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Boxee Sits Comfortably Atop the Media Center Hill
What it is.
Boxee is the most hyped media center software to ever hit the market. It's supposed to change the way we watch TV, how we discover new content, and solve global warming. Okay, maybe not that last part, but you can only expect so much from what amounts to a prettied-up version of the open-source XBMC (Xbox Media Center).
What's different about it?
Boxee is a media center for the age of broadband and social networking. It doesn't just play media stored on your computer; it indexes hundreds (possibly thousands) of streaming videos from, amongst others: ABC, NBC, Comedy Central, and (thanks to a little browser-based trickery) Hulu. It's also a platform for widgets and apps that can pull in additional content from services like Pandora, Netflix, and MLB.TV. Plus, like any piece of software worth its digital weight in bytes, Boxee integrates with social networks like Twitter and Facebook for sharing what you're watching with others.
What we like.
The most compelling, and best, feature of Boxee is its ability to seamlessly combine video from all of the major Internet streaming sources into one easy-to-search library, and to automatically add new episodes to your queue. If that was all it did, Boxee would be well worth the free download.
Following what seems to be a growing trend, Boxee is a true cross-platform app. Versions are available to download for OS X, Windows, and Linux. And aside from the Linux version's inability to stream Netflix (which is addressed below), all three versions are feature complete. We're also big fans of the iPhone Boxee Remote app (when it works), which makes navigating from across the room much more pleasant than it would be with a standard media center remote.
Boxee's ability to cull information such as cast, plot synopsis, and even subtitles is also greatly appreciated. Just know that Boxee is very fickle about what it will recognize. So, take a tip from Lifehacker, and use TVRename to clean up those file names.
We're also quite fond of the new look. It's friendly, warm, and very Web 2.0 in all the best ways possible. It may take some exploration to master the more obscure menus and options, but we vastly prefer its look and organization to the spartan-to-a-fault design of Front Row and the unnecessary flash of WMC.
Then, there are the apps -- the add-ons that bring content and features to the Boxee platform. How this gallery of extensions matures will play an important part in how Boxee evolves as a media center. Will it simply be used to keep certain content partners happy by separating their products from the generic streaming media section? Or will it become a powerful hub for customizing and adding features, à la Firefox?
What we don't like.
We have two major complaints against the Boxee Beta, and honestly neither is really Boxee's fault. First and most important is its stability. It often froze when launching the browser. It stalled out following commercial breaks. The iPhone remote app constantly failed to connect. And, until we downloaded the Direct X SDK (which no regular user would have any reason to install), it simply refused to play any non-Flash video on our Windows 7 PC. But, then again, we've been spoiled by the likes of Google and Mozilla, both of whom slap a beta tag on products that are more than ready for prime-time. "Beta" is supposed to mean "test version"; it's supposed to mean there will be bugs. And when Boxee says "beta," Boxee means beta.
Our second major gripe is specific to the Linux version: no Netflix. Now, this isn't terribly shocking. Netflix's streaming service isn't supported on Linux -- or, at least, not openly. You see, the Boxee Box and the Roku both run Linux and both are able to stream Netflix. That indicates there are no technological hurdles to overcome. Netflix has constructed an artificial road block to thwart Linux viewers, and the aggravation is enough to make one cancel their account.
Is it worth the hype?
For at least one (admittedly adventurous) Switched writer, Boxee and a cheap Windows PC have replaced the traditional cable and DVR setup -- which should really say it all. Is it a truly revolutionary application? No, but it's far-and-away the best of its class.
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Comments
11
Subscribe to commentskamekoJan 26th 2010 12:55PM
i'm sorry but this thing is terrible. having used boxee beta for a while now, it is NOWHERE near consumer-ready. half of these touted streaming abilities from nbc/fox etc etc barely ever work. and when they do, its extremely buggy (can't forward or rewind without random hiccups/crashes constantly).
do yourself a favour and just buy an acer revo 3610 (now available for $299 canadian from futureshop/best buy) as your media player. in march, there will be a machine running for $249 as well. you will be able to run boxee, xbmc, whichever media front-end you want as well as using it for tons of other things (torrenting, etc etc).
this thing is not worth the estimated $199 price tag.
terrenceJan 26th 2010 1:47PM
@Kameko,
The review above is not of the Boxee Box, which is what we assume you're referring to when you note a $199 price tag, but merely the Beta software which will run on any PC. As noted it is still in beta meaning it is not consumer ready yet. However considering the box will be significantly cheaper than any nettop, including the Revo, and likely handle hi-def video better, it seems like a perfectly reasonable deal. Though we're reserving judgment till we get a proper hands-on with the device.
Ryan LawlerJan 26th 2010 1:04PM
I believe the lack of Netflix support on Linux comes from Netflix using Silverlight as its video plugin, which isn't totally supported on Linux right now. But Novell is building a compatible plugin called Moonlight, which may enable you to view Netflix on Linux.
terrenceJan 26th 2010 1:12PM
@Ryan Lawler
You're correct in stating that Netflix uses Silverlight which would explain the lack of Linux compatibility. But seeing as how both Roku, and we expect the Boxee Box, are capable of streaming Netflix, and running Linux it is clear that the hurdles are not purely technical. Netflix is preventing streaming to Linux based PCs for some reason (likely DRM issues) that has nothing to do with the technical capabilities of either Linux or the Moonlight plug in.
If issue is purely Netflix's choice of Silverlight, then we have two questions that remain unanswered.
1. How does streaming work on Roku and the Boxee Box?
2. Why choose Silverlight over the platform agnostic Flash?
kamekoJan 26th 2010 1:25PM
@terrence
in that case, i have several more issues with boxee (just the software).
-terrible scraping of tv shows/movies. at the moment you are supposed to submit erroneous scrapes to an online spreadsheet for boxee admins to fix. other xbmc players do this 100x better (plex, xbmc itself).
-boxee treats you like an idiot. it doesn't inform you of anything going on. you have no idea when it actually scans your sources, when its done, whether its doing it at all.
-the built-in browser is basically unusable. no idea how its based on firefox at all since it can barely render a website properly let alone actually let you click on links etc.
-for some reason, boxee beta lists EVERY single episode you have of a specific show in a single list, regardless of what season it is. makes absolutely no sense to me. other media players (xbmc, plex) allow much better control of how things are displayed as they both offer you several different 'views' of your content.
-zero control of how you want boxee to act. for some reason it just throws random internet hulu/nbc etc content right into your list of local files, making it seem like you actually have these available to watch. there seems to be no way to turn this off, nevermind the fact that hulu isn't even available in my country (and the geo-specific setting in boxee, surprise surprise, does not even work)
i am all for beta software and i understand there will be issues. the main reason i even tried out boxee was because i was interested in the boxee box hardware. boy was i completely blown away at how completely 'pre-alpha' the software felt compared to xbmc and plex.
the commercial boxee box hardware is supposedly going to go on sale in the next few months. i find this completely unfathomable at how this is supposedly going to happen. its also going to rely on not-so-stable flash beta 10 plugin to play content smoothly as well. dear lord...
terrenceJan 26th 2010 1:48PM
@kameko
We're not saying that Boxee is without faults, as I stated above, I've adopted it as my TV watching platform, but I'm admittedly adventurous and have no problem using true beta (or even) alpha quality software.
But some of your criticisms are misguided.
"-for some reason, boxee beta lists EVERY single episode you have of a specific show in a single list, regardless of what season it is."
Not true, if properly tagged your shows are broken up by season. Though it is true that is all presented in a single column view.
"-zero control of how you want boxee to act. for some reason it just throws random internet hulu/nbc etc content right into your list of local files, making it seem like you actually have these available to watch."
Again not true. Boxee only adds streaming shows your "my shows" list if you tell it to. Otherwise streaming is relegated to the Library, which is in our opinion one of the great features of Boxee since Hulu, NBC, etc are all in one place rather than navigating to different sites/apps.
"-boxee treats you like an idiot. it doesn't inform you of anything going on. you have no idea when it actually scans your sources, when its done, whether its doing it at all. "
Ok, that I agree with. I do find the lack of information about scanning sources frustrating. However, I will say that Boxee is not aimed at people interested in how their media center works, they just want it to do what its supposed to with minimal intrusion -- they may have taken that concept a bit far in some cases though.
Also know that we're not saying Boxee is the end all be all of media centers, just that it's (subjectively) the best we've tested. WMC, Front Row, XMBC, feel incomplete by comparison, even gimmicky in some cases. They're not aimed at your average consumer -- especially not XBMC. Boxee is the first media center product we've seen that hits all the right notes, even if it's a bit out of tune.
RalfJan 26th 2010 2:26PM
I agree with kameko, it lacks a lot and it is definitely not (yet) worth the full blown media hype it is getting. Plex was doing all the things that Boxee is doing now, only they started a year earlier. Since it is not platform wide available (mac only) it has not received the same attention (and something with $$). After using Plex for +1 year on my Mac Mini media center, I switched when the Boxee beta came out, and after 2 weeks I got so frustrated with it that I switched back. As you say, it has potential, but it needs a lot of work to be a full media center. I only hope they can deliver based on the current attention they receive.
Written by a disappointed Boxee (alpha) enthusiast.
JoeJan 26th 2010 2:57PM
I was happily using Boxee in its alpha stages for a few months, putting up with minor bugs (like Netflix completely missing certain shows randomly). However, with the recent beta release, it's felt like they took a few big steps backwards. Initially, I liked the new UI. It felt cleaner and more professional than in alpha.
However, after a few minutes of using it, I found it to be aggrevating and less intuitive. Nonetheless, I could make due with that...if I hadn't started receiving video interrupting errors every few minutes, regardless of what service I was using (local video, Hulu, MTV, etc.). On top of this, I've since been having problems with my Apple Remote, and I don't just mean in Boxee. It's as if Boxee broke support for it. I used a third-party solution to restore its functionality (thank you, Candelair!), but it would only work until I ran Boxee again, and then it killed the remote system-wide.
The final straw, for me, was when I went to use Netflix, which had worked just fine in alpha, and found that no matter what video I picked, I received an error telling me that playback had failed, and it refused to play. I upgraded my Silverlight runtime, checked in the browser, checked various forums (official and otherwise), but there seemed to be no solution.
So in the end, I ended up downloading Plex for the first time, and now I'm wondering why I hadn't checked this out sooner. The interface is attractive and intuitive, Netflix works, I've had no strange errors, and my remote is still functioning. Plex still doesn't have the third-party support that Boxee has, but maybe if it could get even half the hype that Boxee is getting, it would.
RudyJan 26th 2010 3:55PM
I am sorry I have to agree with other readers I tried this software and I had major problems with it. Extreamly slow, non responsive and crashed out all the time. I would never use this as a way to watch shows on my TV.
grantmasterflashJan 27th 2010 6:25AM
I too tried Boxee along with all the other Linux Media players and Boxee does one thing consistantly - locks up X. It seems like a neat idea although I'm not sold on some of it's so called cool features (do I want to social network while I'm watching TV?).
If I could get Boxee to, I don't know, play one movie before forcing me to reboot maybe I'd reconsider. I ended up just using the "media center" PC for miro and hulu desktop.
GanarJan 29th 2010 4:37PM
My experience has been very good since the alpha release: this is the way I watch TV today. I use a MacBook Pro with 2GB of RAM with Snow Leopard and all my video is in a NAS.
My series, movies, podcast and the videos I find on the web that I mark with the bookmarklet are all watched using Boxee. There are some kinks, but I've found that in my configuration is rock solid
To all of the people with problems above I recommend that you trash your preferences and the boxee application support folder and install again: this has solved any problem I may have had before. Remember that this is Beta software.
To the person with the remote problem: this happened to me and had to do with Snow Leopard, not with Boxee. Here is the free solution:
http://www.iospirit.com/labs/candelair/
The forum is great to get help as is writing to @boxee_help: this people truly deliver
The new beta is great, the only thing I always change is the background.
I have a tutorial on how to do this–named Boxee Bokeh– and a great selection of free pictures in the boxee forum:
http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=14905
I also made a flickr group to show you pictures of how it looks and links to good pictures to download.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/boxeebokeh/