Joost
Following on from the sale of Skype, creators Zennstrom and Friis
began a new venture codenamed “The Venice Project”.
Recently “The Venice Project” was announced re-branded as “Joost”.
The aim of Joost is to provide medium/high quality full-screen streaming
video but with the choice and ease of switching we are used to on our regular TVs.
I posted a plea on Irish Webmaster Forums for a Joost “Beta-Invite” (Joost is in closed Beta).
Kindly Paul sent me one without haste and I rushed
off to have a go.
The review (as of Joost Beta 0.9.2):
Video Streaming
I was pleasantly surpised by the video streaming ability.
While I don’t think it is full-screen quality (On my 27-inch it is pixelated unless watched from TV-distance) it is
an amazing step over the Youtube video size and yet it streams almost flawlessly. While I had a few intermittent
video pauses I believe it was because of my broadband latency at the moment.
Channel Switching
Would you wait 30 seconds to switch channel on your TV? No, I don’t think you would (unless you’re on Chorus).
This is the beauty of Joost. When you switch channel it typically takes between 5 and 15 seconds for the video to
start streaming (full screen mind) so it seems negligible-latency video could be around the corner.
Interface
I understand where the designers were coming from with the interface design. They wanted to show that the interface
is not between you and the video but rather the interface should only be there to change the video you are currently
watching. This makes sense doesn’t it? You don’t leave teletext or the menu up on your TV while you are watching.
However I find the current grey color scheme unappealing and rather dull.
Content Selection
Here’s where the service will succeed or fail - range of content. As of the beta Joost has managed to sign up some
slightly obscure channels and some bigger ones (MTV/WPT) but the major ones people want aren’t catered for.
Conclusion
If Joost keeps gaining momentum, securing providers and improving technology then the Joost investors have nothing to worry about. As for us users - I’m hoping they get some really good content and they keep advertisement lengths down (now up to 4 minutes on regular TV).
Joost is a cool way of watching video on demand.. but in relation to watching internet live TV on the web. Check out http://www.viewmy.tv it is cool, i recently just discovered it. Their sites allows you to watch internet TV from all over the world. Even let you create your own personal page. Further their channel streams are monitored by them in order for the member to have first rate viewing. That is neatt!
Thanks for the tip Nabeel. I hadn’t heard of ViewMyTV before but I’ll have to have a look. However, I wouldn’t watch an episode of Lost or Prison Break on Youtube because the quality just isn’t good enough for watching a show you like.
If you have an invite to joost i would like to try it… it is an adventure to find an invite to joost
Interesting post David- Joost was lost on me after about 10 minutes.. I don’t know what I was expecting.. but I didn’t feel very joosted ! Limited channels in beta was probably a factor.. also - internet TVOD has been done before - joost just makes it feel sexier than it is..
Nice write up David. I just received an invitation and am hoping to test drive it later.
oh yeah, the viewmy.tv site is good eh? kinda same market as joost but viewmy.tv has live streams and all in browser.. i’ve been a member on viewmy.tv for a while and they are always coming up with new features! i’ve also been beta testing on joost but prefer viewmy.tv to get all my broadband tv
While it is a very nice platform technically, the lack of content is really what is stopping it becoming something major.
Watching the same few bits of 5th Gear tires out quite quickly.
You’re right there Conor, technically I was impressed how you could buffer video of relatively high quality at such speed but the “service” is still lacking in terms of UI design and of course majorally content. I can relate to the 5th Gear thing - I must have watched them all and then some! There really isnt any point simply building a fullscreen Youtube (though, when you think about it Youtube updates more!).
As an aside nice to see you out and about the blogosphere and hopefully you’ll be generating more blog content after the big exams!
Hi Dave,
Nice post. Joost seems interesting alright but you need an invitation to sign up. Any chance you can send me one?
Internet tv from what ive seen (those programs that let you watch free tv) are a load of rubbish. hopefully joost is different.
Thanks,
Dave