No idea, guess we'll see.


I don't think I'll mind that. After all (and I'm not at my home theater so I can't confirm this), the way it is now, can't you click on "Movies" in the drop-down without going to the sub-options? It brings them up, but if you just click on "Movies" or "TV Shows," it takes you right to the "All" screen. I gather that with this change, it would take you right to your own files. That sounds fine to me.


Yeah, I'm kinda worried about that too...

I've read some speculation in the forums that the changes with 1.0, basically abandoning the previous UI, were motivated by Dlink. SO this may be a case of the Boxee guys scrambling to try and put back whatever past functionality they previously had while struggling with the Dlink relationship. No idea if that's even remotely true.

do recall from CES that there was supposed to be another product featuring Boxee on-board, but I haven't heard anything about it since that time. I'm not sure if any other moderately significant players would be interested in deploying a Boxee-powered product. What would the differentiator be? Especially since this product is already positioned in large part as a Boxee product ("Boxee Box" name and all).

If you ant to see something rather simple presented in convoluted fashion, look at the screenshot showing the revision to the library scanning frequency. Even the title of the option needs work/clarity, never mind they have at least one, but more like two options too many to choose from.

I would be a bit shocked if this were true. I don't think I'd listen much to the users on those forums. If it were true, though, the thought of D-Link dictating interface design is one of the most hilarious things I've heard this month. They make okay inexpensive consumer hardware, but every D-Link UI I've seen is hideous. Their router config screens have always been a mess, even more than Linksys.


I'm not sure what the shock here is. It looks identical to the current screen, but with the "hourly" option on it. Have you not seen that screen before? And how is 4 options too many? They give you the following source scan frequencies:

• Never - you want to add the source, but not have it show up in your metadata-tagged library. You could still browse to it somewhat quickly
• Once - if you don't plan on making changes to a source, why make the Box keep scanning it?
• Daily
• Hourly

As for the last two, it's just down to the frequency at which items are added to the sources. Lets say you have a Bittorrent RSS feed set up, so that items get downloaded and added to the source all automatically. I'll give you that the daily scan is probably not needed, but some people might want it.

For me, the daily scan isn't great, but others might find it useful. Really, I just wish it would scan based on something the user did, like going to browse your local files. I'd love to know how much work the Box has to do to scan the files. Apparently running scans are halted whenever you start playing video, so I guess the Box doesn't have enough overheard to do both tasks at the same time...

Ok, first, they call it scan "types" which is kind of lame for both people who are technical and those who are not.

They have always had four options in the betas. That "hourly" is not new, it's just new to 1.0 and the title "hourly" itself is new. At some point you have to stop adding convoluted options, and IMO, those four aren't all needed. Someone will ask for options for 5 hours, 2 hours, every three days, etc.

The Never and Once items for instance will do the same thing on an ongoing basis. The only difference is at the point you make the addition. Ok, remove the once option and just do a manual scan when you first add it. The "once" option doesn't make any sense on a persistent setting - when is that "once?" What happens when you go back to this settings page? What does the "once" mean then? Ambiguity.

I'd first rename the whole option so it's indicative of what it actually does. I probably wouldn't label it "Scanning Frequency" though it's more accurate. I'd have to look at the screen again and give it a few minutes of thought. Maybe "Automatic Scanning"

Then I'd probably leave it with two items to choose from. Never (off) and "Scan on a schedule" - this last option would then allow you to scroll through sub-options to make sure everyone is appeased: Every "1...24 hours, 48 hours, weekly, monthly"


Anyway, it was just an example of them just quickly stuffing options.



I agree, though it would be better with a different trigger. That is, I'd like it to check even more regularly than hourly, but do so in a way that has negligible or no impact if the filesystem hasn't been touched. Not sure if the mod date on the added folder would be suitable for this.

Having it work while using the UI and watching videos would also be ideal, they really need to lower the impact and throttle the scan so it can happen. I'd hate to add a few movies and then sit there for hours doing something else non-Boxee related before they show up and I can watch them. I know I can browse the filesystem to hit them right away though.

Meh, if this bothered me at all, it would be at the absolute bottom of the list of things I'd like to see them fix...

FWIW, NewEgg has a special on an Atom D510/NM10 bookshelf system with 4GB RAM for $130 with free shipping.

Nice deal. Of course, I need to point out that you'll need to add a hard drive, wireless adapter (if desired), and some method to control it. That'll probably add up to about the same amount as the Boxee Box or more, but you do get more control over the system.

I'm sad about the rare Newegg image fail. They have two shots of the front, one of the side, and one of the contents. No shot of the back? That's not like you, Newegg! *edit* actually, I can't find a shot of the back anywhere on the web */edit*

*edit*
Um, I should also point out that there are no HDMI ports on that box. Or even DVI. Sorry, Bitt, but that's not a very good HTPC. It looks like they're trying to push out old models.

Sorry. Good point. I just assumed.

That said, my HTPC is running (or, rather, is intended to run) solely over the network. No local hard drive or other storage at all.

I'm very very happy with the Zotac HD-ID11 box I purchased last month. It runs Mythtv about as flawlessly as anything else.

It has DVI-D/A, HDMI, SVGA output (via included adapter), with audio over HDMI as well as via SPDIF optical, plus eSATA, USB2, etc..

Nice box.

Cheers

Any word on the latest firmware update? Recent news on the Google TV front hasn't been good, so I'm leaning in the Boxee direction now. How's the new build look?

I just came online to ask the same question. I've been away for just over a week without any net access, so I've yet to even reconnect the Boxee Box to download the update.

The update did exactly what I wanted it to do: put my local content front and center (if I want it to be - you can still set it the other way).

So now, when you bring up the pop-up menu and select "Shows," it immediately takes you to your own shows, which is just what I wanted. I believe "Apps" even takes you to your favorited apps instead of the full list of apps like it did before (I think - I have to test that again).

I haven't delved into the other stuff much, though. I can't even remember what the other changes were. There's sorting stuff, but I don't need that yet.

Other than some bug fixes, the only real major issue with the Boxee Box is the lack of content partners they promised would come. I'm pretty sure they're well past the vague timeframe they gave for Netflix, and closing in on when they promised Vudu. I believe there was no timeframe on Hulu Plus, and given their past battles I'm not surprised it's taking a bit of time.

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if they had another update out by the end of the week, if not the end of the year. At least, that's my hope...

Yeah, I'm concerned about the lack of Netflix. I don't expect Hulu, but it sure would be nice.

Has any progress been made hacking the system to run other things? I don't expect it to be a general-purpose workhorse machine, but I was hoping I'd be able to get a Squeezebox server onto it at some point if that's possible.

Yes. Boxee/DLink close each hole though so if the latest version isn't listed there then its not hacked yet.

Looking at the list of firmware versions, the latest version is 1.0.2.16619 which came out last week and is not currently hackable. At least not publicly.

Ah, neat, I'll keep an eye on that wiki. Bummer that they're not more laissez-faire about running other things on the device, but I can't say I'm surprised.

Previous (unofficial) announcements from Boxee staff indicated that they wouldn't be opposed to people running other things on the box and I believe that they wouldn't be taking active measures to prevent it. I wish I could locate that info now...

Is that at the OS level or Boxee app level?

OS level. I think it might have been mentioned most recently in a thread where someone asked about the possibility of installing XBMC in place of the Boxee app onto the box.

Yeah, it'd be a shame if they reversed that position, or turned a hands-off unofficial position into a more draconian official position.

It does sound like SP3, the next update, is going to be the one to finally address some of these issues in earnest. Apparently there were plenty of bugs left behind with the current release, including messed up networking support, excessive file buffering, some codec errors, wiping of some settings, broken watched/unwatched flagging, etc.

Apparently SP3 will also bring the ability to ignore "the" when sorting. But it's still as yet unknown (to me anyone not previewing that alpha/beta) how this is implemented. Some people were asking for ignoring of "A" as well, and I don't believe that would work very well as a default.

While this past release brought the ability to put your local collection front and center, it is still mixing online content within your content. However, instead of adding in new titles it's only doing this for episodes for TV shows - like the old betas worked. There don't seem to be any plans to stop doing this. It has its pluses and minuses, but the lack of labeling and clarity is what made it a huge PITA in the past - you didn't know which items were local nor which were sourced from the net (nor their quality).

I'm going to wait until SP3 before reconnecting the box - that should be here next week sometime.

And as much as I'd like to see the next update for Boxee, what I really want is the ladies of the iPhone Dev Team and their friends to stop bickering and talking about their curling irons long enough to release a new untethered Jailbreak for iPhone 4 already.

I've been informed by a Boxee team member that there's a bug fix for a big annoyance I was having. When watching MKVs, at the points where commercial breaks were removed the Box would rebuffer the video, causing an annoying break-up of the playback. It also seemed to happen randomly on other files that didn't even have commercials.

I'm glad to hear they'll ignore "The." That will help when looking for my movie files. I don't know who was asking for "A" to be ignored. I'm pretty sure that's not correct for this type of thing. "A History of Violence" is not supposed to be under H.

I, too, wish they wouldn't show you online sources for episodes of shows in your collection, but that part doesn't bother me too much. I'd much rather they add Netflix

Also, Bruno, I'm pretty sure they said they'd finally cache the cover art. That's a big annoyance for me. At the very least they should store that in a thumbnail file or something.

Sane people, because: yes; yes, it is supposed to be under 'H'. (Chicago Manual of Style §18.55)

Interesting. I wasn't aware of that. Oh well, it doesn't matter to me as I don't have any movies with a title like that. So yeah, whatever.

Thankfully "A-Team" has a dash in it.

So, what's the mapping, if any, of the Boxee downloadable application versions (e.g. 0.9.23.15885) to Boxee Box firmware versions (e.g. 1.0.2.16619)? Is it only the last number that's significant for purposes of comparison, and will they be kept in sync?

I ask because I spent some of this weekend reconstituting my old Macbook Pro into a Boxee machine. I figure if the Box doesn't overwhelm me, a little bit of hacking could make my old laptop running in clamshell mode an acceptable stopgap solution. The only wrinkle is infrared input, which is apparently a giant hassle on Macs -- I've tested out a hackish solution involving my Squeezebox receiving IR commands and forwarding them to my Mac, which seems like it might work.

Anyway, my initial tour of Boxee's functionality (it's been at least a year since I looked at it) seems promising, but I'm wondering if what I see in the Boxee app for Mac maps 1:1 to Boxee Box features. Any guidance on that?

The Boxee versions are linear. That means you're running something considerably older on the Mac than what's available on the Box. The versions will (eventually) catch up - supposedly.

What difficulties are you having with IR input on the Mac? Some machines have built-in receivers (your MBP should) and those that don't can use a USB IR receiver (I sell them every day).

Strange that they run newer builds on the "production" boxes. Though, I guess that does give people an incentive to buy them.

My issue is I don't want to use the lame Apple remote -- I just want to use my universal. In my Googling, I haven't found any easy solutions for general IR input using the built-in sensor. I've seen those Keyspan remotes around with their special dongles, and apparently those can read custom IR codes, and it looks like recent Macports builds of lirc can work with IguanaIR receivers, but that means buying something when I have a perfectly good IR receiver sitting in my entertainment system already on my Squeezebox.

If there's an easy solution for getting the built-in Apple IR sensor to read input from a universal remote to control Boxee, I'd be interested in hearing about it, but I couldn't find anything.

The built-in sensor will never read arbitrary IR remote signals without a ground-up re-implementation of its firmware. It does decoding in firmware and even the driver layer only sees the decoded messages.

The easiest solution to using a universal remote is simply to send Apple IR codes from the universal remote. The machine will simply think you're using an Apple remote - but of course that limits you to 6 buttons. Without using third-party remote apps, other software typically only recognizes those 6 buttons anyway.

Using my receiver, it's technically possible to receive any number of codes in any protocol. However the software I currently sell is geared toward the Apple remote. That's going to change, but I don't know when I'll be shipping additional software yet.

The receiver however *IS* supported by Lirc as an MCE receiver (a number of customers are using it under Linux). So if you can get Lirc up and running you can use any remote codes you want and as many of them as you want.

Back to Boxee... The new software and UI still need a lot of work. I believe they want to stabilize this before they bring it back to the general release platform.

I agree, though with this last update, for the first time I'm very happy with the day-to-day use of the device, at least for viewing my own content. The omission of Netflix is still a pretty glaring problem for them right now. In these days where nearly every home theater device seems to have Netflix, they really need to get the service into their Box ASAP. I can live without Vudu and Hulu, but Netflix is essential.

I take it that your receiver just samples, and leaves code synchronization, detection, and mapping to the host software? Or does it have some way to download code to an onboard PIC or something?

(and don't answer any of that if you would rather not, for business reasons)

I recently mated a standard 3-pin 38Khz IR detector to one of those SparkFun FT232R (USB to serial) boards that I like so much. No extra components, and LIRC is happy to use pretty much any remote control with it.

But LIRC does annoy, in that button codes don't appear to get passed to MythTV until the "release event", or until the button is held down much longer than normal. This feels very unnatural -- compare with how the empeg R/C works, a much better implementation.

I think I see some LIRC hacking in my future..

Cheers