Get Fantastic Discounts With This Canon PowerShot SX50 HS Review

Get fantastic discount on the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS at the end of this Canon PowerShot SX50 HS review.

By Mark Goldstein

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS is a brand new super-zoom camera from Canon sporting a 50x zoom lens which is equivalent to a focal length of 24-1200mm. Replacing the previous SX40 HS model, the SX50 HS features a 12 megapixel back-illuminated sensor, DIGIC 5 image processor, 4.5-stop optical Image Stabilizer with Intelligent IS technology, full manual controls, ISO 80-6400, 12-bit RAW format support, full 1080p HD movie recording with stereo sound and a HDMI port, 10fps burst shooting, a 2.8 inch vari-angle LCD screen, a range of Creative Filters, external flash hotshoe and an electronic viewfinder. The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS is available in black priced at $479.99.

Ease of Use 

Like most big zoom bridge cameras, the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS is a chunky beast that's not much smaller than the entry level digital SLR that it takes its styling cue from. However it is, after all, the whopper of a 50x optical lens that is the main selling point, boasting a comprehensively and creatively broad focal range stretching from 24mm to 1200mm that would be otherwise hideously unaffordable or impractical for the average DSLR user. What is lost in quality compared with a DSLR is made up for in terms of versatility - with the photographer being able to rapidly switch from wide angle framing to candid close ups from afar - and, all things considered, fair value, though the SX50 HS is not an inexpensive purchase. 

Indeed, with a $479.99 suggested price tag, there's the obvious 'ouch' factor to get over when considering the SX50 HS. Considering, that is, the fact that for a similar outlay you could purchase an entry level digital SLR, albeit one admittedly with a standard 18-55mm lens (3x zoom), rather than 50x. Still, if compared with the similar Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 at a suggested $599.99, which in fairness has a lens with a constant aperture of f/2.8 throughout its 24x zoom range, the Canon seems comparably reasonable on paper at least. 

Considering the zoom range on offer here, a bulky body and some added weight courtesy of the chunky 315-shot rechargeable lithium-ion battery in the handgrip (a total weight of 600g when the SX50 HS is 'loaded') makes perfect sense if we're going to be able to achieve anything approaching critical sharpness when shooting handheld towards the maximum telephoto setting. Image stabilization is of the lens shift type, offering a claimed 4.5 stop advantage. 

Like its predecessor the SX50 HS again offers an Ultrasonic Motor along with a Voice Coil Motor to deliver not only relatively swift but also smooth and silent zooming - crucial when capturing video in particular, for which a dedicated thumb-operated record button is provided. Maximum aperture of the lens is f/3.4 at 24mm, slowing to f/6.5 at the full 1200mm, a little slow to start with but not bad considering the massive focal range on offer. 

From the front, apart from the change of model number the SX50 HS (for 'High Speed') looks more angular and DSLR-like than the SX40 IS, with a bigger hand-grip, and further protruding pop-up flash. There's a large AF illuminator/self timer porthole to the right of the gargantuan lens, the pop up flash hiding just above, and a deep sculpted plastic grip to the left. Offering a slightly roughened surface that is practical in preventing slippage but not all that comfortable, we managed to squeeze three fingers around said grip without scraping any knuckles on the adjacent barrel. 

On the side of the lens barrel are two new buttons to help make using the 50x zoom easier. The uppermost Seek button quickly zooms back out of the scene, useful when you want to relocate the subject that you had zoomed in on, and then automatically zooms back to your chosen focal length when the button is released. The lower Lock button locks onto and automatically track your subject, keeping them in the center of the frame until you take the shot. New to the SX-range is an external hotshoe on top of the camera, which accepts an external Canon Speedlite EX flashgun, greatly expanding the capabilities of the SX50 HS in low-light situations.

The SX50 HS features the company's high speed Digic 5 image processor which offers a host of quick fire continuous capture of up to 13 frames per second for up to ten shots and 120fps or 240fps slow motion video replay options at 640x480 or 320x240 pixels respectively, along with the now expected regular Full HD 1920x1080 pixels video recording capability at 24fps. If you want 30fps this means a resolution drop to 1280x720 pixels.

The lens shift image stabilization, again also a feature of the SX40 HS forebear, offers the equivalent of 4.5 stops, with the camera detecting and choosing the 'correct' type of stabilization depending on the shooting conditions and the subject. The SX50 HS has purportedly seven options to select from: Normal IS, Dynamic IS, Powered IS (utilising camcorder technology to ensure the ability to record footage at a long zoom range), Panning IS (deployed in one direction and useful for recording racetrack action), Macro IS, Tripod Mode (image stabilizer automatically deactivated) or Dynamic macro IS.

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS has 12.1 effective megapixels courtesy of a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor that is back illuminated to enhance its light gathering properties; enhanced as wires don't get in the way of the sensor and so the light's path. The Digic 5 processor offers noise reduction performance claimed to be a whopping 75% better than the old Digic 4. Less noise also gives the opportunity to avoid using the flash at various focal lengths - which incidentally has to be manually raised rather than automatically popping up - and bump up the ISO instead whilst shooting handheld. Here ISO runs from ISO 80 to ISO 6400.

Multi area white balance maintains a natural colour balance for faces and backgrounds at the same time when the flash is used under tungsten lighting. The camera detects that there are two different light sources and so takes area specific readings. However, though there is face detection and AF tracking on board, the number of AF points is notably less than on even an entry level DSLR: we get just one-point AF.

This is a camera that is far easier to pick up and start shooting with than most DSLRs. Buttons and controls are well placed (and spaced) on the SX50 HS, with a shooting mode dial the size of a ten pen piece and a dime-sized shutter release button encircled by a lever for operating the zoom located at the top of the handgrip where it automatically falls under the forefinger of the right hand. This is a power zoom for those with larger hands who normally bemoan the small, precise buttons on most digicams, with the only the scroll wheel surrounding the control pad at the back being occasionally fiddly to operate with the thumb.

Like most of its ilk, we found it easy to slip back and forth between settings when using it. Though most super-zooms offer the chance to merely toggle back and forth through the focal range using a lever, we missed being able to manually twist the lens barrel to quickly get the framing we wanted.

The Canon PowerShot SX50HS' shooting mode dial offers 12 settings, ranging from scene and subject recognising smart auto mode through the usual program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual settings through to movie digest, sports mode, scene mode, more unusually a digital effects mode where the likes of miniature mode and HDR are discovered, plus there's a dedicated video setting from where the aforementioned slow motion movie capture options can be implemented; useful if you're shooting sports.

Stills capture is now JPEG and/or RAW, a welcome development which brings the SX-range into line with key competitors, and makes perfect sense on a camera that aims to replace a DSLR. There are two customizable settings on the shooting mode dial for those who do like getting more hands on. Despite there being a dedicated video control on the shooting dial, you don't actually have to set it at this position to begin recording (it's a means instead of adjusting the aforementioned video settings from regular speed to slow mo via a press of the 'function set' button).

Simply hit the dedicated record button no matter which alternative stills mode you're in and the a second or so later the screen display will narrow from the regular 4:3 to 16:9 to ape how the video will look when replayed on your flat panel TV. There is, as we'd expect, a mini HDMI connection provided under a rubber flap at the side for this purpose, though unsurprisingly no lead comes bundled with the camera. The new 2.8-inch screen of the Canon Powershot SX50 HS now offers an improved resolution of 460k pixels, again matching the SX50's rivals.

Press the obvious on/off switch next to the shooting mode dial and the camera powers up in just under two seconds, which is respectably swift. The lens barrel visibly extends to the maximum wide-angle 24mm setting as the rear LCD bursts into life. We know the setting as it's marked atop the lens barrel, as usefully are the incremental settings all the way up to 1200mm, which gradually reveal themselves as the lens extends outwards from the body.

Since this is a bridge camera as well as a power zoom, at the back we have both vari-angle LCD monitor and a fixed electronic viewfinder just above. This automatically comes into play if you've twisted the LCD screen to face inwards to the camera body. There's no eye sensor beneath or above, nor is there a dedicated button for swapping between the larger screen and smaller EVF, so it would be very easy for most users to regularly bypass this facility completely.

As it is, EVF resolution is a so-so 202k dots, and being able to twist and rotate the rear screen means that even if light reflections do render visibility momentarily tricky, a quick tilt and it's rectified.

Give the zoom lever a toggle with your forefinger and the lens slides from maximum wide-angle to extreme telephoto in all of four seconds, the minimum and maximum (infinity) focus ranges provided via small text top of screen and rapidly changing as the lens moves forward or back. There is a noticeable mechanical buzz as the lens makes its adjustments, but it's not distracting. Switch to recording video however and the zoom action slows so that the transitions are even smoother, with the lens taking 10 seconds to move through its focal range. In this setting the mechanics of the lens are less noticeable, which is exactly as we'd want.

At the back of the camera the LCD screen dominates, sitting squarely central below the EVF, which feature a hard rubber surround to the eyepiece and dioptre wheel for adjustment of visibility alongside. Above left and right of the EVF are a direct-print button, this being a Canon model, plus a Playback button.

The rest of the controls are ranged to the right of the screen, the uppermost allowing users to immediately start recording a video. The next one down allows the single AF point to be expanded/contracted or moved with the aid of the multi directional control pad underneath - as long as you're in one of the creative shooting modes that is.

Otherwise in smart auto mode, subsequent presses will turn face detection on or off, while in playback mode this multi-use control usefully doubles up as a Delete button. It requires a degree of playing around to discover this as unhelpfully once again the full manual is provided on CD only, with only a cursory quick start booklet in the box which doesn't cover any more than the already self explanatory basics.

The four way control pad at points north, east, south and west variously offers a means of adjusting exposure compensation (+/- 2EV), self timer (off, two seconds, ten seconds or a 10 second option that fires three consecutive shots), selecting from the ISO options (ISO100-3200), and finally adjusting focus, with switchable settings between normal, macro and manual options offered if required. The latter allows use of the scroll wheel to dial in distance settings from 0cm to infinity, with an enlarged central square on screen giving a rough idea of whether the picture is properly sharp enough.

A press of the Function / Set button in the middle of the scroll wheel/control pad brings up the regular L-shaped menu that will be immediately familiar to any Canon compact camera user and presents essential functions at a glance. In program mode for example, from the top of this toolbar we get the ability to adjust dynamic range correction, white balance, select from the various 'My Color' options which include our favourite vivid saturation boosting option alongside the ability to specify darker or lighter skin tones or shoot in sepia or black and white in camera.

Next down the list is a bracketing option, with either three shots automatically taken at three different exposures or three different focal distances, plus the option to switch from single to continuous capture, again adjust exposure compensation to +/- 2 EV, or swap metering between evaluative, centre weighted and spot. Image aspect ratio can be swapped from the factory default of 4:3 to 16:9, 3:2 or more unusually even 1:1 and 4:5. It's via this L-shaped toolbar that PowerShot users can also specify large, medium or small files and even adjust video resolution on the fly, from 1920x1080 through 1280x720 and down to 640x480 pixels. Alternatively if the camera has been set to its smart auto mode then only image aspect ratio, file size and video resolution can be adjusted. The other options do not appear at all.

The final two buttons on the camera back are for the self-explanatory display and menu. Subsequent presses of display will call up a nine zone compositional grid, or turn off the LCD entirely at which point the EVF above automatically illuminates and comes into play.

A press of 'menu' meanwhile brings up three easy to follow folders on screen; a capture folder, set up folder and my menu folder for quicker access to your more frequently used settings, should you choose to pre-set them. Interestingly among the usual suspects in the capture folder the microphone level can be adjusted, as can a wind filter be turned on or off. These menu options can be tabbed with via a thumb press of the four-way control pad or of course scrolled through faster using the surrounding wheel.

If still viewing the camera from the back, further points of interest on the SX50 HS include the covered HDMI, AV and remote control ports on the right flank, and a single speaker located on the left, which also features the hinge about which the variable angle LCD screen pivots. The bottom of the camera features a metal off-centre screw thread for a tripod next to which is a sliding plastic door that protects the battery compartment and adjacent slot for the SD memory card. So, incidentally, if you place this PowerShot on a tripod you'll have to unscrew it first to remove the memory card.

I hope you found this Canon Powershot SX50 HS review useful. Read on to find out what actual owners of the SX50 HS thought of their camera. 
 

What are the opinions of owners of the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS bridge camera?

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Superzoom on the Market, Ideal for Birding, Significant Improvement over SX40, October 16, 2012

By FFDR (Chicago, IL, USA)

“…the SX50 is an amazing camera if used for the special purpose that it is good for. This includes birding, wild life photography, and anything else that really needs zooming in to the max…”

5.0 out of 5 stars Massive 50X Optical Zoom is a No-brainer, November 21, 2012

By Paul W. (KL, Malaysia)

“…I've used the SX50 HS extensively over 9 days for my vacation in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia recently and can confirm that other than for low-light photography, the maximum 1,200mm telephoto setting is still very useable - handheld, without using a tripod or any kind of support, all thanks to Canon's anti-shake image stabilization system, since I don't have the steady hands of a surgeon…”

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME, July 20, 2013

By Don-WWE

“…The 50x zoom and auto focus of the Canon Powershot SX50 HS are amazing. HD video is really good. I love it!!! It fires up almost instantly…”

Hurry, click on the link here to get the Canon Powershot SX50 HS at a fantastic 17% discount!

Note that discounts are subjected to change without notice, so grab it while it is there.

Asus RT-N66U: A Solidly Build High Performance Router For The Home

Asus RT-N66U Router: The Excellent IPv6 Solidly Build High Performance Home Router

by Eric Steinhoffer

If you have been looking for a wireless router to replace your existing router for whatever reasons, you should seriously consider the Asus RT-N66U router if you are expecting to get high performance out of your router. This router is officially designated as ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router by its manufacturer, Asus. 

The Asus RT-N66U as it is more popularly known is a simultaneous dual-band three-stream "N-900" router with one Gigabit WAN port. The "N-900" indicates that the Asus RT-N66U can support 450 Mbps link rates when both radios are set to 20/40 or 40 mHz channel bandwidth.

The Asus RT-N66U’s duo band allows you to maximize your internet usage by splitting the bandwidth into two with both of them running concurrently. One bandwidth is used for basic internet use, for example,  web surfing, email and file loading while the other band is used for HD content streaming like watching movies, listening to music and playing online games.

If you are into on-line games, then you are looking at the right router as the Asus RT-N66U router ranks amongst the top, if not the top in today’s gaming router world. With the help of its new ASUS Ai Radar, the router intelligently strengthens connections to wireless devices to provide optimized signals in all directions and with better coverage as well to improve data throughput.

The Asus RT-N66U has a 600MHz CPU and a whole whopping 256Mb of RAM for the NAT table. In fact, currently there are no other routers in the market that has the specifications of the Asus RT-N66U. It also comes with 3 normal internal and 3 external antennas. If you need a longer range, you can easily replace the external antennas with bigger ones. 

It also comes with four switched Gigabit LAN ports and two USB 2.0 ports. These 2 USB ports support both hard drive and printer sharing. The Asus RT-N66U is also designed to operate up to 300,000 Internet client data sessions and is IPv6 support. 

For wireless security, the router has WPA and WPA2. When you first power up the router it will start with WPA as the default. However once you have done the initial setup, you can change it to the more secure WPA2. With this model, you also have up to 8 multi-user SSIDs with parental controls. This feature is particularly useful if you are running a small business and you need let your customer access the internet via your router.  You can simply assign them specific SSIDs and your files will be protected from unauthorized access.

Taking the feedback from its existing customer that sometimes it can be daunting for the non-technical user to set-up a router, Asus took the effort to make it easy for the not so technically inclined to set up the RT-N66U with its ASUSWRT dashboard user interface. 

As with all products, there will always be some negative points. Here are some of the negative points about the Asus RT-N66U:

• WPA is enabled by default. Make sure to turn it off to protect yourself from the WPA exploit
• The initial firmware (3.0.0.3.72) is broken. You CANNOT connect to the Internet with this factory shipped firmware. However this problem appears to have been fixed by Asus as after their recall of the initial shipment with the broken firmware, there no longer appears to have further reported cases of broken firmware 
• The USB ports are version 2.0 while the USB 3.0 standards are becoming more popular now

What are the good points about the Asus RT-N66U?

• Excellent WiFi (signal strength and throughput) performance compared to its competitors

• Fast 600MHz CPU and 256 Mb RAM allows you to easily manage multiple connections and heavy loads

• Very stable. Reports from forums generally found that customers are very happy with its stability with hardly anyone complaining for the router being down

• Provides native IPv6 Support

• Dual band concurrent WiFi

• Under ideal conditions, you can get up to a maximum of 450 Mbps on both bands; ideal for bandwidth demanding tasks such as 3D HD video streaming, multiplayer gaming on one band and normal internet related tasks on the other band

• Flexibility for additional sharing and streaming via the 2 USB ports

• You can get a longer range by easily upgrading the external antennas

• Comes with Gigabit WAN and LAN ports

• Unlike some other routers which are very light and flimsy, the Asus RT-N66U is heavy due to the fact that it is solidly built

• Can work as a standalone VPN server

The Aus RT-N66U is a great router for a small business or a home with a really high speed Internet connection. It is also very good if you play on-line games and need an uninterrupted connection. If you are also looking for an excellent modem to provide this connection from the service provider to the Asus RT-N66U, be sure to check out the Motorola SB6121 cable modem as well.

Overall I strongly recommend the Asus RT-N66U router; it does what a router is designed to do and it does it so reliably and easily. If you are looking for an excellent IPv6 compliant solidly build high performance router with the latest features then don’t waste your time on more reviews, go for the Asus RT-N66U. 

Click on this link to buy Asus RT-N66U at one of the best price in the market with free shipping as well.

Asus RT-N66U’s Customers’ Experience

5.0 out of 5 stars Best router on the market!, January 30, 2012

By KeithKman (Southern California)

"...I upgraded to the RT-N66U from an old Linksys WRT54G running Tomato firmware connected to an old Ambit U10C018 cable modem. My new setup is the RT-N66U connected via a DOCSIS 3.0 Cisco DPC3010 cable modem. With the Ambit modem connected to the RT-N66U I was getting 12Mbps download on Speedtest.net. With the Cisco modem connected to the RT-N66U I am getting 33Mbps download.

The setup is straight forward. I used the web GUI. As people have stated, the initial firmware that comes with this router is broken if using the English language GUI. I did not have any problems navigating to the "Administration" tab on the left side, selecting "Firmware Upgrade" tab on the top, selecting "Check" next to "Firmware Version", and updating the firmware to 3.0.0.3.90. Updating the firmware took 3 minutes. Once updated, everything seems to be working EXCEPT port forwarding from inside the network. You can view from outside the network, just not within. Hopefully this is fixed in another firmware update.

The overall performance of the router is simply amazing. The WiFi range is better than any other router I have tested. I was able to get 2/3 bars on my iPhone 4S WiFi meter from a street away. I only have one desktop, Asus all-in-one PC, and it is connected via LAN. My other devices connected via LAN are my Xbox and Roku XS player.

Everything else is connected via WAN (WiFi): four iPhone 4S, Lenovo T510 laptop, Toshiba laptop, MacBook Pro, iPod Touch, and HP Officejet 4500 printer. The router handles all of my devices with ease. If I am playing Modern Warfare 3 on my Xbox and a family member is streaming Netflix on the Roku player, the router has zero issues. Only thing I notice is if there is a lot of activity on the network the RT-N66U gets luke warm.

Up time is over a week with zero issues. I would highly recommend this router to anyone, newbie to an expert IT professional..."

5.0 out of 5 stars RT-N66U from Amazon had Zero Problems, January 28, 2012

By M.Montes (Texas)

"...I just got 2 delivered from Amazon on 01/23/12. One for my house and one for my business. Installed Using Windows 7 64bit and Chrome and had absolutely no problems. No broken or messed up menus. Everything was smooth and easy. I made it through the initial setup wizard, tested it for a few minutes then immediately updated to the latest firmware.

Several others on smallnetbuilder have reported the same thing... that Amazon's batch seems to be fine. Also if you think your router is DOA, this one actually has a power button. You have to press it after plugging it in to turn it on. I had never seen that on a router before.

Performance of the router is excellent. I have had it up for 6 days straight with no reboots or dropped connections. It has great range and signal strength. This is by far the best router I have ever owned. Build quality is excellent as well, it feels very well made. It may have had its problems initially but with the bugs worked out now... you have to give it strong consideration as a top router in its class..."

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than competition., May 11, 2012

By JoelSmith "EveryMan" (Birmingham, AL)

"...I went through a few of the competitor's products before settling on this one. After several months of constant usage I've had no problems (not even a reboot). All of the premium home routers seem to do well when you're standing next to them but this one succeeds where others fail: excellent signal at longer dlstances...like when I'm in the garage hiding from the wife.

Those three antennas poking out of the top of the unit are not a gimmick-the competitors would do well to abandon the internal antenna design..."

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, March 24, 2012

By N.ayer

"...This product is too good. I was with E3000 Linksys but the room upstairs did not have good signal. A month ago I bought e4200v2 Linksys and it was terrible. Easy to connect but seems like it was performing poorly than e3000. Returned it.

Waited for Asus as it was not in stock probably due to the bugs that need fixing. Once it become available in amzn, I bought it. Installed it yesterday.

Wow what a difference. Setup was a breeze. Every room in my house has top-speed. In fact I woke up happy thinking about this :)..."

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST Router I have ever owned, March 31, 2012

By Dtrane (Saltillo, Mexico) 

"...I have had this Asus RT-N66U router for a week now. It is hands down the best router for the home environment for power users. My wireless performance is equal to the wired performance. I did the initial setup from my IPad.

From initial hookup to surfing on the Internet was less than 5 minutes for a basic setup. I then connected 3 TV's, 3 laptops, and 2 IPads in less than 30 min for all. No loss of performance at all. I can't say enough about this thing. It is a great looking device. Well worth the price I paid..."

Click Here To Buy the Asus RT-N66U at a fantastic 17% Discount

A Love Letter To The Boxee Box: The Boxee Box Review

A Love Letter To The Boxee Box: The Boxee Box Review

By Barry Orlov

You just can't imagine it. When some people found that they have bought product, they go all out to share with the world. This is the case of an owner of the Boxee Box. He loved the Boxee Box so much that he even wrote a review on the Boxee Box titled: "A Love Letter To he Boxee Box". 

If you are searching for a media streamer to enhance your digital home entertainment, read on...

This is a customer review of the Boxee Box by D-Link HD Streaming Media Player

Okay, so in one sentence, I love the Boxee Box. Throw all your movie files at it and it eats em up easily, scrapes IMDB for ratings/synopsis/and DVD covers. Apps include good stuff like Rev3 podcasts and TWiT, as well as Pandora, TED talks, Flickr, Wired, MLB, and NBATV to name some of my favs. It also gathers the most popular shows on the internet and allows you to watch selected episodes for free. There is a full function flash browser which is really cool for me since I like to watch Starcraft 2 tournament streams and other flash streaming sites and it easily connects to my shared folders over WiFi.

Pros:
1) Plays all movie files including ISOs, m2ts ps3 blu rays, MKV, etc... Loads them quickly and it looks beautiful. There are options on the Boxee Box to set video all the way up to 1080p 24hz.

2) Apps, I love shows on Rev3 and TWiT, and this makes it a lot easier than downloading them, I find myself watching more things when I am bored, simply because its easy and available.

3) I love love love that it automatically gets DVD covers for all the movies I have, its such a nice touch and looks beautiful. I remember years back these movie stars were talking about their Kaleidoscope movie system that cost $30k and could keep all your movies on it with cover art and u just click a button to watch them, now this is achievable with this $200 box that does even more than that.

4) As I mentioned movies load pretty quickly, and if you stop a movie and leave to the main menu, it keeps your place perfectly so that when you click back to it you are watching right where you left off.

5) Ports, the Boxee Box has em all. SD card slot, 2 USB, HDMI, composite audio, and digital audio. Connect an external HD with any movies on it and it will scan it and add them all to your library with cover art in minutes

6) The Boxee Box’s remote looks simple on one side, but flip it over and it has a full QWERTY keyboard to navigate websites and input usernames and passwords, something no other box has.

7) Friends list, shows anything your friends recommend

8) Watch later, is a great feature that is probably underused, I have a ton of media, and I don't really feel like watching a lot of it, but there are certain things I can't wait to see, so I just add those hot items to the watch later list so I can just click that instead of navigating through 200 movies

9) UI of the Boxee Box looks nice enough and is fairly easy to navigate, again this box does more than any other, so there are a lot of menu features

Cons:
1) Remote, every time I pick it up it's always backwards, kind of a design flaw, as well as not having a backlight, considering people in home theaters are almost always in the dark, it kind of renders the QWERTY useless.

2) Some of the menu options are hidden or not as easy to find for the less technically inclined

3) No Netflix or Hulu (yet), should be coming any week now. I don't personally use any of them so it doesn't piss me off as much as it has others, but it WILL have it so keep an eye out.

4) The design of the Boxee Box is dumb in my opinion, you cannot stack it with other theater components and it's not that cool that it looks like its melting into your table

All in all the Boxee Box is a must buy for theater nerds and normal folks alike. Once it has Netflix then it really isn't a question if you should spend the little extra to get the Boxee Box over a very limited functionality box like Apple TV or Roku.

P.S. – Netflix is available on the Boxee Box as of February 14, 2011 in Canada and the US.

What Other Users Are Saying About The Boxee Box In Their Reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars: Worth it …The reason I am giving this 5 starts is two-fold. 1) It does what it says it does. And does it well. The local content streams HD video beautifully and without the hassle of plugging my laptop into my tv just to watch a show or movie. The apps also work well, especially TED, Pandora and Vice. Cannot wait for Netflix though. 2) The reception to user feedback has been incredible. Each and every complaint is getting individual attention; and not just for bugs. For instance, people have complained it takes to many click to get to local content. So now, an update will give users the option of featuring their local content. By  Matthew Kirsch

5.0 out of 5 stars: Gets better every day I've owned it. …The first day I had the Boxee box I was very happy to have a new device to play my movies, tv shows, music, and view my photos. I'm moving to the Boxee from a custom atom powered Ion net top running XBMC. I had to be a giant nerd to use the XBMC on that computer. The Boxee box is braindead simple to setup, use, and maintain. I started by adding my network shares (nerdy part). After leaving Boxee to scan my shares I was very happy to see all my tv episodes were labeled and the movies had their posters. I'm very happy with the Boxee box, the only shortcoming is that I couldn't play a 1080p video over my Gigiabit network. Hopefully future software releases fix this. By  Timothy OBrien

5.0 out of 5 stars: Boxee is Awesome I love the Boxee Box. It's a little tricky to set up at first (They are working on making it easier), but once it's set up it works and plays moives, TV, Music, etc flawlessly. Boxee is a great way to make your television more social. By  Nathaniel

5.0 out of 5 stars: AMAZING Product As a user who download a lot of MKV files in 1080p but also likes to slip in a good bit of NetFlix as well this thing is awesome. I've got a 2TB drive hooked up to it and it's playing everything I toss at it without a problem (mostly 1080/720p mkv files, but also a few AVI files). It also plays Netflix and HBOGO just fine. I couldn't be happier. They recently added Spotify, which has just been the cherry on top of this experience. 5 Star. By  Z. Fretty

Want more reviews on the Boxee Box? Click here.

 

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