Patriot Box Office Core

[Darksaber]

The Patriot Box Office Core or PBO offers maximum compatibility with various audio and video formats, the ability to play back full HD content and a very open firmware, allowing for custom and alternative operating systems to be used. We whip out a bag of popcorn to see if Patriot manages to bring to box office to our home theater.

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[L'Eliminateur]

and media compatibility?, i see you reviews the interior, exterior and basic functionality, but what about detailed testing on the important parts of a media box:
1) MKV compatibility
2) SSA/ASSA subtitles (animated subs, stylings, fonts, etc), internal/external subtitles
3) H264 compatiblity, highest level playback possible(is it L4, is it L4.1, reframes?)
4) FLAC audio, DTS audio, external audio files.
5) what happens with incompatible formats, i.e. hi10p content, high level H264 main, excessive reframes, etc.
6) video quality, banding, colourspace output compatiblity(i.e.: RGB32, 4:2:2, 4:4:4, etc)

All in all after reading the review i don't get the feeling that anything important to a media box was tested

looking forward to future reviews

 

[Darksaber]

and media compatibility?, i see you reviews the interior, exterior and basic functionality, but what about detailed testing on the important parts of a media box:
1) MKV compatibility
2) SSA/ASSA subtitles (animated subs, stylings, fonts, etc), internal/external subtitles
3) H264 compatiblity, highest level playback possible(is it L4, is it L4.1, reframes?)
4) FLAC audio, DTS audio, external audio files.
5) what happens with incompatible formats, i.e. hi10p content, high level H264 main, excessive reframes, etc.
6) video quality, banding, colourspace output compatiblity(i.e.: RGB32, 4:2:2, 4:4:4, etc)

All in all after reading the review i don't get the feeling that anything important to a media box was tested

looking forward to future reviews

Some of these are easily checked with the compatibility list of the website, other things I will make sure to test on future reviews of the type. I will make sure to grab a collection of test files for this purpose.

 

[L'Eliminateur]

yeah some of the high level stuff like MKV support is on the bulleted list(but from seeing it listed to actually believing it is that you reviewers look for ).

and speaking of that, on subtitles it says "SSA", never mentions anything about ASSA or if full animation is supported(or if it will crap out with too much animation, remember that assa animated subs can bring down a modern PC to it's knees).

There are some very good examples going around in doom9 that are used, like ultra high bitrate 1080p clips (oh add that to the list) and some cut clips that are being sone in Hi10p (which no hardware supports, thus making it interesting to see).
There are also some interesting clips(i have one of those) that are of particular use to see the quality of the chroma upscale, if it's nearest-neighbour or bilinear(or better).

anyway, godo luck with the hunt for videofiles!

 

[scaminatrix]

Now THIS is what I need! I haven't made the jump to a home media server-thing yet, and this looks like an attractive way to get into it. And cheap too!

 

[konimatsu]

I'm keep looking nice and quiet media box, this is noot that.

 

[Thrackan]

Booting up is not terribly fast, but does not take too long either.

I would prefer numbers here, so I can compare it to other players and base my own opinion

and media compatibility?, i see you reviews the interior, exterior and basic functionality, but what about detailed testing on the important parts of a media box:
1) MKV compatibility
2) SSA/ASSA subtitles (animated subs, stylings, fonts, etc), internal/external subtitles
3) H264 compatiblity, highest level playback possible(is it L4, is it L4.1, reframes?)
4) FLAC audio, DTS audio, external audio files.
5) what happens with incompatible formats, i.e. hi10p content, high level H264 main, excessive reframes, etc.
6) video quality, banding, colourspace output compatiblity(i.e.: RGB32, 4:2:2, 4:4:4, etc)

All in all after reading the review i don't get the feeling that anything important to a media box was tested

looking forward to future reviews

In this regard, there's a couple of things I feel are very good to know when buying a media player:

• How fast does it copy over USB/Network/WiFi?
• Does it stutter when playing Full HD content? (bird scene)
• Is the interface responsive?
• A full list of specs, including the chipset and supported video/audio formats
• Supported subtitle formats and subtitle style/position customization
• Built-in apps? Torrent/NZB/SMB/FTP etc.