Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
- 12,000+ scenes
- Videos update daily
- Photos available
- Choices in scene resolutions
- Supports download managers
- TBP Discount
Cons:
- Illogical site design
- Decent porn let down by a poor site
- Difficult to sort scenes
- Updates are often older scene
- Photos haven’t updated in months
- Scenes start streaming automatically
- Hustler scenes are available on other websites
Bottom Line:
Warren Buffett is reported to have once said that it is good to learn from your mistakes but it is better to learn from other people’s mistakes. Sadly, I’m more Homer Simpson than Warren Buffet, so if I could title this review it would simply be called “D’oh!”
I recently had an email offer to join Hustler that didn’t make a lot of sense to refuse. I didn’t bother to do my usual due diligence and read the TBP/PU reviews. Had I done that I’d have seen that the overwhelming opinion was negative and the most recent review was from one of the best reviewers here, exotics4me, and he scored the site low. But I figured what could I lose by signing up? It turns out I lost $5 that I could have used towards a membership at a good site.
I’d say that Hustler is badly organized but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate as that implies that there is at least some attempt at organization. I don’t get that sense here. Let me give an example…
Hustler has been around for a long time and one of their showcase series is Barely Legal. Like it or not, any porn collector knows of it. So if you ran the Hustler website wouldn’t you want to showcase that? Apparently not. Barely Legal is exactly the kind of porn I look for and if there was a way to separate those scenes I wasn’t able to find it. On many occasions I opened a scene that had no obvious connection to the BL series and it was only on playing it that it was identified as such.
Speaking of playing the scenes, be warned that the scenes start streaming immediately when you open the page. I really wish sites wouldn’t do this.
Scene resolutions are all over the map and even the usual indicator of upload date has no real bearing on this. I encountered scenes that were relatively new (based on the model) that were available as high as 480p only. Many scenes are available at 720p but there is no way to sort by resolution. Some scenes, but not many, also offer 1080p. These look good but are few and far between and finding them is a fishing expedition.
Trying to sort by models isn't a big help either. When using the model index many don’t have a thumbnail photo – even though they are well-known stars. Sometimes the same model will be listed side-by-side with a different alias or spelling, as is the case for the late Amber Rayne who is also listed as Amber Rain... on the same page.
Some of the scenes are so badly edited for the site that they start as the sex is starting, though on the DVD there would be something before that. For example, in one Angel Smalls scene there is a dick in her within one second of the scene starting. Clearly this is just editing and all the set-up and foreplay has been removed.
Hustler is primarily a DVD company and while some of the videos can be identified by the DVD there is no way that I could find to sort the scenes by DVD title. If there is a title that indicates something you like, you may or may not find other scenes from the DVD. Sometimes those scenes are at the bottom of related scenes but sometimes they aren't.
The site does have a couple of things going for it. For one; it’s huge. There are currently over 12,000 scenes available with a new scene being added daily. There are sub-sites but I suspect that those are rolled into the overall count. (But that isn't exactly clear.) I should be clear that while a scene is added daily, that doesn’t mean the scene is new. A recent update featured a model who retired five years ago.
The other great thing about the site is that it offers all issues of the famous Hustler magazine from 2008 to the present. These are available on an easy-to-use interface that allows users to flip through the pages. I know this is nit-picking, but magazines aren't the draw they once were. As someone who discovered porn as an early-teen though Playboy, Penthouse and then Hustler, I would have relished the opportunity to see editions from the late-70s to the early-80s.
Unfortunately the positives of this site aren't many, so I’ll start back in with the negatives. I collect and catalogue scenes by the model in them and I was disappointed that a lot of scenes here simply don’t have any credits. While it isn't entirely accurate to say that these are non-exclusive scene (since they are Hustler scenes on the Hustler site) many of these are available elsewhere.
The bottom line for me is that this is a site that has some good porn that is seriously undermined by the site itself. In some reviews even when the site isn't well laid out I still feel comfortable recommending it to someone who is looking for a specific niche that the site fills. But in this case I can’t do that because the site is so poorly laid out that finding something specific would be more about luck than organization. I rarely give poor scores and reviews, but this site deserves it. Even with a TBP discount this site isn't a good value.
Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
- Hustler, in my mind, the greatest name in hardcore porn.
- Huge site/network. I've seen some content as far back as the 80s, including the legendary, "Deep Inside Vanessa Del Rio".
- Hustler magazine pictorials to look at or download.
- Updates once or twice per week with a full DVD, it varies, so there's no way to put a set number on it or set frequency.
- Beaver Hunt category! My favorite section of Hustler magazine.
- Good download speeds, roughly 70% of my max speed.
Cons:
- A couple of my pros are actually not what they claim to be. Trust me, I'll go into in the BL.
- Video quality is below average at best.
- I once rated this "network" an 80, in 2007, here on PU. My average score is an 85.
- I thought, based on many of the professional reviews, that Hustler had got their site together and improved it. I thought wrong and wonder why it scored so highly in professional reviews. Not looking at that can of worms with a can opener.
- It's not a network. It's a DVD site that puts content, based on category, into a separate category that they so happen to call a different site.
Bottom Line:
Back when I first discovered porn it was a random VHS tape belonging to my uncle. I later found a whole stack of Playboy magazines under his bed. I'm sure I liked them and thought I had found a gold mine. Then, one day, I found a Hustler magazine in his room. I used multiple loud adjectives as I looked through the pages. So much nakedness, girls with fingers stuck in places, it was far greater than anything I had seen before.
When I turned 18, I had been psyching myself up to go to the local gas station and buy a brand new copy of Hustler. It then became a monthly habit. The rush, as I've told a few times, was maybe even greater than the magazine. This made Hustler my absolute favorite name in hardcore porn. And like most men who bought Playboy or Penthouse, I also read every story in Hustler. The jokes were tasteless and hilarious. Then there was the "Beaver Hunt" section of the magazine. It had used-submitted photos in it. Hustler would then pick the best one and give them a money prize. It had the dirty stories in it. Some seriously interesting political stories.
So, a few weeks ago, I thought I would join Hustler's website. It had been 9 years since I joined it. From everything I've read it's improved greatly since then. I joined ... and reality hit, buyer's remorse hit and my first "bad" review in a long time is now being posted.
First, in the categories is "Beaver Hunt". I click on it, it's DVDs from the Barely Legal series. It's not a bad series. It's also not "Beaver Hunt". I was honestly expecting user-submitted photos.
I then clicked on "Magz". I'm going to get to view all the digital issues of all Hustler magazines, right? Wrong. They only go back to 2007. Now hell, if you can put 1986's Deep Inside Vanessa Del Rio DVD on here, you can damn sure put the old magazines on here. It gets worse. No Beaver Hunt in the magazines that I could access. No joke section. No articles. Instead, a handful of pictorials from each magazine with 12-15 photos from each pictorial.
I cleared my head and decided to make the most out of what was quickly becoming the most disappointing porn site I have joined in years. I downloaded a few videos featuring models I like. They were okay, but were a bit blurry/fuzzy. Now these are newer models (Nicole Aniston, Veronica Rodriguez), maybe not "newer", but newer than Vanessa Del Rio. I look at the properties on the videos and see 960x540 resolution. These were downloaded from the "super quality" link. I go back to the available sites and enter "Hustler HD". Download the newest video available, it's 960x540. What the hell? It says HD in the name! I admit, I don't follow the resolution wars of porn, I prefer 720p and consider it the lowest level of HD. So my standards aren't the problem here. I can't imagine what someone wanting 1080p or 4K would think of 960x540 being listed as HD.
Disappointment continued, I went through every site on their "network" and downloaded the newest video they have. Not a single one had a video over 960x540. I stand slightly corrected by myself. I just found one DVD with 720p scenes on it, it's of Asa Akira.
Here's my roundup at this point: Beaver Hunt "site" is not Beaver Hunt. It's Barely Legal DVDs.
The magazines aren't magazines. They are 4-5 pictorials from each magazine.
The high quality videos are below average 960x540 quality. Including the ones on the "site" Hustler HD.
But wait... there is a hustlermagazine site that says it has all of the magazines in digital form. How do I know? It's advertised on every page of this Hustler site. Now back to the layout. You enter the site into a sort of hub. It shows 19 available sites in the network. A few examples of the names, Beaver Hunt, Daddy Gets Lucky, Asian Fever, those sound like real standalone sites that are part of a network, but in reality, those three are in order ... Barely Legal series, the Daughter series of DVDs, (including Barely Legal again), Asian Fever is their commonly-known DVD series' Teen Thailand and random scenes taken from DVDs that feature Asian models.
The further I looked into this Hustler site I started noticing chances to "upgrade" my membership. There's a problem there, why would I upgrade something that hasn't been the least bit entertaining?
The site needs a complete overhaul. Advertising as Hustler with "magz" should include all magazines and every part of those magazines. Advertising HD video should result in HD video. Neither of those said on the membership join pages, "Must upgrade to receive HD video and full magazines". A new search engine would help. Surely there's some 720p videos on here, but I've yet to find them. A simple search engine with an HD filter would do. It receives a 60 simply because it works and has porn on it with many big name stars. I'm guessing the higher def videos are included in the upgraded membership, again, the upgraded membership is not mentioned or offered when you join. Not recommended.
Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
- Massive video library. From what I can tell, you have access to every DVD they have made from 2007 onward. But again, many of those are unwatchable poor resolution or small size.
Cons:
- Tiny picture size for the photo galleries, even if you download the zips: 585x1024 pixels. Are you kidding?
- Can’t download the magazines. (You’re stuck taking screenshots of a page you like if you want to keep it.)
- Videos vary from about 720p size (what they call “HD”) to postage-stamp size. I’m not kidding. POSTAGE STAMP SIZE. Sadly, some of the best videos — such as Hot Showers or the older Barely Legals — are often in unwatchable small sizes, or small enough to watch — but not enjoy. Hustler DOES sell these on DVD, and the quality from those is MUCH better. If you download from their website, you’re stuck with “too small” for most videos.
- Difficult to find what you want. Looking for all the Hot Shower DVDs? Tough. Either wade through 993 pages of videos, or click a tag, such as Lesbian, to narrow it down. (IN this case, to 133 pages.) By starting backwards and working my way forward, I was able to find Hot Showers #1 on page 131. Not too bad. But definitely not ideal. I
Bottom Line:
Cons continued:
- 404 Not Found for some videos and magazines.
BOTTOM LINE:
I still recommend you JOIN this site!!! No kidding. The videos in the better ones are so hot that it's worth the crap they make you put up with to get there. And for $20, you can have tons of downloads for the same price as buying a single one of their DVDs.
In the end, you'll want to still buy some of those DVDs, to get the higher resolution, but joining this site will let you know which ones you really want to buy.
And *some* videos are in HD (many of the newer ones). But it's a true shame the older, best (IMO) stuff is in smaller resolution. Much of it 640x480 video size (what they call "Super") or smaller.
Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
- Access to other network sites included
- Access to Hustler magazines
- Frequent updates (65 scheduled video updates for October 2014)
- Various download options
- Pictures can be downloaded in zip files
Cons:
- Regional pricing
- A good chunk of the content is neither exclusive nor Hustler original. Many movies from other studios with logos cut from the DVD covers.
- HD quality is just average compared to other sites. No 1080p Full HD videos
- Video download options are labeled as medium, high or super. You don’t really know what you’re getting before the download is finished
- Download managers are working, but download links expire quickly
- Magazines can’t be downloaded
- Videos streams start playing automatically
- Can’t choose quality of video streams. The site always "optimizes" it for you connection
- Some streamed videos showed combing artifacts
- Ads in the members area
- Bonus sites require login
Bottom Line:
Hustler is one of the biggest names in porn, their website, however, is mediocre at best.
I couldn’t do anything on the first day, because I kept getting internal server errors. I opened a support ticket about this, but never got any reply. On the next day the site was finally working, so it might have been a temporary issue, but some kind of response to my ticket or an apology would have been nice.
The site is easy to navigate once you get in. They do have a proper search function, which is always nice. I don’t like using drop-down lists when I’m looking for a specific model. In addition you get 48 different categories to help you find what you’re looking for. On the profile pages you only get basic biographical information, but scenes from other network sites are shown, which is also nice because you don’t have to search every site individually. What I really liked is that you can find the video update schedule for the whole month on the homepage.
They do update frequently. For October I counted 65 video updates. Compared to other studio sites this really is a lot. But for everything they are doing well, there are at least two things that suck.
Hustler doesn’t do 1080p. The best you can hope for is 720p. The HD quality on those files is just average compared to sites like Evil Angel, Naughty America or Brazzers. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell what resolution you’re downloading, because they label their files as medium, high or super. A Super MP4 video, for instance, can be only 540p while the Super WMV version is a 720p HD file. And, of course, older content isn’t even available in HD. Download managers are working with the Hustler sites, but the download links seem to expire quickly (in less than 2 hours).
What really bothered me is that many of the movies available in their network are not original Hustler content. Many scenes are from Combat Zone or Zero Tolerance DVDs. I’ve also spotted some Diabolic, Evil Angel and Pink Visual movies. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Some bonus content is always nice. But it isn’t labeled as such. The studio logos are cropped from the movie covers, which is annoying and misleading. After I had joined, I realized that I already have many of the scenes on my HDD, because I have/had a ZTOD and Evil Angel membership.
In addition to videos and pictures, Hustler also offers access to their magazines. That would be great if they hadn’t executed the idea so poorly. Magazines can only be viewed online. A download option isn’t available. At least you can print pages from the magazines. If you want them on your computer you can simply print them as a pdf file. At least in theory. I never managed to print more than 10-15 pages at once. A whole magazine has about 100 pages.
If you want to add some scenes from Hustler DVDs to your collection, go ahead and join. But you’re not missing out if you don’t. If I had to sum up my thoughts about this site with a reference to a Hustler series, I’d say: “This ain’t a good porn site XXX. This is a parody.” Thanks to a deal on another site, I only spent 5€ for a 30 day membership, but I’m kind of regretting it spending that much for this site.
Was a member approx. 1 month prior to this review.
Updated:
05-09-1209:05am (Update History) Reason: New Issues Arose
Pros:
-ALOT of content from all their videos
-Varied content: Something for ALMOST everyone
-Teen lovers will get the most enjoyment.
-Multiple download options for most videos (WMV, QT, MP4, etc)
-Video quality is good-very good for most videos
-Regular updates by Hustler and various other studios
-Lots of popular and amateur porn starlets
-High quality pictures for some sites on the Hustler network
-Good download speeds
-Decent price
Cons:
-MANY of the videos started to malfunction days after I downloaded them.
-ALOT of the scenes are mislabled or the wrong video is uploaded.
-NO SOUND AT ALL on alot of newer videos.
-Scene/DVD Navigation and setup is pretty awful
-Alot of older videos are stone age quality
-No true HD options
-Streaming can be annoying because often have to reload it to get it to play. At least I did.
-Videos dont have screen caps
-Majority of updates are videos you can find on other sites
-Some Hustler videos are shot very well while others look terrible
-Sound is out of sync in several videos (not too many though)
-Search engine sucks in some cases.
-No where to report minor issues with videos.
Bottom Line:
UPDATE 5/9/2012: I lowered the score once again and I take back what I said about joining for a month. At this point, its hardly even worth that. Not because of content or updates because as mentioned, they are pretty good. Its the overall fuckin shittiness of how the site is run...from the videos to the site navigation. Hustler is a huge name in porn and you would expect something better, but you dont really get it
The main reason I lowered the score was because over the last few days (my subscription ended today) alot of the videos I downloaded went bad...either they lost sound or they would stop playing mid way through. And I seriously doubt the issue is on my end because I havent had issues with any other videos from other places.
UPDATED Bottom line: It may still be worth A month, but do so with caution. I will not be joining this site ever again. Better ways to spend money that on a site ran with such little care.
This is a hard site to grade, because some of my cons may not be cons to everyone. BY FAR, the biggest issue with this site is the fact that so many scenes are either mislabled or they dont have the right scenes uploaded. They have each movie divided into scenes. There were several movies I checked out where every scene on that movie was the same...meaning they accidentally (I think anyway) uploaded the same scene from a particular movie. That pissed me off because there were scenes I wanted and couldnt get for that reason.
This issue alone knocked 10 points off for me.
And while there is customer service, there should be somewhere on the video pages where you can report a problem. Im not going to email tech support with every issue I found with the videos.
Beyond that, there are only minor gripes. Hustler has a good lineup of movies and scenes, especially for guys who like teens and 20 somethings.
There is alot to like and they do alot well, but there are issues with the setup of the site that are really annoying. They even just changed it up and I thought they may have improved things, but while the site now looks sleeker, the navigation is still just as bad if not worse for movies and scenes. Not that you cant find what you are looking for, but its poorly done IMO. The search engine is pretty crappy too. I did searches for certain porn stars and they never showed up in the search, even though I knew they had scenes on the site.
Bottom line: This site is definitely worth a month at least, especially if you like teens and 20 somethings. But I personally wont be staying longer than a month. The original updates just arent there enough and the mislabled/wrong upload thing annoys the fuckin shit out of me.
Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
-Photos from Hustler's Taboo magazine are great
-Some quite good 720p video quality in the later updates
-A good collection of 72 DVD's
-Part of the DVD's under their Taboo label are vey nice if you are into fetish clothing, light bondage etc. stuff. They are however only one label featured on this site
Cons:
-Much of the video quality is rubbish
-The magazine is not included
-Downloading photo sets is apparently made as hard as possible
-Releases of new DVD's come in pieces, probably to hide the fact that there really isn't much happening on the site
-The quality of the DVD's is far behind the photography. It appears at least parts of photography is outsourced so that might explain
-72 DVD's isn't all that much since their content varies greatly and some can hardly be called especially "taboo". Anything not 100% vanilla is thrown here
-Regional pricing, regional TBP special price, attempt to sneak in extra subscriptions and so on as listed in my review of the main site
Bottom Line:
This site was my #1 reason for subscribing to Hustler's site. I remember reading the Hustler's Taboo magazine way back and always liked the very high quality classy photography that was still hardcore. However, that's exactly where this site fails (it's more like a category than a site though). The magazines are not included at all except for the photo sets. They are very good still but downloading them is made very slow and difficult as there are no zips and every image is behind two clicks having the same file name as the others.
I wonder how Hustler's photography has been arranged. I'm certain part of these photos are from the same source as DDF Prod's House of Taboo's photos. Part of them appear very Suze Randall like and they too are top quality. Unfortunately this does not apply to most of the DVD's and while some are great, others are not and part of them are ruined by bad video quality.
I hate to give something with this good memories this low grade. If they included full versions of magazines in pdf format, this'd be very much worth the price. I understand this site gets content whenever something fitting is made. I'd love to see increase in number of their Taboo label DVD's. Right now the last two are girls only content that has been released very slowly, a scene at the time.
Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
-Quite large collection of Hustler's DVD's available for download
-Streaming is clearly taken care of. Scenes have up to 12 different choices of video format and bitrate available which is clearly excessive
-Photography is very professional in the picture sets taken from Hustler's magazines
-Some old DVD's are really good content wise, for example those directed by Pierre Woodman during his Hustler days
-No download limits
-No DRM anymore
-Decent download speeds even overseas
Cons:
-Some scenes not downloadable with no explanation
-Many DVD's have only few scenes available even though the DVD is listed as released on the site. Sometimes scenes appear later but as there is no clear update calendar, it's hard to tell when
-Photosets are small and not downloadable as zip files. To furtheer complicate the matter, all the images are behind two clicks from the thumbnail gallery view and all images within a set have the same name forcing you to manually rename them if you want to save them on your HD. Photos older than few years are small messy scans
-Where is the rest of the magazine content? That's the first think one'd expect when joining Hustler site
-Video quality ranges from mediocre to poor. The later pseudo HD scenes have blocky compression artifacts although some are actually decent
-Some scenes are only downloadable at lower quality compared to stream
-Models are mostly average looking with some bigger stars in between
Bottom Line:
Cons continued:
-Slow update rate compared to other, cheaper DVD sites
-Scenes lack contrast, are poorly lit, not crisp etc.
-Regional pricing. They try to charge you more just because you are outside US. There's a workaround for that but then you lose your TBP special price
-They try to trick you into buying something you did not ask for. It's quite sneaky actually that there is a pre checked sale for another sites trial that is quite cheap so you wont probably notice it at the checkout but it rebills after few days at full price
-No real subsites despite the advertising. The "sites" are just scene categories
-Wmv as the only download format. Limiting what can be used to view the clips
I had high hopes despite the reviews, when joining Hustler's site. After all, Larry Flynt and Hustler are like #1 hard porn company in the world, quite the same as Playboy is to the softcore. However the site was a big disappointment to me.
Everyone's probably seen a Hustler DVD or two and knows that they are your run of the mill generic American porn (nothing wrong with that) with some parody thrown in between. They also have a long backlog with more interesting stuff (Woodman etc.) I was interested to see. However, all but the latest DVD's are ruined by miseraable presentation. When browsing deeper into the past DVD's you soon find yourself staring at a grainy video aize of a postage stamp. Come on Larry and guys, you have the DVD's! Hire some kid to re-rip them into something viewable. Generally I'd say that the older material seems better here also but I cannot really enjoy it in that form.
Same applies to photos. The photography is good but the presentation fails after few last years. They've obviously made it nearly impossible to download them on purpose.
Downloading is another issue. There is no full DVD download but you can only download individual scenes. Sometimes you cannot download the scenes at all with no explanation but they have the nerve to give you a link to buy that DVD (for example the Avatar parody I read they are sueing people over the net for pirating). WTF? Didn't I join the site to not have to buy them? Sometimes you can download only lower quality cleap even though the streaming version is available with better image.
That brings me to the "HD" content. Some of the newer scenes are available in 720p format that is quite ok but from time to time you feel like you are watchin lego porn when some freaky, blocky compression artifacts take the resolution away. Could these be just DVD resolution that's been upscaled?
Take my review again with a grain of salt. I found I do not like Hustler DVD's. They seem too basic and cheaply produced. Scenes are poorly lit, low in saturation and blurry. I don't know the word but they are the opposite of crisp and vibrant.
NOT recommended as it is. If they fixed the download issues and brought the existing content to a good DVD quality level, it wouldn't be half bad site.
Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
-Huge archive of videos
-Many videos actually have stories, albeit most are pretty stupid, it is nice to see this amongst all the drop your pants and fuck kind of sites.
-Many attractive women
-Pretty good download speeds, although somewhat variable given time of day (1MB/sec max, 700KB/sec average)
-Download managers work
-Pictures are pretty decent quality, newer photos are about 1500x1000
-No DRM anymore
-Access to barelylegal.com as well, although a lot of the content on barelylegal is also on Hustler.
-Good quality photography and videography
-Good price with TBP discount
Cons:
-Navigation is mediocre. You can sort by star, dvd title, and other things, but with an archive this large it would be nice to have more sorting options and a search ability.
-Navigating for photosets is particularly annoying, very difficult to just browse.
-Video quality is mediocre to poor. The best I downloaded was 640x360 1700kbps. They even commically call some of the videos of this ilk "HD".
-Video quality for older DVDs is poor, as low as 700kbps in highest quality.
-No zips for photosets
-While download managers work, they can be a bit glitchy as the path to files change, so you can only really queue up a few files
-Some videos aren't available for download, most are, it seemed like most of the videos that couldn't be downloaded were newer additions
-Some videos were a bit glitchy - 2 scenes in one, the ending missing, etc.
Bottom Line:
I think this site gets somewhat of a bad rap, as historically it was a horrible site with streaming only options and terrible navigation. I think it is much better now than it was in the past (even though the only change I noticed was getting rid of DRM). Maybe I just have a soft spot for Hustler since the first DVDs I ever bought were Barely Legal DVDs.
If they improved the video quality, added some better navigation, and provided zip downloads of photosets this would probably be one of my highest rated sites.
The archive is quite large, 830 DVDs on Hustler, and 346 on barelylegal. Even with some overlap, that is a nice sized archive.
I particularly enjoy the style of many of Hustler's videos and enjoy that many of them have a story - which seems less and less common these days. They appear to also have a large magazine archive, although I didn't have the patience to sort through it.
I would definitely recommend the site for a month, especially for $20/month. Even with the mediocre video quality, I still enjoy a lot of the scenes I downloaded here more than HD content on other sites. I'd be surprised if anyone couldn't find some material they like on this site. However, if you are a fan of photos, this probably isn't the best site to join.
Was a member approx. 1 month prior to this review.
Pros:
Great Content.
Some Exclusive Content.
Navigation was decent.
Cons:
Slow download speeds.
Poor customer service.
Downloads didn't work 80% of the time.
Bottom Line:
The downloads on this site were slow, and for the most part JUST DIDN'T WORK. It would take 40 minutes to download a video if I was lucky enough for it to finish. Most downloads would get to 90% and just stop. I submitted 3 complaints, but never received a response. I had the 3 month membership and managed to save a total of 26 scenes. Maybe there was something wrong with the settings on my computer, but they never bothered to help me find out. I have several other memberships and never have a problem. I was very disappointed, because if the downloads would have worked (like Videobox) I would probably still be a member.
Current Member for over 1 year (at the time of review).
Pros:
+Site interface has been improved over time
+Higher availability of studio movies than other studios make available on their sites (e.g. Vivid, DevilsFilm, etc.)
+Multiple formats, WMV, RM and QT (Quicktime is actually just MPG with the QT player)
+Three qualities, low, med and high (128, 384 and 768kbps)
+Videos provide download links, but...(see cons)
+Includes images sets from Hustler magazine issues, including centerfolds.
+$15/mo promo for Dvdbox, although TBP gives you this too
+Bonus Hustler3D game - based on Thrixxx's Jenna Jameson game
+Update schedule decent, but... (see cons)
+Newer movies list entire cast but...(see cons)
+Pornstar list, but...(see cons)
+List of all movies SERIES available (key word: series). They do a darn good job of adding all the movies to a certain series. Yes, they do miss one here and there, but they do a better job of SERIES completion than VideoBox or the sort.
+Movies are categorized by type as well
Cons:
-Downloads do not work with download managers
-Downloads have DRM
-They disable right-click in certain areas of the page.
-Image sets not available as ZIPs
-No updates for 2009 yet. Last movie update was Dec 26.
-A lot of the older movies do not have cast lists
-Pornstar list is just that, a list. No headshot gallery or anything, no letter-by-letter list.
-Updates page only go back a month or two at most.
-Only 14 movies added per month - compare against 150 for videobox, 180 for videosz, etc. However that number will be going down for a bit as there have been no updates for 2009 yet.
-The newer movies label the scenes with the girl names, but the majority of the content (because it was added long ago) is not labeled, rather with a generic scene title - meaning you have to stream every scene to find the one you want.
-Newer movies have HQ at 720x480, but older movies, which make up most of the content, have HQ at 320x240, same as med quality.
-No preview images for ANY movie or scene
Bottom Line:
Overall it is an OK site. I put it on the same level as Ten.com (a site I reviewed previously). It feels the same, but that is just my opinion. However Ten.com is better in the sense that they remastered their ENTIRE archive and removed DRM. It is a joke that there are still sites out there which use DRM, and Hustler is one of them.
Now, it is important to point out that the downloads are the only thing with DRM. The streams are not DRM - mind you that RM and MPG (the Quicktime option is straight up MPG) can't be DRM'd - so thats good. But what really irks me is that they are HIDING the non-DRM WMV downloads. The download links for the DRM WMV's are something like (these aren't actual links, just a generic example to make a point): www.hustler.com/drm/movie.wmv
And if you just change the link to www.hustler.com/wmv/movie.wmv
you get the non-DRM WMV.
I can't stand when sites blatantly hide content from the users. DRM is an abomination, and porn sites which used to use it have removed it (e.g. VideosZ, Ten.com, etc.). Hustler continues to use it while hiding the real goods without DRM. So where you have sites like Ten.com which went out of their way to remaster their content and remove the DRM, Hustler does not have to do any work but make their non-DRM content available to users. Just takes a few clicks of the mouse, no extra encoding (or de-DRM'ing) required.
I was ready to give this site an 80, but I docked 10 points for the DRM and for hiding the non-DRM content.
Some of the other major rating decreases come from:
*Lack of update history - yes, you can see the last 1-2 months of updates but if you don't visit the site for more than 2 months you are shit outta luck.
*The older movies, which make up the majority of the content, have no cast list, do not label the scenes with the girl names, and have no preview images (no movies have preview images for that matter), so you have to use other sites like IAFD to determine what movie and what scene you are looking for. This is unacceptable for a DVD site.
*Image sets not available as ZIPs.
The regular price is $35/mo, but the TBP price is $20/mo. $20 is still rather expensive, especially for a site continuing to use DRM. Must miss? Eh, no other site leases Hustler content, so in essence, no. Just be aware of what you are getting when you sign up...DRM'd, low quality downloads.
Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
Large amount of centent
Nice/swell US and european models
Good 3-days trial price
Cons:
Average/poor quality for videos
DRM for the best quality videos
Strange navigation
Hopeless way of watching and downloading videos.
Photos in average/low solution
No zip (could not find it, anyway)
Bottom Line:
This is a strange site. Hustler is a wellknown name even for us europeans and Larry Flint too.
Still I do not understand why a coorporation this size make such a poor web-site - compared to content amount and other qualities. (well, and again I do - like Playboy and Penthouse sites that never seems to be able to hit the top, it's still strange).
I go for videos - and it takes almost a day or two to get to know the strange way of viewing and especially downloading videos - and there's no preview, apart from a small thumbnail of the front-cover. You have to "preview-stream" first to find the scenes you MAY like.
I found a way to download some videos in "the best quality". But when I opened the videos, the quality were miles away from what is just average for newer clips.
The streams are certainly not better.
The content - models, sex-scenes and what not -is generally not better than the average videos at VideoBox - just worse in quality.
I gave up trying to download photos...
Well, there might be a lot of extras here like Hustler Humor, Hustler Mobile, Live chat and so on, but that's not my kind of game (site)
Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
- Tons of Content
- Hot Girls, and not the same ones over and over
- Entire Barely Legal Library
Cons:
- Search could be better. When searching for a girl it only returns the video and you won't know which scene she is in
- no previews or clips
- not many updates
- quality is only medium
- downloads are medium speed
- can't sort videos so browsing can be tedious
- downloads have DRM if you use the provided download links
Bottom Line:
IMO, Barely Legal is the best porn series ever devised, so most of my points are for access to the 250+ scenes in this series. I also have a tool which allows me to save them without the DRM, so if you dont' have one of those then you might be disappointed. There's about 4 updates a week, thats 4 full videos so 16-20 scenes, but Barely legal updates are only about 1 per month, if that. Quality is watchable but not what you'd hope for from a site in 2007. Searching can be a pain, and there are no previews so you have to start watching each scene to see if its of interest. It could be a lot better, but the content is excellent. Mr Beaver is a hoot.
Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
- Ah the memories of opening my first Hustler!
- I'm downloading the clips from the site, someone else mentioned this and how TBP lists the videos as streaming or in browser only.
- Some of the best models in the world on here!
- Tons of pictures available
- 3 Updates per week
- Cheaper than renting them!
Cons:
- Higher prices than most sites, especially considering the smaller library when compared to videobox, vixeo, pornstarxs.
- I am almost positive that I joined this site last year for $9.95, now it is $34.95. Maybe the trade off is being able to keep the videos?
- Too many anal movies
Bottom Line:
I like the way Hustler has pushed the envelope over the years and for once, actually mean it when I say that when it was magazines instead of online, I really did read the articles and jokes!
The videos are downloading just fine for me, and the majority are of average quality. I'm really thinking the raise in price and not great quality is because they are letting us download and keep the videos.
The preview section of the site is another great one, as it lets you see how the site works, navigation on here is top-notch. I really like the site, but it isn't going to be one that I visit often. Even with 3 updates per week, I can download a full DVD in probably 15-20 minutes, so it isn't worth much more than a join, download everything you want, come back 6 months later.
The big question for me is, is the site worth that high price? Yes, if it is your first time joining it. Upwards of 200 full DVDs from Hustler would cost thousands of dollars to buy. After that, I don't think it would be worth anything more than stopping by once a year.
I'm not really into anal, they have loads of anal, nearly every scene ends in anal and they have full series' with the word anal in the title. This would be another negative for me when considering joining. I've heard a lot of the porn models these days are more into the anal than vaginal because it pays more.
Bottom line, if you haven't been a member, I recommend it for one month, otherwise, can't say I recommend it.
Current Member for over 1 month (at the time of review).
Pros:
* Excellent videos such as Barely Legal series
* Array of video options (format, bandwidth) - and I'm not sure TBP's claim of DRM is correct
* Pretty good choice of contract girls (Memphis Monroe, Joey Hart, etc) - even though I disapprove of contract girls on principle :)
* Bunch of content beside videos - I haven't really gone through the other stuff
Cons:
* Each movie's scenes are not necessarily labeled for which girl is in which scene
* No explicit download option - although it's easy to download
* Must download whole scenes - no partial clips
* Search engine by girl/title/etc is not always accurate - sometimes misses scenes or generates false results
Bottom Line:
Hustler has some great video content - in addition to the magazine and other stuff I haven't checked out much. Movies like the Barely Legal series are awesome. The only problem is that, like other [non-Internet] production company sites, they just stick the movies up there, so it's not as flexible and easy to navigate as the Internet-focused networks.
*Newbie reviews and ratings don't count toward a site's overall score/rank until the user reaches the Rookie status level (5 points). This rule is needed to help prevent fake (or heavily biased) profiles and reviews.
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