The Boxee Box Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Ganesh T S on November 23, 2010 5:42 PM EST- Posted in
- Gadgets
- Media Streamer
- HTPC
- Boxee Box
Video Decode Quality with HQV 2.0
One of the bugs in the currently available firmware for the Boxee Box is the constant buffering and stuttering of Blu-Ray M2TS files, even over USB. Unfortunately, the HQV 2.0 benchmark we have is a set of M2TS files from a Blu-Ray ISO. I had to put up with constant interruptions in the benchmarking videos, and as such I wasn't very comfortable tabulating the results. I tried repeating playback of each stream more than 3 times each to ensure that I had a fair idea of how the playback quality turned out.
| Boxee Box : HQV 2.0 Benchmark | ||||
| Test Class | Chapter | Tests | Max. Score | Boxee Box |
| Video Conversion | Video Resolution | Dial | 5 | 0 |
| Dial with Static Pattern | 5 | 5 | ||
| Gray Bars | 5 | 5 | ||
| Violin | 5 | 5 | ||
| Film Resolution | Stadium 2:2 | 5 | 0 | |
| Stadium 3:2 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Overlay On Film | Horizontal Text Scroll | 5 | 3 | |
| Vertical Text Scroll | 5 | 5 | ||
| Cadence Response Time | Transition to 3:2 Lock | 5 | 0 | |
| Transition to 2:2 Lock | 5 | 0 | ||
| Multi-Cadence | 2:2:2:4 24 FPS DVCam Video | 5 | 0 | |
| 2:3:3:2 24 FPS DVCam Video | 5 | 0 | ||
| 3:2:3:2:2 24 FPS Vari-Speed | 5 | 0 | ||
| 5:5 12 FPS Animation | 5 | 0 | ||
| 6:4 12 FPS Animation | 5 | 0 | ||
| 8:7 8 FPS Animation | 5 | 0 | ||
| Color Upsampling Errors | Interlace Chroma Problem (ICP) | 5 | 2 | |
| Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE) | 5 | 2 | ||
| Noise and Artifact Reduction | Random Noise | SailBoat | 5 | 0 |
| Flower | 5 | 0 | ||
| Sunrise | 5 | 0 | ||
| Harbour Night | 5 | 0 | ||
| Compression Artifacts | Scrolling Text | 5 | 3 | |
| Roller Coaster | 5 | 3 | ||
| Ferris Wheel | 5 | 3 | ||
| Bridge Traffic | 5 | 3 | ||
| Upscaled Compression Artifacts | Text Pattern | 5 | 3 | |
| Roller Coaster | 5 | 3 | ||
| Ferris Wheel | 5 | 3 | ||
| Bridge Traffic | 5 | 3 | ||
| Image Scaling and Enhancements | Scaling and Filtering | Luminance Frequency Bands | 5 | 2 |
| Chrominance Frequency Bands | 5 | 5 | ||
| Vanishing Text | 5 | 5 | ||
| Resolution Enhancement | Brook, Mountain, Flower, Hair, Wood | 15 | 10 | |
| Video Conversion | Contrast Enhancement | Theme Park | 5 | 0 |
| Driftwood | 5 | 0 | ||
| Beach at Dusk | 5 | 0 | ||
| White and Black Cats | 5 | 0 | ||
| Skin Tone Correction | Skin Tones | 10 | 0 | |
| Total Score | 210 | 73 | ||
The Boxee Box appears to fare a little bit better than the average WDTV type streamer even with the unreliable firmware. Do note that some of the tests simply make no sense for the Boxee Box because the knobs to activate and test out the features just don't exist (as Boxee probably doesn't want to befuddle the average user with some arcane menu options).
That said, one of the disappointing aspects revealed in the above benchmark is the complete lack of cadence detection. Hopefully, the end user doesn't want to spend too much time watching interlaced videos at non-native video refresh rates. Other than that, we wouldn't fault Boxee too much for not scoring higher in this benchmark.
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ganeshts - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
At full shutdown, the power adapter consumes 0.5W (also enables switch on from RF remote).If you are worried about the 0.5W, better to pull the plug out of the socket.
Ethaniel - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
A fantastic review. Too bad the little box has holes everywhere. If things don't get fixed, I guess someone will find a way to hack it and start torrenting the hell out of it...earthzero - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
A comparison vs other solutions like Playon with Media Center and Mezzmo streaming directly to a Samsung or some other DLNA device would be worth comparing this to...Alexstarfire - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
I'd love to have a streaming device that was capable of playing MKVs perfectly for only a couple hundred dollars. Not being able to play ASS subtitle files all but makes streaming devices useless for me. I already have an HTPC, but something like this would be far easier to set up, use, and transport.Cr0nJ0b - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
I'm just astounded that this isn't an demonstration of an alpha release product. reboots are to be expected? really? I'm sorry, I don't care how cutting edge you are...if you sell something to the general public as a finished product and not a "build it yourself" "fix it your self" hobby kit, you need to have higher standards. I was actually thinking of buying a boxee box this week...thank you for the review. I'll stay away.dagamer34 - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
Something I'd buy a V2 of the product when hardware/software issues are hammered out. Though I'm wondering if they are ever going to support Bluray menus...probedb - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
A nice review yet again but I'd love a decent round up of some of the more popular streamers like the PlayON!HD etc.I'm particularly interested in how good they are at deinterlacing content ripped from DVDs as that's how I have them backed up.
Krofojed - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
I don't have any experience with watching TV online, but my impression is that the access to music and video tends to be conutry-specific. So does this thing work outside USA? (I haven't read every word of the review, so if this is mentioned somewhere, I apologize.)Definol - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
You can download boxee and try it on your computer to see what is available in your country. I'm pretty sure that netflix and hulu aren't available outside of the usa without using a vpn.I live in europe and I can't access either of them.
Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
Why not just buy an Xbox 360 and do the same and more?