Am I mad to buy a boxee now?

[Steaders]

Pre-orders won't ship until April at the earliest and I would expect delays just like about every other hardware launch seems to have these days

You're right!
I was a kickstarter backer so I get mine in march (hopefully)

[darcilicious]

Ditto (assuming they meet their schedule )

[ScottAllyn]

I backed the OUYA, too. I don't really expect it to compete with the big consoles, but I think it'll be great for some casual gaming.

[darcilicious]

I decided that $99 for a box that runs Plex was too fun to pass up and hubby will like the casual gaming bits

[Gingerpride]

Thanks for all the posts - Got both the WD and the boxee over the wknd from Amazon (will def be sending one back) - WD picked up the 3tb UBS 3 without any issues.... (big issue for me as that is what I have all my media on) nice interface, neat little box and so far so gd... only thing that is missing is a browser for my needs.... Thinking of trying the boxee tonight... but not sure I have the appetite to spend what will no doubt be several hours trying to get it to see the 3tb drive all for the sake of a box which for my benifit beats the WD due to the browser...

In response to the posts - Yes, XMBC looks v interesting... but more money and more complexity. If the Ouya was out this year I would def wait... but how many times have we seen new hardware be delayed.... again yes I think Boxee 2 has grt potential...but I can't say I get the feeling this is really coming... when really a lot of what is needed are just simple firmware updates... (IMHO).

[bronz]

Thanks for all the posts - Got both the WD and the boxee over the wknd from Amazon (will def be sending one back) - WD picked up the 3tb UBS 3 without any issues.... (big issue for me as that is what I have all my media on) nice interface, neat little box and so far so gd... only thing that is missing is a browser for my needs.... Thinking of trying the boxee tonight... but not sure I have the appetite to spend what will no doubt be several hours trying to get it to see the 3tb drive all for the sake of a box which for my benifit beats the WD due to the browser...

In response to the posts - Yes, XMBC looks v interesting... but more money and more complexity. If the Ouya was out this year I would def wait... but how many times have we seen new hardware be delayed.... again yes I think Boxee 2 has grt potential...but I can't say I get the feeling this is really coming... when really a lot of what is needed are just simple firmware updates... (IMHO).

hi
boxee best for playing movies hd and audio that support hd-ma and truhd

BUT you must know that Boxee not good for playing anime mostly their decode and also 10Bit video not playing
there is also audio dropping problem its can happen some times and some times no ( only 2 sec)
the WD UI very laggy and slow ( me and friends like boxee and will never change it)

[Gingerpride]

Final update, sorry guys but once I got tinkering last night I found the WD box does have a unsupported browser aswell... so this was the final straw for me.

I have no doubt the boxee is a grt box if you are currently running it, but I think for a new buyer coming in right now that there are just too many negatives... to cough up £130 ($205) boxee v the £74 ($117) WD

It really is a shame, as there is obviously a strong community behind it and it would only take a few tweaks to have kept the boxee on top of its game... the 2TB+ and the HD Audio issue being the most urgent... the dev's should really put their cards on the table and either commit to another firmware release or open up the box... if either of these had been clear I would have probably have made the leap of faith...

Thanks for everyone's posts over the last few days, it has been very useful to hear some the constructive comments of the boxee and this has helped my decision a lot.

Cheers

Gingerpride

[agosanim]

Yes, its got to be worth a go... although I am torn between the WD Live and the Boxee at the moment.. as the WD Live has had a firmware update to ensure it supports 3tb... which means I have less risk of my drive not working... I just shelled out £140 for this.. so its a big issue to me... but the WD Live does not have a browser.... why is nothing ever simple!

You go ahead and do that for both the WD and Boxee, and I guarantee you that whichever you pick you will be regretting your decision within 90 days of the purchase. I have owned both of this products and i returned the BB in time to get a full refund from Amazon, thank god, the WD I gave away to a relative. The Wd interface pretty much sucks although like the BB it can play just about anything you throw at it. The BB is a closed platform so you are dependent on the BB team for its function. If they go under, you are stuck with a useless brick. Not Boxee, not PFlex or any other derivitive of XBMC comes closed to it. I don't understand this. You would think that this splinter companies who derived their software from XBMC would do so to improve on it and I must say that they fall way short of such goals.

So if you want a box mostly from playing your local media do yourself a favor and look into one of this mini boxes mention before and create your own HTPC running XBMC on it. I guarantee you that in the long run you will be happy for years to come. 1. Make sure it can play 1080p. 2. USB3 capable. 3. Remote control is always good.

I use mine to watch my local media which consists of over 2500 movies and over 100 tv shows and a bunch of music. I also use firefox on it to surf the net. I also u-torrent the latest tv shows to make sure that I don't miss any episodes of my favorite shows or sporting events. And I don't consider myself by any stretch of the imagination a wiz at this. Try doing this with BB or WD.

So read thru this forum and read thru the WD forum and you will see one common theme in both, and that is the lack of support on the software side of both. I wish you the best of luck with your decision.

[AminB]

Local Files > Boxee
Online Content > Roku
ATV (1 or 2) w/ XBMC

I'd say choose 2 of the 3! you can not find a single box to do all you want!

[agosanim]

Local Files > Boxee
Online Content > Roku
ATV (1 or 2) w/ XBMC

I'd say choose 2 of the 3! you can not find a single box to do all you want!

None of the above. Like I said before, to be free you must choose HTPC. If you choose all 3 of the above you will still fall short in the browsing department among others and continue to buy every new gadget that comes out looking for that elusive perfect box. So i say, until that perfect box comes out and is confirm to be perfect by the masses, your best option by far is simply an HTPC running XBMC and any browser and slew of other software you desire.