Joost beta client 1.1.8 just released
July 21, 2008
Joost just released version 1.1.8 of it Windows and OSX client. Again, there is apparently nothing visible at this point with the client.
Joost is said to be releasing a web based version of the client later this summer… so within the next couple of weeks… most likelly in time for back to school I guess.
Simply follow this link to download the latest Joost client.
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Joost beta client 1.1.4 available for download
March 28, 2008
Joost client 1.1.4 just got released for both Windows and OSX.
I assume that this new version of the client fixes some issues with UI and Live Streaming… but Joost is notoriously bad for documenting what changes from one client release to the next…
Any how, if you are interested to try the latest and greatest you can pick a copy of the client in the Joost download section.
Joost beta client for Live Broadcast viewing now available
March 13, 2008
It is official. The new beta client that will allow you to test the new live broadcase feature of Joost is now available.
The release is known as Joost beta 1.1.2 and download links for each supported platform can be found here:
This is what Joost has to say about the “Live Broadcast” feature of the client:
Joost Beta 1.1 includes support for the new Joost Live broadcasts. These are live broadcasts distributed using the peer to peer network. During the life of Joost Beta 1.1 we will be delivering a set of Live test transmissions. These test transmissions will be advertised on the Joost Web site and in the Newsletter.
For the most part Joost Live broadcasts are quite similar to the regular Joost shows. You still use Explore to discover Live content (the initial broadcasts will be on the Live Tests category in Explore with the ‘On Air’ icon), but Live shows have a slightly different appearance to regular on demand shows, an active Live show will have a red bar at the bottom of its thumbnail.
There are some restrictions on Live shows in that you cannot seek within a show and you won’t be able to play it after it has finished. There is no time shifting feature for Live shows and so you arent able to pause a Live show either.
Some of the test transmissions will be a licensed rebroadcast of a channel on another medium and in these cases the transmission will be continuously (as we progress in our tests these will be 24/7 transmissions), delivered exactly as it is received by us, the commercial breaks will be part of the stream unlike Joost on demand shows and we won’t be able to give any details about a particular show running on that transmission.
Other test transmissions will be a packaged set of shows in a live feed and in this case we will be able to give further information on each show as it starts. Its title will appear in the Controller when it is running and there will be separate shows in the EPG for that transmission.
Both types of transmission have Joost Links associated with them, for the 24/7 rebroadcast transmission it will be a single Joost Link, for the packaged shows in a transmission it will be a Joost Link for each show and one for the overall transmission.
If you click on a Joost Link for a show which is not yet showing Live (it may be delayed by the original broadcaster for some reason), then Joost will play whatever is playing on that particular transmission, in exactly the same way as if it was a cable or terrestrial TV channel.
Users of the new beta client are reporting better streaming quality as can be read below:
NO MORE STUTTER!
The developers have done a tremendous job with this release! I first installed on my 802.11n wireless Windows XP MCE 2005 HTPC with no stuttering at all and then on to my wired Vista Ultimate desktop. Both streaming at the same time for a couple hours now without one hiccup!
I know Joost is going to explode in popularity once it’s ready for prime time. It is apparent that it is finally getting close. I’ve been testing since the early invite only betas. Finally it seems to be dependable enough to add to my daily media applications. With over the air broadcast ATSC digital TV, Netflix, Gametap, and now Joost, I have one heck of a HTPC.
Good work! I look forward to more quality content coming down the pipeline.
Cheers,
Joe
Cheers to the Joost development team for keeping up the great work!
Joost Beta Client 1.0.4 just got released
January 25, 2008
For those interested, Joost just released version 1.0.4 of it client. It is primarilly a bug fix release.
You can download the 1.0.4 client here.
Joost just released the second develper preview
January 21, 2008
Jim Ley from Joost development team just announced that:
Hi, here’s a new developer release, no new features but we’ve fixed many little bugs in various places, and we may have a fix for the “empty explore” Bug. It isn’t enabled by default, but if you’re seeing this bug add the preference:
user_pref(”tvp.ui.spoonMasking”,false);
to your prefs file and then see if it works. We’re pretty sure the problem was related to masking issues with some graphics cards, but are yet to really reproduce.
Download preview release 2 for Windows
Download preview release 2 for MacTry it out and let us know anything you find.
Joost beta client 1.0.3 now available
December 4, 2007
This one almost skipped by me. Thanks to Hal from Joost I was notified of the release of the new client 1.0.3.
It is mostly under the hood changes in this release.
So head over to Joost download section to grab the latest client.
Joost in a browser? Why? How?
October 28, 2007
This blog post does not contain any verified facts. Joost does not want to discuss any topics related to browser based clients. Take anything written here as fiction. It is highly likelly that 90% of this post will turn out to be wrong… but I had fun writing it… so…
OK, now that you have read the disclaimer let’s get on to the actual post.
Windows XP/Vista and intel Mac only
So far Joost has focused its development effort on the Windows XP/Vista and Intel Mac 10.4.x client platform. Many users of Linux and PPC Mac have been literally filling up Joost forum with posts asking when their platform would be supported. So far Joost has been rather quiet with answers on the subject.
Joost in a browser might just be the answer. If Joost move to a pure browser based solution not requiring any platform specific components then Linux and PPC Mac might suddenly be able to join the train.
So what might make this possible?
Adobe Flash 9 with h.264 support
Adobe announced back in August (http://www.joostteam.com/2007/08/21/adobe-add-h264-support-to-flash/ ) that the latest update for Adobe® Flash® Player 9 software, code-named Moviestar, will include H.264 standard video support. Why is this interesting? Well guess what video standard Joost is using to distribute high quality video over low bit rate? You are right, h.264.
If Joost move its client to the browser it is possible that it may chose to use Adobe® Flash® Player 9 software to play back its video content.
Adobe would certainly provide a lightweight interface in the browser for Joost to use. A proof of concept Joost Adobe flash interface has been written by Paul Yanez, mimicking Joost 1.0b client. But Joost might have some trick up its sleeve for running the interface on the Mozilla platform.
CorePlayerX
Joost is currently licensing CoreAVC decoder (http://www.coreavc.com/) from CoreCodec for its current Windows and Mac clients. It is therefore possible for Joost to select to use CorePlayerX Web Browser Plug-in (http://coreplayerx.coreforge.org/) to provide h.264 video decoding within the browser space instead of Adobe.
One torn on the CorePlayerX Media Player Plug-in side is that as of today it is not available for Linux or OS X platform (http://coreplayerx.coreforge.org/cpx_help.htm).
Joost is a XUL Application
As you might already know (or not) Joost is built on XUL. XUL (pronounced “zool”) is Mozilla’s XML-based user interface language that lets you build feature rich cross-platform applications that can run connected to or disconnected from the Internet. These applications are easily customized with alternative text, graphics, and layout so they can be readily branded or localized for various markets. Web developers already familiar with Dynamic HTML (DHTML) will learn XUL quickly and can start building applications right away.
OK, fine! So let run a slightly modified version of Joost XUL application inside firefox and be done with it! That could be an option… but this won’t be readily supported until Firefox 3… yet firefox 3 is not ready for prime time. This would also put the XUL application stability at the mercy of potential Firefox 3 upgrades… not good! Did I also mention that this would also cut off IE, Safari and Opera users?
So then what? This brings us back to Adobe Flash. Adobe is already supported on all common platforms and would open Joost to more browsers than the current XUL implementation. Adobe will also support h.264 playback on all platforms… another plus. Adobe Flash 9 therefore gets my vote for the browser solution… but I might be wrong!
Web based Joost profile
Joost in a browser also bring other benefits. You can now use an internet based Joost profile centrally stored on Joost backend servers. The current Joost profile in version 1.0b is only local to your PC/Mac. The problem with the current local profile is that when you have multiple systems running Joost they each a slightly different configuration. So changes made in one won’t reflect on the others.
Being a browser based client this should now be resolved. Any system with a browser should allow you to run Joost with your single hosted profile and custom preferences.
TV Browser integration
If Joost play it’s cards the right way it should be possible for it to find a home on the new internet enabled TV that are starting to come out on the market… as long as Joost selected technology can run in the TV browser space.
Retention of a full client
So if Joost move to the browser… will it keep the stand-alone clients? This certainly sound like a lot of extra work, especially if Joost move to a flash based player. The future will tell.
Joost working on a browser based version of it’s client?
October 19, 2007
Source TechCrunch:
Joost CEO Mike Volpi just suggested on stage at Web 2.0 that Joost is working on a browser-based version of its peer-to-peer Internet TV service. “At some point, when we can deliver the quality that Joost is known for, we will deliver an in-browser experience,” he told the audience here. I got up and asked him if he faces any legacy issues, since Joost is based on a peer-to-peer client that must currently be downloaded. His answer was that it is possible to separate the file-sharing from the viewing experience and that in fact Joost is working on just such a browser-based solution. It’s not clear whether people would still need to download a separate piece of software to do the P2P file-streaming or whether that could just be a browser plug-in. But with in-browser Flash video about to get a whole lot better over the next few months, Joost will have to respond with it’s own browser-based expereince.
Wired Compiler blog also echo this in the following post:
Right now, Joost runs on the Windows and Mac desktop as a stand-alone client. A member of the audience asked if a browser-based Joost experience was a possibility down the road.
Volpi says they’re is working on it, and that Joost will run in the browser “not too far in the distant future.”
Joost client 1.0.2 released
October 18, 2007
Joost just released version 1.0.2 of it’s client for Mac (intel only… sorry PPC) and Windows. There has not been any forum post about it yet so I don’t know for sure what new is in this release… but I suspect it revolves around bug fixes and UI improvements.
You can download the new client over there:
Joost for Windows
Joost for Macosx
Cheers
Joost client version 1.0.1 just got released
October 12, 2007
Just found out that Joost released a new version of it’s client. Based on the Joost forum post this appear to be mainly a bug fix release:
We’ve just posted a bug fix release. You’ll find that 1.0.1 has lots of UI fixes and touchups. It should also behave better during startup on Vista.
Joost for Windows
Joost for Macosx
As always, we want to hear from you, so please report any problems you have right away!
So download and enjoy!
