The web browser add-on for instance works right there where the videos are opened anyway: in the browser. Software video downloaders on the other hand offer cross-browser support and are usually better in managing and queuing downloads.

Live Downloader is a software program for the Windows operating system that can be used to capture streaming video from sites like Youtube, Dailymotion, Facebook or MySpace. The tool does not limit downloads to video content on the other hand as it also offers to download streaming music as well but most users will probably download video streams with it.

The software runs as a process in the background that monitors the incoming traffic of the computer system. It will automatically display a download window whenever a video or audio stream is identified in the scan. The download window contains a preview area and a download button to send the video to the download queue.

Live Downloader behaves different from other streaming video and audio downloaders as it does not have an option to download a video from an url that gets pasted into the application by the user.

The monitoring of the network traffic can be deactivated at anytime to avoid that the download windows show up when they are not needed. Another interesting option is to select to download all media automatically without displaying a notification window first.

Live Downloader is available for download at the developer’s website. It is compatible with most Microsoft operating systems including Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. (via Addictive Tips)

Amazon.com is offering a video streaming service for more than 40000 videos on their website. Users can watch the first two minutes of the videos without charge and have to pay to rent the movie 24 hours or to buy it. Both alternatives allow the user to watch the video right away on the Amazon website. Amazon uses Adobe Flash to transfer the movie to the user. The interesting aspect of the Amazon video streaming service according to Reuters is that they start streaming the entire movie even if the user is only watching previewing it.

The movie is stopped after playing for two minutes and a user who wants to watch the full movie would either have to rent or but it online. The streaming software on the other hand should be able to continue recording the movie because it does not receive the stop signal from the Adobe Flash server.

This would effectively mean that everyone would be able to download all movies that are offered for streaming on Amazon providing that they have access to the correct software. The software mentioned in the article is the commercial multimedia stream catcher Replay Media Catcher which can be tested before purchase.

Reuters mentioned that the trial version was able to download the movies from Amazon. A local test however did not have the same results. This could have several reasons. Reuters did only mention that the software was able to record the movie stream but they did not mention if any other applications or settings were necessary for it to succeed.

It could also mean that Amazon was able to close the security hole by adding another verification. Lastly it could also mean that the service is not available to customers from outside the United States. It would be interesting if any of you would be able to download an entire movie from Amazon just by using the Replay Media Catcher software or a similar product. Let me know if it works for you.

The problem is that it can be very frustrating for a broadband viewer. If you do have the bandwidth to spare and want high definition (HD) video, then Veetle is for you. It’s a Silicon Valley based firm who’s USP is to let the average viewer watch and broadcast HD quality video.

Veetle works a lot like popular video-sharing site Veoh. Before you can watch a video, you have to download and install the VeetleTV software on your computer. After that, you can watch the videos in your browser itself. VeetleTV works on Windows, Linux, and Mac so there are no OS compatibility problems here.

Rather than have individual videos displayed on the site, Veetle lists video channels. Depending on your preferences you can choose from action movies, the NBA, European football, etc. amongst the current crop of channels. They also had a few channels covering the Olympics but those have been taken off for copyright violations. If you want to broadcast your own videos, you need to have a computer with a minimum CPU of 2 GHz in addition to a broadband internet connection.

Veetle reminds me of programs like Miro, Sopcast, TVU Player, etc. You install a client and then watch the videos. Since Veetle is relatively new, they don’t have too many channels just yet. Content seems to be okay. When I checked the site, one channel was showing a HD version of Blood Diamond while another one had the Japanese anime Hikaru No Go. The sports section looked nice as well.

What are you currently using to watch TV online? Would you like to try Veetle out or does the prospect of downloading the software put you off? How tempting is the idea of free HD video on your computer? Let me know in the comments.