Dean Nelson

Miro is an open-source media management program specifically targeted to Android users, usable on Windows, Linux, and even Mac. Miro 4 has just been released and I wanted to share some observations about using Miro on Windows so far:

Observations

I had to manually enter my watch folders as they’re networked (I’m using Miro on the laptop, while media is on the desktop) but other than that, setup was straight forward. I didn’t feel like they were trying to trick me into installing any of the Bing stuff. I deselected all of the optional Bing add-ons and after I clicked Next, a screen popped up to let me know that bundling the Bing bar is a source of income for them. I decided to go ahead and install it (and then immediately uninstall it) just to show them appreciation for making the application free and open source. I didn’t feel like they were being snaky, in fact, I felt like they were being more honest about it that way.

Importing 8000 files takes a long time, but iTunes took longer.

Miro has a Stores tab which has shortcuts to purchasing media and apps without having to leave Miro. Having both the Google Market and Android Appstore as convenient shortcuts is, well, convenient. Miro isn’t aggregating the content of the stores to display each store’s information in Miro’s own format, but at least the impression of seamlessness remains since the different stores open within Miro’s built-in web browser.

The Sources tab is just like the Stores tab – basically just shortcuts to websites that will use Miro’s built-in browser. I was hoping that the Sources functionality would go one step further and offer a way to store web videos, like from YouTube and Hulu, for offline viewing, but that’s not the case.

Miro’s built-in bittorrent downloader is convenient. Adding sources like isoHunt and Kickass Torrents was super easy, although KAT torrents didn’t work (I assume it has to do with the way they format their links, but I’m not sure). I wouldn’t call Miro a “full featured” bittorrent app by any means, especially if you’re into tracking the progress of each individual file or you want to exclude certain files from a torrent, but there’s definitely something to be said about the straight-forward simplicity of Miro’s bittorrent solution.

Someone asked if Miro allowed easy editing of album art. Yes and no. It’s easy to edit the album art, yes – you just multi-pick the tracks from the desired album, right-click, Edit Items – but the artwork (.jpg) needs to be saved locally as there isn’t built-in functionality to ping Amazon, for example, to download the album art automatically. For serious MP3 editing, I always recommend Mp3tag (which does ping Amazon, and works for much more than just MP3s).

My laptop’s touchpad scroll doesn’t work in Miro’s windows, except it does work in Miro’s built-in browser (I assume it’s an Internet Explorer overlay with certain functions, like right-clicking, disabled).

Miro crashed when I was skipping around in a movie. I wasn’t skipping around especially quickly to test the program, I was just trying to find a loud part in the movie. Upon starting Miro again, I got a message stating, “Miro shutdown improperly and needs to prepare your items for display.” …which crashed as well.

Ideas for Improvement

Since Miro seems to want to be the end-all, all-in-one desktop manager for Android, they should integrate contacts and calendar sync (Outlook especially). There are other programs that do this, like The Missing Sync, but those programs are just for syncing “the boring stuff”, not media.

Link up with online databases to automate metadata tagging.

In Closing

I primarily use Windows Media Center on my desktop (hooked up to my TV) to listen to music, watch videos, etc. When syncing media to my phone, however, I can definitely see some benefits in using Miro to manage my phone’s media content. Future updates in Miro need to be focused on bug fixes (and they’re already on 4.01 so good on ‘em for that) and integrating online database lookups to find metadata for media files. Despite its flaws, I already like Miro 10x more than DoubleTwist.

A Beginner’s Guide

Remote Potato is a great program that allows the user to schedule and view streaming TV recordings from Windows Media Center for Windows 7 via any computer in the world – even if that computer doesn’t have Windows Media Center. It’s awesome. However, I had a really hard time setting it up, so I decided that I would make a tutorial on how I was able to get it working. When I was setting up Remote Potato, the biggest issues I faced were: How do I set up port forwarding, and how do I set up DynDNS correctly? This tutorial will answer those questions, and more.

Step One: Download and Install Remote Potato

Downloading Remote Potato is easy enough – just go to FatAttitude’s software page to download the most recent version. Once it’s downloaded, install it. This is pretty straight forward, just like any other program installation.

Once installed, open up the program so you can do a little configuring. On your first run, Remote Potato should ask you if you want it to configure your Windows Firewall settings; if you use Windows Firewall then go through this quick set-up. Once that’s done, you should see a message at the top of the screen says “Server is running” – press the Stop button in the top-left corner to put the server on hold for a few minutes while you set Remote Potato up. The first thing we should do here is go to the General tab, then check “Use security” and enter a username and password. This will be your log-in credentials when you access Remote Potato from afar. You don’t have to do this but if you don’t then you run the risk of anyone being able to access (and delete!) your recordings and schedules if they know your DynDNS address.

Still in the General tab, you’ll notice a couple of checkboxes to the right – “Start Remote Potato minimized” and “Start Remote Potato with Windows”. You’ll most likely want both of those checked. Go ahead and check the other tabs in Remote Potato to see if there are any other settings that you want to change. When you’re done, press the Play button (where the Stop button used to be) to start the remote access action.

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Step Two: Set Up DynDNS

If you already have a DynDNS account then you probably don’t need this tutorial so, chances are, you will need to make a new account. DynDNS allows you to access your computer like a website, like yourmediacenter.dyndns.org. To get started, go to dyndns.com and set up a new account. Although DynDNS provides paid services, we’re only going to need the free basic service (yay, free!). During the sign-up process, you’ll be asked to pick a Hostname first and foremost. This is important as this will be the URL you use to access Remote Potato, so make sure it’s something you can remember. Once you’ve found a Hostname and have entered your IP address (which can be easily done by clicking the link that displays your IP address just below the entry box), click the [Add to Cart] button. The next page will say that your Hostname will cost $0, and you will need to set up a username and password for your DynDNS account. Finish filling in the necessary information on this page to create your account.

The next thing you’ll need is a way to keep your ever-changing IP address in sync with your DynDNS account. Luckily, DynDNS has a handy tool for just that. Download the DynDNS Windows Update Client, install it, and run it. When you first use it, it’ll ask you to log-in. Do that. Under the “Dynamic DNS Hosts” box on the bottom half of the screen, make sure your Hostname is checked and then press the [Apply] button all the way at the bottom-right corner of the window, then press [OK]. The Update Client will continue running in the background in your system tray, which is what you want; that way, whenever your internet provided changes your dynamic IP address, the Update Client will automatically sync with your DynDNS account so you won’t notice any interruption while using Remote Potato.

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Step Three: Forward Port 9080
If you’re not familiar with the term “port forwarding” then read this article from PortForward.com to help understand what it is. In this step, you will forward ports from your router to your computer so that when you go to http://yourmediacenter.dyndns.org:9080, you’ll see the Remote Potato application at work and not a “This page cannot be displayed” error.

This step depends on several factors, mainly your firewall and your router. For this tutorial I’m going to assume that you use Windows Firewall. Since Remote Potato automatically configures settings for Windows Firewall then there’s nothing else we need to do regarding the firewall. If you use a different firewall, check your firewall settings to grant full permission to Remote Potato.

The other factor here is your router, and that’s where things can get tricky. I have a D-Link DIR-615. I thought I had a pretty good idea of how to forward my ports – just log into my router (my router address is 192.168.0.1- your router’s address may vary), go to Advanced, then Port Forwarding, plug in the port that I want to forward, and that would be that. Well, I was mostly right, but I was missing one critical step – actually enabling the port forwarding rules by clicking the little checkboxes next to each rule. Not all routers will be set up this way and not all routers will require the extra step of clicking a checkbox to enable forwarding, but here’s a screenshot of my setup for reference:

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For more help with port forwarding, DynDNS has partnered with PortForward.com to make tutorials on router set-ups with many of today’s popular routers. Unfortunately, Remote Potato (being the relatively new program that it is) isn’t listed specifically as one of the available applications for these routers, but that’s OK; once you find your router, you should be able to follow the general guidelines for the Remote Desktop program tutorial to get an idea of what you need to do. (If the option of TCP or UDP protocols comes up in any of part of your router setup, enable forwarding for both.)

Step Four: Test Remote Potato

From another computer (or even a mobile phone) go to your DynDNS URL port 9080 (http://yourmediacenter.dyndns.org:9080). Make sure you have http:// at the beginning, and :9080 to the end of the URL so you can access port 9080, which is reserved for Remote Potato. If you see Remote Potato then sweet! You’re all set. If not, you’ll need to check your settings. Go through this tutorial again and see if you missed anything.

Note: If you attempt to access your DynDNS URL from the same computer (or even the same network) that’s hosting Remote Potato, your browser will time-out. It’s basically like telling a dog to look at her tail – she’ll run around and around and eventually stop (or maybe she’ll gnaw at it for a bit but, luckily, browsers don’t gnaw). So, to test Remote Potato from your home PC, you’ll just need to enter http://localhost:9080 instead of your DynDNS URL.

Questions? Was this helpful to you? Leave a comment below. Thanks for reading.

We’re going to submit this to America’s Funniest Videos and win us some money!

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My first ever self portrait. Well, my first ever self portrait in my adult life at least. Lemme know what you think. I think it turned out pretty well; I especially like the coloring of the stubble. It’s really simple and basic, but I like that kind of style.

Created with the Genius MousePen 8×6 and Paint.NET.

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This one’s a double whammy. I was looking on Amazon for a new printer when I stumbled across these awesome deals. Oddly enough, they were right above/below each other on the Amazon listings page.

Why pay full price when you can pay more? That’s what I always say.