet. if you have some 10MB/s-15MB/s 1080p .mkv's like I do, streaming them over anything less than 1000mbps is going to be a chore for the boxee box
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited October 2011
    I just finished building an XBMC-based HTPC. Next step is to get the remote control to work with LIRC.
  • boasistboasist Troy
    edited October 2011
    Not bad, I run an XBMC enabled Apple TV 2. Works great and I agree with the ugly boxee box sitting around. I mounted my apple TV to the back of my TV, use the harmony remote for control, and never looked back.

    And the boxee platform is great, I enjoyed it when I used it on the original Apple TV I had. But I found XBMC to just work a little smoother and easier overall. A big plus is the mySQL database that syncs my library. Does boxee support anything like that?
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    edited October 2011
    Amazing write-up, and one I'll be referencing to anyone remotely interested in a set-top companion.

    Personally, I picked up a discounted (refurb) Roku box on Woot.com a few weeks ago for $40. While I would rather have the Boxee, the fraction of the cost keeps me content to play with the Roku for now. It's not a "must have" for me, but it's a fun addition to my bedroom TV.
  • Clint
    edited October 2011
    I read the article and, though it's nice to see someone writing about Boxee again, I would have to say that the article falls short in many areas, for a true review of the box and it's content.

    For starters, Boxee and Boxee box are completely different! If you have any PC or Mac box, you can install Boxee and run the same interfaces that you see on the Boxee box. Plus, you can get into the guts of the app and install your own features through different repositories (ie. fuzzthed) You can't however, do the same with the Boxee box.

    I know what you're probably about to say... yes, you can add repositories to Boxee Box. Well, as of about a year ago, the ability to add repositories and run your own apps using Launcher were pretty much closed by Boxee by means of a required firmware update. So, if you want to have Boxee but hack it, then you'll want to avoid Boxee box and make your own Boxee device.

    I could go on and on about the features that exist and don't exist, so I will. One, you get the apps that are there when you power on the device. In other words, they're all controlled by Boxee. Everything is a channel or an app but there is little or no way to organize things in a way that make sense to the owner. Also, apps like Youtube, which you credit as being beautiful, are still junk apps that lose your search strins, give no way of viewing text that rolls off the screen and often hang. A good example of a fun, junky app would be the Onion app that hangs every time I try to watch. Also, my wife is Chinese, and we had videos on a USB drive, but we could not read any of the titles, no matter how much we tweaked the settings. It took almost two years before they finally fixed what had been long-ago fixed on the PC/Mac software, by a hacker.

    As for the Apple-TV. You're right! The 720p output is far less desirable but you can, at least, jail-break the box, install Boxee on it, and use it for Apple-TV and Boxee content. That is, of course, until Apple makes that impossible like Boxee did when it closed the hole allowing good customization.

    All in all, I would not pay the $200 or so that I had to buy this box at. The only thing I find myself doing is looking for old South Park episodes, when I'm bored, because I have like 500 apps all in a huge list, and don't have two weeks to got through them to find the ones I like.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2011
    All very good points, but the Boxee Box is not for people who want to hack; those people are definitely better served by a home-built HTPC. That's kind of the very point of Boxee Box. It's for people who AREN'T techies or who want to learn how to jailbreak devices. They want to plug it in and watch stuff...

    The Boxee Box is for my dad and for my Aunt and for 90% of the consumer electronics buying public.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited October 2011
    Just throwing in I ended up with a laptop in my possession with a dead screen. So I pulled the screen off hooked it up to my tv installed XBMC on it and netflix and links to a few other streaming sites and that's it. The only other supplemental TV I have is an antennae that I can pick up some local HD channels over the air.

    Total cost for my monthly TV is $9 for netflix. I haven't had Cable or Satellite though for about 3 years.
  • Cliff_ForsterCliff_Forster Icrontian
    edited October 2011
    primesuspect wrote:
    All very good points, but the Boxee Box is not for people who want to hack; those people are definitely better served by a home-built HTPC. That's kind of the very point of Boxee Box. It's for people who AREN'T techies or who want to learn how to jailbreak devices. They want to plug it in and watch stuff...

    The Boxee Box is for my dad and for my Aunt and for 90% of the consumer electronics buying public.

    ^THIS^
  • boasistboasist Troy
    edited October 2011
    Yes, agreed there.

    Now if only it wasn't so "hipster" in design and could be more easily integrated into a media cabinet or hidden behind the TV.

    I wonder how the harmony remotes work with the Boxee unit. The RF ones especially then.
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited October 2011
    Pfft. It's not hipster enough. I stuck a moustache and ironic Apple sticker on mine. That helped.
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    edited October 2011
    Buddy J wrote:
    Pfft. It's not hipster enough. I stuck a moustache and ironic Apple sticker on mine. That helped.

    Add a scarf, funny-looking glasses, and maybe a strange international hat like a fez or a beret or something and I think you'll be all set. Your Boxee Box will be hip to be square.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited October 2011
    Also needs a bowtie. Bowties are cool.
  • BandrikBandrik Elkhart, IN Icrontian
    edited October 2011
    ardichoke wrote:
    Also needs a bowtie. Bowties are cool.

    Oh, hell, let's just come out and say it: for the ultimate of hipster-ness, just dress your Boxee up to look like Doctor Who.

    Bonus points if it's Doctor Whooves. :D
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