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Got Boxee... so what?

M

mark34

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 18, 2006
647
184
I was excited to install Boxeee... it all worked out great. It was easy to do. I am left with... so what? I think the issue is that i am not the target. Most of the stuff I found was terrible quality. The interface is kludgy and slow, but I guess that is to be expected with a Beta. The AppleTV's interface is far superior as it is. I love my AppleTV but use it primarily to watch rented HD movies and occasionally download HD TV shows to catch something I forgot to Tivo. I also stream music from other computers and also sync with one. I very rarely watch standard definition programming these days, but even compared to reasonable quality, I didn't find much watchable stuff on the Boxee.

I also don't pirate DVD's like most people on this board seem to. I'm not judging, it just isn't something that I do...

I am someone who is more than happy to pay for programming if it is high quality like AppleTV HD or Blu-Ray. I think Boxee is for people with big collections of pirated movies and who like to watch more random TV shows and misc other stuff found on random web sites, which are low resolution, but they don't care. I am not saying that isn't a perfectly good mission, it just isn't mine. Perhaps it is a generation thing. I am over 40 (just :) ), maybe I am too lazy to go through all that effort. If i want that kind of low resolution content, I'll just watch it on my laptop.

Am I off base?

I do think it is a neat interface on a laptop, but for my 135" home theater screen.... no go.
 
I use it primarily to play my ripped DVDs, stored on my NAS.
All DVDs are owned by me, no pirating here either. Befor boxee, I have always been looking at Kaleidescape, (way) too expensive.

The promise of boxee + finally a way to graphically browse my DVDs made me switch. Still not there, sluggish etc., but, it's a very good start.

And I like the occasionally show from Comedy Central etc.
 
mark34 said:
I was excited to install Boxeee... it all worked out great. It was easy to do. I am left with... so what? I think the issue is that i am not the target. Most of the stuff I found was terrible quality. The interface is kludgy and slow, but I guess that is to be expected with a Beta. The AppleTV's interface is far superior as it is. I love my AppleTV but use it primarily to watch rented HD movies and occasionally download HD TV shows to catch something I forgot to Tivo. I also stream music from other computers and also sync with one. I very rarely watch standard definition programming these days, but even compared to reasonable quality, I didn't find much watchable stuff on the Boxee.

I also don't pirate DVD's like most people on this board seem to. I'm not judging, it just isn't something that I do...

I am someone who is more than happy to pay for programming if it is high quality like AppleTV HD or Blu-Ray. I think Boxee is for people with big collections of pirated movies and who like to watch more random TV shows and misc other stuff found on random web sites, which are low resolution, but they don't care. I am not saying that isn't a perfectly good mission, it just isn't mine. Perhaps it is a generation thing. I am over 40 (just :) ), maybe I am too lazy to go through all that effort. If i want that kind of low resolution content, I'll just watch it on my laptop.

Am I off base?

I do think it is a neat interface on a laptop, but for my 135" home theater screen.... no go.
Click to expand...


Yeah i agree with you. I use apple tv for the HD rentals too.

The thing i like about boxee is the internet videos (not hulu). Things like diggnation and what not. Its HD. 5.1 sound.

I've found some shows on Hulu are awful quality (to be expected though). Boxee is still in alpha though..so you really cant complain that much...but yeah apple tv is still the genius...theres still alot of unused resources and maybe.one day...it will be unleashed...
 
Thanks for your thoughts... makes more sense to me now. I just had read a couple of posts that had said that "now the AppleTV is worth it" and similar and wasn't getting it.

I used the term "pirate" because as far as I know it still isn't legal to copy DVD's for any use. I absolutely believe that people should be able to copy DVD's they personally purchased so that if it is scratched or such, they don't have to buy another copy. As long as they don't give to friends. Personally, the only ones who watch movies more than once in my household are my kids. I am always tempted to buy Blu-Rays or DVD's but try to resist since I know I only watch once. That's why Blu-Ray and AppleTV HD rentals fill the bill.

I do think that those who get advanced release movies and those who rent DVD's and copy them need to check themselves. But hey, I am no angel in life, that's for sure, this is just an area I care about.
 
I also agree with you on this point "I think the issue is that i am not the target" I'm not the type of person either yet I love my :apple:TV. It works great and ties everything in very well and most of all it's easy to use.
 
mark34 said:
Thanks for your thoughts... makes more sense to me now. I just had read a couple of posts that had said that "now the AppleTV is worth it" and similar and wasn't getting it.

I used the term "pirate" because as far as I know it still isn't legal to copy DVD's for any use. I absolutely believe that people should be able to copy DVD's they personally purchased so that if it is scratched or such, they don't have to buy another copy. As long as they don't give to friends. Personally, the only ones who watch movies more than once in my household are my kids. I am always tempted to buy Blu-Rays or DVD's but try to resist since I know I only watch once. That's why Blu-Ray and AppleTV HD rentals fill the bill.

I do think that those who get advanced release movies and those who rent DVD's and copy them need to check themselves. But hey, I am no angel in life, that's for sure, this is just an area I care about.
Click to expand...



also do you happen to have a link to your 100+ tv screen online somewhere, or something close to it. How is the quality for regular cable? Is there any fading in color going on? I am curious.
 
Boxee is worthwhile to me for the streaming of online TV shows, e.g. Hulu and Comedy Central. Since purchasing the AppleTV I've canceled cable and TiVo. I don't watch too much television and figured I would be happy buying the shows I want from the iTunes store. But I realized as time went on that it's silly to pay such a high price for videos that I'm only going to watch once. Getting the content legally and for free via Boxee streaming solves that problem, and it's all from the couch in my living room rather than the desk in my office.
 
I installed Boxee on my Mini "HTPC" over the weekend, and I do really like the internet video portion, Netflix integration especially (note, I use a Mini, not ATV - it doesn't meet Silverlight's minimum requirements, but still plays Netflix)

I would consider using it exclusively over Front Row, only I spent a lot of time getting album and movie art/information into metatags, and it doesn't seem to use that data. And it's taking a looooonnnnnnnngggggggg time to import my Music library information (up to 44 artists last time I looked, about 1/10 of the total).

It's "alpha" by the way, not even "beta", so I give it a lot of slack. But still, neither Boxee nor XMBC (on which Boxee is based) gives me all I want. What I really want is an option in Front Row to view internet video.

By the way, I signed up for the alpha program on Nov 18 and got my invite on Dec 5, so the waiting period is only just over two weeks.
 
iOrlando said:
also do you happen to have a link to your 100+ tv screen online somewhere, or something close to it. How is the quality for regular cable? Is there any fading in color going on? I am curious.
Click to expand...

I use the JVC DLA-RS1 with a stewart screen.

Here is link to latest version of the projector, mine is about 16 months old.
http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/features.jsp?model_id=MDL101733

It is great with just about any source, though of course it does tend to bring a magnifying glass to limitations of sources. Huge contrast ratio, bright, amazing colors. It is in a dedicated home theater that is completely light controlled, but could certainly work with some ambient light, though not as well. It is my third front projector and it is a dream. It really wasn't that expensive... I think around $7,000, which for the quality is amazing considering how much projectors used to cost. You can get an excellent excellent projector for much less even.

I should add that I also use an external video processor (DVDO VP50).

The AppleTV looks great, at least the HD items do. I streamed a SD early season 24 episode from my Macbook Air to my AppleTV. Not so great in the picture quality, but not quite as terrible as i expected.
 
Boxee is handy if you hate the cable companies. I personally, will do everything in my power, to avoid paying any cable company one dime. Especially after being ripped off multiple times by both comcast and verizon (fios). These companies have their customers in an extreme disadvantaged position. They use subscription models, billing your accounts or CCs non stop, even if service is of poor quality. If you complain or have problems, the companies keep getting your money. These companies also have a convenient well known "problem" of refusing to cancel one's service, and then threaten with collection agencies, even though you canceled your account properly. They count on most people getting sick of the ordeal and paying the money.

I will never ever pay 1 cent to these companies again (Direct TV is the only exception...they seem to be fairly good).

That being said, for people like me, boxee helps provide a great alternative to cable. Along with OTA HD, and Itunes, it covers (most) of the stuff I'd want to watch. Live sports and news is really the only thing that isn't so easy to do. Boxee holds promise for both of these though.

Ofcourse I'd love great HD content on boxee...but this is a free service. If i really want the HD..i'll buy it from itunes or rent from netflix.

(yes, I know you have get MLB.com on itunes)
 
absolutely... i hate the cable companies too. I think your approach for multiple sources of content, not provider specific is the future... it is interesting to watch everything change in front of our eyes.

Perhaps I need to search through the Boxee content and save some favorite sites and give it a go.
 
mark34 said:
I used the term "pirate" because as far as I know it still isn't legal to copy DVD's for any use. I absolutely believe that people should be able to copy DVD's they personally purchased so that if it is scratched or such, they don't have to buy another copy. As long as they don't give to friends.
Click to expand...

Well, this depends per country. Overhere (the Netherlands) it's perfectly legal to download music or movies (not software). You are not allowed to upload though, so to be legal you can not use bittorrent uploading.
You are even allowed to rent a movie and make a copy, or borrow one from a friend and make a copy. All this by yourself, you are not allowed to make copies for others.

Not that I do it though, but, just to point out that regulations differ.

mark34 said:
Personally, the only ones who watch movies more than once in my household are my kids. I am always tempted to buy Blu-Rays or DVD's but try to resist since I know I only watch once. That's why Blu-Ray and AppleTV HD rentals fill the bill
Click to expand...

I'ld have to admit that renting the movies I have bought over time on DVD in the end would have been (much) cheaper... Esp. if you take into account that quitre some DVDs are 'special editions' with extras I never watch...

Think I must checkout that On Demand channel of the cable company again...
 
JPDeckers said:
You are even allowed to rent a movie and make a copy, or borrow one from a friend and make a copy. All this by yourself, you are not allowed to make copies for others.
Click to expand...

Really? wow. I find that amazing. Why buy if you can rent and copy?

Good to know, as I spend time in the Netherlands
 
mark34 said:
Really? wow. I find that amazing. Why buy if you can rent and copy?

Good to know, as I spend time in the Netherlands
Click to expand...

Just because it is Legal in the Netherlands does not mean you can import them back to your home Country.

Side note, up until recently is was not Illegal to Downlaod Music, Videos, Movies Etc. in Canada.
 
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