Tag Archives: Miro

Miro, Youtube Worldwide

See the World with Youtube

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We mentioned Miro in a previous post. Read about it here: Miro  We think Miro is superior to viewing Youtube and other video sites when compared to your normal browser. (That browser should be Chrome, by the way.)  One of the best things about Miro is that you can record most of the videos you see plus, and this is the best part, you can set it so you can view videos from around the world. Let’s just say that censorship in North America is quite different than it is in other parts of the world. Here’s how to tune Miro to let you see videos from everywhere:

1. Once you download and install Miro, sign in to Youtube. Remember that you don’t need a Gmail account for this, any email account will do. Why sign in? Well, if you’re signed in then you can change your settings and Youtube will remember them. You will also be able to subscribe to any Youtube account that you like. That way, you can keep track of any new videos that are posted by the accounts you subscribe to.

2. Down at the bottom of the page, you’ll see this:

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Click the menu button. We’ve got ours set to WorldWide already.

 

3. Click the little arrow and this will appear (scroll down to see the full list of countries):

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Choose a country or, better yet, choose Worldwide.

 

4. We’re suggesting ‘Worldwide’ but you can choose whatever you want. The best part of this setting is that you can search for videos using any language. While you’re using your own language on the main window, Youtube will search for whatever word you type into the search slot. We think you’ll be amazed at what you can see using this technique. Video production is not restricted to North America. People are the same all over the world as you’ll see. Now, the videos will be presented in other languages, obviously. Some have subtitles, some don’t. No matter. You can still enjoy the sight gags and silliness that you see, regardless. Pratfalls are just as funny in French or Russian or Japanese as they are in English.

Finally, the key benefit to all of this is that you’ll be able to see full length movies in some countries Youtube feed. Do a few searches, let Youtube get a feeling for your ‘type’ of video, then sit back and see what they suggest for you to see. As you know, once you take a lead and view a certain type of video, Youtube suggests others that are visually or thematically similar. We think that you’ll be surprised and thrilled with what you can see once you change the country setting to ‘Worldwide’. We were!

Thanks for reading! Like us on Facebook and you’ll be able to ask us questions, pretty much on a one to one basis. Here’s the link:  Computers Made Simple on Facebook 

Free Software, Miro

Miro – a better way to use Youtube

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Miro, available here: http://www.getmiro.com/ , is one of those little apps that grows on you. It seems a bit odd, at the start anyway, but when you get used to it, it makes a whole lot of sense.

Download the program and install it. Miro is what we call ‘open source’ software. It’s free, completely and totally free. You will get the chance to donate during the installation and when the program starts up but that’s up to you. The software is not shareware, it’s not hampered in any way but the makers do ask you to send them a few bucks. That’s fair, isn’t it? Once you see how cool this software is, you might actually send them a shekel or two.

Once Miro is installed, it will ask if you want the program to search for videos. We said no to that but you can certainly say yes, if you want. It will also prompt you to download something called Bonjour which supposedly makes sharing your stuff with other Miro users much easier. Again, we declined.

Here is Miro when it first opens:

Photo of Miro 1
Viewing window in the middle, sources on the left and history on the right.

 

On the left side of the menu you’ll see the various sources of media that Miro can connect with. You can even add your own sources, DailyMotion for instance, to the list. To do that, click on the word Sources then type in the URL of the source you want in the slot provided. Like this:

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Type in the url and Miro will add that site to its source list.

For any of the sources listed, it’s always better if you have an account there, right? These are all free sites and signing up for an account is easy and free, too. Once you’re signed up, for Youtube for instance, Miro will tell you what videos you’ve seen, what subscriptions you’ve added and, this is the best part, it will let you save the video to your computer. Click up on the top where it says ‘Download this video’ and, zap, the video is now in your library. See on the left side, up near the tops where it says ‘Videos’? Click that word and you’ll see a list of videos that you’ve saved.

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Downloading videos is fast and easy, just click the button.

 

We should mention that you can only save Youtube videos. So far, this feature does not work on DailyMotion. (We’ve got another way to save DM videos that we’ll explain in another post.)

Once you get used to using Miro, you’ll probably use it exclusively for Youtube and accessing your videos and music. If you click on Music, up on the top left, your iTunes media appears. Down near the bottom are some sample podcasts and a sample playlist. Miro allows you to create your own playlist, of course.

There seems to be a torrent link too but at the time of this writing, it wasn’t working. All it said was that ‘an updated YouTorrent is coming soon’. We’ll wait and see what happens with that. If you’re in the U.S., or if you’re using a VPN, you can watch full episodes of current TV shows on Hulu. You can always upgrade to Hulu Plus, as well. Full-screen viewing is possible here or with any video source you use.

This has been a short rundown of Miro’s uses. We’ve put Miro on all of our computers and, believe us, you’ll get hooked on finding everything in one place. Miro has a small footprint, too. It doesn’t use a whole of of your memory (RAM), leaving lots for your other applications. Right now, it’s our favorite all-in-one solution. Let us know how it works out for you.

Thanks for reading!