Boxee Box gets major firmware update for video, Wi-Fi fixes
updated 06:40 pm EST, Fri November 26, 2010
Major Boxee Box update goes live
Boxee during the holiday rolled out a large firmware upgrade for the recently arrived Boxee Box. The update addresses some of the major teething problems identified in launch and focuses on video first. It should fix video artifacts and missing video for 1080i content on the web, Blu-ray derived videos and the inability to handle certain specific subtitles.
Networking has also advanced significantly, especially for wireless. The Box now has a more accurate signal meter for Wi-Fi, supports more encryption methods and is faster to set up than before. Shared media should work more reliably, particularly for Mac users.
A slew of other fixes have also come about, including one where the browser wasn't compensating for TV overscan and was hiding some of the view.
The $199 device has been championed as a universal media player that could handle most formats, but the diversity is believed to have left Boxee shipping its hardware in a rough state due to the sheer number of features it needs to handle. It supports not just direct streaming but Flash-based video and a true web browser that most competitors outside of Google have skipped.
