[voip-ninja]

The adjustment to using the remote keypad was awkward but it's not bad for being recycled.
You're right about the file formats! Boxee was always strong in this area.
A fast USB 3 stick helps out. It still holds its own for being an older box compared to the new Android boxes.

I ordered a fast USB 3 stick will see how much of a difference it makes. If the navigation was just a little bit faster it would actually be pretty decent way to run XBMC on the cheap... certainly better than FireTV for me since I need support for formats other than H264.

I actually realized how good I had it after setting up a MX2 and Fire box for family. If one has a Boxee sitting around then Boxed-In is the way to go.
I haven't tried to do the automatic internal install yet but have noticed many comments about menu navigation being faster.
If you try it out before I get a chance let me know what you think.

I will have to research how the automatic install works. I would not want to lose access to the boxee apps completely.

[kdnoel]

I ordered a fast USB 3 stick will see how much of a difference it makes. If the navigation was just a little bit faster it would actually be pretty decent way to run XBMC on the cheap... certainly better than FireTV for me since I need support for formats other than H264.

I actually realized how good I had it after setting up a MX2 and Fire box for family. If one has a Boxee sitting around then Boxed-In is the way to go.
I haven't tried to do the automatic internal install yet but have noticed many comments about menu navigation being faster.
If you try it out before I get a chance let me know what you think.

I will have to research how the automatic install works. I would not want to lose access to the boxee apps completely.

I need to research and try it myself but it sounds like a new power off option allows XBMC to exit to the boxed in hack to allow access to std apps. I think it's recommended to remove unused apps to keep space free on the internal memory. I can see leaving Netflix Pandora YouTube and a few others.

[BBock727]

The adjustment to using the remote keypad was awkward but it's not bad for being recycled.
You're right about the file formats! Boxee was always strong in this area.
A fast USB 3 stick helps out. It still holds its own for being an older box compared to the new Android boxes.

I ordered a fast USB 3 stick will see how much of a difference it makes. If the navigation was just a little bit faster it would actually be pretty decent way to run XBMC on the cheap... certainly better than FireTV for me since I need support for formats other than H264.

I actually realized how good I had it after setting up a MX2 and Fire box for family. If one has a Boxee sitting around then Boxed-In is the way to go.
I haven't tried to do the automatic internal install yet but have noticed many comments about menu navigation being faster.
If you try it out before I get a chance let me know what you think.

Are you saying that the boxee box is a better xbmc player than a Amazon Fire TV? How can that be possible given the specs of both?

[kdnoel]

I ordered a fast USB 3 stick will see how much of a difference it makes. If the navigation was just a little bit faster it would actually be pretty decent way to run XBMC on the cheap... certainly better than FireTV for me since I need support for formats other than H264.

I actually realized how good I had it after setting up a MX2 and Fire box for family. If one has a Boxee sitting around then Boxed-In is the way to go.
I haven't tried to do the automatic internal install yet but have noticed many comments about menu navigation being faster.
If you try it out before I get a chance let me know what you think.

Are you saying that the boxee box is a better xbmc player than a Amazon Fire TV? How can that be possible given the specs of both?

The combination of Linux, Intel processor and graphics does out perform the other android boxes.
One shouldn't be fooled by the quad core spec and think its going to be better performing and Boxee still plays more file formats.

[Ned Scott]

Are you saying that the boxee box is a better xbmc player than a Amazon Fire TV? How can that be possible given the specs of both?

A "slower" (in Ghz) x86 processor is most often still faster than a higher Ghz ARM processor. ARM and x86 are totally different monsters.

[BBock727]

so is the consensus to get a boxee box over an amazon fire tv for xbmc?

[kdnoel]

so is the consensus to get a boxee box over an amazon fire tv for xbmc?

Not necessarily.
Boxee has been abandoned by the developer and DLink continues to sell the hardware.
If you have one or can pick one up for next to nothing then most definitely don't buy an android box. There are a lot of people that know nothing of the Boxee hack and their Boxee is collecting dust.

Bottom line is go buy the fire TV if you don't already have access to a Boxee.

The Boxee was way ahead of the times and is a great piece of hardware. I think mine is pushing 5 years old and runs like the day I unboxed it.

[tennisbgc]

what's the word on hd audio, that's what frustrated me with it before were the audio dropouts.

[JxPx]

Well I finally decided to bust out the good ole bbox. I did the install to a USB and I am very happy with it. She plays the files the same way she always did, now just a much better interface. Running Big Noids Nox 5 with no problems. Little lag in menu from time to time, but that's expected with a new build like this. Beats the hell out of that old boxee software. For those using bbox and a Mac as there home computer, install is super easy. Just telnet in and run boxee.in script from links on first page of this forum and bam you are done!!!

[kdnoel]

what's the word on hd audio, that's what frustrated me with it before were the audio dropouts.

I'm not experiencing the audio drop outs but I do recall seeing this in the known issues list. Don't hold me to it but there are three hardware versions and something was said earlier.

If you haven't tried the last few versions then maybe give it a go again.

[voip-ninja]

so is the consensus to get a boxee box over an amazon fire tv for xbmc?

Boxee has better hardware decode support including support for VC1 which FTV does not have. Boxee also has support for 1080p/24. Both boxes are slow navigation-wise but tolerable. FireTV will continue getting developed, boxee is dead but does not know it yet.

[Hhavatar]

I installed xbmc on my boxee box but it still lags and freezes. Had the same experience with boxee + hacks and the original firmware.
I'm thinking the boxee is too hot as it runs over 65c constantly. Is this normal? Thinking now of replacing it with a DN2820FYKH NUC.

[kdnoel]

I installed xbmc on my boxee box but it still lags and freezes. Had the same experience with boxee + hacks and the original firmware.
I'm thinking the boxee is too hot as it runs over 65c constantly. Is this normal? Thinking now of replacing it with a DN2820FYKH NUC.

Certain hardware revisions seem to have the problem you describe. Look for a thread on the boxed in forum for a solution to processor over heating.

If you have installed to a SD card instead of USB stick or internal memory you will have the problem of lockups and erratic behavior like you describe. The SD card slot is not cooled well and will trash an SD card under constant use.

Give it another go and enjoy your Boxee again.

[voip-ninja]

I installed xbmc on my boxee box but it still lags and freezes. Had the same experience with boxee + hacks and the original firmware.
I'm thinking the boxee is too hot as it runs over 65c constantly. Is this normal? Thinking now of replacing it with a DN2820FYKH NUC.

You might also try doing a full factory reset/restore on the box. Overheating is not too painful of a fix, you will need to re-seat and re-thermal paste the heatsink, or replace the heatsink but from looking at threads on the subject it's not too hard.

I've done the hack on two boxees (USB 3 stick on one and internal memory with no USB stick on the other) and it's working quite well on both of them. Speed is not great but I much prefer navigating, etc, with Gotham rather than the dated Boxee default OS/apps.

[JxPx]

I installed xbmc on my boxee box but it still lags and freezes. Had the same experience with boxee + hacks and the original firmware.
I'm thinking the boxee is too hot as it runs over 65c constantly. Is this normal? Thinking now of replacing it with a DN2820FYKH NUC.

One thing I noticed was the automatic install from the Boxee.in website installs the most current version/build they have(13.1) which for some reason is very laggy on my box, however I found some of the older zip files from a few months ago back in April and those older revisions of XBMC 13.0 run great on my boxee. So you might wanna try that as well.