Joost: IPTV I Can Live Without

I'm playing around with Joost, the latest entry into the IPTV playing field. The technology is appealing, but it's got a long way to go before it pulls me away from the TV in my living room.

How's It Look?
The interface is full-screen, though you can reduce it. There's a list of channels on the left (New on Joost, Most Popular, Staff Picks) plus a longer list of categories (which they call genres), including documentary, comedy, music, sports and games, and others. There are small pictures on the right side that correspond to specific channels in each category; just click an image to get to the channel. You can add or remove anything from the channel guide that doesn't interest you.

Clicking My Channels at the bottom of the list of categories brings you to your favorites. Of course, they're not favorites yet: You have to right-click to delete those you don't want to see. Each of your favorite channels has three icons that let you immediately watch what's currently playing, get info about the station, or see other shows on the channel.

Navigate to a channel -- or learn more about it

Choose a Joost channel

A couple of clicks and you can add a channel to your favorites lineup

Jitters and Lockups
The video feed is erratic. When I started playing with Joost earlier in the week and was still excited by the new technology, I was willing to put up with an occasional stuttering video. Yesterday and early this morning, however, it was worse: Every show I watched stumbled onto my screen, jittery and with nanosecond pauses that made most of the content unwatchable. Twice a channel's title appeared, but Joost stopped cold. (I can hear the company rep reaching for the phone.)

I could blame the problems on my Internet connection, but I doubt that's the issue: I have cable, and Charter Communications supplies a reliable, very stable, 3 megabits per second connection. It could be a problem with my PC (though I'd expect hiccoughs once or twice, not to this degree), or perhaps it's the cosmic alignment of the cables under my desk. But I think I'll blame Joost. (FYI: I attempted to view the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit on Demand again. Regretfully, it was too jittery, and not in the way you're thinking.)

Joost is in beta and I don't expect it to work perfectly. But the moment the testing period is over, expect my tolerance for not-so-terrific performance to evaporate.

Here's your assignment: Sign up for Joost (I have 10,000 invitations, so act quickly), try it out, and lemme know what you think.

Tomorrow: The final episode in IPTV and Internet TV.