And so it begins: Miro debuts 1.0, freeing online video
A future of TV free from the monopolistic control of a single company or country has moved a step closer with the launch of Miro 1.0. Miro is two things - a far more powerful web video manager and viewer than siblings iTunes, Windows Media Player and Joost - and it's open source and developed by a non-profit company. This means there should be no privacy invading ads based on your private user data, clunky DRM or attempts to sell you anything - including lousy TV.
I've just downloaded and installed it, and already can search and download YouTube vids, HiDef channels and DailyMotions, subscribe to ZeFrank, BoingBoingTV and National Geographic, manage all the video on my machine, create playlists and so on.
![search search](https://www.getmiro.com/features/feature-graphics/search.png)
Best of all its open source so if the Participatory Culture Foundation ever took their eye off the ball and became the Big Evil Web Video Censor that Google and Yahoo seem OK with becoming, because the software is open source anyone else could pick up and continue. If you care about freedom of speech and are involved in web video as a viewer or maker you should check this out and get a copy.
Feature list taken from GetMiro.com
Watching
Since Miro works so well for HD content, you'll find lots of video that looks beautiful in fullscreen on even the largest displays.
Resume from Where You Stopped
Miro will remember where you stopped watching a video and will start at that point when you play it again.
Play Almost Anything
Forget about the format wars. Miro can play MPEG, Quicktime, AVI, H.264, Divx, Windows Media, Flash Video, and almost every other major video format.
One After Another
Set your Miro preferences to either play videos one after another (in the order they appear) or to play a video then stop. If you have Miro set to play videos one after another, you can always right-click on an individual video and have it play then stop.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts for all the key playback commands makes it easy to configure a remote control.
Organizing
Video Playlists
Bring together your favorite videos into a playlist. You can drag them one by one or select a few and right-click to add to a playlist or odd create a new playlist that they will be added to.
Miro will create a thumbnail for any video that doesn't have one.
Channel and Playlist Folders
Group your channels by topic by creating folders. Do the same for playlists.
Watch Any Folder
Videos can come in from lots of places-- a web browser, email, a p2p application, or Miro. Miro can watch any folder on your computer and include those videos in your collection. So when you save something to your desktop, for instance, it will show up in Miro without needing to be added manually.
Move Your Library
Running out of space? Miro can move your video collection to any location on your system, such as an external hard drive.
Bring Your Videos Together
When you install Miro, you can search you computer to find all your video files and list them in your Miro Library.
Downloading
Seamless BitTorrent
Miro can download individual BitTorrent files and torrents that are in feeds. When a video torrent is downloaded it will be in your channel and library ready to watch, just like any other video download.
Individual Video Downloads
A menu item lets you paste in individual video URLs to start downloads.
Auto-Expire
After you watch a video on a channel, it will stick around for a few days and then delete itself. You can choose to keep it permanently if you like and you can set the channel to save every video permanently, but most of the time we think you'll want to keep fresh stuff coming in and old stuff going out.
Simple Disk Management
Simple tell Miro to reserve a certain amount of space on your hard drive and it will stop downloading new videos when it reaches that limit.
Pause / Resume
Easily pause and resume any individual download, all downloads in one channel, or all Miro downloads.
Subscribing to Channels
Video RSS
Video RSS feeds are at the core of our vision for internet TV. They provide a simple system that any publisher can use to distribute their content. Viewers can bring feeds from anywhere together into one place. Miro is compatible with more feeds than any other video app.
Auto-Download
Set any channel to download new videos as soon as they are published. You can also tell channels to stop downloading new stuff if unwatched videos are piling up.
1-Click Subscribe Buttons
If someone comes to your website to see a video, take the chance to turn them into a subscriber. 1-click subscribe buttons let users go from web to Miro with a single click.
Watch the Bubbles
Numbers in a blue bubble next to a channel name indicate that new videos have been published since you last viewed that channel. Green bubbles mean that there are new videos downloaded that you haven't watched yet. Move your cursor over a green bubble and it becomes a play button.
Right-click on any channel to rename it.
Openness
Mac, Windows, Linux
Miro works beautifully on all three major operating systems. We make this effort because a new model for internet television has to be accessible to everyone.
Global Community
Volunteers from around the world help test, translate, and code Miro. Only about 30% of our downloads come from the United States, where we're based.
Translations
Miro is translated by volunteers into more than 40 languages and the Miro Guide lists channels from around the world in dozens of languages.
Open Source
Miro is free, open-source software (licensed under the GPL). Anyone is free to change the source code, contribute bug fixes and features, and make new versions.
Open Standards
As important as open source code, Miro's embrace of open standards helps encourage innovation and competition. Unlike proprietary video delivery systems, Miro works like the internet itself, utilizing open standards like RSS, HTTP, HTML/CSS, and BitTorrent.
Searching
Search Millions of Videos
Miro can search and download from the biggest video sites including YouTube, Yahoo!, Google Video, Blip, and more.
Create Search Channels
Save any search to get new videos as they are published.
Search Within a Channel
Save any search within a video feed as it's own channel. Want to auto-download BoingBoing TV but only when they mention 'steampunks'? Miro makes it easy.
The Miro Guide
The built-in and web accessible Miro Guide is a full-featured web service that is simply the most intuitive, most elegant, and most useful catalog of video RSS feeds anywhere.
An Open Directory
Anyone can submit an RSS feed to the Miro Guide.
Rate Channels
Like Netflix or Amazon, you can rate any channel in the Guide and get suggestions about channels you might like.
Alternate Channel Guides
Maybe the best thing about the Miro Guide is that it doesn't lock you in. Anyone can create an alternative guide of videos and feeds and you can add that guide to your Miro.
Sharing
Email Channels and Videos
Every channel and video has an email button to quickly send a link to a friend.
Post to Social Sites
Each video has links to post to Digg, Reddit, del.icio.us, and Video Bomb.
Import / Export Your Channels
Got great collection of channels? Export your feeds as an OPML file and your friends can import it into their Miro or any other feed reader.