It seems that BJJ has now taken to the internet.  We have officially made the leap from Pedro Carvalho/Mario Sperry VHS tapes and GroundFighter's DVD sets to the next generation - Video On Demand.  There are new sites popping up every day, with the most prominent being Jean Jacques Online Training, 10th Planet, Marcello Monteiro BJJ Coach, and MMA Faestro (formerly MMA Instructional).

I have been a bit slow to adopt this mode of training since I am a bit old school.  There is something about having a dvd in your hand.  I like always knowing that no matter what, I can watch it - forever.  That said, I have recently found a few upsides to the online model:

1. I can watch the clips from anywhere I have Internet.  On vacation, at work, whatever.  No more lugging around dvds.
2. I can watch specific areas of interest.  This is great since I may want to work closed guard attacks in class at night and want a quick refresher on it.  Try doing this with most dvd sets out there.  Trust me, you are in for hours of jumping around.
3. I can buy selected content.  You know how most dvd sets have a lot of moves that you don't really care about or an entire dvd you don't want.  This way you can pick the lessons you desire.  Watch all the back control lessons and skip the flying attacks for example.
4. Content is always updated.  This again is in contrast to the time it takes to produce, master and distribute a new dvd set.  It should translate to fresher updates.

These advantages are pretty big and something I ignored previously.  Now of course, there are tradeoffs as well.  You don't get to "own" the media and you do have a risk that these sites will go away in this economy.  So everyone should be aware of the downside as well.

Now onto the sites themselves.  I won't try to give a review of all of them - they all have their own pricing model.  Some charge per month for unlimited viewing (my favorite model) and others charge a la carte for each technique.  They also all have a different set of instructors who teach, so that has to factor into any decision.

I will say that in terms of pricing I like the all inclusive monthly fee - it is the best value and what most sites are doing right now, but in terms of content (instruction and presentation) I like MMAF, even with it's premium price.  I am obviously biased since I train with Dave Camarillo, so don't take my word for it - you'll have to judge for yourself - get an account and watch some of the free lessons. 

I will note that MMAF has a few new instructors like Flavio Canto,  Kenny Florian, Paul Schreiner and Jon Fitch - so top notch guys with great production quality.  I have already learned a lot and plan on buying more lessons as I need them.

One more cool option for all of us learning this wonderful art.