I have Joost!

Woohoo! I have Joost. If you’ve been hiding under rock is totally non-techie then you might not have heard of it.

Joost (pronounced ‘juiced’) is a system for distributing TV shows and other forms of video over the Web using peer-to-peer TV technology, created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis (founders of Skype and Kazaa).

Joost began development in 2006. Working under the code name “The Venice Project,” Zennström and Friis have assembled teams of some 150 software developers in about a half-dozen cities around the world, including New York, London, Leiden and Toulouse.

The teams are currently in negotiations with FOX networks. It has signed up with Warner Music, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Productions (Indianapolis 500, IndyCar Series) and production company Endemol for the beta. In February 2007, Viacom entered into a deal with the company to distribute content from its media properties, including MTV Networks, BET and film studio Paramount Pictures.

I’ve just tested it on a few clips and it looks good. Of course a pre-requisite ultra fast internet connection limits quality of the show. I’m currently using a 384~512 connection and its a bit choppy. For those running a faster connection, you’re bound to get better quality.

I’ve paused the show Earth Final Conflict in its first few minutes and took a screenshot. Its clear as any other show you might get on a regular TV and its on demand. I just don’t know if there are ways to queue up a list of show and then have them stream in advance so that you can watch them later. This might be good for those who have intermittent connections (like me).

When I resumed the show, it wasn’t as choppy. So maybe it did buffer the file or it got used to my slow connection. Overall, it was a good first hand experience for this new service.

I am definitely looking forward to having this service for all TV shows. Perhaps TiVo was right in predicting the future trend of delivering shows. I sure don’t want to wait for my shows on TV, I just grab a copy of the latest DVDs of complete seasons of TV series and watch them when I have a chunk of free time.

As you can see, I am enjoying taking screen caps of the TV show. hehe. Okay, just 4 of them.