Miro, an open-source HD video player we wrote about in 2007, launched Miro 2.0, an updated, re-designed, more powerful video player.
Several new features have been added to spruce up Miro, including faster performance and torrent downloads, the ability to stream shows from websites like Hulu and YouTube on the sidebar,and the ability to play videos in a separate video. Similar to the 1.0 version, Miro allows users to search for and download video podcasts from sources but Miro is offering a greater selection of video podcasts for users. Miro, a BitTorrent-enabled, Firefox-like open-source application was built by non-profit Participatory Culture Foundation and boasts of more than 4 million downloads in 2008. → Read More
In October we wrote “Joost Turns On Its All-Flash Website. Is Anybody Watching?” It turns out that yes, it appears that they are.
A year ago the online video site was a ghost town. Then in September, when the company moved away from the use of downloaded software to an all-browser video experience, viewership spiked. Compete says they had 550k U.S. visitors in November 2008. Comscore gives an even more robust 1.4 million worldwide monthly visitors in November (a chart below compares Joost to Hulu). Google Trends also say things are going well for Joost, and points to strong traffic growth in Northern Europe. → Read More
Joost’s two year old online video service was a pretty darned smart idea when it first launched.
Instead of streaming video through the Joost website, users would download a Mozilla-based client and watch it there instead. The user experience could be more tightly controlled. And more importantly, the Joost client had built in person-to-person file sharing. That meant Joost had lower bandwidth bills. It also meant that Joost didn’t need to worry about overloading servers while showing live events – users would just grab the stream from others automatically.
But Joost bet wrong, as the whole world, led by YouTube and then Hulu, got comfortable with Flash as the delivery method for video. Showing video on Flash meant users could deep link to specific videos, and also embed stuff they liked on their own sites. With the benefit of hindsight it all seems sort of obvious. → Read More
Joost launched their iPhone application on the App Store this evening, giving users access to 46,000 Joost videos, including major television shows and films. The iPhone has a built in YouTube application already, giving them a serious head start when it comes to video on the iPhone. But archrival Hulu doesn’t yet – giving Joost a little room to maneuver for now. → Read More
Joost launched their iPhone application on the App Store this evening, giving users access to 46,000 Joost videos, including major television shows and films. The iPhone has a built in YouTube application already, giving them a serious head start when it comes to video on the iPhone. But archrival Hulu doesn’t yet – giving Joost a little room to maneuver for now.
I’m sure it’s a temporary issue, but the application just doesn’t work yet. I tried to play multiple videos, including the full length version of Men In Black, but an error message reads “The connection to the server was lost. This may be because of poor network quality. Please try again later.” Meanwhile, YouTube videos are playing promptly.
Still, when the app settles down and works properly, it will be a nice addition to the iPhone. Lots of great shows to watch while wiling away the hours on a plane. At least until the battery runs out. → Read More
We’ve received a couple of anonymous tips that DirectTV, a $24 billion satellite TV provider, may be entering the online TV wars with a new site called DirectTV Web On Demand. The site would compete with startups like Hulu, Joost, Fancast, Sling.com, etc.
We don’t know much about the service, or even if it’s real. One of the tipsters says they’ve worked on the project and supplied us with the mockup screen shot above, which could quite possibly be real. On the other hand, we’ve spoken with industry insiders and they say they’ve heard nothing about the project.
The screen shot shows Heroes, which is an NBC show. The only way for Fox and NBC shows to be syndicated on the web is via a deal with Hulu. For CBS shows, they have to go through the CBS Audience Network.
That means it’s either very, very early in the development process or it doesn’t exist at all. We have an email in to DirectTV for comment. → Read More
Without much fanfare, Joost has finally turned on the browser version of its Web video service, as we noted it would last month. The new site is all based on Flash, and lets you watch old Bruce Lee flicks, Sci-Fi movies like The Fifth Element, and clips from Barely Political and Comedy Central.
The Flash site comes almost exactly a year after I wrote a post pointing out that Joost’s peer-to-peer software approach would not work and that it would have to switch over to Flash-based video, just like every other Web video service. People don’t want to have to launch a new piece of software to watch video on their computers. They want to watch it in their browsers (so they can quickly surf to another page when they realize how much the video they are watching sucks—or, if it doesn’t suck, quickly switch tabs when the boss walks by their desk).
It took Joost a year, but it has finally realized that the Web is where it’s at. Now all it has to do is compete with Hulu, YouTube, Veoh, DailyMotion, and the hundred other video sites out there. → Read More
There’s no way Hulu is going to let Joost get a foothold in the race for attention in online professionally produced video.
So what happens when Joost ditches the download, goes all browser and launches a social network around their content?
Hulu can do that. No problem.
Tonight, via a 1 am press release, Hulu launches: show recommendations, user discussion forums for programs and specific episodes, enhanced search and better queue management. They also launched seventeen topical channels, including Anime, Fashion and Beauty, Food and Leisure, Home and Garden, Comedy, Music, Video Games, etc. The company say they now have nearly 900 TV and film titles from over 100 content providers.
And while I still think Joost’s Hot/LOL/Puke/WOW/WTF call out feature is just awesome, Hulu has the Daily Show. So they win. → Read More
The new browser-based Joost, which we wrote about two weeks ago (screen shots here), launches this morning. The new Joost still requires a plug-in to facilitate P2P transfers of files (reducing Joost’s bandwidth costs and making high-demand live performances feasible).
There are lots of new community features in the new Joost, which we outlined in our previous post. Joost isn’t just moving to a browser format. They’re also creating a video based social network complete with Facebook-style activity streams that shows you friends what content you are watching, commenting on and “shouting.” See the video below: → Read More
So much for Joost’s carefully prepared plans to release a browser version of their TV over IP service later this month. News leaked this morning that Joost would be abandoning their year old XUL based desktop client in favor of a browser based service that’s more like Hulu and YouTube. Users will still be required to download a plugin that facilitates P2P transfers of files, which is still an adoption hurdle. But at least users can watch videos directly in their browser.
The new site, which is password protected, is at new.joost.com. We’ve obtained screen shots of the service: → Read More
Joost, battling for relevance in the online tv world against Hulu and others, will soon no longer require users to download separate desktop software to access the service (its existing software is based on Xul). Instead users will be able to access Joost via a small browser plugin that will continue to use Joost’s P2P technology to distribute video among users quickly.
The service launched to considerable fanfare but has fallen off the radar as of late as the company has been plagued by a shortage of content and, well, users. And as the inertia of the online video business moves away from desktop clients and to the Web, it seems Joost has finally seen the writing on the wall and will launch an online video service of its own. → Read More
Joost is said to be preparing a “major retrenchment” of staff as part of a restructure that will see Joost abandon its global ambitions for the US only. According to the Sunday Times, Joost has struggled to convince media and sports companies to sell it global rights, which are usually offered on a country by country basis. The Times reports that Joost still has money in the bank and “Joost is unlikely to close, however. “There are too many egos involved,” said one former employee.” Joost denied that staff would be retrenched, saying only that “There are some situations where staff have been re-aligned to better fit our needs.” Erick wrote in October that the clock is ticking for Joost: There’s a time bomb out there with Joost’s name on it. Full-screen, broadcast-quality video streams—the main selling point of Joost’s peer-to-peer Internet TV client software—is quickly coming to the Web….the vast majority of that video is not exclusive to Joost. All the Internet TV services are lining up the same content. And better-quality video is not going to remain a differentiator for long. …Joost’s P2P approach is not a benefit to the consumer as much as it is a benefit to Joost (because it offloads the bandwidth costs of the most popular video streams to the users themselves). But streaming video on the Web is about to get a whole lot cheaper—and as Web video advertising takes off, a whole lot more lucrative. Some people argue that once the economics kick in, centralized Web streaming will offer a better, more consistent viewing experience than P2P streaming. Set up by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, Joost offered much promise, but has failed to deliver anything unique at a time when online video became the hottest vertical on the web. The restructure cant hurt, but with ongoing intense competition, Joost may well be on borrowed time. CrunchBase Information Joost Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Wonh, woonnh. Seems Joost is acting up with the live streams of the NCAA games. I was able to get a split-second worth of one of those stupid cell shaded Charles Schwab commercials but every other time I’ve tried to get a one of the games loaded up, I’ve been getting an error message. Joost did say “we fully expect things to go wrong,” so I’ll keep trying patiently and understandingly. Anyone else trying to use Joost to watch the games? Any luck? Joost LIVE Test with NCAA March Madness [Joost] → Read More
Just a heads up that Joost will be conducting a test run of every game in the NCAA tournament, streamed live. There’s a fair amount of warning that this is a test of Joost’s live streaming capabilities, so take that into consideration if you’re hell bent on being able to watch the games reliably. There’s also CBSSports.com’s live stream as well, so you’ve got a couple great options. Oh NFL, why can’t you be more like the NCAA? Joost Live Test with NCAA March Madness [Joost.com] → Read More
Is Joost going to last the year? The P2P TV yesterday confirmed it had fired CTO Dirk-Willem van Gulik, who then promptly turned up as a new hire at the BBC on the same day. He will be chief technical architect of the BBC Future Media and Technology Group, which is working on – guess what – the BBC iPlayer online TV project. A Joost spokesperson in the US told newteevee that Gulik was “terminated” (ouch!) but a press release on the BBC site published yesterday says Gulik will take his new post in early February and be responsible for the design and construction of the BBC’s next generation back-end infrastructure. Gulik is based in Holland will remain a consultant to and an investor in Joost. Joost has since said Matt Zelesko (with the firm since October) will be the new senior vice president of engineering, based in Joost’s New York office, where much of Joost is now located. What is it with tech companies losing out to the grand old BBC all of a sudden? Last year I blogged how, six months after leaving Microsoft, BBC future media and technology controller Erik Huggers claimed he actually had to leave Microsoft in order to innovate. Huggers is the guy who just hired Gulik. Meanwhile, an anonymous commenter on newteevee claiming to be a “true Joost insider” writes: “Yes, Joost is indeed having trouble. The main problem is that there is only very limited adoption among the user community. Far fewer people connect to the system than was originally hoped. Of course, this is mainly due to quality the content (or rather, lack thereof). It turns out that a lot of people download it once, then find out that there is nothing really good on there, then just never reconnect again. Or only sporadically, just to be reassured that there still is nothing interesting….If it takes a user hours and hours to sift through a myriad of unwanted junk videos (frankly, that is what is up there right now), just to find ONE video that moderately interests you, then the viewing experience is not much better than going on a file sharing program to dig it out.” Whether this person is from Joost or not, I’d happily agree that this is my experience of Joost too. I’m sure Joost seemed like a good idea at the time, when web video was → Read More
Indie music and film site OurStage has announced a new content partnership with Joost that will see user picked content offered to Joost users. Under the deal, OurStage will offer four channels on Joost: Best of OurStage Shorts, Best of OurStage Comedy, OurStage Music Videos and OurStage Artist Access. The channels will give Joost users access to 10 OurStage Artists on each channel and exclusive content including music festival coverage & advice from established musicians & filmmakers. OurStage launched in March 2007 and lets users rank and buy Inide songs and video. Artists upload their content, which users then judge – two snippets are heard/ watched and the user votes for which one he or she likes the best. The result are constantly updated in to top lists of songs. The top songs overall or by category are then listed on the site, and prizes are given to the top artists each month. See our November 2007 review of their iPhone offering here. CrunchBase Information OurStage Joost Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Version 1.0 of the open-source video player Miro was released earlier today. The non-profit company behind Miro has billed its new product not only as a Joost competitor but a purer one at that. You can check out all of Miro’s perceived advantages here, but to sum them up: Miro is open-sourced, DRM-free, friendly to all content creators, connected to all the popular video sharing sites like YouTube and blip.tv, high definition, full of content, and BitTorrent-enabled. Joost, on the other hand, is proprietary, exclusive towards content creators, DRM-protected, closed to video sharing sites, lacking in content, lower quality, and entirely streaming video. I’ve tried both Miro and Joost, and I like them both but for different reasons. Miro functions more like iTunes and is a good way to download batches of interesting videos from the internet regardless of whether they are professionally-produced or user-generated. Content must be downloaded via HTTP or BitTorrent, not streamed (although Miro can convert streams into downloads from sites like YouTube, blip.tv, and DailyMotion). You can download particular shows or just tell it to give you videos from particular categories (comedy, news, technology, etc.). Since videos must be downloaded, playback is not instant; but the videos load pretty quickly so it’s not a huge drawback. Joost, at least on the surface, is better for viewing professionally-produced content instantly. Since Miro claims to match Joost’s number of commercial channels, however, this may be due simply to how Joost focuses exclusively on professionally-produced content. When you use Miro, you must wade through content not produced by major media outlets to find regular TV shows. And then when you find them, you’ll have to wait until many videos load via BitTorrent. Download speeds will then vary depending on how many people have the seeded the BitTorrent videos. Miro will soon be available for co-branding so that content creators can create their own versions of the player with pre-configured channels filled with their own content. CrunchBase Information Miro Joost Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
New online video startup Joost may have been somewhat overshadowed by Hulu news the last month or so, but that doesn’t mean they’ve disappeared entirely. Tonight they’ve announced a very cool new feature to the service – instant messaging, via Meebo. Integration for now is via Joost widgets. Over time the feature will likely transitioned into a more direct integration. Joost is starting to play the numbers game, claiming 15,000 shows and 250 channels. Depth is great and all, but what users really want to see is the good stuff. That’s where Hulu, despite its faults, has a big stronghold. Joost needs to have the compelling content, not just the long tail. Screen shot below: CrunchBase Information Joost Meebo Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Skinkers, the UK company that is building a P2P live TV platform with Microsoft, has taken $16 million Series B in a round led by Acacia Capital Partners that included original investors Spark Ventures and the Skinkers Management team. Skinkers will use the funding to further develop and enhance their Live Notification Platform technology and bring to market LiveStation, their live P2P television platform. Skinners LiveStation product is built on Microsoft’s Silverlight platform and offers a multi-channel live TV platform that will provide existing TV channels both for free and on a paid basis; think cable TV, but on a computer. Competitors include Zattoo, that already offers an existing P2P live platform that provides limited access within Europe. See our previous Zattoo review here. The P2P live television market competes directly with on-demand providers such as Joost. See our review of Live P2P TV companies here. CrunchBase Information Joost Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Let me rephrase that title in the form of a statement instead of a question. We better see a browser-based Joost in the near future. With the impending release of the H.264 codec into Flash Player 9 and its ability to do high quality, full screen video inside a web browser, downloading and installing an external program like Joost is going to become an inconvenient extra step. → Read More
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