retail boxee box bugs / gripes / impression / feedback from stb shopper

[gulagosphere]

day 3

good potential, many interface detractors


After fiddling with the box for a few days here are some MUST-FIX items.


FIX :

I'm not thrilled with the upselling "features" of the 1.0 interface versus 0.9 shipping. I wasn't thrilled by it in 0.9 either. I bought this as a shiny xbmc *STB* for MY nas. I have zip and zilch interest in ad-supported anything. I am hardcore adblock plus -- the privacy violation of ads-via-boxee are disturbing.

I want an option to not-show ALL "ad-supported" content.

I want a GUI priority for displaying user local content!


FIX :

Enabling the hide "adult" content switch does not prevent porn results in search. Simply entering the letter "y" in search returned atop the list "youporn". Not acceptable.


major gripe, please fix/remove

I was not amused having to register an account via the internets to use MY LOCAL media


fix app :

Internet Archive : archive.org

Cannot view arbitrary video. There are tons [think petabytes] of community videos that are inaccessible from the boxee app. :( I do not want the archive streams but the original files (hd matroska containers et al). I would want to 'subscribe' by archive keyword or poster.


request

miro for boxee box : http://getmiro.com/


fix :

It would be nice to indicate to the box that a given directory tree contains videos-tv and another directory tree contains videos-movies ... instead of relying exclusively on scraping logic.



mia

where are the gamma controls?


mia

are there FFmpeg style color controls available? :)


mia

where is the advanced gui hidden? Kai Krause would not be amused.


fix gui

smb shares that require authentication

some gui widgets show user : pass plain text : 0.9 shortcuts in menu. I haven't yet found this occurrence in 1.0. Neither user nor pass should show in UNC path. In 1.0 'something' is being escaped and shown atop network shares in auth prefix of UNC path.

%2a %2a %2a %2a %2a %2a

smb://%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a%2a@[host][path]


bug

smb shares {XP Pro SP3 in this case} that require authentication, those who attempt to enter null information are left 'hanging'. I am being bitched at so I'm passing on the bitch fest and I quote "a pox on their house".


gripe

"navigate up to the top of the directory tree / network shares with the bottom most remote button" oh the looks cast askance



gripe

it would be nice xbmc old style nice to be able to overlay multiple share locations into one virtual folder

smb://usr:pw@petabyte/vast -> movies
smb://usr:pw@ineffible/swath -> movies



gripe

I preferred the home style of 0.9 to 1.0


gripe

I miss the left side 'context' menu in 0.9


mia

an onscreen mapping of [remote] key to function would be handy especially for the wife units


request

pptp the only vpn flavor available?


bug

I'm irked by the inflicted matroska subtitles. English subs on english audio is something.


gripe

the 1.0 fw color scheme, especially the in-video on-screen nav controls, is blech compared to shipping 0.9


request

I would love to have all the screen saver [packs] options from 'those' builds of xbmc. I would even be happy with photo RSS from sxc.hu [free stock] or even :gasp: flickr



mia

'those' xbmc builds has so many great screens now MIA?



after thought : why didn't boxee box use power over eSata [eSataP] ?

eSataP (power over esata) would have been an insignificant cost increase in hardware- and design. It would have supported both cpu choking usb and [scsi-reminiscent] drive chaining without pesky cpu load [esata] -- both esata and usb from *each* port.

Properly implemented [fully] eSata spec within eSataP offers port replication (sata port multiplier) for painless drive (daisy) chaining.

Boxee box could have been DIY NAS: the garish green head on an array of sata drives


hardware gripe

why not gigabit ethernet? I have plenty of switch backplane bandwidth. boxee box occasionally chokes on high bandwidth video on wired LAN. As this is day three 'occasionally' is still far too often.


fix restore

1.0 fw 'upgrade' removed the other share scan "frequently" option from the 0.9 fw :( A better option would have been to provide a menu item giving the user FINE grained control.

ref: http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=21912





I have used both the Popcorn C-200 and the WD HD tv live plus -- both of which are woefully deficient. By comparison I am much more pleased with boxee box.

I am a long time xbmc on xbox1 user. :)

[newalloy]

It's very easy to agree with you on all fronts here. Boxee box is likely getting returned. May purchase one later again when they:
a. come down further in price
and
b. the many pesky issues are resolved.

[Bathroomninja]

Agreed. I dislike how it basically feels like a poorly laid out web page, with links to youtube videos.

[gulagosphere]

It's very easy to agree with you on all fronts here.
...
a. come down further in price
and
b. the many pesky issues are resolved.


I expect them to fix the pesky- and vexatious issues in a week or so.

The price is acceptable given the feature set. The boxee box is less 'borked by design' than my previously purchased popcorn hour C-200 and the slightly less expensive wd box.

I am trying to resist building a much more expensive hd xbmc rig :) It's not the cost that's bothersome... it's the tedium.


again.. a future hardware iteration of boxee box really really should employ eSataP [power over eSata]

An initial setup screen should enable the user to NOT show ad-supported "features"

[noxor]

I hooked up a 2Tb DAS to the Boxee Box. Works fine but when I access it from my mac or PC it reports I only have 239Mb free where it should show 1.7Tb free. My goal is to transfer files from my mac over 2Gb in size to the USB drive on the boxee. small files under 239Mb work like a charm... anything over errors out with a file size error.

Bug? Out of Spec? Ideas?

Thanks for the help

[Nall]

I hooked up a 2Tb DAS to the Boxee Box. Works fine but when I access it from my mac or PC it reports I only have 239Mb free where it should show 1.7Tb free. My goal is to transfer files from my mac over 2Gb in size to the USB drive on the boxee. small files under 239Mb work like a charm... anything over errors out with a file size error.

Bug? Out of Spec? Ideas?

Thanks for the help

I'm pretty sure this is a bug, changing drives or connecting different storage devices like an SD card doesn't fix it. It is reporting the amount of space available on the box's internal storage instead of the attached device. As far as I can tell there is no workaround currently.

[gulagosphere]

...should show 1.7Tb free...

Bug?.


isn't usb grand?

[gregwa]

3# major gripe, please fix/remove

I was not amused having to register an account via the internets to use MY LOCAL media

Would you please expand on this statement?

[Govnah]

I totally agree on all points. I am still scratching my head on this beta to 1.0 release.....What the hell just happened. I will give them 2 weeks to address the issues if not back to Amazon.

[cgpowell]

I'm pretty sure this is a bug, changing drives or connecting different storage devices like an SD card doesn't fix it. It is reporting the amount of space available on the box's internal storage instead of the attached device. As far as I can tell there is no workaround currently.

I'm having the same issue as well. 1.5TB drive attached to Boxee.. windows reports capacity at 300mb. Weak.

[noxor]

I'm pretty sure this is a bug, changing drives or connecting different storage devices like an SD card doesn't fix it. It is reporting the amount of space available on the box's internal storage instead of the attached device. As far as I can tell there is no workaround currently.

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't have much time to investigate this came to the same conclusion. I tried a few different mounting methods all resulted in the same result.

I guess it is possible the Boxee Box has to handle the file then transfer it to the USB device. (Although unlikely)

Have to wait and see if they fix this bug.

[gschep]

Having the same issue - as I assume all will be - on the drive size over network.
A 'work around' I stumbled on was to copy directories over - the first time you attempt to copy the dir it throws the error about available space, but notice that it did create the directory? Copy it again and it tells you that it exists already, hit replace and I'm in business.
It works to copy a directory directly into a directory on the Boxee share, but if you drop a directory on top of a directory it doesn't work.
My two cents, hopefully it helps somebody out till they fix this 'design' feature.