Watch TV shows and video podcasts with Miro

The way we view videos has changed since major broadcasting companies began streaming their TV shows on the Internet.  In addition, Hulu.com gained exposure when viewers had the ability to watch all their favorite shows in one browser.  However, what if you had the ability to watch these same TV shows as well as your favorite video feeds straight from your Mac?  You can do that with Miro.  Although you still need the Internet to watch your videos, Miro provides users with easy access to their favorite shows, even those in HD.

Miro has several features that impressed me.  One was, without a doubt, the homepage.  It may seem odd, but believe me. From the moment you start the application, you are introduced by a very neat and nicely laid out homepage that shows you all the latest videos, from the most popular to the newest ones.  What I enjoyed most about this homepage (also known as the Miro Guide) is the layout because it looks very similar to the iTunes Store homepage.  Furthermore, the Miro Guide also allows you to look at the newest videos based on their genre.  The homepage also has on the top right-hand corner a search bar, which allows you to look for specific TV shows or video feeds that can specifically be added to your library.

The next feature that appealed me to Miro was the ability to conduct video searches throughout the Internet.  This includes videos found on Youtube, Google Video, and Revver.  Also, depending on whether the video you are watching is in a high quality or high definition format, Miro will automatically download your desired video and play it in the highest quality possible.  This leads to the third feature of Miro.  Miro allows you to subscribe to your favorite show at the click of the button.  Suppose you are a big fan of the TV show “The Office.”  You can go to the Miro Guide page and search for “The Office” from there.  It should show up as the first result, and you’ll simply press “Add Site.”  “The Office” will then be added to your sidebar and from there, it will take you to Hulu where you’ll watch your show.  With video podcasts however, you’ll simply look for your desired podcast, click “Add Feed,” and your video podcast subscription will also appear on the side bar.  However, video podcasts are directly downloaded onto your computer and are updated frequently.  The difference is that upon watching the podcast, the video will be removed within 5 days.  I think this is pretty cool if you are the kind of person who likes to save space on your hard drive.  Of course, you always have the option of keeping your podcast or removing it after you watch the movie.  Other facngts to know about Miro is that it streams many video formats, including Quicktime, WMV, MPEG, and AVI.  Miro is also a BitTorrent client, although I’m not sure how it works in Miro, given that I don’t download torrents.

I think Miro is a decent video-streaming program.  I prefer it over Hulu because I can download podcasts and the program is downloaded on my computer.  Another advantage of Miro is that the videos that were in HQ/HD displayed such resonating and fascinating pictures.  It felt like I was really watching the video on an HDTV.  Yet, I was disappointed that Miro doesn’t directly stream full-length movies like Hulu.  I did discover, however, that if I subscribe to a TV show like “30 Rock” or “The Office” which plays its video from Hulu, I can be able to browse through Hulu and play movies easily.  I was also disappointed with how long it took to download a video podcast or a YouTube video.  It was pretty slow, but I could only assume that it was because the program was downloading the video in high quality.

Miro is a free application which you can download straight from their website.  I will definitely use it to watch my favorite shows if I miss them on TV.  Other than that, browsing through Miro couldn’t have been any easier and it’s certainly an application worth downloading.