Joost, is it too late?

Posted on 17. Apr, 2007 by Philip in Big Trousers News, Video

I got my beta invitation to Joost today and for those not aware Joost is an internet TV service that works a little like free cable TV for your computer.

The content and channel selection is interesting and predictably of a standard inferior to “free to air” traditional TV. Having said that my 9 year old son loved the extreme sports stuff. The big problem though is the image quality. With video that is fairly static the compression does a reasonable job but when things jump around a lot the image breaks up to an almost unwatchable extent. The editing effects on extreme sports videos like skate board pipe competitions is a little hard to watch in HD but impossible on Joost.

I think it will get watched and the image quality may be improved over time. Certainly the program options will improve even further given that it is quite reasonable now. The advertising placement is a little mechanical at times but not too painful.

I will watch as much of the show Fifth Gear as often as I can and for me Joost is worth it just for that.

My big concern is that there is a better system for delivery in existence. That system being iTunes for free content like Video Podcast. The Merlin show is an example of HD delivered as a free subscribable download, not streamed and over compressed. With the addition of Apple TV you can watch this show on your HD Plasma or LCD. All that needs to happen is for content creators to add to this mix and I will be happy.