Many people now watch video on the internet, from quick clips on Youtube to full-length films and TV programmes using software. However, the trouble with digital video is that there are somany different file formats used to store and distribute video material Windows Media, Apple Quick time and MP4 to name just a few that you may end up with a separate player for each. Miro is a program that attempts to simplify this andmake it easy to find and play video material on the internet. It acts as a universal video player that can play all the main video file formats and enables you to simultaneously search differentwebsites for video material that you might find interesting. Heres how to download and use it.
TO DOWNLOAD MIRO,LAUNCH you web browser and visit www.getmiro.com. When the website appears, click on the Download button.There are versions of Miro available for Windows,Mac and Linux computers,so everyone is catered for. Before diving in, it sworth taking a look at the list of Miros features to get an idea of what it can do. It can act as a player for most video file formats, subscribe to video podcasts and download video files from a wide range of websites.There are also video guides to show how the program works.
THIS IS THE ONLY tricky bit.When run, the Miro installer asks which audio and video file formats it should play.Selecting all the options here will effectively set Miro up as a universal player that can be used to play any video stored on your PC.However, some peoplemay still prefer to use the standard Windows Media Player for some files, and just use Miro for playing video from websites such as Youtube. In that case,
just go with the default settings by clicking next.
ONCE INSTALLED, MIRO STARTS off by playing a little demo to introduce its main features.This demo only plays once, so don’t miss it. Fortunately, theres a pause button on the transport controls (at the foot of the player window), so click it now to halt the demo and take a quick look around first.Over on the left is a sidebar that can be used to search for videos on the internet and gather them together in a series of channels for convenient watching.Now lets go back to that demo again – just click the play button.
THE SIDE BAR ALREADY CONTAINS a set of starter channels that have been set up as an introduction to Miros many features, but as the demo progresses it also offers a number of starter packs containing videos gathered fromall over the internet. The starter packs are organised into topics such as music, sport, tech news and food, so just click on any of these packs to add them to the sidebar. Theres one more step in the demo that addresses problem-solving, so watch that before doing anything else.
SELECTED THE MOVIES starter pack, which now adds a set of movie related websites to the sidebar.These include a site called Timos HD Movie Trailers that, as the name implies, carries film trailers in high-definition video format. Lets click on that to see if theres anything interesting to look at.The Iron Man trailer looks fun, so click on that to have Miro begin downloading the video clip. Miro can also download multiple clips, but this will increase the download time.
The Auto Download menu is used to specify howor when Miro downloads video clips from a particular channel.At the moment,weve selected Off whichmeans that Miro only displays a thumbnail previewof each clip, but doesnt waste time downloading clips were not interested in. The All option tells Miro to automatically download all the videos that are available, while New just downloads the latest additions.
ONCE A CLIP HAS been downloaded, just double-click on it to play the footage.This clip is a good demonstration of Miros versatility.The video is actually stored in Apples QuickTime format but Miro can play it even though. And, as its filmed in high definition, this clip will also look great if hit the full-screen button (right next to the play button) to expand it to full-screen size.Thats the basics of how Miro works nowlets look at some of its extra features.
LETS START BY TIDYING up the sidebar first. Click on each of thosemovie channels in the sidebar while holding down the Shift button on the keyboard.This allows you to select all the channels at the same time. Miro notices this and automatically offers to put the selected channels into a folder for easy access.So well put all those channels into a folder called My Movie Channels.
CLICK ON THE MIRO GUIDE entry right at the top of the sidebar to display Miros built-in guide to internet video and TV.The guide organises material into various categories, making it easy to quickly browse through and find something interesting.To add a channel to the sidebar just press the‘+’sign beside the channel listing in the guide.
THE NEXT OPTION IN the sidebar is Video Search. This allows you to search video sites, such as Youtube, to locate video material without even having to open a web browser – choose a site to search fromthe menu next to the search box. If you find some interesting video else where on the internet,add it to Miro simply by typing in the address of the website just select the Add Channel command found in the Channel menu at the top of the screen.
