4 Months of Being Patient

[gtoddv]

What I don't understand is why there hasn't been more made about how this product still doesn't function as advertised after 4 months? They have no business promoting a road trip while many of us are still waiting for fixes. How about promoting the fact that you are still working to make my boxee function. How about putting out incremental fixes every week or so. But of course that isn't particularly fun or sexy....so they decide to hit the road!!!! Unbelievable...

The portion of the software that is supposed to provide their revenue stream doesn't even work most of the time (home screen). Vudu can only do SD on my 20Mb connection, netflix is barely passable, and basic functionality is still missing (or has been broken by upgrading). I used to never have to reboot, now it is necessary 2 or 3 times per day. Used to be I could select local content even if there was a stream available, but no more. Streams are often the only choice for a show that has local files available. The system can't even tell when a new file has been added anymore, let alone put it into the database in a reasonable amount of time.

And of course, I am expected to spend my time posting bugs to their issue tracking system. It appears the only user that has any value to them is the one that works for free helping them fix their software (actually boxee box users pay 200 dollars for that privilege).

Back in the first couple of months, I thought the complaining wasn't warranted but now I see many of those users were right on the money.

If I were them I'd be too embarrassed to organize a road trip. But I tell you right now, if the road trip were to come anywhere near my home, they would regret it. At the very least they'd get my boxee box thrown at them.

Oh, and I would also like to thank D-link for all their help...(right)

I know some of you will think that asking for a product to live up to it's promise is unreasonable...and that might be the saddest part of this whole sham.

Funny thing is, I still hope that it will work someday. (mostly because it is too late to return it LOL)

[mikemar]

Worked absolutely perfect for me day 1 in terms of local content playback with everything I've thrown at it.

and have had 0 problems with Netflix or even a free VUDU rental I used worked great.

[darcilicious]

The portion of the software that is supposed to provide their revenue stream doesn't even work most of the time (home screen). Vudu can only do SD on my 20Mb connection, netflix is barely passable, and basic functionality is still missing (or has been broken by upgrading). I used to never have to reboot, now it is necessary 2 or 3 times per day. Used to be I could select local content even if there was a stream available, but no more. Streams are often the only choice for a show that has local files available. The system can't even tell when a new file has been added anymore, let alone put it into the database in a reasonable amount of time.

Ugh. I can honestly say I don't have any of these problems. Vudu (HDX even) and Netflix work fine for me and all my new local content (including SageTV recordings which take a bit of additional munging) show up for me regularly. I even use the box wirelessly (with a WAP in the same room) and stream HD locally and online just fine.

Now, I will admit that I turn the thing off every night and usually make a point of turning it on 15-20 minutes before I settle in to watch vids... Oh, and until a few days ago, all my local content would stop every 10 minutes (almost to the second) but this has just mysteriously stopped happening and I haven't changed anything in my environment...

However, I've been noticing an increasing number of issues related to their backend servers (yesterday I actually manage to get my user account to show up TWICE on the login screen).

I dunno, I love my TV shows and movies but I just don't get all that het up about things... certainly not to the point where I'd want to throw anything at anybody.

[wonboodoo]

And of course, I am expected to spend my time posting bugs to their issue tracking system.

I'm fine with doing this, and I have done it, but the problem is that doing so would be beneficial only if someone would work on those bugs. But it appears to me that the new bugs are outpacing the bugs being resolved, so there is a good chance that no developer is going to look at your JIRA any time soon regardless of how important it is (mine requires me to reboot multiple times every single day, is affecting others similarly, has been prioritized as "major", but remains unassigned and has been moved into the "Fiona unscheduled" release). It's a developer resource issue.

Meetups are one thing, what really irked me was a "we're porting to IPad" announcement. The former doesn't require developers (though the money spent could probably help hire one), the latter does. Booooooo.

[gtoddv]

I'm fine with doing this, and I have done it, but the problem is that doing so would be beneficial only if someone would work on those bugs. But it appears to me that the new bugs are outpacing the bugs being resolved, so there is a good chance that no developer is going to look at your JIRA any time soon regardless of how important it is (mine requires me to reboot multiple times every single day, is affecting others similarly, has been prioritized as "major", but remains unassigned and has been moved into the "Fiona unscheduled" release). It's a developer resource issue.

Meetups are one thing, what really irked me was a "we're porting to IPad" announcement. The former doesn't require developers (though the money spent could probably help hire one), the latter does. Booooooo.

You make an excellent point..how can they move on (or add) other platforms/features when they can even make what they have got work. My road trip argument takes second place to your iPad complaint. I was pissed when I hear that too, guess I was too busy rebooting to remember that one (LOL).

And for the record I too have posted bugs, voted when asked, etc. But I have gotten to the point were I just want to watch a show and not be bothered anymore. You gotta draw the line somewhere.

[gtoddv]

Worked absolutely perfect for me day 1 in terms of local content playback with everything I've thrown at it.

and have had 0 problems with Netflix or even a free VUDU rental I used worked great.

That is an extremely helpful comment. Thanks, you have made me and the hundreds (more like thousands) of others who have had issues with their units feel so much better. And you are most likely the only person to have 0 issues.

[Ozpeter]

And you are most likely the only person to have 0 issues.

Er - make that two persons. Such issues as I have aren't worth the effort of starting a thread about.

How well it works depends on the local networking environment and the local content. Huge numbers of variables there. So indeed, there can be happy campers alongside the deeply unhappy in these forums.

And for that matter, on Amazon where large numbers of users give it 5 stars and large numbers who don't.

[Edit - I notice the number of Amazon reviews is up to 400 now, with 130 5 star and another 93 giving 4 stars. Not a bad result, though slightly less good than some competitive products.]

Perhaps their current recruitment program will speed up releases and fixes and enhancements.

As for fixing one thing before releasing the next - heh, that would be a first in the industry...

[voip-ninja]

The box still has problems, but for 99% of what I'm doing with it, it is working great.

Local content playback is excellent other than current audio issues with lossless codecs and color space problems. I'm very confident those will be fixed up on 1.1.

Vudu and Netflix both work great for me. Have watched several full length 1080P movies with DD+ and they all worked PERFECTLY with no buffering, lip synch or other problems.

Have watched about 20 45 minute long episodes in 720P on Netflix. Again, works great, no re-buffering or any other weirdness.

I would like people to demonstrate the media player that is doing all of this stuff better than Boxee right now. Nevermind that the box has only even been on the market for 90 days and we can expect many more updates this year.

Some people will never be happy no matter what they do. Who cares if they take a road trip, they worked their asses off while most of us were enjoying the holidays so that our boxes could be even better. Sheesh!

[Lukecro]

That is an extremely helpful comment. Thanks, you have made me and the hundreds (more like thousands) of others who have had issues with their units feel so much better. And you are most likely the only person to have 0 issues.

I don't think anyone's saying that your problems aren't valid -- but I think it's also valid for people to point out what is working for them. For instance, if something isn't working for you but it is working for someone else, then that indicates the problem isn't universal, which means the programmers may need to look at the problem differently compared to an error that everyone is experiencing universally. The error could be related to how Boxee is interacting with your particular set-up or you might have a lemon unit, etc.

Personally, maybe I'm just lucky, but I'm having a great experience with all local-file playback, and getting very good quality from Vudu and Netflix.

There's plenty of stuff I'd like to see Boxee do better -- the web browser could use a ton of improvements (could be faster, more compatible with more sites, iron out Flash and Java bugs, needs an easy way to add and access favorites, built-in "watch later" options, etc); the iPhone app should let you move the browser's cursor like a track-pad mouse instead of just mimicking the up-down-sideways actions of the regular Boxee remote; I want the live video streams on Willow.tv to work in the Boxee browser (and I'd like a Willow.tv app); it'd be great if we could manually force-identify/name local files; ability to delete files; a better "home" screen" would be cool; the Music and Photos sections of Boxee need improvements; and the whole system of recommending online sources for files needs to be overhauled (I've given up on Boxee's online recommendations for now - too many unreliable links to Fancast, etc.), etc.

But as a local-playback device it still blows every other set-top box out of the water. And the multitude of apps combined with the browser, despite it's flaws, still opens the box up to a world of content most other boxes can't even begin to access. And, again, maybe I'm lucky, but Vudu and Netflix are working great for me, and Navi-X and the Live TV apps are fun too.

However, yeah, I agree that Boxee needs to iron out the problems that are causing some users to have a lesser experience than other users -- ideally the Box should be plug-and-play easy for everyone -- and I'd prefer to see the Boxee bugs fixed before getting an iPad app. But hopefully the new influx of investment cash they recently got will allow them to fix bugs, improve the box firmare, build new apps, and get the new version of the PC software out the door all at once

[wonboodoo]

As for fixing one thing before releasing the next - heh, that would be a first in the industry...

True, but I suspect the Boxee Box has more serious problems (for some users, obviously not all, but I count myself as one) than other products. Plus that new IPad app is not going to bring in revenue for Boxee. They're giving it away. I don't know their master plan but I don't see what the IPad app does for their investors other than brand awareness. I'd suggest they focus on paying customers before the freeware crowd.