Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Miro 2.0 Gets Streaming Support, New Look [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/avOr0_2cNn0/miro-20-gets-streaming-support-new-look

Miro, the open-source player that's like a TiVo for internet video, has hit its 2.0 release, boosting the play-anything tool's performance and adding some neat features, like streaming video from Hulu and other sites.

Miro keeps the same video-when-you-want-it features Gina detailed in her tour of the app, and it remains a great way to manage free video feeds, video podcasts, download torrents, and otherwise pipe the web's best stuff onto your screen.

With 2.0, though, the Miro Guide—the universal portal for content that anyone can browse for their media center needs—now includes links to streaming content. That includes shows on Hulu, like, say, Family Guy:


And Miro's team states that 2.0 has been designed "from the ground up" to focus on high-quality, HD content, as demonstrated (kind of) in their demonstration video:


One seemingly basic but big improvement is the ability to pop out a playing video in a separate window, letting you keep browsing or stream checking while your content plays in a resize-ready window:


The Miro team outlines more changes at their blog announcement and on the redesigned official site.

What does Miro do well for you, and what would improvements would you like to see? How much net video is making its way into your watching habits these days? Sound off your screen preferences in the comments.

Miro is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.