Joost users have expressed concerns over the video quality and
bandwidth requirements of the free P2P online television application.
To investigate these complaints the Joost team has done some testing
and compared Joost to both Apple iTunes and DivX Stage6 videos.
According to their
findings,
the bit rate of Joost videos equals out to only half that of the same
videos available from DivX or iTunes.
To make matters even worse, it
was reported that the resolution of Joost does not even measure up to
the standard definition video that cable companies provide.
Joost Aware Of The Problem
The Silicon
Alley Insider
has stated that “Joost is well aware of this problem and is searching
for a commercial content delivery network (CDN) to fill in the P2P
gaps.” But will that be enough?
I have been using Joost since its early beta days and I have
to
agree that the video quality is horrible and the software is very
power-intensive, causing multiple problems on my PC, including the
inability to load up the software and freezing up the entire
computer.
I do not even try using the software any more right now.
But it has not always been that way. When I was first invited
into
the IPTV service, very early on, I thought that I had experienced a
revolutionary new development.
The videos looked good and I barely had
to deal with skipping. When I wanted to pull up the menu, there it was.
I didn’t have to wait a few minutes while it ran my PC hot trying to
play video, bring up another UI, and share my bandwidth with other
Joost users, all at the same time.
Friends Edition The Problem
Ever since the “Friends Edition” was released and everyone was
given
unlimited invites, the service has gone downhill.
According to NewTeeVee:-
“The fundamental problem that Joost faces is the fact that the
broadband available to North American households simply isn’t
fast
enough for them to provide image quality comparable to digital cable or
satellite, much less high-definition video.”
The folks at Joost have hard work ahead of them if they want
to
succeed at becoming the champ of IPTV. It will be interesting to see
how this plays out. I don’t think I will be loading up Joost again
until it goes a little easier on my poor little PC.
Michael Garrett is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com
