Patriot Box Office 1080p High-Definition Media Player PCMPBO25 (Black) Reviews

Review by TGav for Patriot Box Office 1080p High-Definition Media Player PCMPBO25 (Black)
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The unit arrived today, and I tested it for several hours so far. It’s hooked up to a secondary bedroom 32″ Sony LCD via HDMI (cable included). Other included items are : remote w/batteries, wall wart adapter, cheap composite cables. The wireless LAN USB dongle came included as part of the promo in a separate package, inserted either in the front or back full sized USB port.

I have yet to RTFM which is found on a CD, so any missteps or errors on my part may have been avoided had I done so. It offers a ton of features with the price point just right.

Right then, my main use of this MP is to stream video from a networked media center separate from my home theater. I did test direct playback from a portable HD, in this case a WD Passport powered directly via USB. Playback proved flawless of any content I had. Mostly this consisted of mkv container files of 720 & 1080p content. Audio codecs included AC3 and DTS with no discernible difficulty. I was unable to play some archived .iso files, but playback of these were never confirmed on other machines.

The image quality almost rivals my dedicated HTPC (albeit its hooked to a much better TV). The Patriot defaults to an “Auto” noise reduction (NR)function which I left on. Fast panned and action shots displayed smoothly. On the setup screen you can specify TV resolution up to 1080p with or without 24HZ playback. As is the case with stand alone MPs, it does not recognize an attached CDROM.

Audio remained synced with video from mkv containers as well as other files. Pause/play response was quick.

After testing direct playback from USB drive I set up the wireless. It recognized my network, and prompts for ID/PW which you type in via a displayed virtual keyboard, after which it stores (if you so chose) the info. I had trouble logging on to a Windows 7 PC (would not accept info) but had no issues with an XP PC and separate networked drives, including shared CDROM drive. I had no trouble with UPNP setup. Streaming audio and all the usual video formats worked perfectly.

Toggling through the shared content on different PCs was quick and I had no difficulty in accessing the media. Note this is wireless G, not N, so connection speed varies. Best I could achieve in continuously smooth playback was 720p content. It struggled a bit with DTS audio but this mostly depended on the source material. At these times intermittent desync of audio became briefly noticible . 1080p playback proved inconsistent and not advised wirelessly. If this is important to you then running a CAT5 directly may do the trick- I haven’t tested it on the Patriot.

Standard DVD play just fine via wireless. Just identify the .ifo and press play. All standard DVD functions including menu navigation work as normally would with any DVD remote.

The remote is decent with all commonly used functions readily available. The response however is inconsistent, sometimes it requires several presses to work a function especially during playback at which time lag is horrendous. Its range is semi decent and has little room for off axis recognition. I like the zoom function up to 8x as I recall-which really showcases the auto digital NR- really great quality. Comes in handy for some 4:3 or 2.35:1 formats if you prefer 16×9 viewing.

Maybe discrete codes are available to program into a universal remote. As far as the quality it’s decent enough.

Other features: excellent subtitle handling (Unicode UTF8, and several languages). Adjustable font size, color and screen placement all easily accessible.Build quality is acceptable, light metal not plastic. The price imo is worth the quality and features it offers. Comparing it to the Seagate Theater which I returned to a box store recently, the Patriot’s playback quality is noticibly superior which, in the end, is what matters.

So in conclusion, I can see myself using the bedroom TV more and more considering the versatility and quality of playback. The wireless capability does leave room for improvement- as time passes I may decide to extend a direct ethernet to the Patriot if it’s worth it and I can’t tweak my wireless setup to satisfaction. Also annoying was the occasional slow and inconsistent response of the remote during playback, including FF/Rew and other buttons. With the unit on, some may find the slightly audible hum distracting, but that’s subjective. I also have to figure out accessing the Windows 7 PC.

Review by Mark Yoss for Patriot Box Office 1080p High-Definition Media Player PCMPBO25 (Black)
Rating:
I now own the Asus O!Play and the Patriot Box Office. They use the exact same Relatek chipset so there is virtually no difference in the picture quality.

The main reason I bought the Patriot was because it had the wireless feature which the O!Play does not and you can also add an internal hard drive.

I have tried to stream media wirelessly to the Box Office, but it is simply unwatchable due to all the flickering and pausing. It uses wireless g which is simply not adequate to stream movies. You can forget about streaming HD movies wirelessly because it is unable to adequately stream even regular resolution movies.

However, when wired up to a LAN cable it works great and is basically the same as the O!Play with the benefit of being able to add an internal drive. It is also the same price as the O!Play at $99 (after rebate) so it is definately worth ocnsideration. Just don’t buy it if you want to stream wirelessly.Patriot Box Office 1080P High Definition Media Player PCMPBO25 (Black)

Review by J. for Patriot Box Office 1080p High-Definition Media Player PCMPBO25 (Black)
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I bought the Patriot Box Office and was very impressed as soon as I took it out of the box. This unit is equipped with a stylish brushed black anodized steel case, indicator lights with USB connector in the front and the back of the unit is complete with an 10/100 Ethernet port, USB port, HDMI port, optical (audio) port and composite ports (audio and video). I got even more excited when I discovered another box underneath the unit contained a complete set of accessories including:

- fully functional remote control (with batteries)

- 1 HDMI cable (SCORE!!!)

- AC adapter

- composite cable

- usb cable

- quick set up guide

- CD that contains the device manual

I immediately hooked the Box Office Unit up to my Samsung 46″ 1080P LCD TV using the HDMI cable, connected the Ethernet cable and powered up the unit. The built in GUI looked pretty mediocre yet easy to use and navigate. I’d rather have a simple GUI that does the job rather than a fancy looking one that takes a rocket scientist to operate IMO.

Configuring the settings was seamless and was very user friendly and self explanatory. It took me only a few minutes to get the Box Office connected to my network and immediately identified my PC’s media files under the UPnP menu. I was able to view the pictures, music and movies that were loaded on the Windows Media Player and was amazed how the Box Office played them without a single stutter or a “black cat deja vu” experience.

So far, I’m super impressed by the Box Office performance. The only thing that I was bummed about was when I was streaming my movies from my PC, the quality was sub-par and they came out slightly pixilated. That’s only because I was playing compressed movie files (designed to view on a 17″ notebook display) on a 46″ LCD TV display. I was eager to test out how the Box Office handles HD movies so I decided to download the Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin’s Creed 2 HD trailers from youtube and was I blown away!!! I am now fully convinced that my hard earned cash was not wasted on this product. *patting myself on the back*

I continued to test the Box Office and installed the wireless USB adapter (free during promo period) to the back of the unit but noticed that the USB plug would only go in half-way. The case of USB drive was hitting against the Box Office case preventing the USB from doing a full connection. So I decided to connect the wireless USB to the front of the Box Office instead and it fit fine. Again, set-up was super easy. The Box Office was wirelessly connected to my N-router in seconds after punching in the SSID and the WEP key. I began playing back the same movies from my PC and the video playback quality and performance were excellent as if it was streaming through a wired Ethernet cable.

There are several other features available on the Box Office including playback from a USB Drive, an internal 2.5″ SATA hard drive or SSD (optional), and access to the “NET” feature on the menu. I haven’t been able to figure out how to access through the NET because it kept asking me to enter my NET user ID and password which RTFM doesn’t help me either. I decided to post this on Patriot Memory’s forum and hope to get an answer from the members or from the technical support reps soon.

Here are the “pros and cons” summary of the Patriot Box Office

PROs

-High Audio and Video Quality streaming via wired and wireless connection

-Offers several ways to access your media files, physically and virtually

-Very User friendly GUI

-Super easy to configure and set up

-Fully Functional Remote Control (similar to most DVD remote controls)

-Stylish Design. A nice addition to your Media Center that won’t look atrocious or out of place.

-Comes with an HDMI cable!! Saved me a trip to the liquor store to get one

-Plays most or all media file formats including ISO (access to DVD menu screens)

Cons

-”NET” feature not compatible with Windows 7. Can’t bypass the NET login name and password

-I need another one for the TV in my bedroom. Too bad they don’t have a BOGO Free Sale.

Review by Zin for Patriot Box Office 1080p High-Definition Media Player PCMPBO25 (Black)
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I have tried WD Live TV, Asus O! Play, and Patriot Memory Box Office. I would say, Box office is the best one.

Pros:

1)easy to set up;

2) supports 1080p 60f/s and 1080p 24f/s;

3) has seamless playing function ;

4) has preview capability;

5) network share folder ( it can easily find share folders on Windows XP computers; for Windows 7 computers, please install the software “Transcode Server” then add your folders, you should be able to find them in Box Office . You can save your network login. Then next time, you just need go to the short cut folder, click on the link, the media player will automatically log on. )

6) support almost all the popular media formats ( I have tried avi, mkv, ts, m2ts, divx, rmvb, wmv, mpg, mp4; flac, mp3, ape, wv, ogg, mpc. It has problems with flvs)

7) HDMI cable included

support DVD format ( ISOs and DVD folders)

9) it can resume from the place that you stopped

Cons (actually not cons, should be future improvements):

1) interface is too simple, not attractive as WD Live TV;

2) subtitle setting (Cannot change default setting, it will automatically display a subtitle, no matter you like it or not);

3) doesn’t support Internet contents ( I hope the future firmwares can support Youtube, or just internet browsing function;

4) picture quality could be better. Compared with WD TV live, the Box Office’s picture seems a little washed out.

5) it doesn’t support Windows wtv or dvr-ms files

Review by A. Soror for Patriot Box Office 1080p High-Definition Media Player PCMPBO25 (Black)
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Here is what you might know about the PBO:

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Pros:

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– Realtek based (1073DD): enormous media compatibility list (same chip inside Asus O!Play, ACRyan PlayON, and the list goes on), DTS/DD stereo downmix.

– The support community : Excellent user based community, every issue has been addressed and resolved, every possible how to has been written.

– Manufacturer support : whether the PBO is a Chinese clone or not, Patriot memory headquarters are located in California and not half the way across the globe, they are very prompt when it comes to RMA like services.

– Firmware : 6 firmwares already released (latest released mid July), with external DVD support (and resolved the Toshiba HDMI handshake issues).

Cons:

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– Realtek based (1073DD): so and so wireless streaming, no support for BR menus, hardware bug rending it impossible to pass through HD-Audio.

– The support community : Being all fellow owners, they are all supporting the product out of thier own good heart and believe in the box, thus there is no obligation (for them) that your issues will be promptly addressed and there is also no guarantees that it will be resolved.

– Manufacturer support : if your issue isn’t hardware related, good luck getting it resolved with Patriot, they simply don’t know that much about the software side of the box, its just another hardware unit that they sell and thats as far as it goes.

– Firmware : due to the support point above, firmwares are released whenever they are ready, there is no change/bug/feature list included, NO one knows what issues is a firmware supposed to fix or when is the current reported bugs will be fixed if at all. The firmware released is always as close as it can be to the reference firmware that Realtek supply with the boxes (not that much customization except for PBO logo at the box bootup).

bottom line: though very comparable to any other Realtek based media player the PBO sinks deeply down the list with the lack of development support from the manufacturer and the crippled stock firmware that comes with it.

What you might (most probably) not know about the PBO:

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Regardless of the lack of any real investment in the software development of this product, Patriot memory is offering what it can to satisfy their ranting and nagging customers. Thus PM (perhaps because they couldn’t care less) has (and continues to release) manufacturer materials that is not typically released to average Joe media player owners.

Results : PM has shared enough knowledge and material with its users that made the box literally “unbrickable” (unless its a hardware failure), while other media players users don’t even know what a bootcode is, PM has released 3 different versions of RT bootloaders for 1073 devices, things like “I have bricked the box during firmware update” are no longer an issue, because you can resurrect your box for $6 of materials and 6 minutes in time. This enabled the PBO owners to liberally experiment with the underlying linux machine on which the PBO interface runs, adding functionality and even fearlessly testing lots of the “unlocked” firmwares available from other boxes (based on similar chipset).

Conclusion:

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With the proper mods, PBO can easily be cross flashed, and further unlocking lots of features, online content, support for external optical drives, even YAMJ and TVIXIE jukeboxes. Even for those who wont be interested in cross flashing there tons of free applications that will add features like more powerful torrent client, NFS server, UPNP server ..etc. This is all at considerably lower price than all the other RT based players and beside you don’t have to worry about sending the box back to china in case you bricked it.