Multimedia-PCs » hardware

Boxee Box Firmware Update

Jeremy Jones — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 03:55:49 +0000

Boxee released a firmware update for the Boxee Box. Most is bug fixes and minor improvements. They also added some 3D support. You can read about it on the Boxee Blog.

Improvements and additions:

* Enabling user flavor selection (online/local files inclination) during first login and via Settings
* Added alphabetical scrollbar for local files
* Enhanced sorting options in browse screens (A-Z, Z-A, most popular, newest/oldest…)
* Add Genre filter support for local files
* Mark movies as watched/unwatched from the Action menu
* Added option for hourly scan of SMB/UPnP/USB sources
* Added SMB client defaults to Network Settings
* When watching side-by-side or over/under video, the subtitles and OSD would not be visible when wearing 3D glasses. The user now has the option, under Settings, to have the user interface properly displayed when watching 3D videos

Bug fixes

* Do not de-interlace of video when the TV is in interlaced mode (e.g. 1080i)
* HFS+ volumes display UUID instead of volume name under some conditions
* Video OSD text background too small for text title when playing video with long titles
* When connecting to VPN, Boxee didn’t refresh region code
* Boxee doesn’t change DNS configuration when VPN is set up
* Can’t connect to hidden wireless networks
* Can’t connect to network using WPA passcode with special characters
* When Internet connection is restored, menu doesn’t show online channels
* DVD .iso playback aspect ratio incorrect
* DVD playback displayed some artifacts
* “Resume From” doesn’t work on DVD ISO/Folders
* Zoom on DVD (.iso and folder) video does not work as expected
.vob files playback (standalone files) is stuttering and low FPS
* DVD .iso playback over Wireless N: excessive buffering, playback speed issues, random exits
“Vietnamese” character set is misspelled in System Settings
* Show “Remove From Favorites” button in episodes list, even if no episodes are available
* SMB credentials are not saved upon restart
* Write failure when accessing Box-attached disk over SMB
* SMB file sharing of external HD size reporting is wrong
* Become unresponsive and hang during playback of AVC .mkv file from SMB mapped drive
* Crashes when indexing some videos inside .rar files
* Crashes indexing mp3 file with corrupt embedded thumbnail
* Stretch 16:9 and Stretch 14:9 not working properly
* Shoutcast and Radiotime: Switching stations or Cancel causes interface to freeze and console output to crawl
* Some .mkv files do not playback properly (some flavors of H.264)
* Support packed bitstream muxing mode in .avi
* Some .wtv files do not playback properly
* Constant buffering on 1080p BD .mkv files accessed wirelessly on Boxee
* Boxee crash when browsing into unidentified Files
* Playback choked and crashed during viewing of .mp4 file

Freeagent Theater+ Updated with Netflix, YouTube and More

Jeremy Jones — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:49:18 +0000

The Seagate Freeagent Theater+ has a new firmware that brings Netflix, YouTube and more. There are also so UI improvements and other enhancements. Just connect the media player to the Internet if it’s not already.

* Improved MP3 cover art and tagging
* Redesigned homepage view featuring better access to Internet and network applications
* Redesigned thumbnail view for easier browsing of movies, pictures and music
* Skip time option when watching movies to jump forward by 20 minute intervals
* Ability to create screensavers using personal photos
* Easy sorting of files when browsing network attached devices

(via CrunchGear)

Popbox Released SDK

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:59:21 +0000

While the Popbox isn’t even available yet they are trying to get developers on board with a SDK. Their developer program works with the unreleased Popbox and the Popcorn Hour C-200 and A-200. I’m glad that these new apps will work with the existing Popcorn Hour models. ZatzNotFunny said that it is still on target for the $129 price point. They need to release it soon or the Boxee Box will steal the market plus all the other streamers currently on the market.

The popbox SDK hooks into the popbox UI to handle remote commands, execute widgets, and load application-specific data. Developers will be able to create popapps that play videos, music, and photos, read and write content metadata, and access files on mounted drives and UPnP servers from the home network or media from the cloud.

Where Are Our CES 2010 Products?

Jeremy Jones — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 01:30:12 +0000

Do you remember all those cool products announced at CES? Things like PopBox, Boxee Box and ZAGGbox. ZatzNotFunny post got me thinking about all these products that haven’t hit the market yet. I was hoping to pre-order the Boxee box by now. Actually Boxee has been quite about everything. For awhile there they were in the news a lot. Some other things I would add is tethering on iPhone. AT&T has been silent about that except for saying later. What products have you wanted that never made it to market? It doesn’t just have to be CES products.

Video: IoSafe Solo SSD Tortured

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:49:10 +0000

The IoSafe Solo SSD was tortured by being burned, soaked in water and run over by a backhoe. It survived all of it. The SSD option is going to be a little pricey, starting at $499 for the 64GB version, but you know your data will be safe.

(via CrunchGear)

Popcorn Hour A-200 Released

Jeremy Jones — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:16:19 +0000

Popcorn Hour quietly released the A-200 media player. It goes on sale on January 18th and I’m sure there will be some wait time with that like when I ordered my A-100. It is $179 but features a new design and faster processor for handling all the HD content you have ripped. It’s very similar to the C-200 specs but doesn’t have the front LCD or drive bay. And really from all the reviews on the C-200 the LCD isn’t worth it. I’m thinking it’s about time to update my outdated A-100.

Supported Media File Formats
Video containers:
MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)
MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG, DAT, VOB)
MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)
AVI, ASF, WMV
Matroska (MKV)
MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4

Video Decoders:
XVID SD/HD
MPEG-1
MPEG-2 MP@HL
MPEG-4.2 ASP@L5, 720p, 1-point GMC
MPEG-4.10 (H.264) : BP@L3, MP@L4.0, HP@L4.0, HP@L4.1
WMV9 : MP@HL
SMPTE 421M (VC-1) : MP@HL, AP@L3

Audio Containers:
AAC, M4A
MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA)
WAV
WMA
FLAC
OGG

Audio Decoders:
Dolby Digital
DTS
WMA, WMA Pro
MPEG-1 Layer 1, 2, 3
MPEG-4 AAC-LC
MPEG-4 HE-AAC
MPEG-4 BSAC
LPCM
FLAC
Vorbis

Audio Pass-Through:
DTS, DTS-HD HR, DTS-HD MA
Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD

Other Formats:
ISO, IFO navigation
AVCHD navigation
Simple BD navigation

Photo Formats:
JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF

Subtitle Formats:
SRT, MicroDVD SUB, SSA, SUB/IDX

Thermaltake Level 10 Review

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:47:02 +0000

The Thermaltake Level 10 computer case is completely different but is completely awesome. Gizmodo has a review of the case and it doesn’t disappoint, unless price is a factor. The case is $850 which is way above most big cases on the market. What you get is a unique case that was designed by BMW. It has great style while not showing a single cable. It is huge which isn’t surprising of Thermaltake and quality parts. I have a full tower Thermaltake Armor case and it is extremely heavy with no components. Load it full of hard drives and you can top 50 pounds fairly easily. The Level 10 weighs 50 pounds with no components. I won’t go over all the details here. It would be nice if a case like this would slip into the average geeks budget. Even if you can’t afford it head over to see what it would be like to own one.

Boxee Box Announced

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:07:49 +0000

The Boxee Box was unveiled tonight. When they said box they were right. It’s unique shape looks really cool but isn’t going to stack well in your equipment rack. With a price tag of $200 it is being built by D-Link. It is the D-Link DSM-380.

* Item (WxDxH): 120mm x 120mm x 120mm
* 1 HDMI Connector
* 1 Optical Digital Audio (S/PDIF) Connector
* Composite Audio Connectors
* Power Button
* AC Power Connector
* Ethernet Connector
* 2 USB 2.0 Connectors
* SD Card Slot

I’m in for one or more with the expected release date in the first part of 2010. For everyone thinking about the Roku box, I would seriously think twice and look at the Boxee Box.

I’ll post more info when I find it out.

(via ZatzNotFunny)

HD Media Player Battle

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:51:48 +0000

With all the HD media players on the market it is tough to decide which one is best. Gizmodo has a great article comparing five of the best out there. If you don’t want to read through it look at the chart breakdowns to see how they compare. They tested the WD TV Live, Seagate Freeagent theater, Popcorn Hour C-200, Patriot Box Office and the Netgear Digital Entertainer Live. I don’t want to spoil the winner but I was a little surprised by who won.

Dell Zino HD Now Available

Jeremy Jones — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:15:54 +0000

Dell has released the Inspiron Zino HD. I posted about it awhile back and how it would be a great HTPC computer. I think it might be even better now because it starts at $229 and is expandable to Dual Core processor, 8GB of memory and 512MB graphics card. With the HDMI output it would be great sitting next to your HDTV.

Multimedia-PCs » hardware

Boxee Box Firmware Update

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