Here's an "RC" rebuild of the SP3 firmware just posted today. They're not kicking it live for all the boxes just yet, but they've asked people in the forum to take a look at it if they want to try it out first:

Boxee firmware RC 1.0.3.17028

Frankly, none of those changes are enough to make me eager enough to test out the new firmware. I'll hold out until they're ready to push it.

Now, if it had Netflix, I'd be all over it!

Well I took the plunge for you. Resetting wipes all settings on the device, so the Box is currently rescanning all my media folders. I suspect that's going to take at least the rest of the day.

I suppose the main thing I'm looking for here is less crashiness and some additional pep in the UI. I'll be happy if the FFWD/REW and buffering performance is improved, but I seriously doubt it. In terms of features there's only one I'm expecting, article filtering on sort.

Okay, I'm a little pissed off right now, and I don't think it's Boxee's fault (until I have evidence to the contrary). Last night I wanted to show a guest a couple videos that I had added to my "Watch Later" list. I pulled up the first video and it just wouldn't play. So I tried another - nope. So then I tried going to the Youtube Leanback app. The audio played but not the video. Then I tried the Boxee Browser app. No audio or video.

Currently there's a thread on Boxee's forums full of people having the same problem. How about you, Bruno? At this point it's only speculation, but many are thinking Youtube might have finally blocked other boxes from getting their content. They said they'd do this a long time ago, but it looks like they might have just gotten around to it. If that's the case, then I am really pissed off at Google right now...

I don't use YouTube at all, so I don't know. I can check though. I can also check using SageTV to see if it's working there. It doesn't use a YouTube app.

The latest firmware is better and almost worth it alone for the better sorting, but it still has plenty of issues. Like I said, I don't think they'll be able to get through all the issues in any less than a half dozen updates over the next 6 or so months.

My biggest complaints right now are still the scanner, video playback buffering and UI/remote unresponsiveness at times.

I can still hit YouTube from my Apple TV- is that different?

Boxee Box users are thinking that it might be an issue with this. Perhaps Apple simply paid the fee?

If that isn't the issue, nobody is saying otherwise. Boxee has been completely silent on Twitter since CES, and nobody there is responding to the users. I'm finding this to be the most disconcerting development so far. When I have visitors over and want to show them videos I want to know that the device I spent $200 on is going to work. Even if this isn't Boxee's fault, they need to talk to their users. I'm really frustrated here.

*edit*
According to the update to this article, it seems neither Boxee nor Google know off-hand what the problem is. It seems to me that if there must be something Google changed, since Boxee hasn't changed in a month or two...

*edit 2*
Seems I was correct:

So now Boxee is on the D-Link Boxee Box, Iomega Boxee NAS thing, Viewsonic Boxee TV and now Boxee iPad? I don't see the desktop versions ever getting updated!

It certainly seems like it'll be a long while before that happens. At the very least it seems they'll be working on getting Netflix working on their devices first.

It looks like Google has fixed whatever they did to screw up playback for Boxee. I'm a little worried that now they know how to break playback

1.0.3 RC2 has been uploaded with a few more fixes.

http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=26275

They already know how. Its not difficult for Google or any other provider to disable unauthorised playback devices/apps. Adobe already have a DRM streaming system for FLV and SWF verification to stop you from accessing something without the official player. Thats not to say that you can't, just that its harder to do and starts a game of cat & mouse if you really want to do it which will cause issues with the DMCA in the US if you do.

vudu is apparently working on Boxee

I haven't tried it myself, but I might try watching a movie tonight...

I'm pretty sure I already have everything in Vudu's library stored here locally.

It doesn't matter anyway, I can't get it to work on my Box, so I don't know what the story is...

*edit*
apparently it was a mistake. crud...

I tried Plex last night to see if it was any better than Boxee but the UI seemed to be very clunky even though its yet another design thats supposed to work from 10 feet away. You have to do everything with a keyboard or Apple Remote as well which was a little annoying.

This probably deserves its own thread, but I feel nobody gives them enough credit to dedicate a whole thread to it.

http://xbmc.org/theuni/2011/01/05/xbmc-port-from-sigma/

http://xbmc.org/theuni/2011/01/12/more-about-sigma/


I still feel like Boxee has nothing to offer me as I don't care about non-local content. Reading through this thread I see you lot talking about local content quite a bit. XBMC is still the choice for me. If it's in a set-top box it might be able to be the choice for you.

As has been discussed many times in previous threads, you can't build a box like the Boxee Box using XBMC or anything else for $200. I know you'll then come back to me with a list of parts, but remember you also have to include the unique RF remote and all the cables

I don't have anything against XBMC, and I'm sorry if you feel it's not getting enough love. Who's keeping you from starting your own thread on XBMC? This forum doesn't require popularity on a subject to start a thread. Hell, just look at this one and you'll see that 90% of it is a PM between Bruno and me

Lastly, I think Boxee is aiming (whether it's right or not) for the mass consumer market with their software. From what I've seen of XBMC, it's not something any of my clients could use. Now, I don't think Boxee is there either, but it's closer and I think they could figure it out.

I didn't click on the links (yet) but what I've heard is that there will be XBMC set top box coming out in the future based on the Sigma SoC. In that respect it won't be a build-your-own type of device, it will be a finished product. We'll have to see how they finish polishing up the interface, as I didn't like what I last saw running on a desktop.

I've told you a million times... stop exaggerating!

(As of now it's actually only 61.4%.)

tanstaafl.

Fair enough. I look forward to seeing what comes out of it. I'm a huge fan of this type of device, so I like looking into all of them.

One thing going against that product, though, is a very late entry into the market. For the first time ever, it's a market saturated with satisfactory-to-great products. So far none of them have much of a grasp on their users though (like an app store would create), so perhaps there's still room.


Haha! I love that you took the time to calculate it. This board is the best.

?

This is talk of a box you don't need a list of parts to use. Did you click the links? I'm done convincing you to build one (although, my fanart never doesn't work).

You're correct, I was a little quick to respond to certain parts of your post and didn't quite grasp what the articles were about.

I'll be interested in seeing what comes of that project, but I have to ask if you think it'll be ready any time soon. It looks like they have a long way to go.

Sorry for snipping at you, I'm just sick of platform wars around here, that's all, and you came off a little defensive out of nowhere like we'd been keeping you down for your love of XBMC for some reason. I want to avoid that in the future, so once again I'll try to be better about it So let your XBMC flag fly!

*edit*
ps- one last thing though: I honestly do not understand that last parenthetical statement...

That's a very arbitrary number. Eg. How about $195? Not even a Boxee at that price.
I know (fact) that one can assemble an even better system for under $250 now.

(Zotac HD-ID11 + SDcard + 1GB RAM + $10 remote + any number of expanded possibilities).

Cheers

Sorry, I guess you guys were talking about cover art. Whatever it was, your artwork for media was an issue at one point with Boxee. I was just getting my little jab back in.

Lol, I gotcha It is definitely an issue. Not that it doesn't work, just that it reloads it from the web every time, which is extremely slow and annoying. Supposedly the next update fixes that.


I don't think it's arbitrary. We're in a thread all about the Boxee Box, so when someone suggest an alternative, why wouldn't I compare to the Box's price?

I'm glad the prices are coming down, though. I wouldn't mind putting together an inexpensive computer for other purposes.

Would you mind providing a link to the remote you'd get for $10?

One might, but when asking for alternatives you're comparing boxee to others, so an exact price point (eg. $195, or $199.32) is pointless; what we want are comparisons in the same ballpark.

There are similar ($199) boxes to the HD-ID11 out there now, and some even include the $10 remote control in the base price. I don't have a link, as I don't have one of those. But I have seen them -- they do exist.


$9.60 Remote w/receiver

Nice (except that I'm seeing the usual $1 ~= £1 shenanigans). I quite fancy the Acer Aspire Revo R3700 as an HTPC -- I've got the R3610 as a fileserver and it's really small and quiet.

At the moment I'm making do with a Dell T1500 -- work provided it for working from home, but my existing desktop's faster.

Just ensure that whatever you get has "Ion2" graphics (512MB dedicated video RAM), and not the first generation "Ion" graphics (RAM shared with CPU).

The second generation NVidia "Ion2" is capable of full 1080p and can handle temporal/spatial 2X de-interlacing on any content. The first gen stuff stutters on much of that, despite dubious marketing claims.

Cheers

Getting further off-topic: does anyone have a recommendation for a small PC in this form factor that we're talking about, with price as the only option? Lets say I don't care about video at all, and all I need is a tiny form factor, low power, and as little money as possible.

Basically I want something for an always-on computer to serve files and be a possible hub for home automation. So the only ports it needs is USB. I don't need Windows bundled either.

Have you checked Newegg?