My Experience

[aliencurv]

Neat product. I purchased a BoxeeBox yesterday and I'm returning it. Here are the reasons why:

I'm not an open source user because I like pre-tested and designed applications by businesses that create a product for the user. The Boxee is neat, but it has changed too much of what I'm used too.

I want to plug it in, and it works. I don't have time to fiddle with it. If you want me to fiddle, pay me.

- There are more available apps in the windows version than boxeebox version. I want shoutcast or di.fm or an app to add my own sources. There is no good way to save radio stations and quickly begin playing them. I have created PLS and ASX and M3U files, but the boxee does not seem to read them correctly.

- I found a SomaFM app, but i needed to add a repo? Okay. So before i can begin typing, i need a very bright room because the letters are dark blue on black? Geez. So now i begin typing, looking at the keyboard and my laptop screen and putting in the repo URL. I hit ENTER and it says the repo is not found.. OPS i made a spelling mistake, it doens't bring me back to the text so i have to start ALL over .. Remote is about to go flying across the room, i just want music!

- The main home page has Friends, Water LAter, Shows, Movies, Apps, Files. But no music?

- Some of the "recommended" content on the home page is not viewable in canada

- I select my server media as a source for media (music and video), only 2973 out of 20,000 files were found. They are all mp3 because i have an ipod.

- I manually navigate to the share and attempt to look for a folder. With hundreds of folders, navigation is impossible. It takes minutes to scroll and there is no Page Up or Page Down on the remote. Even if there was, i wouldn't be able to see it without turning the bright lights on.

- I press the exit/back button when i'm in weather, but it brings me to the last weather tab i viewed. (i.e. i view hourly weather, then temp, then satelite view, press back and it brings me back to temp, then hourly weather,... then eventually out of the "app")

- Soma FM app (even though its not yours) crashes often, and i have to reboot the boxee by unplugging the power

- To get back to the "home" screen, i need to hit ~8 keystrokes on the remote.

- I enabled "web server" and when i visit it, i get an Access Error: Site or Page Not Found. Why even have the option?

- I can't select media from my phone or a web app? I need to have the tv on?

- There is a syslog option? Sure i know what it is, but why is it there for me? I just want a media player for videos. Don't give me syslog options but prevent me from logging into the OS shell.

- The buttons are centered on the remote. I sometimes pick it upside down and have to flip it around. It's quite annoying

- The Shuffle icon when playing music is backwards. It displays the option that you can select, not the current mode.

- I hold the right or left button down to scan FFWD or REV in a song, and it skips and when i let go it keeps scanning. Then the interface locks up for a bit

- Generally the interface is clunky. It doesn't have a fluid feel. There are many dead ends and no "one button click" to get to a common familiar area.

- In the file browser, if i start typing with the keyboard i want it to skip to that file, not search youtube for a video
So there are more but those are from teh top of my head.

I would keep this unit if i was able to easily add internet radio stations AND was able to page up/page down from the remote by pressing "left or right" in the file browser

The biggest flaw in this system is not being able to easily add internet radio stations. I figured if i saved them to a folder as ASX or PLS files that it would load. Why doesn't it? That would at least make it possible.

A web app for configuration of sources, repos, etc would be REAL nice so we don't have to use the keyboard on that little remote.

[aliencurv]

I should also add that since i wrote that last message earlier tonight, the boxeebox has paused the music playback 5-6 times. it pauses the mp3 for ~5-6 seconds.. then it resumes.

if you're going to say my mp3's are damaged, why doesn't itunes or my ipod or my car or windows media player have trouble?

[darcilicious]

the boxeebox has paused the music playback 5-6 times. it pauses the mp3 for ~5-6 seconds.. then it resumes.

Known issue, fixed in the upcoming release.

[aliencurv]

Known issue, fixed in the upcoming release.

that is a good sign. do you know when the next release will be?

also, do you think there will be a way to play PLS, M3U, or ASX files?

i would consider keeping the boxeebox if it had the ability to play those playlist files. then i could put my stream files in a folder.

[darcilicious]

I can play m3u files no problem but I have to create them with PlaylistCreator3 after exporting them from iTunes.

However I don't know if they work for streaming media.

I'm pretty sure though, you can get streaming media to work via URL shortcuts: on a PC, drag/drop the URL to a folder that Boxee can reach over the network. Then from Boxee, navigate to that URL shortcut, click on it, click on Play, wait several seconds and it should play.

[darcilicious]

To use a di.fm stream as an example, a shortcut created from their public URL (e.g. .pls) won't work but a shortcut URL directly to the stream works fine. This is the PsyChill public stream URL: http://67.21.210.110:8008/ -- using that to create a shortcut URL on the filesystem and then navigating to it via Boxee works like a charm.

P.S. I actually have an alpha version of a di.fm app for their public URLs. I'll see about getting that signed and published this weekend. It's not super pretty, still rough in some spots but it does have all the public streams in it and they work.

Edited to add: I use VLC to suss out the direct URL streams; this will also work for premium streams, just make sure you're logged in, select a premium mp3 stream and then use the url that shows up in VLC (it will have a trailing hash that is unique to your account, IIRC from my discussions with di.fm previously).

[aliencurv]

To use a di.fm stream as an example, a shortcut created from their public URL (e.g. .pls) won't work but a shortcut URL directly to the stream works fine. This is the PsyChill public stream URL: http://67.21.210.110:8008/ -- using that to create a shortcut URL on the filesystem and then navigating to it via Boxee works like a charm.

P.S. I actually have an alpha version of a di.fm app for their public URLs. I'll see about getting that signed and published this weekend. It's not super pretty, still rough in some spots but it does have all the public streams in it and they work.

Edited to add: I use VLC to suss out the direct URL streams; this will also work for premium streams, just make sure you're logged in, select a premium mp3 stream and then use the url that shows up in VLC (it will have a trailing hash that is unique to your account, IIRC from my discussions with di.fm previously).

That is good news. I will create shortcuts in a folder and navigate to it.

Last night i was unable to play a movie off netflix. It kept stopping and starting. It most definetly wasn't my internet connection.

The music still does it.

[aliencurv]

I came home, turned on netflix app. Started watching a documentary and it locked up. I had to cycle the power on the boxee

[aliencurv]

So this is a good one. I turned on the boxee and started listening to a song. Suddenly it started playing real slow. Like someone turned the record down. Lol totally messed up sample rate! Scared me

And yesterday I was blown off by my boxee. Lying on the couch with a girl all cuddled up and boxee crashes in Netflix. F!!

[Ohhshoot]

So this is a good one. I turned on the boxee and started listening to a song. Suddenly it started playing real slow. Like someone turned the record down. Lol totally messed up sample rate! Scared me

And yesterday I was blown off by my boxee. Lying on the couch with a girl all cuddled up and boxee crashes in Netflix. F!!

Might be the first ever c*** block by boxee...
It was just jealous.. it knows it's the only box you'll ever need...

sorry couldn't resist