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
The Boxee Remote
You have two options for controlling the Boxee Box. You can use the Boxee iPhone Remote app (free) or the bundled Boxee remote.
It’s surprising that Boxee/D-Link were the first to build a remote like this. You have a simple remote control on one side, and a full QWERTY keyboard on the other. Pure genius. As a result the remote is pretty large - taller than your average smartphone, but incredibly versatile.
The actual remote side has three buttons and a directional pad. The topmost button is a play/pause button, that is only useful for playing or pausing content. The bottom button is a menu button which doubles as a back button depending on context. The directional pad is used for menu navigation, as well as volume output on the box. With your TV already on, you can effectively control everything you need to via the Boxee remote alone as a result. In the center of the dpad is a third button used to select menu items (and also to bring up a playback menu in certain situations). The multiple roles the buttons have to play can be frustrating for new users because there’s often little consistency. Try adjusting volume up/down before you take a web video full screen and you’ll get an error telling you that the video you’re watching doesn’t support the skip ahead function. Then there’s the Pandora app which uses up/down on the dpad for menu navigation and there are a separate set of -/+ controls for adjusting the volume.
Because of the simple front, the remote is easy to hold the wrong way. Whenever I grabbed the remote without looking I often found myself holding it upside down. Button feel is disappointing. All of the buttons feel very cheap and they’ve got this plasticky click to them.
The QWERTY keyboard is a wonderful addition to the remote as it makes all text entry a non-issue. You can fill text input fields you encounter with the remote’s keyboard. It’s much easier than hunting for letters via the onscreen keyboard, although you do have that option if you like torturing yourself. The remote’s keyboard is super convenient and avoids the silliness that we’ve seen with Sony’s Google TV remote/keyboard/Atari-Jaguar-controller-imitation.
The Boxee remote communicates with the box via RF and not IR, so you don’t have to point it at the box. Range is also good over RF, I measured about 50 feet through a wall and down a hall before the remote stopped responding.
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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?