Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Waiting a day and a half for my movies to populate after the last firmware I realize it's not going to happen. Everything was going ok there for a while...now it's useless for me.
I think I gave it my best like many others on the forums but it's not worth the effort. I even hooked my WDTVs up just to see if it was something weird with my network but everything was ok with them.
I did learn something from this thread, HDI Dune HD Base Network HD Media Player W/Hot Swap SATA. Sure it's more money but now I have 2 Popbox, 2 WDTV Lives to get rid of. At least I get my full refund back from Amazon.
I remember the excitement I had putting in my pre-orders on April 30th. It's been a long wait and honestly I do think it will all get sorted...problem is I am ready now.
50+ posts & 42 pages later... It's been fun! I'll probably delete my 4 star review on Amazon as well. I think no review is better than an honest review at this point.
Here is my original review posted on Amazon. You can see it started out ok.
Friday July 16th 2010
So far so good. I love the way it pulls info from IMDB
Yes there are many issues right out of the box. So if you are expecting a hassle fee experience it may be too early at this point. Popbox has already confirmed firmware updates in the next few days.
So I have been messing with the 2 Popboxes over the last 24+ hours now. So far so good. I will keep adding to my review as I learn more. But right now I am giving it 4 stars as its doing everything I want it to do. Make sure you read the instructions and insert the included SD card before powering up.
I have about 4 tb worth of HD movies all saved as .mkv and I simply added it to the Media Library in the settings and it started to scan the My Book World Edition II. Now the movies are showing up along with cover art all fetched from IMDB.
IMDB also determines which are TV shows and will displays those in the right category.
Some covers are wrong and you can edit them by searching for the right cover and selecting it.
I am streaming 1080p movies with no issues at all. It found my network asked for my key and that was really it.
I used to have the exact same setup but with an WDTV live and I would get drop outs constantly. I actually had to change it to wired to keep the connection.
Both my router and wireless adapter used were in the accepted list by WD.
Shoutcast app does not seem to be working correctly as it keeps resetting the box. But YouTube works along with Twitter and Weatherbug.
I do notice my Pioneer VSX-1018AH is no longer displaying DTS and now displays PCM. It used to display DTS with the WDTV Live.
I really like it. Overall it looks ok...nothing that blows me away but I do like the way the movies are displayed.
Oh yeah there are no instructions besides the quick setup guide. No forum or real support either at this time.
Many are complaining on Amazon about their wired versions too.
There are no ads as some reported before this thing actually came out.
Things I don't like:
Some subtitles load up and some don't. Not sure how to actually trigger the subtitle feature yet since there is no subtitle button.
Only 2x and 4x search. You can't skip in larger times.
There is also no resume. So if you hit stop an hour into the movie its gonna take a while to get to that same spot.
So far I have watched 3 movies @ 1080p wireless and all played fine.
They do have a lot to work out on this. I am sure many of you can't figure out why I gave it 4 stars since there are so many things wrong...but I am perfectly happy with what it is doing at this time. I also have the patients to wait for the upcoming firmwares. At this point it does feel like I am beta testing. That is cool with me..but I can't see myself doing this longer than 30 days...at that point I will return if not fully functional.
UPDATED 7/18/2010
popboxteam:
We will be providing multiple firmware releases over the next 2-3 weeks to address the issues reported. The first one (v1.1) will be available on Tue (07/20) afternoon. Some of the fixes in this version will be:
* Settings to enable DTS and Dolby Digital
* 6x and 8x support for FF/REW
* Playback resumes from where it stopped the last time
* After exiting a movie, the focus frame is not present and always returns to first movie in library
* Media Library fixes for navigation and scrolling in TV category
This release will also have a number of other stability fixes not listed above. Once again appreciate your patience and feedback as we work through these issues.
Subtitles are not supported in this release. They will be supported in a future release. The formats supported will be: SRT, MicroDVD SUB, SSA, SUB/IDX
UPDATED 7/19/10
There are a few users on the AVSForum board that are having a glitch where it is showing a completely different UI with many more features enabled:
Capable of sending Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA bitstream as well as DTS and DD
Plus mentions of Netflix:
w w w .youtube. com/watch?v=F_hIJpncU4o
UPDATED 7/20/10
New Firmware released.
Well first thing I tried was FF and it now goes to
2x
4x
8x
16x
Sounds good right? Wrong... sure the time increases in fact I was FF to about 10:00 into the movie and noticed the video was not moving that fast. I press play again..or stop..or pause..not sure cause it would not respond well. I got it to play and it was back at 2:35 !
My receiver is now showing DTS. There is now an option for PCM and RAW.
I can no longer access that hidden UI....
Movies do not resume
I can now access page 2 of TV shows.
UPDATED 7/21/10
Here is the list that is going around and collected from the various forums:
- Audio: No bitstreaming for DTS-HD MA and TrueHD
- Audio: Center channel missing during video playback. Completely random for me
- UI: Yes they have their own genres like movies, tv shows but it's all pulled automatically
- UI: TV scraping is still horrible
- UI: Only lists 8 movies per page. You will see the `loading' icon constantly
- UI: Focus is not so good. You really notice it with pop ups when the focus goes back to the main screen behind the pop up !
- Design: This thing gets HOT
- Design: Power cable sticks out and is not properly seated
- Design: No reset button or power button that actually turns it off. Using the power button puts it into standby mode
- Playback: No subtitle button!
- Playback: No Audio selection button!
- Playback: Info button is bad. There are no indications on how fast you are seekinguntil you hit the `i' button. Then you have too much information including movie descriptions! Who wants to see that while you are FF or RW
- Playback: No resume. You stop it and you have to start over again. That is not easy especially since seeking just sucks
- Playback: FF is now up to 16x but when I FF on some movies it indicates for example 10 minutes into the movie but when I press play it actually goes back to say 2:50
There are others but man I am done. You think I am exaggerating ??? Then feel free to check these 2 forums out:
avsforum
forum.popbox
I have never dealt with any electronic device with so many issues right from the start. I can't imagine anyone tested this thing out before it was shipped...In fact it was sent out a few days before the actual release date.
Do I think they will fix it...Yes... eventually. I just wish I had the last 5 days of my life back.
[...]
Click Here to see more reviews about: PopBox Wireless Media Player
Product Description:
The PopBox Wireless makes it simple and affordable to play all the movies, home videos, photos, and music stored on your home PC/network as well as streamed from the Internet on your HDTV!With PopBox Wireless you can finally give your HDTV what its been hungering for - all the best sports, entertainment, movies, videos, and music the Internet has to offer, PLUS an incredibly simple way to play all of your own stored movies, home videos, pictures and music on your HDTV sets and home theater system.Why watch things that were meant for the big screen on a computer monitor when you and your family can enjoy it all in any room of your house on your HDTV?With PopBox connected to your HDTV suddenly everything can go big screen!And we've made sure to make setup automated and simple - just hook the PopBox Wireless up to your Internet connection and it does the rest!
Want to read more honest consumer review about PopBox Wireless Media Player now ?
