Joost, the next big step for video on demand? continued

The user interface is rather straight forward, although it can be annoying at times, since it pops out when you try to resize the windows, but this is a minor issue. It also changes if you make the Joost window really small and some features such as the widgets are only available in full screen mode.
You can get information about the channel you are watching as well as about the program itself by simply clicking the “i” icon by the main play controls. This is similar to many satellite or cable TV services and shows that Joost is not just something that has been cobbled together in five minutes.



Finding programs to watch is easy as well, you can either select one of the highlighted programs in the channel selection or you can browse the channel list and then browse the available programs each channel offer. You can even design your own program list with your favourite channels. If you are not sure where to start there is the “Staff Picks” and the most popular sections that make it easy to find popular content and we think that is a nice touch.



There is a selection of content ranging from cooking shows to indie movies, sci-fi series, poker tournaments, music videos, news and car programs and all the way to Aardmans excellent animations. There is something there for just about everyone; although some of the content is rather old and very little of it is in widescreen at this stage.



Video quality is generally quite good, but it was slightly too low resolution to really look great on a 1,680 x 1,050 widescreen display. None the less, a lot of it is quite watchable, especially if you are not looking for brand new TV shows. Hopefully more content will come as Joost strike deals with various media companies and from what we understand, that is something they are actively working on now. But as a free video on demand over the internet application, it is hard to complain. Although we did not experience it, in certain countries and territories you will get advertising before a program starts, but this is a small fee to pay for otherwise free content. You will likely see more advertising appear as newer content appears on Joost but that is no different from the regular TV in your lounge room.



Is Joost a must have application? Well, that really depends on how much TV you watch and if you are really into the content that is available through the service. It is definitely a worthwhile download if someone invites you, until it becomes openly available. It is easy to use, it is free and as long as the content keeps growing, Joost is likely to become a big success. It might not become as massive as Skype, but it is a completely different type of application. It is not quite couch potato friendly as yet, unless you have got a remote control for your PC, but that might be something for a third party hardware vendor to pick up on, as hopefully Joost is here to stay.