Watching TV with Joost

We can't deny the fact that Filipinos love watching television shows, as a matter of fact millions and millions of pesos are being spent and harvested by local TV stations just to satisfy every Juan's desires. But for those people who don't have the time in catching up with their favorite local shows this is a bummer, the only solution i can think of is to watch it in YouTube, hoping that someone had those shows uploaded. Most of the time YouTube has it, but the only downside is that the flash video format is unbearable to watch. So what's left for some of us? Well if you have a cable then you can download the shows with your DVRs and/or Tivo, but unfortunately no one I know had use or even seen one. The only real solution for this kind of problem is to watch it using Joost. Unfortunately, no local TV stations have inked a deal with Joost to bring their content online.

What is Joost?

Joost is a new way to watching free, full-screen, high-quality TV on the internet. This is a product that was brought to you by the guys who created Kazaa and Skype. I have received an invitation to try the Joost beta software and I immediately signed up and downloaded the program, unfortunately for Linux and Mac users this is only a Windows application. Installation of the program was hassle free and I was greeted by a beautiful, full-screen internet TV. Joost controls are very easy to use and the video is just amazing, crisp and in high-quality. Here are the screenshots of Joost:

The main Joost application.

The main controls of Joost.

The channels in Joost.

Conclusions

I believe Joost will really change the future of TV. However before it can do that, internet connection should be amazingly fast. Even with my 750 kbps dsl connection I still experience video downtime and constant buffering.

I also hope that local TV networks will inked a deal with Joost to deliver their content online. I won't mind having to watch commercials just as long as I can view my favorite shows. Hopefully they will realize the value of internet TV, because there is now an increasing number of Filipinos especially the working teens that don't have time to watch TV shows but have plenty of time using their PCs and laptops. If mobile TV on-demand is an indication, local TV networks are not hesitant to adapt to change.

* I still have an invitation for Joost beta, if you're interested kindly comment with your email add.