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Beta tester review of The Venice Project (with screenshots!) (now named Joost)
I had the chance to participate in the beta of “The Venice Project“, the next project of the Kazaa and Skype founders. The website describes the software as a new venture that combines the best elements of the TV experience with the most powerful Internet technologies.
To me, this sounds like another Peer-To-Peer application or a video download service. But it definitely is not. At this point, there is no access to Live-TV, it is more like a Video-On-Demand (VoD) service.
Once you have installed and registered the software you see a big channel list with content from various partners of The Venice Project (TVP), such as “MTV Staying Alive”, “The Diddy Channel”, “Live @ Much”, World Poker Tour events, “Nettwerk”, the Lassie series, Warner Bros. Records, Green Day and Red Hot Chilli Peppers videos and concerts, a Paris Hilton channel (with behind the scenes videos) and a few more, mostly independent channels like BoomChicago, Lazy TV. A lot of the content is music based (clips, full concerts or making of’s). But we even spotted a few documentaries such as a special about the Egyptian pyramids and one about a Porsche 911.
The client application
The software is a just under 10 megabytes and Windows only for now. The beta is restricted to one user and you have to login with your email and password. After each launch you have to agree to a Non-Disclosure-Agreement.
Once you agree, you see the interface/navigation:
On the first glance you recognize a few buttons. One big lacking element of the interface is the missing Hot-Tips. If you hover a button you don’t get a description of it. The first time it is a trial-and-error process. The main menu is a simple list and is easier to understand. You select a point with your mouse or your keyboard.
Video quality
The quality is pretty good, not HDTV good but okay for a video service. Of course the quality changes from movie to movie and you often have compression effects. All videos are encoded with a 4:3 resolution which causes very ugly black bars on displays with a resolution of 16:9 or 16:10. The encoding bitrate seems to be at around 1000kbit/s.
Other features
The Venice Project has a little more to offer than just TV. A pretty cool feature I like is the plugin to chat with other people watching the same show as you. With this can see what other users are watching the same and directly interact with them. You can also add your Jabber or GMail account and chat with your buddies via TVP. A RSS-Reader and a rating option for each show/episode is there as well. We have found out were we can see ratings, but I am sure there will be a solution in the final application. If you added your Jabber or Gmail account, your buddies can see what you are watching on “The Venice Project”.
Advertisements
This is what surprised me the most. Like in real TV you have short commercial breaks or loading screens and during that time you see a short ad. They are no longer than 3-5 seconds.
Corsin Camichel is a Swiss Internet geek with interests in sharing and learning, software, programming, BarCamps and gadgets. He writes “something” at “Geekness – with fresh and clean air“.
Adrian says: Hey guys,
I have an extra invite to give away on my blog…..
Alfonso Bermudez 
tiger 
Anonymous says: Hi could a kind hearted soul that has an extra invitation please send one to me. I’ve been suffering with Crappy streaming television because i cannot afford cable. With high internet cost’s its to much to afford.
I would be forever greatfull and would be a great beta tester.
My name is Brandon Hil
email rioz3n3@gmail.com
thank you
Anonymous says: if ur so smart, why cant you say “i have been an IT profession FOR 10 years now.
Anonymous says: subject says it all, Joost invite please,
ericrick at yahoo dot com
shawn says: would love an invite. Was a beta for gmail before i got married. sent out over 250 invites for gmail. would love one for joost.
Raja says: Please send me a joost invitation rajagopal_p2.atrateof.yahoo.com
Jigsaw hc says: I’ve been trying out the Joost beta and I really like it. The videos look great.
uma 
bottel says: i’m a 55 years young divorced housewife with 6 children so i got plenty of time to be beta tester ..
Joost invitations available at Joost For Everyone Project http://fabricat.110mb.com/joost-invitations
makrem says: Please,can you send me a friends invite to the beta?
[...] reviewed Joost back in December so if you have no idea what Joost is, check out his review! And check out [...]
Could someone please send me an invite to Joost. I would really appreciate it! My email – nateperkins@bellsouth.net
Thanks
Nate
I’d love an invite, please send to whtvrrob@gmail.com
In exchange i can offer you a free 100 mb webpage as long as mine is up, it’d be yourchoice.teamholbert.net and it would be adfree. Thanks and email me or contact me via whtvrrob on aim.
Thanks again
Rob
please send me an invitation, too
thx
moinks@googlemail.com
Could someone please send me an invite to Joost. Thank you very much!
bobrazovsky @ gmail.com
Ben
thanks.
namooth @ gmail.com
Could someone please send me an invite to Joost. I would really appreciate it! My email – Jordan_mouse@hotmail.com
Cheers Jackcon
if podible invite me….
agrin@hotmail.com
Thanks.
could someone please send me a joost invite trentpark@speakeasy.net
Thank You
Can anyone please send me an invitation to Joost??? I would love to give it a try after so many things which I read about this. If someone would be so mercyfull to send me one I will be very greatfull!!!
Thanx!!!
Hello all together,
I’m very interested in Joost but I can’t find somebody who can give me an invitaion :-(
I’m a likeable German girl and would be very very happy if somebody helped me!!!
Thanks a lot :-)
Heike (heikea.g@gmx.de)
I would love an invite just like everybody. If you get one please send it to me at Masonfactor@gmail.com. Not sucking up but I loved your review.
The Venice Project… now joost is really looking so great!
Im also hunting for an invite :)
tobias ( at ) saybot.dk
Yes, I’m just like everyone else. If there’s a kind soul out there, I’ve been dying for a Joost invite. I’m looking everywhere.
axisone@gmail.com
Thank you!
Diana – I don't have any more tokens right now… but when I get some I will trade you for a dozen donuts. HA HA HA
Cool. This sounds like a lot of geeky fun.
Can I have an invite? LOL Just kidding.
I have been trying to track down a Sean Mallory from Perth for the last 20 years or more. Have you ever lived in Perth Australia and if so when. Would like to hear from you.
S E E K I N G __ I N V I T E
I have 20 years experience and expertise in IT, specifically
wireless telecomm. Interested in Joost as a means of
getting plugged across the seas. I lived in Sweden half of my
life and my wife is Danish. We live in the “entertaintmen
enclave” of Santa Monica, California and travel to and from
Scandinavia several times per year. There are no European /
Scandinavian offerings on cable and naturally we are far of
the Nordic sat foot print. I would like to get involved in
the project for what it could do to eventually bridge this
Euro-American entertainment gap.
Tony
Please send me a beta invitation
can you send me the software or tell me how to get it?
I would really like to try out the Joost program. Could anyone please send me an invite?
My email is: flusher69@gmail.com
Thanks.
Hello Guys,
Would love to receive an invitation if any one has a spare one.
please send to steven_76 at romandie.com
Thanks in advance.
Mike
Much appreciated for a Joost inviation account!
ericonlinedrive at gmail.com
I would really like an invite if possible…
pgferro (at) netzero.com
Please send me a beta invitation
davide.schenone@gmail.com
thanks
Hi please could you give me a invitation or a link to Joost TV. This would be much appreciated. krishan.tk@gmail.com
please send me a beta token to lars at schouw dot com
I am an IT professional since 10 years now.
Thanks
Lars
Can someone send an invite, please.
Thanks in advance!
//Jesper
kumpel2000@gmail.com
hello, can someone send me an invetation to the “Venice Project-Beta” pls?
to the email: sns5@walla.com
thanks.
p.s: i will give an GMAIL ACCOUNT for this FREE- NO CHARGE.
thank you very much!!!
Sean Mallory
Hello
I would like to receive an invitation to the venice project if possible
tnx
Anyone can send me a token? i Work for a broacasting company in France and we´re very interested on this project.
cprivado @ gmail com
THKS
i tried it out this weekend (i have no invites) and thought the service was very slow, and heavy on memory usage. The content was nothing special. the quality was ok (could be my nvidia 64mb video card)
I’m from Slovak Republic. I’m experienced user, programmer and could be a good beta tester. Please send me invitation token, if it possible.
Thank You very much (pokusman @ gmail . com)
Hi
I am from Poland and would like to paticipate in the beta test. Can anyone invite me?
MietekN namiltd(AT)poczta.onet.pl
Could you send me TOKEN for beta!! pleaseee
rommark@gmail.com
WOW!!! I LOVE IT!!!
PLEASE OH PLEASE SEND ME A TOKEN FOR BETA!!!!!! IF YOU DON’T, I WILL SURELY DIE!!!!
-k9calamity@gmail.com
Subject: can you send me an invite?
that would be sooo cool.
my e-mail is abrahaosmf@gmail.com
thanks.
Hello. I’m from Suomi. I’m experienced user & could be a good beta tester. Please send me invitation token, if it possible.
Thanks in advance!
wiseboa@gmail.com
can u send me an invite for the venice project.
that would be sooo cool.
my e-mail is cmg925@yahoo.com
thanks.
I am sorry we have no invites at this time, we will post if/when we get some.
can you send me a friends invite to the beta?
I’m from Slovak Republic. I’m experienced user, programmer and could be a good beta tester. Please send me invitation token, if it possible.
Thank You very much (pokusman @ gmail . com)
please send me a beta token to lars at schouw dot com
I am an IT professional since 10 years now.
Thanks
Lars
Could someone send me a joost invite please… thank you thank you
My email address is [ **amos**folarin**78@***hotmail.com (without the **)]
other links
ffox
photos
blogbitz
searchutil
linux
atrm
Hi friends, i’m little late here…..please send me a Joost invitation to me…i’m very much interested to test it….sudheerdg@gmail.com
thanks in advance
please send me an invitation…just tell what i have to do…juancame@gmail.com
hugs from colombia
Hey if you need an invite so bad, why not head over to http://www.joostswap.com and offer something in return. If you have invites, see what you can get.
Can you get me a Token for the Venice Project.
I already applied but they say that you can only get in if Invited.
Pls give me this Xmas Present!
A. Freitas
hello centernetworks
nice meeting u here ..i am a netpal from china …recently i have heard of something about the Venice project and have got huge interested in this stuff …i am so eager to get a invitation offer to experience it ..much thanks here …
welcome to china in 2008 here is Beijing Olympic Game then …at that time ..maybe i can send a ticket offer ..:)
stay happy …my address: andrewdeng2005@gmail.com
………………..
Hi
I am from Denmark and would like to paticipate in the beta test. Can you invite me?
The Danish Guy
Can you please send me invitation token, so I could test The Venice Project.
I have a good internet connection (down/up – 2048/256) and I could be a good beta tester.
my email is alexei AT premiere(minus sign here)search(dot_here)com
Thanks a lot.
The combination of a downloadable player and P2P seems to be the same model as companies that already exist (like veoh.com). What’s the difference?
So, imagine all of this but with both a PC client and a set top box offering dvd quality to your television. Ability to browse the web on your TV via the set top box and go back up to 7 days in the program guide (on any channel)and launch a show you may have missed. Ok, there is more, also a full nPVR. Live linear channels from major US broadcasters, VoD, subscription VoD. All 100% legal under content distribution agreements with the rights holders… Tv on the PC is good (we offer it as well) but TV belongs on the, well, TV. We will be in full beta late January, come see us if you want a service that looks and feels like digital cable or satellite, but with more interactivity and better picture quality.
Mike
http://www.tvanywhere.org
if possible…
my mail is: kphigo@hotmail.com
thank you!!
Can someone send an invite, please.
Thanks in advance!
//Michael
bjx6776@yahoo.com
Could anyone send me an invite to halbtuerk {at} web.de?
Thanks in advance
Got anymore Joost goodies for a bored IT slave with a bright shiny new DS3 and nothing to run on it?
I’d more that thrilled to be able to post regarding the experience on the site as well to share observations and future tokens with other CN users.
Can you send me an invitation?
Thanks
zemberek88@yahoo.com
i would really like an invite too, outlamed@yahoo.com
P-L-E-A-S-E IS THERE SOMEWHERE OUT IN THIS HUGE PLANET A SOUL FUL OF GOOD WILL THAT WILL BE ABLE TO SEND ME AN INVITAIOTN TO JOOST!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!!
I SUBSCRIBED ME BUT IN VAIN UP TO NOW….!!!!!
I AM FROM RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL AND HAVE BEEN CRYING ALL NIGHT LONGING FOR JOOST!!!!
tecabravo@hotmail.com
“All new beta-testers now get tokens allowing them to invite friends and acquaintances, and these tokens will give you instant access to Joost™.”
I host a television talk show from here in New York City.
I would love to try out Joost asap…
PLEASE send me a token so that I can beta test Joost….
bruce@brucewagner.com
(sorry, I posted twice by accident. no delete button! :)
“All new beta-testers now get tokens allowing them to invite friends and acquaintances, and these tokens will give you instant access to Joost™.”
I host a television talk show from here in New York City.
I would love to try out Joost asap…
PLEASE send me a token so that I can beta test Joost….
bruce@brucewagner.com
Bruce Wagner