Living With Boxee Box

I picked up a Boxee Box about a month ago.  I thought it was easy to get started with and find my files over the network.  I ended up having to rename a few of my movies, mostly just adding the year.  I also found out if it doesn't load up all you files then you should delete the share and thumbnails and readd it and it should work.

File support was a slight problem.  The ts and m2ts files I was making with my HD PVR would start skipping about an hour into them.  I contacted Boxee support and was told that they were having issues with them.  Some of them I was able to remux as mpeg files with MKV2VOB, a program made for the Ps3.  Others I had to burn (to the harddrive) as a AVCHD disc and then rip with DVDFAB as a mkv.  None of this altered the quality, but I was able to play my hd files.

What I didn't expect was how much the wife and kids would like it.  Pandora and old tv shows and cartoons are streaming all the time.  Boxee Box, we like it.

Plex and Firecore Installed

I bit the bullit and bought the $20 Firecore software when it went to the 5th beta version.  If you are looking for the best waf then their media player is for you.  They now have SAMBA working and you can easily get to your files.  It works just like searching for music and movies in your Itunes library and automatically downloads artwork from imdb.  Still, this is a beta and my hd files stuttered and the aspect ratio was off on some sd mkv's.

I decided to also try the Plex beta on the Apple TV 2.  I downloaded the software to my computer to act as the server and installed the client from the Firecore menu.  It easily found all my media and tagged it with artwork.  Unfortunately for me, the Apple TV kept bouncing back to the main menu without ever actually playing anything.  Your mileage may vary.  I don't plan on keeping it around for the main reason being I don't want to have to run a server for it.

The longer I wait for a working media player for non-Apple approved file formats for the Apple TV 2 the more I think about investing in the Boxee Box.  Still, the little $99 box from Jobs is a fun thing to play with.

Jailbroke Again, Plex, Firecore

After more reading in the ios section of the XBMC forums I read about how someone had rejailbroke their ATV2 and got all of their streaming problems solved.  So I began the futile process of doing that.  I used Tiny Umbrella to save my ssh's in case I needed to role back.  I then ended up using the new untethered version of Seasonpass from Firecore that upgraded me to ios 4.3.  Nightly version of XBMC has no Dolby Digital on this version and even in analog mode I had audio problems, which is what the wiki says is the current status of it.  So I went down to 4.2.1 and while standard def content played, 720p was still buffering.

I then began looking around for programs beside XBMC.  Plex on the Apple TV2 looks very promising, but it requires a computer to be running a server for it and I don't want to have to dedicate one when I already have a NAS to store my media.  I have contacted Firecore and gotten back quick replies on their media player.  They are expecting SAMBA support and improved hd playback with an update within the week.  I'm planning on trying it out as soon as that is available.

Linksys WRT54GL DD-WRT Repeater

I have a 2cd WRT54GL that is hooked up via ethernet to the primary router to extend my wireless network.  Recently a storm came through and the long ethernet cable began to fail that ran to it.  Instead of crawling under the house and replacing it I decided to install DD-WRT firmware on the router over the Tomato firmware I had been using so I could turn it into a wireless repeater.

I downloaded the firmware from the website, did a hard reset to the router, and then installed it via the Tomato gui.  The upgrade was simple and the new controls were easy to set up.  I was able to set security and ssid of the repeater independent of the primary router.  Also I was able to see how well it was connected to the primary router and to the computers connected to it.  Awesome and free.

Chasing FTP

I began trying to set up an ftp server to go with my XBMC on an Apple TV 2, and ran into problems.  The better parts of two mornings were wasted while I crashed and burned with Filezilla and ports and more ports.  Finally, I decided that it simply was not worth the effort.  I bought a NAS so I would not need to have a computer running to use a media server.  Why should I change that plan now?

Over at the forums at XBMC.org there were a few people still had problems with 720p content even through an ftp server.  I finally decided to wait until this version was merged into the main trunk and see if the problems of samba were fixed.  Time and money can cure about anything I suppose.  If not, I think I may try the Boxee Box which can play hd content well and high def audio which this one cannot.

Replacement Blu-ray Player: LG BD530

I finally replaced my Samsung BDP 1590 with a new blu-ray player the LG BD530.  Would it work over hdmi as the old Sammy had quit doing after a firmware update was the first question to answer.  Heck yes, it did.  I actually planned on buying the new Panasonic from Best Buy but it was not in stock and this one ended up being a steal.

It does not have all the fancy apps that many players have.  It has weather, youtube, and access to Picassa.  Basically, there's nothing there that I will ever use.  We watched The Incredibles on dvd first upconverted to 720p for our hdtv.  It looked better than I had ever seen it.  Then I popped in my Sammy's nemesis, Robin Hood on blu-ray, and it played dutifully.  Finally, I can watch Russell Crowe steal from the rich and give to the poor, well sort of, I suppose. 

But, there was definitely a bonus feature that I did not expect: mkv playback.  The files have to be h264 so far from my experimenting with it.  But it will play back recordings I've made from my HD PVR perfectly which I have yet to get my Apple TV 2 to do!  Awesome.  The downside is that it is just a a file viewer to look at the files on an external hard drive and not a cool gui like on XBMC. 

More XBMC On Apple TV 2

I'm still working on getting the Apple TV2 with XBMC going.  Standard def material plays great, but I still cannot get any HD content to play without stuttering.  From the forums there have been several issues with this and some of my problems may be related to using Samba to access shares.  My new plas is to try to set up a ftp server on my computer to see if that helps.

The good news is how well the box works.  Watching movies, and recently Austin City Limits via the PBS plugin, with XBMC is a great experience.  It is easy to operate and very smooth and intuitive.  My wife is really liking it for it and for the Apple side of the interface.

XBMC on Apple TV 2: The Good and Bad So Far

I decided to kick my Popcorn Hour to the curb for the sake of a fancy gui that might be easier for the family to operate.  With oogling eyes I picked up a new Apple TV and brought it home.  It took me about 4 times before I was able  to Jailbreak it with Green Poison.  I installed the anti Apple Update Nag program first and then tried to install XBMC, which failed twice.  With more internet searching I found out how to go in and install via ssh, which I did with one I covered in fear.  Presto, it worked.  XBMC was on the list of things I could choose from the main menu.  But I couldn't stream or find anything from my network because of  a bug in it causes you to restart first. 

Then I got the black screen.  Arghh!  I have this committed to memory:  login as root, password alpine, killall AppleTV.  And everything goes hunky dory again, remember that kids, you'll need it.  All my dvd backups as MKV or xvid or avi's all played great.  Yes, yes, yes.  But high def, hahaha that's another story.

Oh, you've read about how it will play 1080p content, etc, but that, in my experience, was a little short on substance.  It won't play my hd caps from HD PVR that I did buy at least without reencoding them.  Nightmare, let me tell you.  I finally had to hook up the Popcorn Hour that I luckily hadn't ebayed yet to see if I was going nuts.  I tried streaming from my NAS and two other computers until I reencoded for Apple TV 2 on Handbrake and on the Arcsoft software that comes with the HD PVR.  Now it works, 6 to 13 hours later on my 5 year old computer after reencoding. 

Is it cool, XBMC on the Apple TV 2?  Yes, very.  Is it underpowered?  Yes, very.

My Sometimes Video Snobbery

I still remember when I decided to no longer to use SLP mode to record with on the VCR and only use SP.  I also remember when I picked up my first DVD recorder.  It was not the vaporware model from Philips that I wanted that was supposed to have a digital audio input to recored Dolby Digital with.  So I recorded piles of discs to replace those VCR tapes that I become too "big" to watch.  Now, with HD programming my DVD recorder is looking long in the tooth.  I've begun to be too "big" again to watch those down rezzed recordings.  It has now been sold to be replaced with a Hauppauge HD-PVR, tenatively.  I'm a collector, or packrat depending on your point of view, and I don't want to let those movies go that are currently on my Dish DVR.  But if I record them, even in HD, will they be one day passed over for something better?

3D Again

Went to Best Buy again with the kids and checked out the 3D HDTV's.  Only one of the active shutter glasses for the Samsung was working so we had to take turns.  My initial impressions still hold true; it looks awesome when the depth goes "into" the television, but when the image comes forward into the room it falls apart.  We were watching an IMax film.

We also got to check out a passive glasses LG model, brand new.  The salesman, very helpful, said he thought it was better than he expected and that he liked the glasses if only for the fact they were lighter.  It was showing Monsters vs Aliens, and the disc kept skipping.  I did not notice the resolution being halved as a major flaw from where I stood.  However, I did not think the 3D effect was as good as the active glasses.  Looking foward to checking out a Vizio version of passive glasses 3D in the future to see how it compares.

Movie Palace

When I was a child there was a closed down movie palace downtown.  Every time I rode past it I would tell my parents or grandmother how that if I had the money I would open it back up.  Needless to say, I never got the money and never re-opened it.  Recently, photos of a movie opening at that theater came to light and I thought about how driving past it inspired my love of movies and home theater. 

As every young boy, I wanted a big tv growing up of my own.  I remember buying a stereo model and how disappointed I was later to find out I had a mono vcr and had to replace it as well.  I was the only one of my friends to hook up a stereo receiver and speakers to the "hi-fi" vcr I later bought to get stereo sound from vcr tapes and tv shows.  And I'm sure no one took me seriously when I expounded on the greatness of Dolby Pro Logic surround sound when I scraped up enough money to buy a capable receiver.

Today I enjoy movies on a 92" screen once a week.  My theatrer room is definitely not a movie palace, but high definition video and discrete 5.1 surround sound make a great substitue.  And maybe one day if I ever win the lottery.......

No Blu-ray at K-mart?

Attention K-mart shoppers, there will be no specials on blu-ray movies or players.

That seems to be the message you can draw from K-mart weekly ads the past few weeks.  They have not advertised anything but dvd players.  The Sony PS3 was in one ad, but it was being pushed as a gaming machine only.  They have only been listing dvd movies.  No listings with prices for both dvd and blu-ray. 

The only conclusion I can draw from this is that few of their customers are buying them.  I have not bought any high definition movies from them since I picked up an HD DVD disc (ouch!) a couple years ago.  Prices were too high for me.  Target, Wal-mart, Best Buy, etc, all have blu-ray movies and players in their weekly ads.  I guess if you're looking for a blue laser at the blu light, you better look somewhere else.

Switched to Component

I made the switch on my blu-ray player from hdmi to component video cables.  Not willingly, mind you, not willingly.  However, as soon as I turned it on my Robin Hood blu-ray began playing flawlessly.  No video dropouts, no cranky wife suggesting we watch something else, nothing but a great movie playing. 

I realize I am missing the full HD video I paid for and the HD audio to go along with it, but sometimes it is more important to have something work when you want it to than have nothing at all.  Now, hopefully, Samsung will issue a firmware upgrade that will correct these problems and I'll go back to HD sweetness.  Until then, 1080i will have to suffice.

Getting Tired of Samsung Blu-ray Player



Starting to get tired of my Samsung BDP-1590 Blu-ray player.  It is the same as the 1600 model, as far as I can tell.  After the firmware upgrade in December, it has decided it to have a wonderful hdmi handshake problem.  Sometimes if you wait long enough it will sort it out on its own, other times, well........  Each preview, menu, and movie start requires me to turn off and on my avr to sync it up correctly.  We tried to watch the new Russell Crowe Robin Hood the other night and finally gave up.  Techie folk want to figure out what the problem is, chase it down on internet forums and the like; regular people want it to work out the box and give up on it. 

I've thought about going with component cables for the time being to get away from the problem, but obviously I then lose 1080p and hd audio formats.  Maybe a new player should be in my future instead....

Converting DVD's With Handbrake

I decided to compress all my dvd files for my Popcorn Hour to a smaller form factor to save space on my hard drive.  When I loaded up Handbrake it alerted me to a new version I could download.  I did, and began converting with the new program.  After doing several at the default settings, I tried playing them back on the Popcorn Hour and could not get any Dolby Digital sound!  Even if I selected it with or without a downmixed AAC stereo version, I would only get the AAC version.  So, I tested and restested, and was about to give up.  Then I googled MP4 and Dolby Digital and found out that MP4 does not natively support it.  I switched to the mkv container, like I used to use, and what do you know, it worked!  I could also include the director's commentary soundtrack and select it on the fly while playing.  Awesome!

Now, my computer is still going to be tied up for a few more days while converting....

Netflix Streaming

I finally got the opportunity to try out some Nextflix streaming.  Is it the way of the future?  Maybe.  The first thing I tried out was a widescreen standard definition show.  While I had a good quality connection, there was a lot of pixelation during scenes with a lot of motion in the picture.  Very disappointing.  Next I watched an episode of the Office, which was listed in HD, but my connection was too slow at the time for the HD.  However, this was much better, and had little pixelation, if any, but still looked softer than my Dishnetwork service.  I tried an HD movie the following day and got the full HD streaming.  This looked as good as anything I've scene on my dish.

The main problem I would complain about is surround sound.  If you really enjoy home theater, you want to have discrete surround sound like Dolby Digital.  When Netflix can provide that, streaming will be something to really get excited about.