What is new in the 1.5 Desktop client?

Boxee 1.5 for Desktops bridges the gap from the previous desktop version (version 0.9) and enables various features on the PC that have so far been available only on connected devices.

New Features on the Desktop client

• New user interface
  • Main Menu
  • Home Screen
  • Browse Screens (Movies, TV Shows) - Now includes filtering options
  • Watch Later including filtering
  • Action/Info Menu
  • New On Screen Display (OSD) and settings
  • Library and Play action
  • Rotten Tomato rating integration into movie info
  • Ability to filter local content by source (USB, Network, SD)
  • Added alphabetical scrollbar for local content
  • Enhanced sorting options in browse screens (A-Z, Z-A, most popular, newest/oldest...)
  • Main menu supports additional filter options
  • Mark items as watched/unwatched from the Action menu
  • Added option for hourly scan of local libraries enabling user flavor selection (online/local inclination) during first login and via Settings > Defaults
• Search functionality
• New HTML5 WebKit based browser allows browsing many popular web sites as well as sites designed for TVs
  • Faster Page Launch & Loading Speed
  • Added ability to “Favorite” web sites for quick access
  • New “Favorites” section in the browser
  • New “History” section for browsing previously visited web pages
  • Current URL is now displayed in the address bar
• Support for HTTP Live Streaming protocol
• Multilingual support (17 languages)
• Networking and File Playback
  • Enhanced support for SMB/CIFS
  • Added support for Boxee Media Manager
  • Consolidated network shares under the server name
• Settings
  • Weather - full integration with Accuweather
  • Added setting to disable full network scan of SMB sources.

Supported platforms

• Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit)
• Mac OS X 10.6 and higher (Intel only)
• Linux Ubuntu 11.10 (32 bit only)

App compatibility

While we have tried to maintain app compatibility between the Boxee Box and the desktop client versions, there are some cases of incompatibilities caused by either security restrictions or by unique platform behavior. Some apps work on one platform but not on other.

Limitations of the Desktop client vs. Boxee Devices

• General
  • Live TV is not available on the desktop clients
  • Some apps are specific to the Boxee Box, such as: Netflix, Vudu, Spotify, Pandora, and more
  • When changing language, a restart is required for the changes to take effect.
• Known issues -- Mac OS X
  • Connecting to social network from within the Boxee client does not work.
    You can still connect from boxee.tv.
  • Unable to access shares protected machine via SMB
  • Playback of some videos creates inconsistent volume level
  • Resolving of media files with NFO fails (they do not resolve automatically
    and crash on manual resolve)
  • Full screen on browser is not supported; activation can yield unexpected results
• Known issues -- Windows
  • Connecting to social network from within the Boxee client does not work.
    You can still connect from boxee.tv.
  • Full screen on browser is not supported; activation can yield unexpected results
• Known issues -- Linux
  • Connecting to social network from within the Boxee client does not work.
    You can still connect from boxee.tv.
  • Full screen on browser is not supported; activation can yield unexpected results

Note: The original version of this release note was published on Dec. 26, 2011, here.