Wow, that's pretty damn cool that the Box will also support IR dongles. Damn, that's a cool company with a really cool product. Waiting until the end of June (and possibly longer) is going to be very difficult And no, I really don't feel like building a box myself

I would have preferred an IR receiver built-in, but it's likely the board used was a reference design that didn't include one initially. For setting this up in a shared home theater or custom environment, IR is pretty much mandatory.

I think I'm going to test my IR receivers with a Windows installation of Boxee and then I'm going to contact them to see if they'd like a couple of receivers for testing. Of course I'll also ask them if I might get a Boxee Box for testing...

Anyone know what kind of hardware you need to use Boxee on a PC? I have an oldish PC (P4 2.8GHz with ATI HD2600 graphics card) and running with 2 screens, 800x600 (built into the box) and my TV. If I try to use Boxee on the TV, everything stutters and CPU load is 100% constantly. I couldn't get DVI/HDMI to work so I'm using VGA and it is max 1366x768 without panning on the TV. Even with this it stutters. If I try it on the built-in screen, everything is fluid. Is it just too weak hardware? I'm using the latest video drivers and all Windows updates.

Stig

Sorry, I just wanted to clarify one thing, you're running on two monitors and a TV at the same time?

Nope, one monitor and one TV.

Stig

You should be able to run decent video playback on that system whether it be from Boxee or another program. The performance on either output of the ATI HD2600 should be identical per resolution. That is, you should see the same behavior at on either port given the same output resolution.

Outputting video at higher resolution isn't generally very taxing either, so you won't necessarily experience much more load at 1920x1080 than you would at 1280x720. Example: playing a 640x300 video at either output resolution (full screen or otherwise) should be a cake-walk for that system.

The most taxing aspect of playback is the video decode and that's proportional to the resolution of the video file itself. And of course also depends heavily on the codec used to compress it. If you have assisted hardware decode this is going to help a lot, otherwise it's going to be all CPU. In this case, it also shouldn't matter where you're outputting the video with respect to the ATI card.

The stuttering I have is even without playing any videos. I can see it on the mouse behaviour. It happens as soon as I start the program when it is being shown on the TV. I can also see that when I start Boxee, there seem to be some resolution changes. I can see this because the built-in touchscreen pops up the calibration screen and this happens everytime there's a change in the graphics output.

Stig

Let's take Boxee completely out of the picture for a moment. Do you see any type of performance issues with the second display running other software? How about playing a video in a web browser or Windows Media player and moving it over to taht screen?

I installed VLC (hadn't gotten around to do it yet) and it has no problems playing on the TV. Installed XBMC, doesn't have any problems either playing videos on the TV.

In Boxee, as soon as I select to use the second screen (TV) and Test, movement starts to be jerky. I tried playing a videofile with Boxee on the TV. After it had tried to open it for playing for about 5 minutes, I didn't bother waiting anymore. With Boxee on the small screen, it played without any problems, using about 25 - 40% CPU. It was bouncing between 70 and 100% when in the menus.

Stig

Having looked at all the advice, I thought that I'd try the Western Digital, and if I didn't like it, I could always stick it back on Amazon marketplace. I've been held up by being sent a dud one.
It does everything that I want, very satisfactorily. For my money the only thing that would improve it would be to have shortcuts to your most used folders on the main menu and, perhaps, to be able to replace the screensaver with something more interesting, perhaps a slide show.

That's one of my chief complaints as well. It seems like I need to drill down about 5 layers to even start browsing for the file I want. That's mostly if it's on a network drive, but that's the only place I'll have media.


Funny enough, my single favorite thing about the AppleTV is its fantastic slideshow. I could watch it for an hour as it cycles through all the photos. That was my dad's favorite feature too. I wonder if it's patented

Just noticed that the Boxee beta update from April 19th now includes manual media correction and addition. This will allow you to fix things Boxee has mis-identified as well as add things Boxee couldn't or wouldn't identify at all on its own.

I haven't tried the new version myself yet, but hope to give it a shot in the next few days. I don't use it full-time either since I don't have a silent nor low-power machine I can leave it running on. All testing is being done on my primary MacBook Pro in anticipation of what will be available in the stand-alone Boxee Box.

That's good news, although I've found that it has started recognizing things almost immediately for me. I'm still using the Windows application, and every time I launch it I'm more eager to get the Boxee Box. Going from that interface to the WDTV Live is such a step down.

One thing Boxee seriously needs to work on, though, is their app repository. Apparently it's been down for MONTHS!! That needs to change.

But really, what they need to do is give us a freaking release date for the Box. What the heck is taking them so long? I suspect that the bulk of their work is on the software, because I'd have to imagine that the hardware is doable...

I'm pretty sure the box is entirely in Dlink's hands apart from getting updated builds of Boxee beta. I look for any news regarding the box every now and then, but I haven't seen anything since January. That's how I ended up at Boxee's site yesterday in fact.

I wouldn't expect the box to arrive until some time in late June at the earliest. If we were getting close to seeing Boxee out of beta, that might be a better indicator (if Dlink is waiting on the software).

What I've been unable to do with the latest version of Boxee is get it to properly recognize the BBC Robin Hood series. I go through the normal steps of correction and pick the proper listing (Robin Hood (2006) (TV)) but it simply won't update its DB. The best I've managed is for it to show a correct cover image for a couple of episodes.

I think the DB correction still needs some work.

The Boxee Box has been delayed until November.

It had started to look like it wasn't going to make a summer release for a while now. There just seems to be a lot to do with the software yet - it's still in beta without signs of being complete anytime soon.

Fingers crossed it's going to run well on that Tegra 2 platform - which is going to start looking really old if November slips to January.

As long as it can comfortably play 1080p, which is to say, run well, what difference does "old" make?

That said, I'm kinda glad it got delayed. Now I have a decent reason to try and build something myself that doesn't have that absurd silhouette.

Yeah, I saw their tweet. I'm pretty disappointed.

But like you, Bitt, I might try and rig something up in the meantime...

Just playing 1080p is easy with hardware that existed two years ago, especially if you wanted to stick with a SoC. The issue is whether they include enough under the hood to deal with emerging technology. For instance, does anyone recall what HDMI version the box was spec'd with? NVIDIA are also moving to better things and I doubt the retail price is going to drop when it's released, meanwhile we might see some competition implementing Tegra 3.

If you guys can figure out how to build a dead silent box to run Boxee in anywhere near the same footprint for even close to $200, let me know. I don't think it can be done by a long shot.

But there are different "levels" of being able to play 1080p (or 1080i or 720p or even 480i etc..).

Quality of the end result (moving pictures) can vary greatly, depending upon the algorithms and horsepower applied to the problem.

I used to think, wow it can do 1080p, that's as good as it gets. Except it isn't (always).

Over the past two years, I've progressed here from Wow! at seeing O.T.A. DTV for the first time, to noticing jaggies, to getting rid of the jaggies, to noticing certain kinds of motion blur, to eliminating those, to noticing blocky shadows, to smoothing those etc..

Each evolution took a new level of hardware and playback algorithms.

I think it all looks rather nice here now, watching the World Cup Finals. But I'm sure it's really rubbish, and I just don't realize it yet.

I never said that I wouldn't be getting the box when it eventually comes out, did I? So, uh, what's my alternative for the next six months?

And Mark, you've pointed out exactly why I'm worried the Tegra 2 is going to be somewhat old by the end of the year.

The BeagleBoard could do it but the XBMC port isn't quite there yet last time I checked.

At the end of the day, you'll be spending a lot of money and time replicating something you can buy for $200 even if it is does come in an odd shape enclosure so you have to decide whether it is worth it for you. You'll get a lot more options and freedom with your own box but you'll pay for that with time and money.

I assume that other manufacturers will come out with Boxee boxes anyway and you won't be restricted to the D-Link cube.

First off, screw Boxee. I used it and hated it. I'm back to using XBMC after leaving it for the Popcorn Hour because my Xbox couldn't play the content I wanted it to. However, XBMC is quite stable on more platforms (which you probably knew, seeing as Boxee is just a fork of XBMC) than just the Xbox now (in fact, they recently announced they will no longer maintain the Xbox branch). With the inclusion of VDPAU support building a box that can decode 1080p is even easier now. The Atom 330 plus Nvidia Ion is a pretty solid 1080p decoding platform.

I didn't imply that you weren't going to get the Boxee Box. I was just being inquisitive and dead serious. If anyone can figure out how to put together a box for around $200 I'm TOTALLY interested. Mainly because I want one NOW.

Chiming in here, semi-randomly, my AppleTV, which I've been using for occasional Boxee duties, has been failing in a variety of interesting ways. I've mostly convinced myself that it's an overheating problem. Apple apparently mounted the motherboard such that the CPU chip is flush with the metal case (with thermal paste between), such that the whole case is the heat sink. Well, to keep my AppleTV running, I've taken to putting an ice-pack on it while watching TV.

Needless to say, I consider this to be a stop-gap solution until something better is available. I'm decidedly unhappy that the Boxee Box is delayed, and my new TiVo Premiere (which replaced my recently and untimely deceased TiVo HD) is hardly the awesome all-in-one solution that they claim for it on their web site. Really, it's just a modestly improved version of the same thing they had three years ago.

TiVo haven't been able to do anything truly new or remarkable in over 10 years. It's a shame, but they've only themselves to blame for their stagnation.

In this area I will agree with you completely. I freaking LOVE Tivo, but since their first product, they've only done the bare minimum to keep their product up to date, and it shows.


That's the thing, I'm not. I'm going to repurpose an old PC and live with it until the Box comes out. Otherwise, why on earth would I spend $200 now just to spend it later?


Well, first off, that's subjective. I like the Boxee interface once it's all set up.


True, but you'll be spending, at the very least, $250 for a box with ION in it, and then you still don't have the incredible remote that Boxee will be offering. They'll sell it separately, but I'm sure it'll be at least $25 on it's own, so you're talking about $75 more, and it's not a purpose-built box.

It might not be purpose built, but that means you could reuse it elsewhere, if you decide that you'll like the D-Link unit better.