Babelgum and Joost are two services that try to deliver tv content to your computer using peer to peer technology. Both services seem to have the same aim to make the transition from watching shows on your television to watching shows on the internet as fluent as possible. There is no configuration involved, all that is needed is the Bablegum or Joost client and a broadband connection to the internet.
Another similarity is the fact that both services are currently running a closed beta test with the rare chance for users to receive a beta invitation. I was lucky enough to receive one for Bablegum and shortly after for Joost and would like to take the opportunity and write about their current state: How is it working, how does the content look like, what about the interface aso.
The Babelgum client uses about 42 megabytes on the hard drive and always starts in full screen mode. It offers currently nine different channels with trailers, commercials, sports and animations which is not really spectacular.
I suppose they do not want to add the real content during beta phase, would make much sense either in my opinion. If you click on a channel you get to see a selection of possible shows that you can watch. Clicking a show loads it – this usually takes only a matter of seconds.
The interface is pretty straightforward. You have a mini remote control in the upper right corner that can be used to navigate through the shows, change the size of the video and increase or decrease the sound level. A top bar displays the time the video is playing and shows how much time is left for the current video.
The bottom line holds the main interface with links to all tv channels and videos. The interface disappears after a few seconds of not moving the mouse. It is possible to playback the videos in a window instead of fullscreen – this does not seem to reduce the amount of data that is transfered though.
Two minutes of playback was downloading about 6,5 megabytes and uploading about 0,5 megabytes. This should be fine for most connections starting with 1 mbit.
The Joost client is using about 25 megabytes on the hard drive which is about 40% less than the Babelgum client. It also starts directly in full screen mode and starts with an interesting trailer that tries to describe what the founders of Joost try to create with their service.
A two minute session with Joost downloaded about 5.5 megabytes of data and uploaded 1.1 megabytes. Image quality looks pretty similar between Joost and Babelgum. Both look ok in fullscreen mode, definitely better than Youtube videos but worse than analog tv or tv rips that you can download from p2p.
Joost offers 22 channels in its current stage. All of the channels are more or less non-mainstream channels with the exception of MTV Staying Alive and National Geographics. All channels have a certain amount of clips in them that can be played.
The interface looks different to that of Babelgum but offers nearly the same functionality. Change programs and channels on the fly, rate shows, change the volume and switch between fullscreen and windowed mode.
I honestly can’t see a lot of differences between Joost and Babelgum at the moment. It all seems to come down to content, pricing and quality after all and there are currently no information about pricing and content. I will keep everyone updated with new information about the services as soon as they become available.
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Related posts:
Taking another look at JoostInvitation to Joost
Joost 0.9 is out
Joost Now Flash Based
Joost 1.0 Beta is out
Joost 0.94 available, soon to go live
Joost Now Offering Browser TV
My Vpod TV Video Publishing on Demand
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[...] Babelgum and Joost are two services that try to deliver tv content to your computer using peer to peer technology. Both services seem to have the same aim to make the transition from watching shows on your television to watching shows on the internet as fluent as possible. There is no configuration involved, all that is needed is the Bablegum or Joost client and a broadband connection to the internet”….. <More> [...]
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Anybody interested in exchange a Babelgum invitation for a Joost one I have ?
Please contact me !
Cheers,
Andre
Ops, email not shown : aap at howtoc com br
aap at howto com br (gosh)
I meant Please I need a Babelgum invitation on the following email a_yasir@hotmail.com:
Please send babelgum and joost invitation. I am teaching in China. No TV.
May I please have a Babelgum or Joost invite.
Thanks in advance
Please, send me an Babelgum Invite. My mail: derdzik [at] gmail.com
Will trade jost invite for babelgum
please invite me:
mtmmtmm@yahoo.com
thanks
Cerco invito babelgum ed offro in cambio invito a Joost !
max ;-)
Please, send me an Babelgum Invite. My mail:
magicianmerlin@gmail.com
can someone please send me a babelgum invitation to derp (at ) gmx (dot) at
thanks !
how do I get an invite?
Getting cold here in Alaska already… and need to prepare for another long-dark winter. We need an invite please!
Thanks, BMC-Alaska