ghacks Technology News

Say Goodbye to Joost and Bablegum, here comes Zattoo

My participation in both the Joost and Bablegum beta phase has taught me several things about those social TV over Internet clients: They do add interactivity to the TV experience. Users can chat about a TV show they are viewing at that moment or rate shows for instance. Both TV clients have one big disadvantage though that weighs much more than the new interactivity. Joost and Bablegum stream pre-recorded tv shows only, at least in this stage. There is absolutely no live content and the content that is currently offered is considered by many as B-Movie content.

zattoo logoIf you are looking for high rated TV shows like Lost, 24 or Prison Break you’ve come to the wrong place. I was fortunate enough to get a temporary invite for Zattoo which is live TV on your computer. This is a different and probably the better working method for now to stream TV content over the Internet. Zattoo is a European company which already has more than 300000 subscribers to their service and will soon become available in many European countries including Germany, Great Britain and France.

I was able to test an internation version of Zattoo which was able to stream all tv programs currently available. Those are the same tv stations that can be seen in Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Switzerland using a normal TV. Some of the stations that are currently available include: BBC Prime and World, Canale 5, France 2-5, ARD and ZDF and Rai Une to Tre.

zattoo screenshot

Image quality of the shows is excellent, it takes a few seconds until all artifacts disappear but from that moment on it looks great. It is possible to watch the shows in fullscreen with a slightly better image quality than Joost or Bablegum offer at this moment.

zattoo

Zattoo is currently preparing launches in major European countries and if they will be successful they intend to expand to the American market as well.

I personally think that Zattoo is far more complete at this stage than Joost and Bablegum are. You can actually see live TV which includes for instance sports events like Champions League, the Olympics and Formula 1. It is also a great assistance in learning new languages. What could be better to learn French than to listen to French television ?

Image quality is far superior to other known p2p Internet clients such as TVU Player. Watchout Joost, Bablegum – here comes Zattoo.

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Related Articles:

Zattoo available in Germany
Joost 1.0 Beta is out
Zattoo Insufficient Bandwidth Message
Invitation to Joost
Joost Now Flash Based



About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.

Author: , Sunday April 8, 2007 -
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Responses so far:

  1. Daniel says:

    > “Zattoo is a European country”
    Do you mean “European company” or did some smaller country change its name? ;-)

    Happy Easter!

  2. Joe says:

    Actually it sounds like a great name for a country.
    I wish I lived in Zatoo.
    You gotta wonder though what their nation anthem is like.
    BTW – how big is the screen on zatoo?

  3. Mike says:

    This smells like shameless self promotion form Zattoo!!!!

  4. Martin says:

    Mike what do you mean ?

    Joe the screen is not that big by default, the first screenshot that i made is the original size.

  5. Andrew Gardner says:

    Martin,

    Do you still have any Joost invites as you mentioned that you would be giving them out last week?

  6. Martin says:

    Andrew I send an invite to the email that you use in your posts..

  7. Timo says:

    some more invites ?

    big thanx

  8. yody says:

    Hello, I would like to trial zattoo. You give me? Issuing invitations. Thank you!
    Yodyhk@gmail.com

    http://yodyhk.googlepages.com/

  9. yody says:

    其实全��人群体是��估�的 希望能开�中文版本
    并放上中文频� 特别是香港电视频� 都比较好看的
    对比一般的p2p电视软件 一般的电视软件就是画�模糊
    所以我�希望能试用zattoo.

    �外我个人网站有香港电视 香港电� 国外电视等软件
    喜欢看电视的朋��以�往下载

    http://yodyhk.googlepages.com/

  10. ouluo says:

    expecting invitation. Big thanks.
    ouluo@163.com

  11. julia says:

    hi, i would also like to try zattoo, please send incite thanks

  12. c.francis says:

    hello I would like to have an invite. my email is “thedemondays@hotmail.com” thanks.

  13. randylu says:

    HI, I would like to have an invite too. my email is “luingl2004@hotmail.com� thanks.

  14. Iness says:

    Hi Martin, I would love an ivitation to join Zattoo too. Thanks

  15. chokahn says:

    I would like to have an invite too if it is possible . my email is “cokan1985@yahoo.com� thanks.

  16. virna says:

    zattoo invite? sounds good!

    vdrakou@gmail.com

  17. Frank says:

    Hi, Martin, would you please send me an invitation? I want to try this software. My Email is zfj1010@hotmail.com. Thank you. Frank

  18. 姚林彤 says:

    I would like to have an invite too if it is possible . my email is “yaolintong@163.com� thanks.

  19. kevin says:

    I would like to a have an invitation too if it’s possible. Thanks my adress kevin_221@hotmail.fr

  20. rosalinda says:

    I would like to have an invite too. Thank you very much!!

    my Email is : rosalinda-dongzhixi@hotmail.com

  21. laoli says:

    I would like to have an invite too. Thank you very much!!
    email:lcyyh11@yahoo.com.cn

  22. Bruno says:

    hey thanx for the post can i please have a invite i cant wait!

  23. Bruno says:

    sorry forgot email is brubetancor@hotmail.com

  24. scanner says:

    is F1 and Champions League really available, in full or just clips in news segments? I’m not aware Zattoo has the rights to this content. Or am I missing something in the business plan of Zattoo?

    The thought of a better web TV experience being based on BBC Prime is truely depressing, as BBC Prime is so lame. All of the best shows will not be on there as the best shows are owned by others often not the broadcasters. The BBC has its own web playback now for its own (in-house produced not commissioned) best shows.

    In the future, the broadcasters will not be able to demand internet rights so the situation will move from broadcaster dominance to programme producers in the driving seat.

    Don’t right off Joost or Babelgum yet, wait until their $£€millions have started buying rights to stream and see what the viewing experience amounts to.

  25. david4423 says:

    hey,i would like to have an invite,thank you!
    my email is david4423@163.com

  26. Martin says:

    scanner Zattoo is basically showing what the tv stations they partnered up with are showing. The major problem that Zattoo has at the moment is their availablity.

    There are no invites and won’t be because this is a paid system unlike Joost or Bablegum..

  27. JoeTF says:

    It sucks.
    They’re showing only the stations that are available in your country. So, if you live in UK or anywhere _not_France then it’s no French for you.
    Basically, there is no bloody point in the whole thing, since I can just turn my TV on and save a lot of bandwidth.

  28. Henry says:

    I would like an invitation to Zattoo. My e-mail address is henry_anaya@yahoo.com

    Thanks!
    Henry

  29. kevin wang says:

    I’d like an invitation to Zattoo. My e-mail address is
    wangqicai@hotmail.com

    Thanks!
    kevin wang

  30. proiecto2203 says:

    I would like to have an invite,please.Thank you!proiecto22031982@yahoo.com

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