Reviews of Miro for Windows

1. 
   dzjepp

   Reviewing 2.5 (Jul 27, 2009)

   Very nice. Easy to follow some very interesting video feeds.
   
   For ease of use, it's hard to beat
2. 
   SBMongoos

   Reviewing 2.0.5 (Jul 7, 2009)

   Would really like to use it but I cannot get any video. Sound, but that's it. Running XP SP3. Do have KLite installed. Been searching at their site but have not found an answer and this exact question is still open waiting for an answer at the Participatory Culture Foundation. Anyone have any ideas? Would really like to test this out.
3. 
   emanresU deriseD

   Reviewing 2.0.5 (Jun 29, 2009)

   "This port mapping problem is almost certainly a product of that particular reviewer's network configuration and/or hardware since, as far as I'm aware, Miro uses the highly-regarded libtorrent to do torrent port mapping. I don't even see a single person complaining of this problem on Miro's interactive troubleshooting page. And this is NOT a tech support page."
   
   Yeah, right. I have a Linksys WRTSL54GS running the very highly-esteemed Tomato firmware. I have used many applications that use UPnP, and I have NEVER had this problem before.
   
   And BTW, I wasn't seeking "tech support". That should be obvious.
   
   You probably don't see anyone else complaining about this because they don't bother to check. How many people check their router's actual UPnP mapping status? I do because I have been a software engineer and professional software tester*, and I know what crapware signs to look for. It wasn't hard with Miro.
   
   * I'm not trying to impress anyone; just stating the facts.
4. 
   Prospero424

   Reviewing 2.0.5 (Jun 28, 2009)

   Edit: I use Tomato on a WRT54GL, but I disallow UPnP for security reasons, don't forward any ports for Miro, and it still works just fine on all my internal clients (I think libtorrent can do NAT traversal). However, I did temporarily enable UPnP and it did indeed leave the ports open after closing Miro, as emanresU deriseD describes. I still find it odd that I can't find a single other person complaining about or even reporting this. Maybe it's an issue between Miro and Tomato (not that it's necessarily Tomato's fault)? Edit2: I just tried the Halite Bittorrent client, which is also based upon libtorrent, and it does the same thing with Tomato! I guess that explains that.
   
   I will say that it would be nice if Miro supported NAT-PMP instead of just UPnP. Still, I don't see that as any reason for anyone to give Miro the lowest score possible for this, especially if you're comparing it to KMPlayer (which I love), because the two pieces of software do NOT perform the same or even similar functions. Miro is a video RSS catcher, KMPlayer is a dedicated media player.
   
   I use Zoom Player or KMPlayer as my mainline media players and Miro when I want to watch vodcasts. By this logic, one might as well be blasting KMPlayer for not having an RSS catching/browsing feature, which would be silly. That's not what it's intended for.
   
   Let's move any further discussion to the dedicated discussion section.
   
   Pkshadow: the reason nobody probably addressed that point is:
   
   1. There was no Miro 2.04 (version got skipped), so some of us didn't have the chance to write a follow-up review until now.
   
   2. This port mapping problem is almost certainly a product of that particular reviewer's network configuration and/or hardware since, as far as I'm aware, Miro uses the highly-regarded libtorrent to do torrent port mapping. I don't even see a single person complaining of this problem on Miro's interactive troubleshooting page. And this is NOT a tech support page.
   
   But really, if you have concerns and you haven't even used the program, the least you could do is put your question(s) in the discussion section instead of the review section. You're screwing up the score out of nothing more than ignorant (as you admitted) spite.
   
   Review: This release includes some simplifications to the library and some major speed and memory improvements due to a more efficient database, which can now be accessed externally.
   
   This has indeed become a "killer app" for the open source community. Nothing else does what it does nearly as well, much less does it across every OS and hardware platform (within reason). It's one of the few apps I use every single day. It's how I watch the nightly news (in full with commercial breaks that last mere seconds), my favorite PBS shows, all my tech shows (like Revision3's stuff), a bunch of high-quality independent content, and even video journals and feeds from NASA and the JPL.
   
   The resource usage is actually quite good, now (it was very high in Miro 1.x versions), and the speed seems to have improved over the early 2.x versions.
   
   The detachable video window is a must-have feature, and I'm glad they added it to Miro 2. That was a big sore spot with Miro 1.
   
   Excellent program that does everything you'd expect and more. Nothing else comes close.
   
   SBMongoos: see discussion section
5. 
   Pkshadow

   Reviewing 2.0.5 (Jun 27, 2009)

   I do not usually review programs that I have not tried.
   With that said I find it very strange that the people who decide what is said about this program did not address previous reviews comments/reviews of the program. This in it self is not that strange but when people suggest mapping ports and ports are left open even after uninstalling the program I would think THIS would be a must to address.
   Since it was not addressed, no down load, no install and a 1 for ignoring us "your" public!

Discuss Miro for Windows

1. Jul 7, 2009 - 3:33 AM
   Prospero424

   SBMongoos:
   
   1. Do you have your latest video drivers from the manufacturer of the chipset (ATi/Nvidia/Intel, etc.) installed?
   
   2. Have you tried videos from more than once source in order to make sure the publisher didn't just screw up?
   
   3. Have you tried playing the same type of file (most likely an MP4) using VLC (which is what Miro uses internally)? Did you get video?
   
   4. Are you playing on primary monitor or a secondary/extended?
   
   I have K-Lite installed as well (Mega version) and I have no problems.