Back to AppleTV 2

Kind of funny how things go in a circle. After getting Netflix (finally!) we've ended up using the Apple TV much much more. The Netflix app on the Boxee Box is slower to load and is not as pretty as the other. While we enjoy streaming on the Boxee Box the fact that it doesn't have out of the box ir and is more coupled with the Netflix app, my family abandoned me with it.

So in order to make life simpler I've been making Apple compliant files of all our videos. The DVD's were no problem: Handbrake on the Apple TV 2 setting. Then there were my recordings from my HDPVR. Those were all at 720P and 60fps. The Apple TV 2 profile in Handbrake converts to 29.97 fps which caused stuttering on playback. I eventually realized this and adjusted the fps to same as source. We still have  an occasional playback audio synch issue or skipped frame, but letting the entire movie buffer up seems to help.

If I could have found a way to remux my files into mp4v easily I would've been happier. Mac's have a program called Subler that looks like it might've worked if I didn't live in a PC world.

Anyways, I followed the setup featured on the HTGuys.com website for the Apple TV movie server and now the family is happily watching their movies again.

Me, I'm eyeing one of those WDTV boxes to try out.

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.

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.

Popbox, Google TV, or Boxee Box?

I really wanted to upgrade my Popcorn Hour A-100.  It works great, I've set up a nice movie server via yamj.  It does not output audio over hdmi, so there is no hd-audio with this unit.  I had set my hopes on either the Boxee Box or Popbox earlier this year.  Both were postponed and then the Popbox came with more of a fizzle than pop.  My Popcorn Hour is a little buggy, not a lot of polish and it looked like the Popbox, with all the cool features, would be more of the same. So, my Christmas home theater plans started to include the Boxee Box.  Then the Google TV started making waves.  What's a guy to do?  I like the fact that the Google TV integrates well with Dish Network, but that does come with a monthly fee.  While even the name of Google sounds cool, I have not really scene anything yet about it that is cool as far as a media streamer goes.  I'm really hoping that the app store will have something when it opens next year. And what about the Boxee Box?  They finally got their act together and implemented a better chip from Intel so that it can really play HD video and HD audio files.  It came out this week, and immediately had the firmware updated.  I've read that internet content works great, but local content won't all play well.  More updating and more updating.  Until they get it working as it should I'll keep on updating my movie server on my Popcorn Hour and watch and wait.