Upcoming minor (but important) UI Changes

[matejay]

What I can really imagine and for now only dream of is the "Skype + iPhone 4 (using the main camera) + Boxee Box" combo! I don't want to buy another webcam to be able to use this if I already have a "webcam" in my phone.

[tennisbgc]

all the talk about skye yet there is no mention of it on the upcoming firmware. Lets get back on topic. Hope this firware gets out soon.

[matejay]

+1 from me... this has been posted on Jira as done, tested and dusted a while ago but still no release date yet... chop chop guys, make it happen

[gavin2k]

Has there been a release date for this patch?

[shafboxboy]

Is the firmware ready to be released? an ETA from the Boxee team would be really appreciated. can't always get disappointed when the boxee box says that I have the latest fimware

[rkenyon]

If anyone cares to read the first post, the release date is hopefully 'this week'.

[Jim diGriz]

Will Avner or someone from BB PLEASE list the "bugs" that are slated to be fixed with this release? While I would like an improved UI, to me that's secondary to actually being able to watch my DD Blu-ray rips without constant buffering. Right now, I can't use it since most of my files fall under this category. If the second release still doesn't fix a major bug then to me that will be unacceptable and I will have to return it. I'll wait a few more weeks, but I don't want to keep hearing "coming soon" only to have it ignored in another release.

Fiona SP2 is the next release as far as i know.

Bug

* [BOXEE-3533] - sort and filter preferences of boxee windows should be saved
* [BOXEE-6148] - audio and video stream is lost when resuming from a long pause
* [BOXEE-6727] - Samba file sharing of external HD size reporting is wrong
* [BOXEE-6803] - Only audio no video when playing wtv files
* [BOXEE-6929] - DVD playback speed is incorrect
* [BOXEE-6932] - Stretch 16:9 and Stretch 14:9 not working in 1.0
* [BOXEE-6944] - Unable to write to SMB share of an HSF+ drive if journaling is enabled
* [BOXEE-6949] - DTS-MA in MKV causes dropout of audio
* [BOXEE-6950] - True-HD tracks are being converted to PCM instead of bitstreamed
* [BOXEE-6956] - Boxee crash when browsing into Unidentified Files
* [BOXEE-6959] - Stuttery video with avi file on the Boxee Box 1.0.1.16126
* [BOXEE-7030] - Boxee Box crashes every 60-120 seconds while indexing mp3 file
* [BOXEE-7067] - Boxee Box crashes when indexing a video inside archive rar files
* [BOXEE-7077] - Boxee Box becomes unresponsive and hang during playback of AVC mkv file from smb mapped drive
* [BOXEE-7078] - Accessing a folder via the files menu causes Boxee to hang
* [BOXEE-7143] - Count of movies by genre incorrect if only local content exists
* [BOXEE-7183] - switch to List view in movies doesn't stick, it always reverts to thumbnail view after reboot
* [BOXEE-7194] - SMB credentials are not saved when restart
* [BOXEE-7208] - Cannot connect to network using WPA passcode with special characters
* [BOXEE-7212] - Scrolling in Files Browse list results in partial control of Files menu and also crash
* [BOXEE-7218] - Home made avi videos have no sound
* [BOXEE-7221] - boxee quits playing movie
* [BOXEE-7227] - Boxee Box randomly crash due to archive rar file
* [BOXEE-7231] - "Vietnamese" character set is misspelled in system settings
* [BOXEE-7239] - Listing subtitles after downloading subtitles caused a segmentation fault crash
* [BOXEE-7241] - If subtitles have been downloaded, the subtitles list will no longer display any other subtitles for local show/movie
* [BOXEE-7250] - DVD .iso play back aspect ratio incorrect
* [BOXEE-7251] - DVD ISO Playback over Wireless N: excessive buffering, playback speed issues, random exits
* [BOXEE-7252] - regression: HTTPS links does not work in Boxee Browser
* [BOXEE-7259] - sometimes the top menu has no selection or focus
* [BOXEE-7260] - Network and internet connection drops from all other computers on the same network while Boxee Box is running.
* [BOXEE-7264] - Support packed bitstream muxing mode in AVI
* [BOXEE-7265] - Client constantly tries to resolve non-found titles
* [BOXEE-7269] - Boxee Box stalls on WMV Stream Seeking
* [BOXEE-7275] - network discovery cut of the playback of music for few seconds every few minutes
* [BOXEE-7278] - Constant buffering on 1080p BD mkv files accessed wirelessly on boxee box
* [BOXEE-7315] - Video OSD text background too small for text title when playing video with long titles
* [BOXEE-7338] - folder.jpg cover art not always displayed for local media
* [BOXEE-7344] - some .mkv and .m4v files with 2.35:1 AR are playing back vertically stretched to 1.78:1
* [BOXEE-7351] - IMDB TV results cannot be added via manual identification
* [BOXEE-7356] - Boxee Box crash when attempt to identify media via UPNP.
* [BOXEE-7361] - Unable to manually resolve/identify TV titles
* [BOXEE-7423] - Adult content filtering brings an adult application in the search results
* [BOXEE-7424] - Specific DTS-HD clip crashes the box when played with DTS bitstream
* [BOXEE-7438] - The a-z bar on the right side of the library browser sometimes skips over some letters

Improvement

* [BOXEE-6928] - Scanning Frequency: Need something more than daily and less than "frequently"
* [BOXEE-6980] - REF: No way to mark shows/movies as watched/unwatched.
* [BOXEE-7283] - HFS+ volumes display UUID instead of volume name
* [BOXEE-7296] - "List view" not persistent across reboots

[agosanim]

[QUOTE=Jim diGriz;133240]Fiona SP2 is the next release as far as i know.

The problem with this is that this is just speculation by you. It seems that the boxee team has no problems with letting people speculate on what's going on instead of putting out facts.

Why would they put out a statement last Friday inplying that a new release was coming out soon and a week later here we are. Why not just wait until you tested the darn thing and then make your statement or better yet, put it out and let us test it. You will know what works and what doen't in 24 hrs. It is obvious that the beta tester that you have are inept and this has been proven by the buggy and ill-logic v1 release and the bugs that got thru on the last release.

Whoever is making the decisions at boxee is making quite a few monumental, probably fatal decisions at this stage. If this continuous I am afraid that only the loyal followers of boxee will remain.

I for one am losing patience rapidly. At this pace we wont get another upgrade until after christmas. Time has run out on boxee for this Christmas, I will not order 4 bb for presents if I don't know if Netfix or Vudu movies will play on the bb from beginning to end without any rebuffering so 4 Roku boxes it is for my presents this Christmas.

As far as my bb is concern I will keep it until Jan 15 to see what progress they make because half the yelling and hollering that goes on in this forum is from people that have no clue on how to set up their router/switcher and network connections. It's best to see for myself what works and what doesn't. I do think that at the end unless some drastic changes occur promply I will go the HTPC route at the end.

[Ph8]

[QUOTE=agosanim;133247]

Fiona SP2 is the next release as far as i know.

The problem with this is that this is just speculation by you. It seems that the boxee team has no problems with letting people speculate on what's going on instead of putting out facts.

Why would they put out a statement last Friday inplying that a new release was coming out soon and a week later here we are. Why not just wait until you tested the darn thing and then make your statement or better yet, put it out and let us test it. You will know what works and what doen't in 24 hrs. It is obvious that the beta tester that you have are inept and this has been proven by the buggy and ill-logic v1 release and the bugs that got thru on the last release.

Whoever is making the decisions at boxee is making quite a few monumental, probably fatal decisions at this stage. If this continuous I am afraid that only the loyal followers of boxee will remain.

I for one am losing patience rapidly. At this pace we wont get another upgrade until after christmas. Time has run out on boxee for this Christmas, I will not order 4 bb for presents if I don't know if Netfix or Vudu movies will play on the bb from beginning to end without any rebuffering so 4 Roku boxes it is for my presents this Christmas.

As far as my bb is concern I will keep it until Jan 15 to see what progress they make because half the yelling and hollering that goes on in this forum is from people that have no clue on how to set up their router/switcher and network connections. It's best to see for myself what works and what doesn't. I do think that at the end unless some drastic changes occur promply I will go the HTPC route at the end.

There is a reason the 1st update was called Fiona SP1 and this one is called Fiona SP2. BTW he said "soon" and didnt give an exact date. Soon can be 2 weeks it can be a few days. The early release beta was supposed to be released this week to the early beta testers, if everything follows suit then we shuld be seeing the release over the next few days or so. There is a REASOn they dont give spefici dates for the release, becasue if there are problems introduced with the most recent update they dont miss any dates if this happens.

As far as drastic changes go dont expect any, the new UI is here to stay, there will be tweaks here and there, but the overall interface is staying. I am so tired of seeing people threaten and insult Boxee and the team they have, if you are not happy then vote with you wallet and retun the Boxee Box.

[hosko]

I am so tired of seeing people threaten and insult Boxee and the team they have, if you are not happy then vote with you wallet and retun the Boxee Box.

With all due respect people have a right to be upset with the UI change. If someone had used Boxee previously they would have an expectation of what the UI for the boxee box would be. Even the original firmware for the BB had the old UI which is a lot better. It feels like bait and switch.

Sure some folks are complaining about no hulu or netflicks but as someone who doesn't live in America, we aren't going to see those services any time soon so the vast amount of our media consumption will be local files. Roku isn't an option and apple TV is very limited. It seems obvious to me that if someone wanted a device that was heavily geared towards internet streaming video they would get a Roku for half the price or even an Apple TV. The reason you would get a Boxee Box over both those devices is that it can play anything you throw at it. The vast majority of the anything you can throw at it wouldn't be streaming because you only really need flash/silverlight/html5 to accomplish that. So why has the UI been so skewed towards anything streaming. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be streaming on the box but anything that is detected locally should be given a higher level of importance.

As Avner said "There is an overwhelming consumer expectation that the content we can consume in our cubicles, our dorm rooms, and in our laps should be available in our living rooms, in full 1080p with a gorgeous interface. It’s a simple premise, but the challenge is to do it in a way that makes sense in that space, so you can put your feet up, grab a remote and start watching. No keyboards, mice, windows or labyrinthine menus. It should be calm and it should be beautiful."

With 1.0 playing back local files that I can easily do on my lap, does not make me calm and is not beautiful. The fact that currently can not select your default sort option is really the sticking point and I can not see how this was over looked in testing. The box was delayed for so long surely the UI should have been ready. I don't really care what's popular I care about what's important to me but every time I go to the apps or media it first lists "most popular". If I have selected something to be a favorite I'm probably wanting to see that list first. Its not rocket science.

I don't see the problem with informing the developers about how I feel about the new UI and that returning the box is a real option at this point. I have another two weeks to make my mind up so I'll see what the next update is like. Hopefully the UI can be tailored towards local files with the option screen that has been posted.