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
Final Words
We’re on the cusp of the internet TV revolution. Networks are putting the majority of their content online in an ad supported form. If you just don’t mind visiting sites like Hulu and Comedy Central you really can get by without paying for cable TV these days. What we’re missing is a simple way to view all of the content on your TV.
Boxee is tackling an admittedly very difficult problem. Make it too easy and the content owners will crack down on you. Make it too difficult, and you end up with a platform that’s unsellable. At a high level, I believe Boxee has come very close to the perfect balance between the two extremes.
Content aggregation and organization is done very well. You don’t have to worry about where the shows come from, just pick what you want to watch. Boxee does compromise on the display aspect which is disappointing (but understandable). I wish everything worked like South Park and you were always dropped into a full screen view of the video.
My complaints on the web video side are mainly about performance and bugs. The box clearly needs work in the optimization and stability departments. In recording the demo video for this review I encountered three system-resetting crashes, not to mention countless others over the past week+ of testing. I don’t believe these are hardware issues, just the type of software bugs you encounter when dealing with a project of this complexity. At least Boxee has the excuse that it isn’t a multibillion dollar company (which is more than I can say for most others who ship buggy hardware). At $99 I'd live with the bugs until they got fixed. At $149 it's debatable. But parting with $199 for a product with bugs, even knowing they'll get fixed, is a tough sell.
As a network/local streaming box, Boxee is easily an entry level HTPC. You get the sort of features from a higher end HTPC, without having to deal with any of the software configuration on your own. The Boxee interface is sensible and quick to navigate.
You can’t build a similarly capable HTPC with better power characteristics than the Boxee Box (simply because Intel won’t sell you a CE4100).
The biggest drawback to the Boxee Box as a HTPC ultimately comes down to bugs once again. Boxee is at least responsive to the bugs that have been reported thus far, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re buying into a platform that needs work.
I’d also like to see improvements in the auxiliary features. The photos browser needs a performance improvement and I’d like to see the web browser’s performance improved to the point where it could be a real alternative to Google TV. Doing the latter would require a reworked remote however as you’d need a better way to move the mouse cursor.
The list below summarizes much of what we’ve said in this review:
Pros:
1. Great UI & simple setup
2. Convenient remote control, small hardware
3. Can easily replace a entry level HTPC with respect to local media streaming features
4. Things can only get better
5. Proactiveness in bug fixing by Boxee. Engineers are on the lookout in various forums (not only Boxee's but also AVSForum). A bug regarding AAC multichannel decode was immediately acknowledged and a quick fix was committed for availability in the next release
6. $199 is cheaper than Google TV
Cons:
1. Green firmware at launch - multiple stability/compatibility issues and many bugs
2. Non-availability of premium content partners at launch
3. Standby power of 10W is laughable
4. Priced too high compared to other media streamers
5. Boxee is reliant too much on the file extension to determine the container, while other streamers tend to look at the header for this purpose
6. Inferior web browsing experience to Google TV
Luckily for Boxee, some points in the cons list can be fixed with firmware updates. Unless Boxee improves the firmware and fully supports formats which can be hardware accelerated by the CE4100, we wouldn't recommend purchasing the unit. Meanwhile, various online services such as Netflix should also be enabled. We will take another short look at the unit before Christmas once the bug fixes are made. The positive thing for Boxee right now is that the CEO and developers are listening and responding to our feedback. We are hopeful of a better experience with the Boxee Box later this year. Potential buyers should just wait and watch till things settle down.
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krotchy - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
They must use the same electronics supplier we do at my work."Oh we decided to buy 500,000 older revision PCBs because the forecast said to, even though you already pushed all of the paperwork for the latest PCB revision and we were told not to order the old one. We will just rework them until the existing stock is gone unless you want to pay us $2,000,000 to scrap them"
justaviking - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
For "average Joe" consumer products, I have ask myself, "Can I picture my wife using this?"I have to say, "No." She would probably make me return it within a week. Why?
- Inconsistent behavior. Sometimes you do this, sometimes you do that, other times you do something else. Full-screen display is an example of that.
- Lock-ups.
- Bugs.
- Sort of aggregated, but not really.
- A naming convention for files on your network? I don't see that happening any time soon in my house. I might do it, just out of habit, but my wife or kids? No way.
It's a good attempt.
I appreciate the challenge Boxee is faced with, and I'd be happy to pull the plug on my cable bill too, but I don't see it happening yet.
Jackattak - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
Couldn't agree more. I would love to forcibly remove Comca$t out of our house, preferably kicking and screaming (mostly screaming), but this fails the wife test (and my wife is fairly tech-savvy).There has got to be a better way. This is not a consumer-ready product. This looked more like an alpha release review. Far too many bugs and far too little consistency.
Chillin1248 - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
From what I understand from Boxee, the reason behind the strange (and internet download full) naming strings is due to the IMDB service that identifies the movies and shows. This is completely separate from Boxee.bernstein - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
Quote: "You can’t build a similarly capable HTPC with better power characteristics than the Boxee Box (simply because Intel won’t sell you a CE4100)."This is just wrong... go to to www.pandaboard.org (or heck even a beagleboard) and get a beagleboard friendly build of linux/xbmc and you've definately got a more power-efficient htpc... best suited for 1080p playback...
and just how does a piece of hardware with 10w standby power have best power characteristics? heck not any notebook will consume anywhere near that power in standby...
now nough harsh words. great article, as always. a delight to read.
ganeshts - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
Why do you think Boxee went off from Tegra 2 to Intel CE 4100? And the Pandaboard you are talking about is OMAP4 based.. Surprise Surprise.. OMAP4 host CPU = Tegra 2 host CPU, and the power profile of both is approximately the same.. so the capabilities of both are going to be similar.. in other words, don't expect 1080p60 or any other complex encoding playback!vhawkxi - Friday, November 26, 2010 - link
My sister brought me one from Canada as South Africa is again looked over as a country where people would like to have the device.I just love it, so much better than the MVIX device I had to use as media streamer up to now.
The networking works flawlessly and the 802.11 n wireless is more than sufficient to watch content in 1080p 24Hz.
Contents is currently an issue but as soon as Hulu is up and running, I will have access to the source I have been using on the software version. So I am happy with that.
The browser is still a work in progress but I assume it will eventually get there and allow nice browsing on my TV.
So overall - even at $199 which I was more than happy to pay - it is a nice product with great potential - and it has already received 2 system upgraded in the last week. Much more than one can say of similar devices that gets bug fixes once or twice a year.
Well done dudes - this may still be a winner !!
trip1ex - Monday, November 29, 2010 - link
About as expected. IT's a device that wants to give the consumer something it can't deliver - free cable tv.It's telling that the article felt it had to have the same number of pros as cons. YOu can tell this is the case when one pro says "it can only get better."
And another says, "they are pro-active at fixing bugs."
I sense some allegiance to Boxee. Maybe because they are a small company. Or because they have a personal relationship with those at the company.
In any case ....why wouldn't the folks who would tolerate bugs and problems just use a pc with their TV in the first place?
wadsworth - Monday, November 29, 2010 - link
Love it. The new Thanksgiving firmware update fixed a ton of issues I had with 720p and 1080p non-MP4 codecs. The thing played everything I threw at it, from flv to mkv. The show/movie stuff was okay, but nothing compared to the "apps" component IMO. It is up to 142 web interface apps with everything from MediaFly to YouPorn. Heck, I didn't even know Sarah Lane was doing stuff with Leo nowadays. Moving through your own files is fast/smooth, unlike my WD TV Live.saltyzip - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
Boxee has so much promise, but it doesn't deliver on the most important aspect which is speed and reliability, especially when it comes to HD content.I have evaluated the free downloadable version for the PC and posted my views on their forum, only to be flamed by the moderators for expressing my constructive criticism.
No support for blu-ray or HD streaming is a big issue in my books, but the general reliability of playing any kind of content is really a hit and miss experience.
I had crashing, videos only showing on half the screen, resolution not changing to reflect the media being played so was jerky.
Why would anyone want to put this onto a TV in the living room, it would drive my misses nuts.
It needs at least another year to get it right, but by then it will be too late.