Patriot Box Office Media Player Review Comment Thread

[AkG]

I fully expect any and all ISO issues to resolve themselves with a firmware update or three. I am truly glad it works for you and your files but that may not be the case for everyone, thus the warning. Where we did run into issues we had to give it a Pass w/ Caveats. It is not a failure, it is just something that you need to be aware of can happen. The same goes for the odd audio issues we experienced.

[traitoR]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

The only firmware I see available is a beta one. We try not to use beta firmwares for reviews.

Fair enough, but i don't think it's been classed a beta for some time now. Maybe it's just me, it's not like i look all that often.


Patriot Box Office FIRMWARE LIST - Patriot Memory Support Forums

[SKYMTL]

Ah, ES-51-283G-PCMPBO25-P02 was released quite a bit after we had finished testing. :(

[undeclared]

This review gives me more doubts about all these media players at around the $100-150 price point. They all kind of suck at SOME formats and none of them seem to do *everything* perfectly..

I hope if I get a popcornhour it will play everything flawelessly, but who knows.

[stormo]

Great review. Could you confirm whether the PBO can play .ms-dvr files? This is the format Vista Media Center records TV content as. I know that the Western Digital unit can play them, but I've heard this one can't, would like to find out for sure.

[morphy]

Great review . There's been several reviews of this unit going the rounds lately and this is the most comprehensive and detailed yet. Really liked the 'pass with caveats' system for reviewing a unit that has so many components and features. I'm in the market for an HTPC so naturally this piques my interest. I'd probably build one myself but the Patriot box is good for recommending to family/friends who might want a more plug-n-play approach.

Any chance we could see a review on the Acer Revo R3610 with XBMC/Boxee installation ?

[MrDiaz]

Hey SKY what's your take on this vs a Boxee Box?

[Prolab]

I have this. Works quite well. UI is something to get used to, but it works well (especially with the new FW).

Although, i would agree with SKY, the PB cannot keep up with the high bitrate BR rips or BR Iso. The 10/100 can't keep up with the buffer. Flashing to the newer FW helped a bit, but it will struggle even when your wired.

So if you have a lot of 1:1 BR rips (Like i do), either get a HTPC or look into the boxee box. Tested.com did a review and they said it did well even on high bitrate BR rips.