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HelpFirmware: 
A-400 [13 May 2013] | C-300 [30 Nov. 2012] | A-300 [30 Nov. 2012] | C-200 [21 Jan. 2013] | A-200/A-210 [10 Aug. 2012]
| Thread Review (Newest First) |
| Posted by maddog - 09-24-2011 04:54 PM |
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Well to update.......... Boxee box has been sold - got fed up of a lot of the web content refusing to play all the time Finally sold my A-100 (£35) Got XBMC up and running and have to admit I've barely used my C-200 since, but the wife still uses it as she loves the simplicity of it I'm getting an Apple TV with XBMC to go in the bedroom now |
| Posted by dbone1026 - 09-05-2011 04:32 PM |
| One of the biggest gripes from the HD Audio crowd is that the Boxee Box still suffers HD Audio dropouts when bitstreaming HD Audio. Also, due to licensing if you want the Boxee Box to downmix or decode it will send out as 2ch stereo. I believe also the latest firmware has caused additional instabilities with streaming and buffering, but I need to update mine and do some further testing. |
| Posted by Masbango - 09-05-2011 04:28 PM |
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Boxee Box has around of 202 apps. The majority of this apps are available in Europe. Apps like MUBI, Grooveshark and Youtube are available in Europe. What I have noticed is that the reviews about Boxee Box made by Americans where negative simply because Netflix, Hulu, Vudo and such streaming services was not available. European reviews where more positive, but they concentrated primarily on file support simply because we in Europe has no streaming services. A good and balanced review of Boxee Box can be found on AnandTech. Be aware that this review is based on the old firmware. AnandTech review points the following good points: 1. High quality re-encoded non-DRM videos from non-streaming Internet sources play back without issues. Most commonly in the MKV or AVI format, with H264 / MPEG4 video and DTS / AC3 / AAC audio tracks, the Boxee Box is able to handle anything thrown at it in this department with aplomb. 2. Streams for which hardware acceleration is not supported (such as RMVB) are decoded on the host CPU (Atom) 3. MPEG-4 decoding has no problems with Q-Pel and Global Motion Compensation (GMC) with multiple warp points. This is one aspect with which streamers based on Sigma Designs and Realtek SoCs have problems. My prime requirement to by Boxee was that it included a Webkit browser with Flash 10.1 support. This works well without crashing after the last firmware update. The only problem is with the old Flash On2VP6 codec used at the RTVE website (http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/). Old series on this Spanish television website are encoded using H.263 coded and Boxee cannot decode this without stuttering and losing audio and video sync. |
| Posted by Temujin - 08-29-2011 09:44 PM |
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Ah wicked thanks, it's been bugging me lol. I'm guessing if anything's new to be unveiled, that would be the places. Makes perfect sense now  , thanks!
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| Posted by halfelite - 08-29-2011 09:38 PM |
(08-29-2011 09:37 PM)Temujin Wrote: Pardon my ignorance, what is IFA that keeps getting mentioned on the site? its a consumer electronic trade show happening in Berlin on the second of next month. Its like CES |
| Posted by Temujin - 08-29-2011 09:37 PM |
| Pardon my ignorance, what is IFA that keeps getting mentioned on the site? |
| Posted by semipcgeek - 08-29-2011 08:24 PM |
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That's probably the best comparison I've seen between the Dune's and PCH, without sounding too biased to one side. All just the up-front facts of what is in it, and what can be done, and then with a personal opinion of which one to go with and why. Really do want to pick up the C-200, but I can wait for IFA to see what the new model could bring, and then decide if I can wait the 6 more months (which I doubt) or pickup a C-200 and essentially have another Blu-ray player at another room for future expansion. |
| Posted by Masbango - 08-22-2011 11:59 AM |
(08-22-2011 04:29 AM)semipcgeek Wrote: I like the BB, and will keep it mainly because it offers more through the Netflix app. Dune uses the same Sigma Design SMP864X series processor as the Popcorn Hour C-200. So they will have in theory the same capabilities. HDI, maker of Dune, tends to keep their player simple without adding a lot of functionality as Syabas. So there will be no nzb downloader on their players. Another difference is that C-200 comes without a Blu-ray player installed. You have to installed it yourself. Due to this C-200 has a software Blu-ray license that needs to be renewed after 1,5 year. My personal preference will be C-200 as I can expand it with 2 hdd and installed third party software like Feedtime and Oversight. |
| Posted by chris57 - 08-22-2011 09:29 AM |
| What does the Dune HD Max have that the C200 doesn't? TV tuner ability is all I can think of off-hand. |
| Posted by semipcgeek - 08-22-2011 04:29 AM |
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I like the BB, and will keep it mainly because it offers more through the Netflix app. But, I want Blu-ray menu navigation that the BB does not offer, so I can't view the extras unless I go through ripping the disc up and encoding everything. Hence why I am looking at Popcorn. I've looked at the Dune boxes as well, and would go for the Dune HD Max due to the features list that I have, but am on a budget. At least the C-200 is far cheaper. Besides, I cannot find any type of retailer in the states that is selling the HD Max, let alone near the price of the c-200. Besides, if I am to spend that much on a Dune, I am better off on building my own HTPC. BB is great for what it can do, and does more and better than the WD's, but it is no popcorn hour. I'm just waiting for some funds to come along so that I can finally purchase myself a c-200 and hope I won't regret it. Who knows, maybe they will have another model coming out shortly that will blow the c-200 away. |
| Posted by halfelite - 08-21-2011 10:33 PM |
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I have said this 1000's times. If you want a machine that plays most poorly encoded files and have lots of streaming options boxee box is for you, which is not a bad thing. If you want a machine that can dish out true 1080p and bitstream hd audio formats then the pch is for you. Although they seem like the same machines they both compare to a different market of people and the sad fact is there is no machine yet the bridges the gap between can handle high bitrate and hd audio and has all the online streaming options as well as the strange folk that download flv files lol And just to clear some things up the the sigma cpu being a bluray chip has nothing to do with the network issues. the chip itself has no control over the network its handles by a separate MAC chip. which connects to one of the bus channels on the sigma chip I think in the next 3 years the media market will change. first we have to see what marvell brings to the market, s This is my break down Sigma - good video/audio chip terrible general purpose cpu, Hopefully 8910 fixes this realtek - stay away until someone comes out with a working player for it almost all have suffered some form of audio problems. marvell - hope to see big things from them but being new to the market it might be trial and error for awhile, ce4100 - great general purpose cpu, Video/audio decoders need more work for the higher bitrate content intel/ion - should stay on a pc will never make a good media player combo. arm/tegra - make for a decent low cost player but again suffer with high bitrate content. the main players I see left will be sigma 8910, vs the next intel ce model vs the marvell chip will shape the direction the market goes. |
| Posted by Masbango - 08-21-2011 10:26 PM |
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I have also brought a Boxee Box. Primary reason was that it supprort more files formats Second, it had a html-5 browser with Flash 10.1 that can play H.264 flash format but also the old On2 VP6 (H.263 based format). Boxee with Intel CE4100 has put more emphasis on broader file compatibility. Pros: 1. Wider file compatibility (.flv, .fla, On2 VP6, DV AVI, AVCHD from new camara's) 2. Browser with Flash 10.1 3. Fast movie scrapper and nice UI 4. 'Catchup Service' available using third party respositories without the need of a PC 5. Lot of online service 6. Fast network interface Cons: 1. Closed architecture 2. No fast forward, pause, slow, play and stop button available on the remote. The Boxee Box is now my main file playing device and the pch-a110 is used as a download device. The pch-a110 has Oversight, Zebedee, Feedtime and SickBeard installed. The new firmware of Boxee Box has NFS and SMB support. Quote:chris57 Online My first media player was popcorn hour a-110 in 2008 to play downloaded Usenet and torrent files in divx and mkv format. I was fed up to couple and decouple my laptop to the tv. During the time a saw a community began building porting and building application for the popcorn hour. The first third party application I inmediatly installed was the telnet deamon. At that there was no CSI, you had to downloaded and installend via a usb stick. Next somenone extended the unrar.sh script so it can extrect .ts files. Afterthat cam Tnzb, Oversight and later Feedtime. When C-200 was launched I was planning to buy it , but due to some negative point I didn't: 1. No PTY support in the kernel, hence no telnet support 2. It was not sure which third party apps could be migrated from pch-a110 to C-200. The mpd thread proved that migrating may be tricky without a SDK. 3. Had the feeling that C-200 was rushed to the marked 4. C-200 had some regression as no rtsp support compared pch-a110 The only positive points where: 1. support for Blu-ray and AVCHD 2. Faster CPU 3. Bigger enclosure that can house a Blu-ray drive and/or harddisc If you are aiming for quality then you need to target the audiophile markert, but I doubt the Network Media Tank concept is the best concept for this market. The Network Media Tank concept is too much a DIY solution. A solution like Dune, where everythings is already build in with a optical reader and harddisk with simple UI, is more suitable this market. The Network Media Tank concept I understand is a media player where add an internal strorage device for storing media files (audio,video and photo) using networking technology have the capability to access media files on other storage device using network technology play different media files stored on the internal or extermal storage devices open architecture on software level where you can add third party applicationsThe problem is not the concept but there is processor available to fullfil this requerements. Sigma Design processors are build primary for Blu-ray players hence their bad performance with networking, low performance general processor and closed SDK where you cannot access the video and audio part. I don't think that majority of people who buys mediaplayers first priority is picture quality. The majority buying mediaplayer, in Europe, wants to play downloaded Usenet and Torrent files. If they want the highest quality then they will buy the Blu-ray disc and play it on audiophile quality blu-ray player and project the output with a first class projector. Their highest priority is file compatibility. Download a file from Usenet and Torrent and play it without the need to reconvert and remuxed the file. My conclusion is that Syabas is missing the boat. Stores like Media Markt (comparable with Best Buys in US) didn't had any mediaplayers on there shelf. Media players where primary sold by computer stores.Now Media Markt has alot of media players on their shelfes. But none of these are popcorn hour devices. Dune, AC Ryan, Westen Digital and Boxee Box. The succes of the NMT has attracted other companies to introduce media players and add streaming capabilities to their devices. Companies like Western Digital, Dune, Seagate, Medior and AC Ryan entered the market with their mediaplayers. Realtek came with a lower priced processor. Ion-based pc's is also available. Software like XBMC, Plex and Boxee has advanced and are veru user friendly. Other appliances like TV, Blu-ray players, Tablets are offering basic streaming and file players capabilities. So there are a lot of solutions for the customers to choose now. |
| Posted by Temujin - 08-20-2011 01:59 AM |
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I'm looking to jump ship now too seeing that the firmware updates are starting to take shape and resolve some of the issues the Boxee had at launch. I'm just tired of all the editing and coding and fixing of things on the A210. I have a few friends and some people on another board that absolutely love it. I have a wife and 2 kids, I don't have time for all the coding and fixing, plus the wife is gettin' steamed cuz I'm always have to 'fix' the expensive toy I got cuz it was supposed to be awesome. I may not sell the A210 just yet, as I'm still on the fence if I'll like the BB, but it certainly looks like a LOT less work. I haven't found out if the audio dropouts issue has been fixed and if relates to just watching hd movies with DTS streams or if it;'s just related to DTS audio, uncertain if there's a difference. Does seem like there's still active development on content and firmware for the BB so I'm def considering it. |
| Posted by semipcgeek - 08-20-2011 12:22 AM |
| I have a Boxee Box and I love it. Only reason I have it is that on a cost-effective means, it can match an HTPC that I cannot afford at this time. I have a Blu-ray player. I am also located in the states. The thing I love about the BB compared to my old WD media, compared to my player is the online content as well as Netflix streaming. My player has NF, but only if I have things in my Instant Queue, which defeats the purpose of getting up to use a computer. the WD Media did not have NF at the time, but their newer models have it at the same price as the BB. The BB gives me NF, and I can go around and select other titles, much like as if I was using a computer. BB does not have Amazon yet, but is something they are planning, as I am not seeing it listed in my channels yet. The BB also plays Blu-ray ISO's, minus the menu navigation (which is why I'm here, looking to get the C-200). The only gripe I have on the BB is the remote, and that I can't get BBC's iplayer. Ok, that's two gripes. The remote is genius with the keyboard on the flip side, but forget about it if you are in darkness. For some odd-ball reason, they thought it was a brilliant idea to use dark grey ink on a black remote, and is difficult to see. BBC is just that, only available in UK. Kinda wish I had the ability to view it. |
| Posted by maddog - 08-19-2011 03:23 PM |
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Just as an addendum to this, got a dual core e-machine for £120 on it's way so I'm going to give XBMC a go now, so I'm now running Popcorn, Boxee and soon XBMC Don't think anything will replace my C-200 for playing movies and TV |
| This thread has more than 15 replies. Read the whole thread. |