Boxee Box owners rejoice! It’s new firmware time! Boxee previously committed to a three month update cycle, which meant the next firmware was coming out sometime this month. Boxee just so happened to announce it this morning and it brings a world of changes to the little streamer including 16 new languages supported out of the box.
There’s so much more, though, too. The browser reportedly got a massive upgrade and now fully supports bookmarks, browser history, and HTML 5 for sites like HBOGo. The browser’s OSD also got a new coat of paint, including the web video playback screens that now include more content controls.
Speaking of new on-screen displays, Boxee reworked the local video screens too, adding a new scrub bar and moving all the buttons to the bottom of the screen. Media collectors should appreciate that the Boxee Box now allows users to add custom artwork and info through NFO files and 1.1 brings HFS support to the streamer.
The release notes indicate 1.1 kills 43 bugs so chances are the streamer should feel and run a bit more smoothly. The update should hit every Boxee Box within in the coming days, or it can be manually downloaded from the Boxee forums.
Boxee Box 1.1 Release Notes
New Features / Enhancements
- Browser enhancements
- Faster Browser Launch
- Faster Page Loading Speed.
- Improved HTML 5 support.
- Added “Refresh” button to browser OSD.
- Added ability to “Favorite” web sites for quick access.
- New “Favorites” section in the browser.
- New “History” section for browsing previously visited web pages.
- New confirmation pop-up when exiting HTML applications (YouTube Leanback, Netflix, etc.).
- Support for drop down lists.
- Current URL is now displayed in the address bar
- Removed auto full screen button for consistency across websites
- *NEW* – Trailer Library – added a trailer section to the Boxee movie library.
- Enhanced UI look and feel.
- Modified look & feel for On Screen Display (OSD).
- *NEW* Seek Slider allowing for precise fast forward and rewind.
- Reduced OSD size so users see more playing content.
- Added Seek ability for Music playback
- *NEW* “Share” menu allowing users to select where there message will be shared (Facebook, Twitter, and/or Tumblr).
- *NEW* Support for NFO files (see this support entry on how to use.)
Boxee uses IMDB and other sources to identify and tag files. This meant that Boxee could not identify home movies and that correctly identified files were not able to be customized. This new release allows users to:
- Tag home movies with custom meta-data and artwork
- Update movie metadata with alternate artwork and information
- Customize the genres of films, TV shows for better personal categorization
- Customize how TV Show Episodes are tagged and displayed in Boxee.
- *NEW* Support additional languages and keyboards
- German
- French
- Italian
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Hebrew
- Danish
- Dutch
- Turkish
- Russian
- Arabic
- Portuguese (Brazilian)
- Czech
- Norwegian
- Finnish
- Polish
- Keyboard shortcuts during playback:
- I – Video info
- Z – Toggle zoom
- Numeric keys – jump to time in video in minutes:seconds
- Ability to filter local content by source (USB, Network, SD).
- Remote control low battery indication.
- Ability to delete browser cache and cookies (Settings -> System -> Browser)
- Removed volume control to maintain consistency across playback experience
Without the ability to control volume in HTML 5 apps like Netflix and YouTube Leanback and apps like VUDU we decided to remove the volume control to make the experience consistent across any app, movie, or show on Boxee. Now, volume control is similar to that of a Blu-Ray player or game console where users can control via their TV or A/V receiver. - Added Leave/Stay pop-up when exiting Apps
- New MLB application
- Watch live and recorded games
- Improved ffwd and rewind functionality
- Ability to jump to a specific inning or game event
- Added pitch f/x statistics overlay
- All 2 channels PCM audio is output as DD 5.1 (on Dolby Digital capable receivers)
Bug fixes
- Sorting by “Recently Updated” in Unidentified Videos actually sorts Z-A.
- Occasionally when trying to download and install applications result with signature failed message.
- Doubled options (All, Favorites, Categories, etc) in the menu drop down makes the menu non functional
- USB IR receiver double button pushes
- Visiting teamcoco.com & vbox8.com crashes Boxee browser
- HTTPS URLs cannot be invoked from search bar.
- Update is prompted during paused video
- Emergency error reported on Boxee Box bootup in syslog.
- Special characters displays are displayed wrong.
- Playback of some overlay ads in Flash video stutters.
- “Audio Offset” setting did not work.
- Boxee Box doesn’t recognize two USB drives with the same drive label.
- Folder.jpg/.nfo will not work with BluRay Disc folder structures.
- When Boxee resumes from ‘sleep’ mode all artwork is gone from library view.
- HTML apps revert to mouse mode when a link is navigated.
- Rescanning a source before all items identified results in duplicates in Movies.
- If a show has multiple episodes with same title only latest is displayed.
- iPhone remote does not refresh the available host names.
- Display file name with Chinese/Japanese/Korean characters.
- Remove audio dropouts during HD audio playback.
- Music is playing 2x speed after movie playback.
- Boxee loses permission when using HFS+ non journaled USB drive.
- When playing DTS-HD on DTS capable only receivers, there is no audio
- Series specials showing up In movies list.
- RSS feed URL cannot contain a space.
- MKV DTS Core audio dropouts.
- Vimeo Couch Mode not playing next video automatically
- Issue rewinding MP4/MKV files with first 30 seconds of playback.
- Launching a Test App from Boxee Apps results in two entries of the app shown in the list.
- Boxee re-adds previously scanned DVD folders on each scan.
- Unable to use local folder.jpg when manually identifying.
- Favorite apps disappear and missing.
- SMB shares reported as disconnected shortly after creation or reboot.
- SMB shares will not reconnect if SMB source is restarted/goes offline/online
- Boxee is unable to play mono 1 channel LPCM audio from .M2TS files
- Handle opensubtitles response error and prompt a correct message to the user.
- ‘Unable to bring the movie details’ error when manual resolving TV show for files with unknown naming convention.
- Remove check Internet connection when playing.
- Default subtitle language is ignored.
- Pause break subtitles display
- Odd subtitles display on pause break.
- Switching audio and subtitles tracks in MKV files takes very long and freezes menu
- Can’t login to HBOgo.com and MAXGO
Known Issues for Beta release
- Pairing Devices (under Settings ) is just a place holder and functionality will be implemented in the near future.
- When adding UPnP source it is recommended to add the UPnP “All Videos” or any “All….” folder as the defined source (using the sub folders or root can cause reboot)