Joost IPTV
Is this the future of Television?
Joost is the latest piece ingenuity from the makers of Skype, formerly dubbed as the Venice Project. Basically it brings you near-TV quality content with an application that utilizes P2P protocols. However, you would never know it was working with P2P by just using the app, and although it is P2P you wont be uploading any of your own content to Joost either. Joost is based on Mozilla’s XULRunner engine, which basically means it’s cross-platform. There are still commercials just like your old TV, but hey, they got to pay for it somehow. So basically its kind of like TV on demand just delivered via the internet to your computer.
I received my beta about a month ago and have been toying around with the app here and there. I am running the mac version of Joost and so far it really hasn’t given me any issues. After the simple install you just click the icon and Joost starts up in full screen. I have to admit at first I did feel a little bit like my machine was getting hijacked with Joost now being the only thing visible on my screen, but then I was watching full-screen TV in a matter of seconds.
The GUI is pretty nice and navigates fairly easily. The buttons and icons are over sized so that they can be selected with ease. Once you have selected your show all of the buttons and controls fade away so that you can tune in on the action. It’s defiantly not as slick as apple TV, but what do you want for free =)
The video quality is not stellar and being that I am a videophile I know I am really picky, but I must say that Joost looks much, much better than anything on YouTube or Google Video. I have used Joost from everything from a 750k DSL line to a full T1. The quality of the image definitely depends on your connection speed.
Joos is definitely trying to beef up their content. I have noticed an increase in content in just the few months that I have had it. I am sure that the amount of content will grow when Joost goes out of beta invite-only mode. Currently you can watch MTV, the car show Fifth Gear, The National Geographic Channel, Warner Bros. Records and many others. A decent selection for kicking off an app like this.
One cool and interactive feature of Joost is its support for plugins. Joost’s plugins are basically widgets you can load in your Joost screen, things like clock, feed reader, instant messenger, rating plugin which enables you to rate the current clip with grades from 1 to 5, notice board, and channel chat. The developers are promising new and better to come. These beginning ones are basic but the possibilities for the future plugins are huge. Could make TV truly interactive.
Bottom line… it’s free TV. Ultimately whether or not the app lives or dies will depend on if they can get enough good content. Content is king! I think the tech that they are using to push everything is really amazing. So I think the groundwork is laid and now we will just have to wait and see where Joost takes us. Think about it, we could have a channel for NCC with all of the services and videos right there on demand. On demand discipleship. =)
If you want to try Joost out, just let me know and I can send you a beta invite.
Technorati Tags: Joost, IPTV, TV, Mozilla XULRunner, P2P
Think I could get an invite? My emails sure0yv02 [a] sneakemail.com Thanks a lot!
Sure thing I’ll send you one now.
Nice! Thanks!
I’d love an invite if you’ve got any to spare mkerner [a] gmail.com
Sure thing,
I’ll send one your way now.
Hey David-
This is Edwin Turnipseed. The Support Pastor at Impact Church 1.0 in the ATL.
How are you? Just trying to touch bases with you.
A quick question, since you are so well versed in this teachnoloy area, and I am not, is it ok if I get our Tech Lead, our Sound Tech, and our Webmaster on this blog?
They know the questions to ask you better than I?
We are really trying hard to get up there from you alls Buzz Conference. Mark has sent us the website and everything. We are checking our schedules this week to see if we can make it. I am sure that one of the four of us will be there.
Thanks!
Clark, can I have an invite? dustydog18 [a] gmail.com (i guess i’ll join the crown and sign my email like this)
D
Edwin:
I would be happy to connect with some of you team. Feel free to have them send me an email anytime. We would love to have you guys for Buzz. David Russell and I might actually be hosting a gathering one evening for all the media/tech heads that are at the conference. It definitely will be fun to connect.
Dustin:
Your invite is on the way. Oh, and the reason you would want to post your address that way to to prevent it from being picked up by an email scanner. Basiclly helps prevent spam. =)
Dear video enthousiastic,
I would love to try Joost out and to experience this novel way of watching TV content. Could you please sent me an invite?
thanks
Hey Eric,
The invite is sent. Enjoy =)
send an invite my direction. thanks
Hi Dave:
could you send me an invite please? Thanks – Alex
Josh:
The invite is on the way. =)
Alex:
I need your email address.
New site to watch free online tv
http://tv.stafex.net
Dave, could you send me a beta invite please. Thank you!
James
Hey James,
I need your email address to send you a invite.