The VPN and HTTP proxy options help expand your horizons, but this is an extra expense and your mileage may vary depending on your VPN provider. It promises to be much more but struggles to deliver due to limited access to content in Australia. So what’s the verdict? I’d say the Boxee Box is one of the best streaming media players on the market. Set up a US-based VPN on the Boxee Box and the Most Popular list changes to US content from the likes of Fox and the Comedy Channel. Some VPN providers offer multiple VPN servers, some of which are designed to circumvent restrictions.
#Boxee plus trial#
It could take a little trial and error to get everything working smoothly, especially as some VPN providers are in a cat-and-mouse game with sites such as Hulu when it comes to blocking access.
If you’re going down this path, you’ll want to use a VPN service or proxy fast enough to handle streaming video. I’m told the DNS-based VPN service Unblock Us is pretty good, and works with a wide variety of devices, but I haven’t had a chance to test it yet. The Box also offers the option to use HTTP proxy servers. Some providers have access points in multiple countries - handy if you also want to watch UK content or even Aussie content while you’re overseas. Subscribe to a VPN service which offers PPTP access and you can trick US services into thinking your Boxee Box resides in the land of the free and the home of the brave. The Boxee Box’s hidden gem is a built-in PPTP VPN client. Thankfully it’s simple to bookmark your favourite sites (but forget about NineMSN because it relies on Sliverlight rather than Flash). Using the browser is cumbersome and the picture quality varies. It’s hit and miss as to whether your favourite sites will work. I got the SBS Catch Up TV service running along with clips on, but not Ten’s Catch Up service. This is where that QWERTY keyboard is a godsend. The Boxee Box features a Flash-enabled browser, which is the key to accessing extra content. Don’t get excited when you see South Park listed under Most Popular, you’ll only find a Comedy Central message reminding you that you’re a second class citizen of the web - but we’ll get back to that. There’s also a whole heap of other free online content, including terrible movies, most of which you wouldn’t bother watching. Together these offer a surprising range of content, although you’re forced to wrestle with their web interfaces and there’s generally only a few episodes available for each show.
#Boxee plus movie#
Considering Quickflix has embraced online movie rentals, it would be great to see the Aussie service come to the Boxee Box.įor now in Australia you’ve got access to range of TV shows, listed under Most Popular, from ABC’s iView, Seven’s Plus7 and Fairfax’s SMH.TV. I’m told it’s on the road map and it would go a long way to improving the Boxee Box’s value proposition compared to something like the much cheaper Apple TV. Access to a local movie rental service would make the Boxee Box a dream device for many people. You can forget about Netflix movie rentals unless you subscribe to a US-based VPN and have access to a US credit card. These are links to various content sources, mainly video but there’s also an RSS reader, weather app, Flickr and TuneIn radio.Īs with most streaming media players, the Boxee Box has one arm tied behind its back in Australia. The Boxee Box’s big selling point is that it also lets you stream online video from a wide range of sources, with the ability to add “Apps”. This is quite an impressive spread of features and, while I'm concerned about those occasional DVD menu quirks, it could perhaps knock off the WD TV Live as my streaming media player of choice. The Boxee Box also plays ripped Blu-ray files, plus it handles Windows Media Centre digital television recordings - both Vista (DVR-MS) and Windows 7 (WTV). It tends to come good if you wait for a minute but, if you strike menus which won’t work, you would be able to click play.
#Boxee plus iso#
I like that the Boxee Box treats ISO and VOB files as a physical DVD, but it occasionally it struggles to display the menus on VOB files or let you navigate them.
#Boxee plus 1080p#
It only choked on the 1080p DivX 3.1 file, but other files were fine.
#Boxee plus 720p#
The mix included low-res files right up to 720p and 1080i/p. It has little trouble with the DivXTestCD2.0, which includes MPEG1/2/4 (ASP & AVC), DivX, XviD, MKV and Windows Media Video files. So what can the Boxee Box do? For starters it can play a wide range of video formats from a USB device or across your home network via DLNA or Samba.
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