*sigh*

[slifty]

I love Boxee, I really do. It's a great concept! (using OSX version on a mac mini hooked to a TV, using iPod remote software)

Unfortunately I'm being botched up every step of the way. My latest complaint is a core usability issue. I'm trying so hard to watch South Park on Boxee, and every time I even slightly misclick on my remote, it completely takes me out of what I am watching with no clear way to start again, without restarting the show completely (meaning I have to re watch all of the ads).

It starts with this obnoxious ad issue - which I can only solve by constantly rapid-tapping the "OK" button on the boxee remote.

If I accidentally hit "down" then I'm kicked out. If I accidentally hit left or right the same thing happens. I've sometimes had it where the show continues playing in the background while the list of shows appears on front, with a "Now Playing" window somewhere, but I have no clue how to go back to what is currently playing (tapping "now playing" doesn't change what is on the screen)

Anyway, I don't have any hugely well thought out analysis so much as a general comment that the menu navigation while a show is playing needs to be completely re-thought. I should never exit my show without being warned that my show will be exited.

[shabrina]

i hated mine for the first two weeks and by the time I was ready to give it back it was too late by retail policy. then the last update hapened and now im just happy the thing plays. i still can't get it to read local files. it keeps asking for a password that doesn't exist i just gave up and moved on. we just gotta hang in there until it lives up to its potental. yippee

[darcilicious]

@shabrina the OP is talking about Boxee software on OSX (based on other posts of his/hers).

If you're having issues accessing your network shares, you should post to the Boxee Box section (I don't see any posts from you on this topic?) and post what OS the shares are on. The vast majority of people are able to get network sharing to work so I'm hopeful it can work for you too.

[slifty]

Very sorry for the QQ thread, I was just at my wits end and had to tell someone :P

I would like to redact 60% of my whining and instead shift this thread to a more constructive analysis of the Boxee remote UI.

My naive suggestions:

1) a small warning message get shown any time you hit a button which will cause you to navigate away, causing a content refresh

2) limit the number of buttons which will cause a content refresh (right now the back button and the arrow buttons all cause me to leave my video). The back button seems like an intuitive choice to keep, while the arrow buttons are not.

[slifty]

Some other issues I'm facing (don't want to make yet another thread, since it seems not many others are posting and I don't want to look like I'm spamming):

1) Netflix App: Shows with seasons don't allow you to browse the episodes within a season (you click the show, then select the season, and then there is no list for you to pick a specific show). Furthermore it doesn't appear to have an accurate list of available shows? (We just added "The League" to our instant queue and it doesn't appear, nor does it appear when we use the Netflix search)

2) Day9 App: it says "Can't retrieve archive list. please try again later" when I try to open it.

3) Much of the "TV Show" content doesn't appear to work. NBC streams fail with what appears to be a known issue and FX streams fail completely as well. Is there a reason that it isn't just working directly with Hulu but is instead going to those sources? Can we add Hulu as an optional source?

4) Adding a Samba music source results in a pop up error saying "Operation not permitted" -- this is probably due to the fact that I normally need to enter account credentials to access the network source.

Is there an ETA on the next OSX release? If not, are there any good Boxee alternatives that I can use in the mean time?

[darcilicious]

Is there an ETA on the next OSX release?

Nope.

If not, are there any good Boxee alternatives that I can use in the mean time?

XBMC (with a "simplified" skin -- or so I hear.)