I installed it, I started it, and in 5 seconds I was watching television.
I did it for an hour before I remembered that I’m actually supposed to review the thing. I guess there’s no greater praise, but for those who like details, I’ve included the details as well. So, here’s what I think about Joost, the latest project from the authors of Skype, formerly dubbed as the Venice Project, for whose beta I was lucky to be invited a couple of days ago.
Introduction and installation
Joost is a streaming P2P platform for television. It brings you TV or near-TV quality content in an application that uses P2P protocols to fetch the content, but it’s not really transparent to the user, who simply has to start using it and needs not worry about how it does its thing. The app is based on Mozilla’s XULRunner engine, which basically means it’s cross-platform. It’s ad-funded, and from what I understand you won’t be able to simply share content on Joost like you can on YouTube. It’s TV in the old fashioned sense of the word - they give you content, you watch it; only on internet. It makes up for this with the quality of the content and the features of the software.
The installation is simple and smooth. Joost was behaving very nicely and it never crashed or stopped responding. I’ve noticed that when playing a video, Joost, on average, eats up around 35% of CPU time which is not that bad, but it’s also not negligible, as my Opteron 144 overclocked to 2.8 GHz is a relatively speedy beast.
GUI
Joost starts in full screen. Unaccustomed to this kind of behaviour, I was startled for a few seconds before I remembered that this is nothing like YouTube or BitTorrent. It’s television. The general idea is that you fire it up and start watching, and in this Joost succeeds immensely.
In accordance to this, the GUI looks more like a media center interface than your standard Windows application. The icons are big and easy to hit, and while the scrolling may be a little slow at some points, it’s perfect for using on the TV screen. The GUI consists of the main controls at the bottom, channel chooser on the left, info link on top and a link to My Joost, your customized Joost screen where you can load up plugins, on the right. A button for making the menu items invisible is on top left, and double click switches between full screen mode and window mode (in window mode Joost looks like a detached window of a media player such as BSplayer). It’s not the most beautiful GUI design I’ve seen but it’s good enough, and what’s more important, all of it’s transparent and made with the idea of not getting in the way of your viewing experience.
Video quality and content
I’ve got a 100 KB download connection - definitely not the fastest in the world - and the videos did stutter, but rarely. This was my biggest concern, and I can say that Joost passed this test, although not with a perfect grade - I expect further improvements in this department in the future. The actual quality of the videos varied quite a bit, but it was definitely much better than anything on YouTube or Google Video. Overally, I’d call it a compromise: it’s just barely good enough for full screen, but not any better than that. This said, the quality probably improves with the speed of your connection. Still, it’s beautiful to switch to this after all those low quality videos I’ve been seeing on the internet for years. A revolution? Maybe. I can’t stop watching it, that’s for sure.
One thing I cannot judge well at this point is the amount or variety of content the service will ultimately have. Currently, there’s enough content to watch, however there’s not nearly enough content to do a search and actually get meaningful results. The amount of content will grow when Joost goes out of beta invite-only mode, and some big fishes might jump in (currently you can, for example, watch content from MTV, or the famous auto show Fifth Gear) but what I’d actually like to see on it is cheap, independent productions. I hope they introduce a model for people to get their own content up there, because it would bridge the gap between old school TV and YouTube, but I don’t know if this will ever happen.
Plugins
One of the most important features of Joost is the support for plugins. If you’re looking at Joost as a competitor to YouTube, all that was said so far makes it clear that it definitely has some advantages (and many differences). However, if you look at it as a competitor to television - be it television from a TV tuner, cable TV or IPTV, then plugins are what’s going to make the difference. Joost’s plugins are simply widgets you can load in your Joost screen, and currently these include clock, feed reader, instant messaging (Jabber and Google talk are currently supported), rating plugin which enables you to rate the current clip with grades from 1 to 5, notice board, and channel chat. This is not bad at all, but the developers are promising many more to come. The widgets are somewhat basic but fully functional, however it’s not really important, as the possibilities are huge. Imagine watching television and chatting about it on the TV screen itself. Or watching a concert and reading new posts from your favorite sites. In one word, it’s great.
What’s not to like?
Ads. I’ve seen commercials break the program in half without a warning, which is annoying and I hope it’s just a glitch and not a ‘feature’. Other than that, ads are what Joost is funded upon and we can definitely expect them - I just hope they don’t get overly intrusive. I also expect more content and a better way to organize your own content, opposed to the current simple My Channels list. I could add other minor points, but I expect that a lot of things that are missing that I could name will probably happen in the way of a plugin.
Conclusion
Well, it’s free TV. It can’t be bad. The application works great, looks ok, and if you got a decent internet connection, you’ll have no problems using it. Its success will depend on the amount and quality of content, and of course, ultimately, the success of Joost’s ad-based business model. Everything else seems to be in place, so if the content is there, I’m sure people will love it.
*the test platform was Windows XP SP2, Opteron 144, 1 GB DDR RAM, DFI UT NF4 SLI-D Nforce4 motherboard, and a 100 KB/s download on an ADSL connection. The tested version of Joost was 0.7.3.1
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Interestingto see the review. Did you get an invitation or did you sign up for it?
@Kimmono: I received an invitation without specifically asking for it, although I’ve written about it on this site. If I receive any more invitations I will give them to my readers, but currently I have none.
Sounds great. I can’t wait to get my hands on this to try it out for myself. Is this the future of Television?
Wow, sounds really neat! If you get any more invites, I’d love to give it a try! (Legolover64@gmail.com)
Please send me an invitation!!!
blog[at]celiomartins[dot]com[dot]br
Thanks!
Guys…
I’ll come back and reward you with some more invitations!!!
Nice to see a review! I’m on the mac platform so I haven’t gotten a chance to test drive it. Don’t know if I want to since I might get addicted.
The interface sure looks like something Apple would have designed.
I’ve sent 2 invitations to the first two guys who gave me their emails. Enjoy!
I’m back at zero for now, but if I get any more, and if you’d like to have it, please leave a comment with your first name, last name, and email.
Hey folks
Can someone invite me. I wanna watch tv for free. My email address is icemanrez@gmail.com
Can someone please send me an invite I would REALLY appreciate it! My email is digency@gmail.com
Thanks in advanced!!
Hi Stan,
Great review and great app^^ Could you plz send me an invite if u get any?
vij26 at hotmail dot com
Vij26
I’d love to get an invite! Thanks in advance
would like an invitation please
I’d like an invite too, my TV got shut off recently =)
Hello,
If you happen to come across any more invites, I’d like one.
andrebsd at gmail.com
Thanks.
Wow, Ive been waiting for something like that to come out, Please if you get any more invites, let me know at gunmetal.rx7[at]gmail.com
thanks
Those who got invites promised to come back and send some more… let’s spread the love
ehsano [at] gmail dot com
Great review!
Please send invitation…
webmaster[a]omeuip.com
DIdn’t see the non-disclosure agreement, eh?
an invite would be lovely :o)
englishblokester[@]gmail.com
Can you send me invite, please?
Nice review. If anyone has any spare invites, please send one to josh@joshstarr.net
Thanks!
Nice review! Very informative.
In case you have spare invitations, please, send me one! alexandrino[a]gmail.com
Thanks
I would also like an invite, my email is maleboe-at-gmail.com
Signing up for that invintation request
Thanks!
Danny
I would like an invite, drop me a email at stevenvanwel-at-gmail.com
If you’ve got more invites, I would love to get one too
An invite would be gladly accepted from me
nick610[@]gmail[.]com
Would someone like to send me an invite… jeremib[[a t]]gmail.com
Thanks!
would be great to get an invite:)
could i please get an invite as well
thanks
funkysaggi2 @ gmail.com
Would really like to try this out. Could I please have an invite toms@cityofdetroit.com
Hey this is probably the best thing ever. Currently I get all of my movie/episodes off of someones server, but this sounds better and a lot more legitamate. If you get any more invites please pass one along.
-Thanks
salomorales(at)gmail(dot)com
Excellent preview… It’s definitely got me interested.
If you get an extra, and you’re willing, I’ll share the love as well…
hecatomb at gmail.com
This does really look good… Not surprising, considering who came up with the idea - the guy has some serious ideas
Also, an invite would be great! admin [ad] leinir.dk 
The hostilemonkey needs some joost!
If anyone has an invite, then mainmonkey [at] hostilemonkey [dot] net is the way to go!
Thanks in advance. I promise bananas in payment!
Nice review, it looks like a promising application. Is this purely for a US market at the moment or UK too?
Wow.. Looks great! This is gonna make alluc.org etc redundant very soon. If anyone has any invites I’d really appreciate one! olan_b [at] hotmail [dot] com… And of course i’ll come back here and spread ‘em!
I would like a invite if possible?
I will gladly share my invited.
My email is drall [dot] kj [at] gmail.com
Thanks
Hi, I am interested in this so-called TV you have just mentioned. Could you provide me with some information?
Guys&girls, about the invites: I currently have 0, and they don’t seem to be pouring in very fast, so don’t expect tons of them from me unless the good folks at Joost add some tokens to my account. Just wanted to let you all know.
I’d love to give it a try. jaybrog[at]gmail[dot]com THANKS
Any chance this would be ported to work with XBMC or is there something like it already for a modded XBOX?
A very well sum up of Joost beta. Would you be kind enough to hand me an invite as well?
I too would like an invite when available scott.cooper (at) gmail (dot) com
thanks!!
Im pretty excited to test it out now. Some other reviews I read didnt make it sound all that great. If ya wanna be wicked nice and shoot me an invite when ya get some that would be amazing! Great article!
Nice review! Very informative.
In case you have spare invitations, please, send me one!
daddyoli@hotmail.com
@stan
The hostilemonkey says “chill”
Don’t worry about the pressure of invite requests. The hostilemonkey suspects that this is now *the* board for anyone with invites to joost, so don’t feel the pressure too hard!
Have a banana!
Ooo Ooo gimme invite
(awray01@gmail.com)
informative entry. I want to try joost also. Invite me plzz
invite welcomed with open arms at datadevil * gmail , com
@hostilemonkey
hope your right. sitting in korea, will you send me an invite?
::has banana::
I will love to try!
please send me an invitation
alejandrops at gmail.com
would love an invite if you have a spare one … thanks
SmirkingJack@gmail.com
I’d serve up one of my wrinkled golden globes for an invite.
Could i please have a invite?
omfgnoob@gmail.com
Cheers
also looking for an invite…
woowoo[at]rawdeadfish[dot]com
thanks
I know you probebly stoped caring at this point, but could you send me an invite? I would really love to participate in the service, and would hand out lots of invites in return as well. Thanks alot!!!! [doddmatt@gmail.com]
Would love an invite as well
cdenboer at gmail dot com
Thanks
hi, sounds great.
anyone got any spare invites
phwells[a]googlemail.com
cheers
Been GOOGLE’ing for something like this all day, who whould have known i could have found it trough Digg.
MY TV HAS BLOWN UP!
So all i got now is my projector (AINT TO BAD), but i have no content on LAPTOP to watch ON IT!..
If its possible, can you hit me up with a link to author, or invite.
email me at adam “at” entertainment-cms.com
Wish i had something To Watch.
Hey, would love to try this service.
Any nice person got a spare invite??????
Send one on to: robertd@gmail.com
Thanks!!
I’ve signed up for the Beta but would LOVE to get an invite from you! My work-place TV addiction needs to be satisfied!
paul@onemore.plus.com
Invite anyone? I’m interested in this for more than just sitting playing i wish to look into the possibility of bringing it to a console media center. Thanks.
Would love an invite lakernation@gmail.com
Thanks!
You could wait for invitations (will take a while) or sign up there: https://www.joost.com/apply.html
They are opening beta test accounts to those who applied first and once they’re done with that list they’ll start thinking about invitations.
Hi,
I’d like an invite too if possible, whether from the original poster or a commenter!
Thanks.
bc90021
joost at bc90021 dot net
That’s sounds awesome!!! I would welcome any invites, please!
Thanks!
spread the graces.
please send us invites.
Great review
If you get some more tokens I’d love an invite -
bondyjay [at] gmail dot com
Hey,
This looks cool– mee2 on the invites, if you have the time and willingness.
traixa at comcast dot net
Ah, what the hell, would love an invite as well! michael[at]groovygreen[dot]com
cheers!
Hey that looks really neat wouldnt mind an invite to check it out on the old macintosh
anthonyjrees at gmail dot com
WOW! Please send me an invitation. I’ll blog about it on my site… Thanks….
Hey, great article! I can’t wait to try this!
Please send any spare invites to anniepops(at)yahoo.com
Danke!
Sounds sweet! (Like everyone else) if anyone has any invites, I’d love one at microburn @at@ gmail .dot. com
Can anybody please send me an invite? I’d love to try this out.
rodi.a.k [at] gmail.com
Thanks a lot!
Great review! I am blown away at what these guys have managed to pump out so far: Kazaa, Skype and now this. If you wouldn’t mind could you please send me an invite. Thanks!
Steve Sway - ssway (at) hotmail (dot)com
whoops….forgot the email: please send me an invite my email is kevin (at) kmotiv (dot) com
Problem with Joost is that the business model is flawed.
http://zuluzulu.wordpress.com/2006/12/11/will-the-venice-project-save-tv/
Distribution of high quality video files via the Net on mass is relatively expensive. Especially compared to normal broadcasting TV signals. P2P solves that for the Skype boys as a user can download a program (or get a stream) from many other users who carry and split the cost of the bandwidth. What will these users’ ISPs make of this? Especially as these ISP’s are trying their hand at video on demand as well.
Would also love an invite…
johnnystecchino@yahoo.com
Rather than beg for an invite, I suggest folks come up with some creative ways to get one.
Hi anyone got a spare invite? please send me one at adminkind [at] gmail [dot] com
Thanks
SV
Joost isn’t live tv, currently it only gives you a list of videos that you can watch - one of which is the Much Music interview with the Dukes of Hazzard cast. So it’s not live yet, and also note that server load when its live will be a huge problem.
sounds interesting maulinwolf(at)gmail(dot)com
This would be a perfect place to start on email harvest variaion pattern recogniton.
Great review. Thanks!. Please send me an invite: “holyhabanero at yahoo dot com”
I would love an invite oshima [- dot] joji [@t] gmail {d0t} com
Thanks in advance!
Please send me an invitation!!!
oscarnu@gmail.com
Thanks!
please send me an invite “chizh.z at gmail period com” thanks!!
Heya if anyone has a spare invite if they could send it to finkus [the usual character] gmail.com - and I’ll send any spares I get to this page!
Cheers! Ommadon.
nice review! invite pretty please: kunamalikhamad at gmail.com
Looks great! Nice review makes it all the more appealing.
I’d appreciate an invite as well.
mrchin{@}mac.com
Hey guys, I would definately appreciate an invite if one is avalible. worknjunk@hotmail.com Thanks.
invite to spare??
ninwest@gmail.com
I don’t have a T.V.
This is what ive been waiting for.
I too would like an invite..
Thanks in advance mate.
P.O.
f.
email(at)franklinlyons DOTCOM
Looks really great. Would be greatful for an invite. mike ‘dot’ lydick ‘@t’ gmail ‘dot’ com
Oh my god, Brian, there’s a message in my Alphabits. It says, ‘Oooooo.’
INVITE PLEASE!!!!!!! hoook ya boi up!!!!!
oglovero@gmail.com
Please send me an invitation!!!
lorko@freemail.hu
Thanks!
Please send me an invitation, this sounds awesome.
Andrew.Denniger@gmail.com
bah, NO link to Program thats a halve article…
Hmmm, begging is the order of the day!
PLEASE, Please, please…. some one send me an invite!!?!
And Thank-ya-verah-much…
phil1960us@yahoo.com
Anyone out there want to pass an invite to me?
Jeffrey_Mason@MSN.com
another invitation for me pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
fgonzalezp AT gmail.com
For an invitation I promise to throw 10 hail mary’s on Sunday in your honor. Err, say them? Something like that!
innov8ion at gmail.com
I wonder what Adobe will think of this?
Please send me an invite as well - I’ll be your best friend! Thanks! rpeters1@gmail.com
Hey, I’d love an invite if anyone has one. Thanks in advance!
speedigz@gmail.com
“It brings you TV or near-TV quality content in an application that uses P2P protocols to fetch the content, but it’s *not* really transparent to the user, who simply has to start using it”
Um… Wouldn’t that be “transparent”? “Not transparent” would mean the user *does* see and maybe have to deal with the stuff happening in the background.
can I get an invite?
hsolo@yahoo.com
hey, please can you send me an invite?
forooghianj@gmail.com
i really appreciate you doing the reveiw and now i feel really bad for you because you did something nice for a few ppl and now other ppl won’t stop tryin to mooch off. guys gets some morals he isn’t the company and even if he was he would have to make the program free to give you all an invitaion so please stop asking for invites.
P.S. if someone else has said something like this then sry i stoped readding after the 50th request for an invite.
I’d love to give it a try! Please someone throw me an invite at deimos22@gmail.com! Thanks in advance!!
i’m not sure if you were watching mtv. All of the above screen shots are of MuchMusic.
Hey, It looks amazing, Can you send me an invite to frankzzsword@gmail.com.
Thanks
Wonderful article. Please email an invite, if you have one!
Does this stream regular cable channels?
Send me an invite now.
Hey sounds like a great idea. If you would be so kind as to send me an invitation I would greatly appreciate and would reply in kind to others. Thanks. fromjamie@hotmail.com
This sounds excellent.
If anyone fancies send me an invite then it would be most appreciated
johngrat@hotmail.com
I’d love an invite at Solipsist.mafia@gmail.com
I only got halfway thru all the posts but is this illegal or actally supported by ads in the legal sense?
If there are any invites left can you please email one? jadcherla at gmail
Thanks so much in advance.
Wow! This looks awesome! Could someone please send me an invite?
tuchel[at]gmail[dot]com
Thanks alot!
Looks awesome! Anyone have any invites? I would love to review this service!
timelf123 [at] gmail.com
Please invite me too…. thanx!
Looks pretty darn good. Can’t wait to get my invite!
This is a superbly written news breaking story. Please send me an invite too.
Thanks
Ramesh
Please send me an invitation
Gracias
Thanks 
can i get an invite…
geetargeter@yahoo.com
An invite would be greatly appreciated.
stemplem@gmail.com
Thank you!
Great review!
Please consider sending me an invite.
I would be thrilled. “smile”
Thanks!
Please send me a Joost invite: samoansubmissionmachine@yahoo.com
If you send me an invite, I promise to beat Kurt Angle next chance I get.
I’d like an invite, I promise to invite the person after me…
matt at mnx dot ca
Please send an invite this way.
charlie_7777@yahoo.com
I’m waiting. Where’s my invite.
Here’s my email igotregistered@yahoo.com. Now send it.
Can i get an invite
g.blass@comcast.net
this sounds great!! Please send invite if available…. oldyellans@gmail.com
Thanks
Please send me an invitation!!!
(amdkjs@terra.com.mx)
amdkjs[at]terra[dot]mx
WAREZ my INVITE BEATCH!
Im ready to spread the love if i get an invite….
callnishanth [at] hotmail [dot] com
Thanks & Peace Y’all
Wonderful service & dev stage… could I (also) ask for an invite? Spreading awaits
violforex @ gmail dot com
Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know that I’ve received exactly 2 (two) invites so far, which I’ve given to the first two guys in these comments. Unfortunately, the guys over at Joost are obviously not ready to give big amounts of invites yet, but I’ll make sure to send any to you if I receive more.
inv, plz
johnrussell6589@gmail.com
hi I wanna have an invite pls. tnx in advance!! my email ad is symourjr@gmail.com tnx everyone
j(dot)millar(at)unb(dot)ca
Cheers
It seems quite impressive, but I believe that the first IPTV service that has quality content that can compete with the regular channels will be the winner.
Let’s hope Joost will have some really good content.
// David
This looks great, I have tried a few similar products but would love to give this a try. Could someone please send me an invite token? Thanks in advance!
Yeh, pron and lotz of it.
lol iTypo, it would be a good place to build up email regexes. I guess there are no real channels on Joost?
Hey Stan, I’m sorry to see you can’t respect the wishes of a company if they gently ask you for that in the Mail they sent.
Since you can write I can assume you can read as well. The mail you got clearly says:
We ask that you agree to abide by our terms and conditions and privacy policy as part of your participation in the beta program. So please don’t give the application to anybody else, or even show it to them. It’s very early days for us, and we want to make sure that the right people see the right software, at the right time.
I really don’t know if you’re just some kind of attention whore or if you just can’t read some simple lines and agreements.
You are just damaging the experience of other people to satisfy your own interests.
People like you are the reason why other companies let you sign an NDA first if you have the privilege to join in the first phase of a Beta Test.
Be sure your access to Joost will not last too long.
Cheers,
Bjoern
If you have any more invites, I would sure like one!
otherwisefallen (aT) msn (period) com
nice, id like to check this also. An invite would be appreciated email is nivlam112@yahoo.com
can I get an invite too plz
frozenfire_lol @ hotmail dot com
Please send me an invite too!
Thanks!
joostplease@systemrecycler.com
I signed up for the beta. When exactly will I receive a confirmation? The message displayed on the website after registering made it seem as if I would get it immediately:
“Thank you for applying to join our beta-test program.
A verification email will be sent to the email address you provided. Please follow the instructions in this email to finalise the application process.”
If as it wasn’t bad enough that I still have not received an email, they misspelled ‘finalize’ as ‘finalise’.
If any of you would be so kind as to send me an invite, I would very much appreciate it as I will be traveling soon and won’t have time to test this out with a fast Internet connection.
westoncampbell[at]gmail[dot]com
I too would like an invite
mjo317@gmail.com
Bobo Carcentia would appreciate an INVITE PLEASE!
bchristensen_ at hotmail dot com
Thanks!
(also a banana if you or your monkey has one to spare!)
I’d appreciate an invite, wjwelch at gmail dot com.
Thanks.
Hey, looks great, would love to try, send me a request please.
Email
(JPRyan91@gmail.com)
please need an invite at
jaccobs@gmail.com
Thank you so much =D
@Bjoern: I think I can safely assume that you’re not affiliated with Joost in any way, or else you would have known that Joost has made it clear that bloggers can blog about Joost. Check their forums if you don’t believe me. As far as invites go, they’re there to be given out to other people.
@everyone: I still haven’t received any new invite tokens from Joost, sorry.
@Weston: I’m not sure about that, I’ve received the initial invitation via e-mail and not the website. If it’s any consolation, in the email it says “Please follow the link below to finish the application process”, so no typo there (;
highmighty(at)hotmail.com
Thank you for your time!
I’d like an invite please!!!!
mattyg333@gmail.com
yo invite is nice. autosurferk@gmail.com
Even when you do get the confirmation email, you still have wait, as the page even says go beg your friends for an invite…so here goes:
May I please have an invite upon receipt?
sephiroth_4@yahoo.comm or
edavis@myway.comm
will be waiting patiently…..
I hope it comes quicker than I realiSe! I really adviSe signing up for this! Don’t ever over analySe things…..okay, I just had to get that out of my system as I can’t stand that spelling ;(..
Would you send me an invite? joost@ducourier.com
Cheers and great review!
Id like an invite if possible. tsatrom@gmail.com…. Thanks a lot!
can I get a invite please
Dajet24@hotmail.com
Hey that sounds cool! could someone send an invite to me at greg.chaprnka@gmail .com ? thanks!
I would be honored to have an ivite. hsecall@gmail.com
Hey I want an invite, this looks like something worth trying!
ab3rcrombie@Gmail.com
Can you please send me an invitation at ipodgurus@gmail.com ? I’d love to try it out. Thanks in advance!
Please send me an invitation at ivan_vasilev@abv.bg !!!
If anyone has an invite I’d appreciate one, saphid [at] gmail [dot] com
Hey sounds like a great app. !
I hope some1 reads this …
Please send me an invite @ vord-walla-com .
Thanks in advance ^^
Another invitation, please
Cheers.
I’d love to try it out if someone has a free invite. Thanks in advance! mhkuang@hotmail.com