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Update: Reviewing the EzeeCube stackable media center

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Jul 2015 10:51 User comments (14)

Update: Reviewing the EzeeCube stackable media center Update: I have been in contact with the project's founder, Ashok, since I wrote this review. Despite the harsh words for the EzeeCube, Ashok has been gracious enough to provide assistance and updates to me on a weekly basis. I was recently sent an updated media center with the latest firmware to test, and I will be doing so this week.

Original Review



The EzeeCube, a crowdfunded Indiegogo darling, started shipping out to backers three weeks ago, a year after its campaign began.

So far, the experience has been a disaster.

As with all horror stories, it pays to start at the beginning. The campaign (and the set-top itself) started with a lot of promise. The Ezee Cube is a media center set-top box that allows you to sync to your mobile device and therefore keep all your pictures, music and movies stored safely on the device's 1 or 2TB HDD. The built-in software, based on Kodi (formerly XBMC), promised to keep everything tidy in your own media library. The campaign also promised the ability to add 100s of apps, from Hulu to YouTube.



Perhaps most notably, the Cube offers the ability to stack units to your set-top, such as a Blu-ray player, added HDDs and even a classic console emulator. Having a set-top box that could store 1TB worth of content in an XMBC media library, act as a home cloud for your family, DLNA support, and devices and possibly allow you to play Blu-rays and video games sounded like an incredible deal, and I was quick to back the campaign for $199 and the promise of a "Thanksgiving Day delivery." Yes, Thanksgiving 2014.

Waiting and Waiting and Waiting



From the time the campaign ended until Thanksgiving came around, there were plenty of updates to the campaign but none were too promising. The EzeeCube's creator, Ashok, appeared to be struggling in regards to the manufacturing but I gave it a pass because his idea was great and not all idea generators are brilliant businessmen.

Thanksgiving came and went without any EzeeCube. There were promises made that progress was moving swiftly and backers that had paid for the "Christmas Day Delivery" model thought there may be a chance to give out some Cubes for the holidays. Christmas and New Years passed with no delivery. "But it's such a great idea, I have to hold out!" I thought at the time.

March comes around and an email hits my inbox that if we had received the shipping confirmation email along with the promise of a new remote control that will be added to the package free of charge. I, like many others had not received the shipping confirmation email and I had to message Ashok directly who sent me the link and also tried to apologize for the delay, although not really. In June, I received a package in the mail from EzeeCube, and about 5 days later receieved an email that said the EzeeCube would begin shipping. Funny.

The Ezee Experience



I will say, before we continue, that the actual hardware was more impressive than I expected but that isn't saying much. The set-top looks pretty nice, has a plethora of connectivity options and it doesn't look like it will fall apart when you touch it. That's where the niceties end.



You turn on the EzeeCube and are greeted with a nice looking setup page. Please download the iOS or Android app and follow the on-screen instructions. Okay, no problem. Except there is a problem. The app setup crashes everytime. No. Matter. What. I am running a Nexus 6 with Android 5.1 so that could be the problem right? Maybe Ashok hasn't coded the app properly for the latest Android? So I try with my iPad Mini. The setup actually completes after crashing twice but we are finally in! Let's try out the interface. Oh no, using the app as a controller no only crashes the app, but the EzeeCube itself, which does not seem to know what is going on. Okay, no problem, they sent a physical remote control right? On to the hardware remote and we are back in business. I can actually check out the interface at a mind numbingly slow pace since it's lagging every second. At this point, I can use none of the "Ezee" features since my apps don't work properly and they certainly aren't syncing anything. I head over to the add-on section to see what kind of apps I can download. For some odd reason, Flickr and 9Gag are pre-installed and no Hulu as promised. I try to download a file manager and a media player for offline content. Both download (after a few tries) and then immediately get errors when trying to load. Well maybe there's some kind of Ezee built-in media player or file manager? Nope. I plug in an external HDD to see if I can transfer my pictures or movies that way. Nope, doesn't see it, or if it does I can't access it. I try plugging in a USB drive. Same.

An update message shows up on the home page. Well maybe this will fix some alpha software issues. Nope. Update crashes when trying to install and then the message disappears. Trying to access it again through settings leads nowhere. Also, my 1TB HDD is already showing up as 0.89TB of available space. What could possibly be taking up 111GB of space on the set-top I will never know. If you are keeping tally, so far, after three weeks, NOTHING Ezee works. Ashok sent out an email this weekend that the app will be updated soon and will no longer crash. When I get said update I can try again, but who knows when? As of writing, the Android app has a 1.4 star score, thanks to a generous friend overseas who gave it a 3.

Silver Lining



Not all is lost, however. If you have knowledge of XBMC (now Kodi), the device actually works as a serviceable Kodi box thanks to relatively strong specs. You'll need to get the Yatse app (still the best around), since the EzeeSync app doesn't work. Change the display settings from Ezee skin over to Confluence (the default Kodi skin) and you will get a more familiar feel. Strangely, the Confluence skin DOES have a file manager and can read off external drives. Basically, everything you should be able to do "Ezee," you can do with the standard Kodi interface minus the easy sync. That being said, you lose some important options when you switch to Kodi, like the ability to actually turn off your set-top. The controller simply doesn't turn off the set-top. Additionally, the scaling for the interface is a bit off and does not fit the screen 100 percent properly. At least I can actually use my $200 paperweight when in Kodi.



In conclusion, I am in shock that the EzeeCube is now up for sale at a retail price of $299 for the base 1TB model and I hope that any would-be buyer reads this review and promptly closes out their browser and clears the history of any reference to EzeeCube. It is one thing to deliver a product that is in pre-alpha if you've told your consumers it is an alpha product. It is quite another to promise a final product with pretty screenshots and under-deliver, especially 9 months after it was originally scheduled for delivery. Maybe in the future, after a few updates, the EzeeCube may actually be "ezee" to use, and I look forward to that day. For now though, the EzeeCube is a very hard sell.



Here are a few pictures of the EzeeCube, and ignore the April date in one of them. Could not get the date to update without the system crashing. Shucks.







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14 user comments

112.7.2015 10:28

Been using the OUYA still for most of all that minus a bluray player. I run SPMC an unhobbled fork of XBMC. Let me see, games, HDD support. I run some free-to-air TV apps...

Took a few updates so hang in there. It too came late.

212.7.2015 11:44

I'm amazed at how stupid and careless people are when making seriously bad and uninformed decisions to spend a bunch of cash on ideas that will very very very likely fail...........such as Ouya. Didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to actually buy into that but guess it is possible I could be wrong.


As for Ezeecube..........NEVER trust a product from someone named Ashok. One guess what region of the planet this person is from. Clearly he/she doesn't give a rat's ass about those that funded and supported the project.

312.7.2015 19:00

a) The Ouya had/has definite issues but nevertheless, a good number of people also liked it just fine.

b) Don't be a racist pig, please.

412.7.2015 19:18
TaZMaNiaK
Inactive

Quote:
Also, my 1TB HDD is already showing up as 0.89TB of available space. What could possibly be taking up 111GB of space on the set-top I will never know.
Uhhhh you do realize that a 1TB hard drive only has 931GB of usable space right? Granted that still leaves what, 37GB (assuming 4GB for the OS) unaccounted for, but its not 111GB.

512.7.2015 22:59

Originally posted by TaZMaNiaK:
Quote:
Also, my 1TB HDD is already showing up as 0.89TB of available space. What could possibly be taking up 111GB of space on the set-top I will never know.
Uhhhh you do realize that a 1TB hard drive only has 931GB of usable space right? Granted that still leaves what, 37GB (assuming 4GB for the OS) unaccounted for, but its not 111GB.
True. But 37GB for an open source Kodi build? Please.

613.7.2015 03:17

Originally posted by hearme0:
I'm amazed at how stupid and careless people are when making seriously bad and uninformed decisions to spend a bunch of cash on ideas that will very very very likely fail...........such as Ouya. Didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to actually buy into that but guess it is possible I could be wrong.

Knob-end, I bought it primarily for my little child to play with. In reality, it costs bugger all and works fine.

Bought a "smart TV" in the last couple years?

713.7.2015 10:32

Heh. that's a VERY good point. You can buy a "dumb" TV (or even just a monitor) and get an HDMI "stick" PC (with or without a tuner) that has all of the "Smart" features, all for significantly less than the "Smart" TV.

813.7.2015 12:56

On behalf of the team at EzeeCube I’ve reached out to Andre directly to try and address his concerns. We’re still a small, young shop and obviously we have some pretty keen goals. We’re aware that some of the issues identified here are essentially show stoppers - such as the mobile applications. As a team we’ve stepped through the review in detail and captured a list of concerns - technical, communications, logistics and QA related and have followed up with Andre directly for further feedback. I will follow up again to this post in a few days to highlight the progress we’ve made in fixing the issues identified here.

Andre – thanks again for your early and (this is a long shot) continued support! It really means a lot to us. :-)

913.7.2015 13:46

Originally posted by EzeeCube:
On behalf of the team at EzeeCube I’ve reached out to Andre directly to try and address his concerns. We’re still a small, young shop and obviously we have some pretty keen goals. We’re aware that some of the issues identified here are essentially show stoppers - such as the mobile applications. As a team we’ve stepped through the review in detail and captured a list of concerns - technical, communications, logistics and QA related and have followed up with Andre directly for further feedback. I will follow up again to this post in a few days to highlight the progress we’ve made in fixing the issues identified here.

Andre – thanks again for your early and (this is a long shot) continued support! It really means a lot to us. :-)


While the review is pretty bad, I give you full props for staying on the ball and trying to make things right. Good luck to you.

1014.7.2015 08:20

Why anyone would have opted for this is beyond me. My PS3 recognises my phone, laptop, computer and Tablet and I can transfer any files I need to without any issues via DLNA. Why get an Ezeecube?

1114.7.2015 10:14

Many people don't own a PS3.

1214.7.2015 13:36

Originally posted by Bozobub:
Many people don't own a PS3.
Also, it doesn't play everything. But he has a good point regardless. A second hand one might not be that expensive.

Originally posted by Bozobub:
Heh. that's a VERY good point. You can buy a "dumb" TV (or even just a monitor) and get an HDMI "stick" PC (with or without a tuner) that has all of the "Smart" features, all for significantly less than the "Smart" TV.
And it's upgradable. For instance, I've seen reports Youtube and Facebook are no longer going to be working on existing models. I expect that has something to do with Flash support.




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This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 14 Jul 2015 @ 1:41

1316.7.2015 06:54

Originally posted by hearme0:

As for Ezeecube..........NEVER trust a product from someone named Ashok. One guess what region of the planet this person is from. Clearly he/she doesn't give a rat's ass about those that funded and supported the project.
Wasn't that the name of the intern from the "Dilbert" comic?

1416.7.2015 10:25

Yes.

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