Boxee Box: The Inside Story, Swapping Tegra 2 for Intel CE4100
by Ganesh T S & Brian Klug on September 13, 2010 10:31 AM EST- Posted in
- Media Streamer
- Home Theater
- HTPC
Media streamer companies have expertise in either hardware or software, but rarely both. Boxee realized this early on that were they to go out and try to build a box themselves, they would probably fail. By linking a strategic partnership with D-Link which has experience building hardware, and also has a great retail channel presence, they managed to make up for one of their critical shortcomings. D-Link, on the other hand, had to figure out a way to handle the shift in the entertainment ecosystem. For an optimal user experience, a full solution, right from the NAS to the home network to the actual media streamer, had to be created. We have seen attempts at this from both Netgear and D-Link earlier, but all their media streamer offerings failed in terms of the user interface and experience. By partnering with Boxee, they too have managed to overcome one of their shortcomings. How well this has worked out will soon be seen, as the Boxee Box is already up for pre-order on Amazon and should ship before the end of November. D-Link and Boxee also announced that the unit would be up for pre-order internationally (including US, Canada, Australia and the EU).
This product also gives Intel a boost in the mainstream SoC market space. Being the first unit with the CE4100 (actually, any x86 based SoC) to ship to the mainstream consumer (at a palatable $199 price point), Intel would hope that its popularity would be a sign of things to come for x86 based SoCs.
For AnandTech to recommend a media streamer, it must strive to enable the consumer to watch whatever content he wants wherever he wants. Boxee Box seems to have taken this philosophy to heart, unlike some of the other recently announced media streamers. While we hope that the unit can live up to the heightened expectations it has just created, we know that the proof is in the pudding. We will be closely following this streamer as it nears release, and in the meanwhile, if you have something particular that you want to be tested on this unit, feel free to let us know in the comments.
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ganeshts - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
T2 is infinitely more capable than A4.Boxee just didn't want to ship a streamer with such crappy specs :)
tipoo - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Exactly, lol...Cant wait for Cortex A9 (what the T2 is based on) smartphones to trickle down.sprockkets - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Except for the fact that you are both wrong, at least on this front:MPEG4 is the old "divx" lame codec. You aren't going to find anything HD encoded with this, and if anybody does, they are idiots.
Apple TV supports H.264 at the main profile (which is just high profile without 8x8 transform) and at LV 3.1, which is defined as 1280x720 at 30FPS at 14mbps max bit rate.
But let's face it, if 2.5ghz dual core processors from Intel take around 70% of cpu time to decode 1080p WITH the deblocking filter on, what makes you think a 1ghz ARM cpu can, WITHOUT custom decoding hardware?
ganeshts - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Both T2 and A4 are aimed at the tablet / smartphone market. No one should expect these app processors to decode HD video on the host processor.While T2 uses nV's custom decode engine, Apple uses the PowerVR VXD line (which is the same as that used in the CE4100), BUT, the clocking rate is probably much lower on the A4 compared to CE4100 because it is supposed to be for mobile usage. In addition, DRAM bandwidth available on both A4 and T2 is probably not good enough for high bitrate Blu-Ray material. (They have 32b DRAM interface, while CE4100 has 64b DRAM interface).
As for T2 vs A4, my comment was mainly on how powerful each SoC is. (On paper T2 will beat A4 hands down). As for comparing the exact video decoding abilities, it is not possible to comment for 2 reasons:
1. Tegra 2 hasn't reached any reviewer yet.
2. Apple will never allow any stream into the A4 device unless it goes through iTunes, in which case, it gets auto-transcoded.
sprockkets - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
We can if nvidia simply tells us what profile at what level it can do. At least Apple, of all people, post what exactly it can and cannot play.Even later firmwares of the old Cowon A3 claimed it could play HP h.264 video at 1280x720 with TI's OMAP from like 2 years ago.
ganeshts - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
nV has no obligation to tell that except to customers who want to use T2 in their products. Apple, on the other hand, has to, because they are selling a product directly to the consumer.Anyways, nV's marketing team seems to have screwed up here.
I haven't tested Cowon A3 personally, so can't comment on that.
mindbomb - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Tegra 2 can play 1080p30 baseline profile level 3.1decent for a phone, embarrassing for an htpc.
mindbomb - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
No, mpeg 4 part 10 is h264.mpeg 4 part 2 is what you are thinking of, but it is pretty unpopular outside of people transcoding their dvd's, so when people say mpeg 4 video, its implied that they mean h264. (especially if its apple saying it)
mindbomb - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
oh wait, they mentioned it after a section specifically detailing h264 playback. You were right, they were referring to mpeg 4 part 2.sep332 - Monday, September 13, 2010 - link
Isn't CIFS effectively the same as SMB?