OStatic

Miro, nee Democracy Player, released its version 1.0 Tuesday, officially leaving beta behind. The open source video subscription, download and viewing client from the Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF) hopes to be not just more open, but more popular than other online video services.

Granted, the Roku Netflix player isn't exactly a new device. The little hardware appliance (with open source roots) appeared around this time last year, and the reviews were quite favorable, with the biggest complaint cited being Netflix's relatively meager standard definition instant view selections.

My new family member -- a brand new Roku box -- shows just how much can change in a year. With the appropriate cables (and display), the Roku appliance is able to stream high definition media from Netflix and Amazon Video-On-Demand. Netflix integration still requires one has an account without a monthly limit on DVDs (that's any account that costs $8.99 or more per month). Amazon On-Demand titles can be rented, or purchased outright for unlimited viewing on the Roku device.

One of the best things about Roku's use of open source software is that unless you are genuinely interested in that aspect, you never need to know.

Boxee is just one of several open source media center applications. Sam recently compiled a round up of some of the most popular, and I have been using MythTV for over a year now as a TiVO/DVR alternative.

I like MythTV for several reasons. It's not a project for the faint of heart, but it's less the fault of the software than the wild array of hardware that can be conceivably used in nearly every imaginable configuration. It is quite stable, and doesn't require hefty system specs. I didn't think overly about Boxee when I first heard of it. MythTV worked for me.

One thing that MythTV can't do, of course, is stream Netflix movies. I've all too frequently, now, run into problems with Netflix disks being a little too rough to run in my MythTV box's DVD player. This isn't the fault of MythTV -- it's a hardware/media issue.

Boxee is bringing Netflix onboard. There are a few catches, and a few bits that are a little unclear, but this might lead, at the very least, to Boxee running alongside my MythTV installation.

Often, when I hear from OStatic readers, they express interest in open source graphics tools. Many of them already use some of the best tools, but there are actually many, many good, free resources in the open source arena for adding to your graphics arsenal. There are also free tutorial resources for getting started with them right away. Whether you want to produce a full-length animated movie, desktop publish good-looking graphical booklets, add a galactic brush set to GIMP (for effects like the one at left), work more efficiently with Flickr, or create eye-catching logos, check out our updated collection of 12 free graphics applications and resources here.

That's the open source Android operating system running on this fairly slick looking ARCHOS tablet, which is concrete proof that Android is headed for more than just smartphones. As JKOnTheRun notes, the ARCHOS 5 Android-based Internet Tablet isn't scheduled to go on sale until September 15th, but online retailer B&H jumped the gun and has a 500GB version of it shown and listed on its site. The ARCHOS 5 is a 5-inch slate, and JKOnTheRun reports that at one time B&H listed both HDD and SSD models, with prices ranging from $294 to $420, depending on configuration. Those specs have since been removed.

At those prices, I'm betting this tablet has a chance. Tablet computers have never taken the market by storm, but they have their loyal users, and ARCHOS' primarily video-focused devices have had a loyal user base for years. How might people use these tablets, will they get their own applications, and is there a good future for Android on them?

In July, we covered the much updated version 1.0 of VLC Media Player. You can download a new version 1.0.1 for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux here, and if you don't already use it, it's fantastic. I find that it consistently plays video file formats that other players have problems with, and there is much more under the hood in this open source media player than many people realize. For example, you can use it to broadcast your own video content, you can use it as a video transcoder for converting video file formats, and you can listen to and manage podcasts with it. VideoLAN, which makes VLC Media Player, reports that version 1.0 has already hit 14 million downloads.

VLC Media Player is so powerful, though, that it could use better documentation (As I write this, the wiki for VLC Media Player's documentation is down altogether). In this post, I'll round up four good tutorial resources that can introduce you to some of the many useful VLC Media Player features that may not be immediately apparent.

Among open source media center applications for managing video, music and other entertainment content, Boxee has emerged as a clear leader. This week the company announced that it has received a $6 million injection of venture capital funding, led by Boston-based General Catalyst with participation by prior investors Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.

The investment brings Boxee's total funding to $10 million, obtained in under a year. As Boxee officials noted in their announcement of the funding: Boxee today is mostly serving a tech-savvy audience ? those who feel comfortable connecting a computer to a TV. For example, Boxee is very popular with Apple TV users, who manage media with it, and are able to watch video content on big-screen TVs. So what lies ahead for it, and how can it gain appeal beyond a tech-savvy audience?

Researchers and developers at the University of California, Berkeley are working on open source software to help distribute audio and video files of classroom lectures to media services like iTunes and YouTube. The university already publishes full-length videos of classroom sessions on YouTube, but recording, editing, and posting these videos is an costly undertaking. Now, new grant money will pay those expenses and help expand video distribution worldwide.

Known as the Opencast Matterhorn project, an international team of developers from universities in Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and the UK will draw from a coffer of $1.3 million to create the software platform that's scheduled to launch next summer.