AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Networking, Media Servers & Content Streaming › Boxee Box or something else?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Boxee Box or something else?

post #1 of 57
2/14/12 at 11:52am
Thread Starter 
In looking at some media players, saw Boxee Box.
This is what I had in mind.

I download content from the internet, videos, etc. (i.e. dvd format, or .avi, or .mpeg)

Can I put those files on a USB hard drive, plug the USB hard drive to the Boxee Box, and plug the Boxee Box (via hdmi) to my TV, and watch the files?

Will all these files play?

Any other cheaper device that can do this?
Reply
Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #2 of 57
2/14/12 at 12:37pm
The Boxee will handle this, but so will most media players out there. Most that I know of can take an external drive or source through USB to then play on your TV or whatever. So really if that's all you need it to do, you options are pretty wide open. You'll find differences on the types of containers that are supported by each player, and the UI experience will be different as well.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 57
2/14/12 at 12:38pm
Thread Starter 
any recommendations with a good, friendly UI?
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 57
2/14/12 at 12:42pm
Quote:


any recommendations with a good, friendly UI?

Boxee Box, followed by WD TV Live Streaming player, just going by their stock UI's.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 57
2/15/12 at 4:21am
Boxee Box, and WDTV2 do not stream HD sound. So, if you are picky about sound quality like me you will get something else.

However, I did buy a WDTV2 for my parents. They don't care much about HD sound or video, and they love it....well they pretty much love pandora. Everything else was second to them.

My dad is a truck driver. So, I am trying to convince him to let me install a 23 inch monitor, with a WDTV2 in his truck so he can watch movies from an external hard drive, and put all his music there as well.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 57
2/15/12 at 5:23am
Thread Starter 
I really don't care about the streaming sound, as long as the sound is fine from playing dvd files
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 57
2/15/12 at 6:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by shopdesi View Post

I really don't care about the streaming sound, as long as the sound is fine from playing dvd files

The Boxee Box has no issues streaming the legacy audio that DVDs have(DD and DTS). It will also stream the advanced audio codecs too, but it will have several audio dropouts during a movie when streaming Dolby True HD, DTS-HD MA, etc.
They say they have a fix for the audio dropouts coming out soon. But only time will tell if that is true.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 57
2/15/12 at 6:38am
Once they close the hd audio issue, there will be a lot to like about Boxee Box. It will be the best single all-in-one local media + web content + live TV box in the market. I know people have had buffering issues and so on, but maybe because most of my 1:1 BD & DVD rips are MKVs, I've not had those issues.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 57
2/15/12 at 6:54am
Yeah, I just noticed they've got Vudu as well. I mainly use Netflix, Hulu and Vudu. If they've got those 3 with the true hd sound fixed, and the price goes down to $150.00 I might buy one.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 57
2/15/12 at 7:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brajesh View Post

Once they close the hd audio issue, there will be a lot to like about Boxee Box. It will be the best single all-in-one local media + web content + live TV box in the market. I know people have had buffering issues and so on, but maybe because most of my 1:1 BD & DVD rips are MKVs, I've not had those issues.

Exactly what HD audio issue here? I am in the market for a Boxee, Dune, etc... and want to pick the right great unit. Thanks.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 57
2/15/12 at 7:59am
There are frequent drop-outs when listening to Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA tracks.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 57
2/15/12 at 8:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvuong View Post

Exactly what HD audio issue here? I am in the market for a Boxee, Dune, etc... and want to pick the right great unit. Thanks.

If you want the right unit for streaming ripped content then you won't get any better than Dune or PCH.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 57
2/15/12 at 9:15am
I heard folks here have problem with the PCH displaying the wrong cover art. Does Dune do it correctly? Not sure if i need the Dune as i can get 2 Boxees for the price of 1 Dune D1. Thanks.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 57
2/15/12 at 9:47am
It's not Dune or PCH. It has to do with the jukebox manager you're using, how you're naming files, and whether you have NFO files to avoid mis-identification. It takes a good deal of time on both PCH and Dune to set-up your local movies and TV shows so they're picked up and displayed properly. I personally prefer PCH (because YAMJ standards conform quite a bit to XBMC, which I also use), but Dune is equally good (Zappiti and Yadis).

Price-wise, also look at the PopBox v8. It's just $130 and supports YAMJ/Eversion to give you a terrific jukebox.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 57
2/15/12 at 10:23am
I have a Boxee Box but it freezes and stalls all the time and I can't leave it on and go back to it without it slowing down to need a reboot. It also seems to have issues with some audio after the recent update - some files started to have skipping audio where it was not before.

I need a media player that played MKV BD backups with DTSMA, TrueHD, LPCM 7.1 all streaming over a NAS.

Is there a better box these days?

P.S. - any web video, etc, is of no importance - I just want a local media player. It's even better to ONLY play local.
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 57
2/15/12 at 10:28am
Quote:
I need a media player that played MKV BD backups with DTSMA, TrueHD, LPCM 7.1 all streaming over a NAS.

The usual recommendations: Dune, PCH A-300 or PopBox v8. I have 3 Boxee Box-es & don't have freezing/stalling issues, nor the buffering issues, so maybe I'm lucky. But, for my dedicated home theater, as I need hd audio there, I rely on PopBox v8 for 2D and HiMedia HD900B for 3D.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 57
2/15/12 at 10:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brajesh View Post

The usual recommendations: Dune, PCH A-300 or PopBox v8. I have 3 Boxee Box-es & don't have freezing/stalling issues, nor the buffering issues, so maybe I'm lucky. But, for my dedicated home theater, as I need hd audio there, I rely on PopBox v8 for 2D and HiMedia HD900B for 3D.

do you leave your boxes on all the time? Because I do. This is an important feature for me. I don't get audio buffering issues - it's as though the decoding gets messed up, I don't know.

The Popcorn Hour A-300 seems like a better choice over the C-300 looking at specs since I wouldn't need onboard storage - unless I'm missing something.

I'll look at the PopBox v8 - does Boxee have benefits over it?
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 57
2/15/12 at 10:41am
PopBox v8 is basically the same as PCH A-300, but w/o internal hard drive capability, no NMT user apps (not that I find anything useful), and no Blu-ray ISO full menus (only BD lite). But, like the A-300, it supports YAMJ/Eversion jukebox. Boxee's benefit over PopBox/PCH and Dune are nice out-of-the-box UI, built-in movie/TV jukebox (as opposed to 3rd party) and Internet apps, especially premium apps like Netflix and VUDU, which don't exist on the former.

Re: my Boxee Box-es, no I put them to sleep, not on all the time. But, technically, I've read they're basically the same, use the same amount of power, etc.
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 57
2/15/12 at 10:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brajesh View Post

PopBox v8 is basically the same as PCH A-300, but w/o internal hard drive capability, no NMT user apps (not that I find anything useful), and no Blu-ray ISO full menus (only BD lite). But, like the A-300, it supports YAMJ/Eversion jukebox. Boxee's benefit over PopBox/PCH and Dune are nice out-of-the-box UI, built-in movie/TV jukebox (as opposed to 3rd party) and Internet apps, especially premium apps like Netflix and VUDU, which don't exist on the former.

Re: my Boxee Box-es, no I put them to sleep, not on all the time. But, technically, I've read they're basically the same, use the same amount of power, etc.

thanks for the info. If I leave my Boxee on, and come back to it the next evening, it's usually sluggish and sometimes freezes completely. My Tivo on the other hand is on 24/7 and nary an issue.
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 57
2/15/12 at 11:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brajesh View Post

It's not Dune or PCH. It has to do with the jukebox manager you're using, how you're naming files, and whether you have NFO files to avoid mis-identification. It takes a good deal of time on both PCH and Dune to set-up your local movies and TV shows so they're picked up and displayed properly. I personally prefer PCH (because YAMJ standards conform quite a bit to XBMC, which I also use), but Dune is equally good (Zappiti and Yadis).

Price-wise, also look at the PopBox v8. It's just $130 and supports YAMJ/Eversion to give you a terrific jukebox.

Do you prefer the PopBox v8 over Boxee? Where do I find the information on setting up my local movies so that they display properly? What is YAMJ? Sorry I am real new to this. Thanks.
Reply
Reply
post #21 of 57
2/15/12 at 11:57am
That's a tough one. If hd audio worked w/o dropouts on BB, I simply stick to it and forget the rest. But, because hd audio is broken, I have PopBox v8. For 3D ISO playback, there are very few choices: a Realtek 1186 player like HiMedia's HD900B or an Oppo BDP-93.

Boxee has said they've found the root cause of the hd audio dropouts issue & plan to fix it around March, but none of us really know when & whether it'll truly fix it.

For PopBox v8 and PCH A-300, look here for info on Eversion/YAMJ. YAMJ is a movie/TV scraper for your local content (movies & TV shows). Eversion is a Flash skin (a very nice one at that) that works with YAMJ.
Reply
Reply
post #22 of 57
2/15/12 at 12:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brajesh View Post

That's a tough one. If hd audio worked w/o dropouts on BB, I simply stick to it and forget the rest.

Is that because of the ease of use or...? I also see the Popbox 3D for the same price as the V8 ($129). Do you know the difference?
Thanks Brajesh.
Reply
Reply
post #23 of 57
2/15/12 at 12:24pm
For ease of use, BB wins easily. PopBox 3D is old, with v8 being the recently released version.
Reply
Reply
post #24 of 57
2/15/12 at 12:26pm
I think I am settle for the Boxee. Where can I get the best price for this? thanks.
Reply
Reply
post #25 of 57
2/15/12 at 1:23pm
Netgear NeoTV 550 works very well if only looking for local streaming, and a steal right now at <$100 at B&H.
Reply
Reply
post #26 of 57
2/15/12 at 2:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvuong View Post

I think I am settle for the Boxee. Where can I get the best price for this? thanks.

afaik, this is currently the best place/price to buy a BBox... http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0038JE07O/...SIN=B0038JE07O

Best Buy used to have the BBox available as 'Refurbished' for $130 but it's not been available there for some time
Reply
Reply
post #27 of 57
2/15/12 at 2:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brajesh View Post

Boxee has said they've found the root cause of the hd audio dropouts issue & plan to fix it around March, but none of us really know when & whether it'll truly fix it.

I'm sure looking forward to this fix I just wonder if it will bring a new bag of bugs with it since I believe it's a new SDK that has this fix? I hope not, I would love to retire my fleet of other media players and just have a good all-in-one (boxee) box.
Reply
Reply
post #28 of 57
2/16/12 at 5:09am
Yep, new Intel SDK. Got my fingers crossed.
Reply
Reply
post #29 of 57
2/22/12 at 9:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tvuong View Post

I think I am settle for the Boxee. Where can I get the best price for this? thanks.

I've bought several refurb Boxees from Amazon, Best Buy and one from a Woot Daily Deal between $100-$150.

I did see Geeks.com has some.
Reply
Reply
post #30 of 57
2/22/12 at 9:59am
Thanks. I rather buy new for $175.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home

Gear mentioned in this thread:

AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Networking, Media Servers & Content Streaming › Boxee Box or something else?