Thursday
Nov112010
Nov 11 Listener's Boxee Box First Impressions
Got my Boxee Box ($199 Buy Now) yesterday from the HT Guys store and I wanted to send some quick first impressions:
- I was surprised at how light the Boxee Box is, how small the QWERTY remote is, and that the box included an HDMI cable.
- Setup was straightforward and quick.
- Playback of files on my media server was choppy over WiFi but that might be the fault of my network.
- Once I connected via Ethernet, playback performance for 1080i and 720p over-the-air recordings looked and sounded great.
- It did a good job of automatically scanning my movies and TV shows and adding cover art.
- I played a Revision 3 video podcast ("Unboxing Porn," appropriately enough :) and it started quickly and looked fine.
On the negative side:
- it's slower than I'd have expected to get in and out of some menus;
- the way it lists TV show episodes found on my media server is ugly; and the remote isn't great for entering numbers or text.
Haven't tried out Netflix or Vudu yet, hope to do so soon. So far I'm happy with it though!
--Chris in Arlington VA--
Reader Comments (6)
I am looking forward to getting mine tomorrow. I have the new Apple TV and got a Google TV for free at Adobe Max this year. I plan to do a three way side by side to see which one I like best. I really like the promise of the UI on the Boxee Box and its ability to deal with local content. The other two don't have the flexibility in formats that Boxee provides.
I just wanted to elaborate on some of the comments I made in my message to Ara:
* I'd ordered a Monoprice HDMI cable because I figured there was no way it would include one in the box. So that was a nice surprise.
* The remote is pretty impressive given that it includes QWERTY on one side, and there's no question that it's preferable for entering text than any non-keyboard based system. The keys are small, though. Also, unless I'm missing something, you have to press an "alt" key down to get numbers. I was hoping there was some kind of "alt lock" option, because without it, you have to hold the "alt" down with one hand, then type numbers with your other hand, which eliminates the type-with-your-thumbs technique we're all used to with our smartphones. All that is to say that it wasn't fun entering IP numbers.
* Also, the Enter key seems to be sending repeats... every now and then it'll be as if I pressed it twice.
* I have local (MythTV-based) recordings of a Nickelodeon show, iCarly (yes, I have kids). When I go to Boxee's iCarly listing, it first displays episodes I can view onilne off of the Nick website: only the bottom-most option lets me see all my local recordings, and then those are shown in a strange horizontal-scrolling list.
* A lot of this software stuff may be fixed with a new rev of the Boxee Box software, which is supposedly being released today (Amazon jumped the gun a bit for those of us who got their hardware yesterday).
* Apparently Netflix isn't available now but will be soon.
Will be happy to try to answer any questions about it that people post here.
I hope that an HT Guys review will happen soon. :)
More comments:
* Boxee pushed a new software update the day after my unit shipped. It changed the interface considerably. It's simpler and thus easier to get around, maybe a bit faster too. I liked some things about the original Boxee interface but this one has its advantages.
* Boot time is one minute from power-on to home menu. That seems slow given that there's no physical drive. Maybe that can be improved in the future.
* There is no Netflix app yet, and the Vudu app just says "coming soon." So actually there's no Vudu to try now either.
* I played a bit with the free options of one of the sports apps, NHL GameCenter. Free version shows game highlights, paid version lets you watch live games (but local blackouts apply, so still can't cut the cable TV cord if I want to watch home games). Picture quality is very good but it's a lower frame rate so you don't get that "live TV" look. The paid version might improve on that but I don't think I'm willing to fork over $170 to find out.
* I haven't tried this but it is supposed to have extensive support for all kinds of video formats, which is a big plus over Apple TV.
Even with some of the quibbles, I'm still very happy with the purchase.
It seems like a great device, but man that form factor is a huge dealbreaker for me. It does not lend itself for good placement in an AV rack. Too bulky and square, but I hope to get to play with it one day.
Anandtech.com just posted a very in-depth review of the Boxee Box:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4029/the-boxee-box-review
They liked its promise and the hardware, but didn't like that it shipped with bugs and an incomplete software lineup. (I keep checking for Vudu on my Boxee Box and it keeps saying "coming soon.")