Today, my Joost Beta application was accepted. So, I went over to their installation page from the link in the email, with an open mind. I was excited. On paper, Joost looks like it may revolutionize the way we view media content. It's essentially a bittorrent client on a closed bittorrent network with a video player and interface built on top. Before I start, note that
I am completely unaffiliated with Joost. I am just a regular computer geek exploring some cutting edge media software. None of this review is endorsed by Joost or any Joost affiliates. These are my opinions. Overall, I'm fairly impressed, but as of now, there are some fundamental flaws preventing this from replacing your cable or satellite provider.
..:: Installation
I arrive at the download page through the link in the email (it has some encoded string in it, so don't bother guessing it). I look at the download options, and they have a client for ... Windows ... and OSX only. No support for Linux. This means I have to reboot into WinXP. I reboot and download. It's a 10.5 mb file so it only took a few minutes (8mbps cable for the win; I know, the Asians and Euros are laughing). The minimum requirements list off:
- 500 mHz processor
- 512 mb ram
- 48 mb video ram
- WinXP
- directx 9.0c
Strangely, the installer detects that I only have 480 mb ram, but I definitely have 512 mb ram. It does detect my video ram (or lack thereof) correctly, and I only have 32 mb. The client still recommends that I should install despite possible slowdown.
Then comes the EULA acceptance, and the EULA is in a 1"x1" (roughly) frame. As a law student (particularly in contracts and intellectual property), I actually look through it (skip to
first impressions if you don't care about legal commentary). Ctrl-A is disabled in the frame, so I have to shift-click the top to bottom. Then I Ctrl-C copy it out into notepad to look through it for any crazy terms. I find a few notable terms, but nothing that makes my skin crawl:
So there are ads, but it doesn't seem to be adware.
In other words, Joost will use my bandwidth, most likely on the bittorrent protocol.
Joost cares about my privacy, but makes no guarantees of anything. These kinds of clauses are a joke and mean nothing.
The next section (3.2) of the EULA is rather long and explains all the stuff you cannot do, particularly making hacks for the client, packet sniffing, and stack watching.
Third-party software? That may be ad-ware, spyware, or even malware.
This is the same nasty that is in the WoW EULA. I can see this in Joost because watching content is a unilateral process. In WoW, one does a ton of work to build up a character, and then Blizzard will eventually yank it from you for whatever reason claiming that it's not yours and you only have a license to it. Kaplan took a similar stance when I tried to sell my LSAT hard-copy study guides on ebay. They told me I had a license to use these paperback books but not to sell them, and my auction was yanked. This kind of treatment really rubs me the wrong way, and is why I'll never buy anything from most game publishers anymore, especially Blizzard.
For the most part, the rest is just the typical indemnification, waiver of liability, etc, that you only find in the software industry. Besides the possibility of adware and the grossly limited license to use, this doesn't seem too wretched. As it's currently free, I accept because my WinXP installation is sandboxed, and if the Joost client wrecks anything, I'll just reload my image.
The actual installer takes a few seconds to run and Joost loads up.
..:: Registration
You have to enter your email address that team Joost or your inviter sent the invite to. Then pick a username of 6+ characters and a password of 6+ characters. So far, the process has been seamless. The player pops up showing some intro content.
..:: First Impressions
There are some entire shows from Viacom networks (MTV, Comedy Central, VH1 just to name a few). Unfortunately, the choices of actual shows are limited. When you choose a channel, the player starts the default show if you click the play button, but if you click the list icon (which looks unlike any list icon I've ever seen), it shows you everything on that channel. The interface is incredibly simplistic and definitely looks to be modeled for an IR remote control. The content quality is surprisingly good at 1024x768. It's better than the youtube videos, but it's clearly not HD. A quick switch to windowed mode (out of the default fullscreen) and it loads up at 800x600. Even still, some of the content shows clear upsampling at 800x600. All the content seems to be at least standard definition, so if you ran this on a second monitor output to a larger television, it might look alright. Since everything is downloaded in real time from gardened bittorrent networks, some of the content comes in a little choppy at first, and may get a little choppy here and there.
Immediately, there is a notice up top about a 16+ age limit, so this content probably isn't for your toddler. However, there is a Saturday Morning Cartoons channel.
..:: Content
Looking through the channels, the content selection is fairly limited but respectable for this startup. Notably, there are:
- MTV: Laguna Beach, Two-a-Days
- Comedy Central: Stella, Freak Show, Dog Bites Man
- National Geographic: some 15-20 documentaries that are 50 to 90 minutes long.
- Warner Brothers Records: about 15-20 "Making of..." videos. The actual music videos don't appear to be there.
- VH1: Hogan Knows Best, Sonotorious
- IndieFlix Premier Hits: various videos that appear to be from indy studios.
The shows that are from Viacom are typically 22 minutes because they're aired on regular television in 30 minute blocks. There are also more shows from channels I've never heard of, and a total of 27 channels as of this writing.
..:: Interface
Unfortunately, this interface and system completely fail to lend themselves to quick browsing of content. If you don't already know what you're looking for, it will take forever because there is no channel surfing of any kind. There should be some "current media preview" that essentially plays 10 second intervals of currently available content.
However, if you do know what you're looking for, the system is just as simple as any DVR, whether it be mythtv, tivo, or winmce.
While some of the icons are unintuitive (or just irregular), getting hang of the UI takes only a minute or two. After 2 minutes or so, I was blazing around the menus checking out content.
..:: Upsides
- The UI is very simple. If you were running this with a keyboard on a TV, a child could probably operate the system. If you have any experience with any popular DVR, you'll learn to navigate Joost in a matter of minutes.
- There is a My Joost section so you can add your favorite channels into one section.
- The entire system transparently manages downloads and playback, as opposed to using azureus to download and then a media player for playback.
- Checking my process list didn't seem to show any spyware, but as Joost can run in the background, there's no telling what's going on while it's running. The project seems reputable enough with their involvement in tons of FOSS, but this isn't a guarantee.
- There are live chat-room overlays, user ratings so users can rate various shows, and various other widgets available.
..:: Downsides
- There is an incredible lack of content. The last review of Joost that I read only listed off some of the National Geographic documentaries, and the Indy films, and that was only earlier this week. Therefore, it appears that Joost is laying on the content, but it's not currently there yet.
- There's also a lack of servers. Thus initial playback takes a while on some programs, and if you're not watching the most popular section, there just aren't enough seeds to get the content fast enough. Sometimes, the playback stops altogether and the client tells you to bug off.
- Unfortunately, the user ratings are nowhere to be found. They don't show up in the channel and show listings.
- I checked to see how many invites came with my beta application acceptance, and I have 0. So, please do not ask me for an invite.
- There is no "seek" or channel surf option, and the only popularity system seems to be the "Most Popular" channel. This will be a HUGE part of these next-gen content delivery systems. With the barrage of content, there will be a need to skim off the chaff. Because there is such little known branding, there needs to be a better method of finding content.
- There are advertisements, but they appeared only in the downtime between content sections, not actually intersparsed into the content like regular commercials.
This system will eventually have to make money somehow, and advertisements seem to pave the way. However, because most DVR users are the people who will most likely pave the way to widespread net-tv usage, DVR users probably won't give up their advertisement free systems for on-demand net-tv.
..:: Overall
It's still in beta, so there's obviously going to be some issues. However, at the moment, the content playback is just a little too choppy, and the amount of content available is currently just too small to use this regularly.
The shows my girlfriend and I watch are Daily Show, Colbert Report, South Park, SG1, Good Eats, Mythbusters, Scrubs, Black Donnellys, Heroes, Greys Anatomy, Laguna Beach, The Hills, House, ER, Buffy, and Gilmore Girls. Of all this, only Laguna Beach is on Joost, which means Joost is a long way from replacing my
mythtv.
Once again, this is still in beta so I'm not being my usual harsh and cynical self. I foresee that when this goes into open production, this will be incredibly awesome. If there are tons of users viewing content, they'll be seeding content too, and hopefully this becomes a respectable enough portal that more providers will actually post material. At this instant, though, it's still merely something to play around with. I can legitimately say that this could replace my cable provider within 5 or 10 years, but I'm not calling up to cancel just yet. There's still some polishing to do.
Post Last Updated: Apr 5, 2007 10:27 pm
