Patriot Box Office Media Player Review

Streaming Video Performance

Wired

When it comes to streaming video to this unit over a wired Ethernet connection we gave all tests a “Pass w/ Caveat” for two main reasons. The first reason is that the Patriot Box Office is only 10/100 capable. This means large files with high bit rates are going to need a damn near clear network so if your home network is a busy one, things may get down right stuttery and make the video all but unwatchable. As long as you are aware of this concern and make sure loads are light on your network you should be OK.

The second and much more concerning issue is the fact just because you have a network does not mean you have a dedicated NAS or media server. If you try to stream video over your network to your Box Office from a Windows 7 shared folder or drive you are in for some major frustration. This is a known issue with ALL Realtek media players which was partially fixed in a later firmware (Asus is still working on it as some people still report issues with Windows 7 and versions 1.13 and 1.17). Since Patriot has promised a firmware update, we are going to give them a pass; however, this extreme tardiness on the firmware front is troubling.

Streaming Video Wireless

Wireless streaming is even more of a hit or miss affair with the Box Office than the wired streaming was. Once again there is no insurmountable issue which would justify a “FAIL”, but we did run into the occasional hiccup. These issues are once again two fold, and once again one is an inherent flaw in Patriot’s execution and another is firmware related. The biggest problem we have with wireless streaming and this unit has to do with the USB Wireless adaptor Patriot has chosen to go with. We understand the need for making this accessory as budget friendly as possible, but 802.11G is just not robust enough for large, high bitrate files. In fact since it is only able to do a mediocre 54GB/s (actualy 26 up and 26 down) the stuttering issues we ran into with a busy wired network were even worse on the wireless network.

The second issue has to do with actually getting wireless streaming to work. Basically, you have all the issues of the wired network and Windows 7 but also have the added “joy” of getting the Box Office to even see your network. While it is not great from a security perspective, you WILL need to have your wireless router set to broadcast. Even worse is the fact that you will have to leave the router broadcasting even after setting it up in the Box Office. Every time you turn this unit on it looks and then finds your network, so if you do set it up and then turn off broadcasting in your router, it will only work until the next reboot. This is NOT a good thing for most people. It may only be “security through obscurity” but every bit does help and finding your network is the first step a hacker needs to do before than can break your security. Just remember that before thinking of going this route.