Hands on with Joost's Web-Based TV Service

One of the (many) sites I left out of my earlier Five Ways to Get TV on your PC story was the highly-anticipated Joost, now in beta. Why'd I forget it? I hadn't gotten into the beta yet. Well, now I have, and I've been watching TV online all morning. Nifty service, and it's a definite contender for online tube viewing.

After a painless installation, the Joost program (which requires a separate application aside from your web browser) launches a full screen and begins broadcasting. The controls are very simple and are modeled after television, letting you change channels up and down or browse for the station you'd like. Only shows aren't broadcast in real time. You can start, stop, forward, or rewind any program, and if you don't like what you're watching, you can switch to any other program that station is broadcasting. A search system lets you scour the network for whatever strikes your fancy.

Programming is limited right now, with about two dozen channels (including "The Diddy Channel" and "Paris Hilton," which has nothing but making-of shows about her latest pop album). While some networks have full movies, others show only tiny clips of a couple of minutes long. Still, with the flurry of activity over Joost (Warner Music just signed on with programming), this should skyrocket in coming months as the service ramps up.

Joost is a peer to peer application, and for beta software, it works insanely well. There's no lag, even at full screen, no matter what program you watch. Because of the nature of P2P, this should get even better as more users join the beta.

So what happens now? Will Joost sign a major network (even a cable one) to broadcast all its shows online? Will ads be included? (I'd expect so.) And will Joost remain free as it grows? All interesting questions that I don't have the answers to. Meanwhile, register for the beta over at Joost.com, and when you get your invitation to join, snap it up!