Patriot Box Office Media Player

Tuesday, 09 March 2010 00:00 Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 09:51 Written by Daniel "Nicao" Guenter
Article Index
Patriot Box Office Media Player
First Look, Installation and Setup
Inside and Ease of Use
Testing: Video Playback
Testing: Music and Picture Playback
BitTorrent and Final Thoughts
Page 1 of 6
Product: Patriot Box Office
Provided By: Patriot Memory
Price: ~$89.99 Online - Check for Lowest Price
 

 
Introduction:
 
Box Office Box We all remember the day when if you wanted to play a movie you used a VCR or a DVD player.  If you wanted to listen to music you tuned your radio or popped a cassette or CD into your player. For the majority of consumers that day is far behind them.  There is now a dizzying array of media formats containing video, pictures, and music.  To complement this buffet we also have a nausea inducing array of players. These players are separated into three major categories with various shades of Grey filling in the spaces between.  At the top of the food chain we have home theater PCs running software in the form of Windows Media Center, Xbox Media Center, or perhaps Boxee. These devices are usually larger, consume a bit more power but have the flexibility that can only be realized when you are using a general purpose processor and a full operating system.  On the opposite end of the spectrum we find highly specialized devices embedded into TVs and set-top DVD/Blu-ray players.  While sounding good as a marketing gimmick, these systems usually fall down when faced with higher resolution videos or obscure formats. After looking at the high and low end options we find ourselves in the creamy center containing a veritable buffet of devices promising to play all your videos and toast your bread at the same time.  These devices are usually small and unobtrusive, sip from your power line, and have a wide range of output options.
 
Positioned squarely among these devices is the Patriot Box Office.  While we usually associate Patriot with memory, they are intent on worming their way into your living room now as well with a rich list of features and an attractive price.  
 
 
 
Specifications:
 
Let's take a look at the specifications.

  • Supports Full HD-video playback up to 1080p
  • Supports Dolby® Digital and DTS™ surround sound
  • Expandable internal storage via 2.5” SATA SSD/HDD
  • Supports video playback via UPnP network streaming
  • Browse for shared videos, photos and music from networks and USB Flash Drives and USB external storage
  • Supports file transfer between HDD, USB, Network PC and NAS
  • Built in P2P file download management
  • File formats supported:
    Audio Decoding - WMA, MP3, Real Audio (RA)
    Image Decoding - JPEG, BMP, PNG
    Video Decoding - *[MPEG-1] MPG/MPEG/DAT
    *[MPEG-2] MPG/MPEG/VOB/ISO /IFO/TS/TP/M2TS
    *[MPEG-4] MP4/AVI/MOV
    *[H.264/AVC] MKV/TS/AVI/MOV/M2TS
    *[DviX 3/4/5/6, Xvid] AVI/MKV
    *[WMV9] WMV
    *[FLV] FLV
    [Real Video 8/9/10] RM/RMVB support up to 720p
    Subtitle - SRT, MicroDVD SUB, SSA, SUB/IDX


If you didn't bother to read the above list I'll break down the major features for you.
  • Plays videos, music, and views pictures
  • Supports all common video formats
  • Has a built in BitTorrent client for P2P downloading
  • You can put a 2.5in HDD for internal storage
 

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