Joost Invite Update

When I opened my offer to send Joost invites to anyone who requests them I never thought I'd get over 500 of them, but at this rate I'll hit 500 before the end of the week. I'm still sending out Joost invites to anyone who wants them so if you're interested in checking out the Joost Beta just leave a comment with what email address you want me to send it too. If you'd like a little more information about Joost check out my review here.

Joost Invites

I've been playing with Joost on and off for over a month now and I'm still enjoying it. I'm still waiting for more channels, but I don't really expect them to be added until the Beta ends. I did notice today that I can now send unlimited invites so if anyone else wants an invite let me know. I've already sent invites to everyone who had previously requested them in the comments on my original review. I'm pretty excited that they are giving those of us in the Beta unlimited invites because since Joost is a peer-to-peer based program the more people using it the faster it should run. I don't really notice a lot of buffering times as it is, but faster is always better. If you're in the Joost Beta as well let me know how you like it.

[Update] Wow. There are a lot of people interested in getting a Joost Invite. I still have plenty more to send so keep the requests coming. Due to the number of invite requests I've been getting I've made a change to comment moderation. I will be approving comments as I send the invites for them. Now, when you see your comment is posted I will have also sent you the invite for Joost as well. Hope that makes it a little easier for everyone. I'll continue to try and send out Joost Invites as soon as I receive the requests.

Joost Review

I got an invitation to join the Joost beta the other day. For those of you not familiar, Joost is a basically a form of online television. Instead of having normal channels like CBS, ABC, and NBC. The channels are specific to the content on them. For example, there is a Green Day channel, an Indy Car channel, and a Gaming channel. Currently there are about 25 channels to choose from. The interface is simple and clean and easy to navigate. In addition to the standard channel flipping methods you can also search for shows by name or type. Joost allows for full screen viewing or putting it in a window so I can easily watch have shows going while I do other stuff on my computer. The full screen is nice for putting it on my TV.

I did notice a little stuttering at first on a couple shows, but generally the video looks really great, even at full screen. I need to try it out somewhere with a slower connection speed to see how it does with the buffering and streaming, but so far it has always performed well. The Joost website lists that the application downloads approximately 320Mb of data an hour and uploads about 105MB an hour. So, a broadband connection is definitely required. Joost is peer-to-peer based so instead of pulling all of the video from a central server it speeds up the process by allowing videos to be pulled form other Joost locations that are closer to you.

One thing that would be nice to see added is a way to sort shows by genre. For example, lets say I want to see all of the different sporting shows across all of the channels; currently I would either need to scroll through channels by name or search for sports. The searching does work well, but to be able to see different genres by themselves would be nice.

Joost is currently in talks with quite a few different networks so I expect the amount of content to grow quite quickly as if becomes more popular. The social aspects of Joost are what really set it apart from other online video sources. The ability to chat with people watching the same show I am is great. I anticipate that once out of beta Joost will be very popular and will attract a lot of attention.

Joost is free to use and watch because it is ad based, but so far I've only seen a couple of ads. Far less than if I were watching normal television. I know some people will be turned off by this, but I'd rather have Joost be free with ads than have to pay for it.



[Update] Wow. There are a lot of people interested in getting a Joost Invite. I still have plenty more to send so keep the requests coming. Due to the number of invite requests I've been getting I've made a change to comment moderation. I will be approving comments as I send the invites for them. Now, when you see your comment is posted I will have also sent you the invite for Joost as well. Hope that makes it a little easier for everyone. I'll continue to try and send out Joost Invites as soon as I receive the requests.

Amazon Unbox on TiVo Review

Amazon Unbox has been renting and selling Movies and TV shows for download on a computer for a while. They recently partnered with TiVo and added the option to download directly to your TiVo. This interests me a lot more than downloading to a computer. The only time I ever watch movies on a computer is when I travel. Then, I'll watch movies on my laptop during plane flights. However, I watch movies on my TV pretty frequently and the option to have them put strait on my TiVo saves the time of going to Blockbuster.

The sign up and setup were easy. I just specified my TiVo info and it found my TiVo box automatically. Very simple and painless. If I had not already had an account on TiVo.com I'm not sure how it would have worked, but I did so it was not an issue. The best part was that by signing up before April 30th I got a $15 credit so my first few rentals will be free (offer details).

The Unbox site is a pain to use when looking for a movie. This is partially because not all of the movies can be downloaded to a TiVo. You have to search for TiVo and it will list only those movies that can be downloaded to a TiVo, but it would be easier if they just made a separate section for titles available for the TiVo. The other issue I have with the site is that there is no easy way to browse new release movies. They really could use a New Release section that has the movies that were just released onDVD the last couple weeks. Instead, you have to go to the Movies section and search for TiVo. Then, try and sort them in a way that works for you. It could be laid out much better. The selection of available movies is limited but not really too bad. I found a couple movies I'd not seen that I wanted to watch.

After picking a movie the download started within a few minutes. I'm not sure how long it took exactly. I started it in the afternoon and then went out to dinner. By the time I got home it was downloaded. The prices are about average. $4 for a movie rental that lasts 24 hours once you start watching it. Pretty similar to On Demand movies from a cable provider. Nothing really ground breaking in the pricing, but it was not any more than going over to Blockbuster. The benefit is that you have 30 days to watch it to once it is downloaded whereas with Blockbuster you have a week to return it.

The movie I rented first was The Illusionist. It looked fine. I have a 32 inch standard definition TV and it looked as good as anything else I watch. My only annoyance with the actual movie experience was the lack of surround sound. I did not really notice in this movie, but in an action movie it would have been annoying not to have the full surround sound.

So, to recap, the prices are about average. The movie selection is not a good as Blockbuster, but there were still a decent amount of movies. I'm sure they will continue to add more as the service grows. It is nice to have a month to watch the movie instead of just a week. The movie itself looked fine on a Standard Def TV, but it would be nice if they had a option to rent them in High Def. My only real complaint about the whole thing is with the Amazon Unbox website. It can be a hassle to browse through movies, but if you have a specific movie in mind it is easy enough to search for.

How To Use A Remote 101

Normally I’m not one to read the NY Times. I generally get my daily news from sites like Digg, Engadget, and Joystiq. Yet, when I saw an article titled “Viewers Fast-Forwarding Past Ads? Not Always” it caught my eye. My friends can tell you that I am a TiVo Whore. I’ve been using it long enough now that I would rather not watch TV than have to watch it with commercials. The SuperBowl is my one exception to that and if you read my previous post you already know my thoughts on that.

According to a survey by Nielsen, DVR owners watch 40 percent of commercials that they could skip over. Are these people crazy? I can understand watching sporting events live. Personally, I prefer to let them start recording for 20 or 30 minutes and then start watching the game so I can fast forward through commercials, but there are cases where watching the game live is better. Other than sporting events, I don’t see any reason to watch normal TV live. Maybe someone can tell me another reason, but I just can’t think of one that explains why 4 out of 10 people who could be fast forwarding commercials are not.

As I think about it now I wonder if there polling methods were flawed. I know half a dozen other people who have a TiVo or DVR from their cable company. None of them watch commercials. Most of them only watch a few TV shows and all of those they record and watch at a later date. The sports fans all let the game start recording and then start watching a bit later. None of them watch commercials. None of them were surveyed for this research either.

Assuming their statistics are correct who are these people who are watching commercials instead of fast forwarding through them? I have finally thought of one reason why people might not be fast forwarding through commercials. They don’t know how. Maybe these people signed up for digital cable to go with their new HDTVs they got for Christmas/SuperBowl and it came with a built in DVR. These are probably the same people who do not know how to set the time on their VCRs. They have the new electronic toys to keep up with their neighbors, but don’t take the time to learn how they actually work. I’m thinking I could make a lot of money starting a class that teaches them how to use their remote controls. So, if you know anyone who watches commercials instead of fast forwarding through them please shoot me an email or leave me a comment so I can get in touch with them about my new class: How To Use A Remote 101.

Where is the Quality HD-DVR and HD TV Content?

I’ve been thinking of getting an HDTV. I’m hoping after I pay some bills that I will be able to get one with my tax return this year (fingers crossed). Once I actually figure out which TV I want I have to figure out how I’m going to get HD content on my TV. My 360 is HD already so that will be cool. I’ll probably end up getting the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive for HD movies at some point.

That just leaves my HD TV content. This is where I have a real dilemma. I’m a TiVo addict. I just can’t watch TV without the ability to fast forward through commercials anymore. So, that gives me only a few options for my HD TV content. I could send like $800 bucks on a TiVo Series 3 that does HD. The cost is really, really high, but at least it is the TiVo interface I know and love.

I could go with a Windows Media Center system but it will probably not be much cheaper, and right now there are a very limited number of these that actually have CableCard support.

The problem with both of these options is that after buying the TiVo or Media Center box I still have to pay for digital cable. So not only is there a large up from cost there is also the monthly cable bill.

I could go with the HD-DVR from my cable company, Cox, for a few bucks a month. There would not be a large up front investment this way, but from what I hear their DVRs are not that great. They get the job done similar to how a Geo Metro will get you where you going; you get there but there is no style. Whereas, the TiVo Series 3 would be like a ride in a Camero; expensive but it runs beautifully. I’ve heard that Cox will be adding TiVo software to their DVRs, but I called and no one there actually has a time frame when that would be happening.

Another option would be to go with DirectTV and their DVR. I hear it is not much better than the Cable company one, but DirectTV ha announced they will be tripling their HD lineup this year. No such news form Cox. But, will it be worth the hassle of installing an antenna to get 3 times the HD content when most of it will probably be for shows that I don’t watch.

The final option that comes to mind would be to hold out and go with the IPTV through my Xbox 360 later this year. In theory this would be the best option because the DVR functionality looks great, there is no limit to the number of channels, and I don’t have to get a separate box to add to my entertainment center. In reality, I don’t really want to wait until this fall to get HD TV content, and I don’t think it will actually be offered in my area since I can’t even upgrade my DSL plan to anything faster then the basic one from AT&T. I guess I could always get digital cable for now and switch to IPTV when it comes out (if I can even get it in my area).

Since I don’t have an HDTV yet I guess I don’t have to decide how I want to get HD TV content, but when I do I have a feeling I’m not going to be happy no matter which choice I pick. It will either be very expensive and work great, or be “cheap” and work like a digital VCR. If you have a HDTV and an HD-DVR let me know which DVR you went with and how you like it. I could use any advice I can get.