just me or is boxee completely useless

[narcfolio]

Just got an appletv to replace my xbox360 and the thing can't play shit. I mean it plays but not watchable. Has anyone had any success playing 720p HD content on their appletv?

[NomadDNA]

From what I've heard from other users, ATV doesn't seem to be a great "hacked htpc." It's really intended to run the ATV OS, and not much else.

In this thread, some ATV users weigh the pros/cons of ATV+Boxee.
http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php...&highlight=ATV

You may want to consider trying boxee on another platform -- you may have more satisfying results.

To quote another user:

I have boxee on ATV and i'm disappointed with it. If you just want to play back files you have local or on a local share its fine, but any web stuff is pretty choppy. The CPU is ATV is not fast enough for the Boxee (at least alpha) interface. I would wait until the boxee box is shown at ces (starting jan 9th)and also see if there is any other new hardware that will work with boxee. All the new nettops coming out with hardware video accelerators are going to really help with HD video play back. (a version of flash that will support Hardware acc. is comming out 1st half of 2010) I would really consider waiting. If you just want to fool around with boxee install it on your home computer or laptop

[agentlame]

just me or is boxee completely useless

It's just you.

[JimWiley]

Wow, inflammatory post title! Bit like going into a pub in Liverpool and shouting 'Is it me, or are all scousers wankers?'

Anyway, as to your question:

Just got an appletv to replace my xbox360 and the thing can't play shit. I mean it plays but not watchable. Has anyone had any success playing 720p HD content on their appletv?

If you want ATV to play back 720p stuff, here's my advice. Make sure it's re-encoded in an application like Handbrake to the standard 720p Apple TV H264 profile and then the default user interface will play it back no problems using hardware acceleration...

If you want Boxee/XBMC to play back 720p H264 files 'found' on the net - well some they will/some they won't. Depends on how it was encoded - is it in a MKV or MP4 container? I have had success with the same encode in a MP4 container that would not play in a MKV container. It's a bit of a lottery and you need to know the specifics of how the file is encoded - not all 720p rips are created equal!

If you want to play back 720p+ encoded content outside of the default user interface/iTunes ecosystem, then you'll only get your ATV to do this by some hardware modding and a little bit of software tinkering. Threads discussing this are all over these boards + xbmc boards... it's a pretty hot topic at the moment. The hardware mod's pretty cheap (cost me £14.75 including postage from Hong Kong on eBay), but it's all currently in the 'not for the faint-hearted' stage. If this all sounds like too much - then Handbrake is free to download (and it's free to import the encodes into iTunes and sync them to the ATV - or stream them from your mac/pc if that's your bag)

Hope this helps,

Jim

[judgeschambers]

Just got an appletv to replace my xbox360 and the thing can't play shit. I mean it plays but not watchable. Has anyone had any success playing 720p HD content on their appletv?

It's not boxee. It's the limitation of the (lame) ATV hardware and lack of GPU acceleration. The unit is very, very underpowered for any HD content. People who install Boxee on older PC's have the same issues. You can't expect video content that requires specialized hardware to play on old outdated hardware.

I too learned only after buying one in July. Even though I thought I'd done my research. It also cannot play most Internet streams either (hulu, netflix, etc) It works well for non-HD content, so I keep it as a bedroom player for now and watch avi file rips.

Sell it and get an Atom/Ion PC for $330 (Revo 3610, Asus EEE, or build an AsRock N330) and you'll be in love.

[DPK]

There really needs to be an asterisk/warning/notice/something somewhere to warn people to just not even bother buying an AppleTV. One less build Boxee then has to worry about.

[JimWiley]

There really needs to be an asterisk/warning/notice/something somewhere to warn people to just not even bother buying an AppleTV. One less build Boxee then has to worry about.

I agree that people need tobe realistic about what the bog-standard ATV hardware can acheive. It's been all over these forums and xbmc forums for (what seems like!) years about how the nativeOS can handle 720p encoded correctly and that software solutions like Boxee/XBMC will struggle. Why people don't check these things out first before spending their hard-earned £££'s is beyond me. I agree it's not fair on Boxee that they are blamed for the limitations of a third party device.

Having said all that though, I use the Boxee-Alpha for both Xvid playback and the iPlayer - both of which tasks it handles with aplomb... I hope Boxee continues to support the ATV - since it would be nice to get that new beta interface, but I'd happily keep using it as-is if the Devs didn't produce a Beta for it. I hope your (DPK's) comments are not an indication that the Dev's are dropping us before we get that shiny new interface? I like my shiny-shiny!

Jim.

[DPK]

I hope your (DPK's) comments are not an indication that the Dev's are dropping us before we get that shiny new interface? I like my shiny-shiny!

You have no worries of being dropped that I know of. I was just rambling.

[hfisher999]

Why the extremes....I love renting HD movies from Apple TV...I love the extra content of Boxee and applications...why can't we be friends....chill!