A 512 Kbps connection is the minimum that is necessary as we found out, but ideally it should be 1 Mbps and above. Playback of online media was found to be flawless, but that depends on the speed of your internet connection. Media players are generally known to instantly respond to Play and Stop functions.
If you do not have a subtitle for a movie, Boxee can search and download it for you as well.įor reasons unknown, it takes up to 10 seconds from the time you press the Play button, to start playback of a file, while it takes an equal amount of time to stop it as well. Advanced settings for all of the above are already available under the Settings as mentioned earlier. Subtitles settings lets you browse and choose subtitles, specify offset, and choose character set. Video settings consist of aspect ratio, zoom level, overscan, etc, while Audio settings lets you specify audio offset time, useful when video is not in sync with the audio, and lets you choose audio stream in case of the presence of multiple streams in the media file.
Video, Audio, and Subtitles settings can be adjusted during movie playback. However, it would have been better to provide dedicated buttons for the same. Barring volume control, you can control the rest through the menu during file playback. Controls such as forward, rewind, or even volume control are not present on the remote control. It can work with two USB storage devices at the same time, listing the contents of both separately. Playback was very smooth and the picture quality was as good as the source. It could play all the media formats we threw at it without any issue. The controls were found to be very responsive. The overall experience was good and the interface is really smooth and polished. It lacks the QWERTY functionality altogether, though we think that D-link should add it in a future version.
This remote control has the button mode and gesture mode of control.
You need to download and install the free Boxee app from the App Store and connect it to the player via Wi-Fi to start controlling it. The solution to this is that the keys should either be backlit, or at least have a brighter colour with readable labels.Īlternatively, you can even use your iPhone or iPod touch as a remote control for the device. The problem will not occur after you are used to the media side of the remote because there are very few buttons to locate, but it will definitely be disastrous while using the QWERTY side.
This makes it almost impossible to locate the button in a dimly lit room. Furthermore, the labels on the buttons are also dull and barely readable. It literally works even through walls!Ī big design flaw of the remote control is that all the buttons have the same colour as the remote control, which is black. This means it does not require line-of-sight contact between the sensor on the device and the emitter on the remote. The good thing is that this remote control uses radio frequency (RF) for communication, unlike the IR used in conventional remotes. Essential buttons such as volume control have been completely omitted. The top button is for Play and Pause, while the bottom button is for Back and Menu. The media side has two buttons and a directional pad. The remote control is two sided, with one side controlling the media functions, while the other with a QWERTY keyboard to be used with the internet functionality. This Linux-based device is therefore not just a local media player it can also play online media via Wi-Fi or Ethernet and is upgradable to add new features. This is the D-Link Boxee Box, which is a hardware implementation of the Boxee software. We have been reviewing media players for quite some time now, but today we have a media player that is quite different from the rest.
Street Price (As On 2): Rs 14,600 () Rs 15,100 (Rediff Shop & Gift)
Cons: Requires internet for first time use and registration Remote has almost no media buttons except Play \ Pause Takes a minute to start up Not easy to setup and use for novice No composite or component connectivity Bulky and heavy.