Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Boxee Box review

Boxee Box - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly...

After researching all the options out there to stream content to my TV/Home Theatre, I ended up with Boxee Box and a slight feeling of guilt that I didn't choose Apple TV. Roku and the others didn't stack up once I got into the nitty-gritty of performance and options.  Here's my take on Boxee Box…

THE GOOD:
·1080p resolution.  Yeah yeah, not a lot of content today.  So what?  When buying a TV these days you only really need to be concerned with two things; 1080p (not just 1080i) and 120Hz (not 60Hz).  Ever see 1080p content on a 1080p display?  WOW!

·Boxee Box "itself" looks awesome!  Any picture you see online doesn't do it justice.  Slick, slick, slick!

·The remote control is smart too.  Full QWERTY keyboard on the back and "Apple-like simplicity" on the front with just the navi functions.  AND it's RF!  No "line of site" limitations here.

THE BAD:
·The extra $100 for Boxee Box is only $100.  Get over it.

·Setup was quick but connecting to my network was a nightmare.  This is about the only area that Apple TV wins the comparison joust.  Apple TV syncs just like you would expect it to; smooth and quick.  Streaming from your iPhone or other Apple product to Apple TV is straight forward.  Getting Boxee Box going was not.

·Coming out of "sleep mode", has crashed my Boxee Box enough times now to mention it in this review.  Not all the time, but enough to make me think twice about turning it on.  A little voice in my head always asks me "do I have 10 minutes do F around if it doesn't start?"

THE UGLY:
·Despite the simple to use GUI OS, navigating through my networked folders and files needs improvement…and quick!  Even my PS3 streams content with more stability.

·Streaming te--nds t-o b--e ji-tt-er-y t-oo mu-ch an-d t--oo oft-en.

·As a "test", I emailed Boxee's customer support and although I did get a reply back, it was three days later and the reply I received appeared to be written by someone that clearly did not spend more than 5 seconds reading my inquiry in the first place.  Fail.

OVERALL:
I would likely buy Boxee Box again but only because Apple TV is still way behind with free content and Apps.  Ironic isn't it?

PS - The iPhone app for Boxee (called Boxee Remote) is solid…and a free DL at the App Store.

Chris...