Alternadudes (0)
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| Status: |
Current Member for less than 1 month (at the time of review).
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| Pros: |
+ Unique site with guys you very rarely see in gay porn
+ Super-fast download speeds (though see cons for the flip side of this!)
+ Content is dated, with an decent update every week
+ Billing by CCBill
+ No regional billing as far as I can see
+ HD (1280x720) available
+ MP4 and WMV files plus in-browser streaming
+ Good quality, clear, well-filmed videos
+ Good amount of archive material |
| Cons: |
- I suppose to maintain high download speeds, you can only download one movie at a time - download managers and manual multiple downloads won't work
- You need to enter a "captcha"-type security code every time you log in
- Support is non-existant - sent two e-mails via their feedback form which were ignored
- Feedback is allowed on the videos but doesn't seem to be responded to
- Duo scenes marry very different "types", one of which you may dislike
- Site could be organised better - search functions are poor
- Can't download interviews with models
- Photos are sometimes just vidcaps
- Can't see the size of file before you download it - a pain, as HD files are big (1GB-plus)
- HD is MP4 only, no HD WMV option
- Rather too many solo scenes for me - some models are solo-only |
| Bottom Line: |
Alternadudes leapt out at me as a site to try when I found it on TBP, because I love certain types of "alternative" looking men, and you so often don't find them on gay websites - and certainly not on more professional ones.
I love men with long hair, and Alternadudes has lots of them - probably at least a third of the models have long hair, which is great for me!
Their definition of "alternative" is fairly wide, which I like although I suppose purists might quibble with some of them - still, with alternative-looking men in such short supply in gay porn I'd say it's best to be grateful it exists at all!
They tend to focus on rockers, punks, emos, goths, skaters and tattooed or pierced guys. Most guys are white, but there's a fair amount of Hispanic guys too and a few black guys. They tend to be younger, about 18 - 24, but some guys are up to early 30s. I'd prefer some slightly older guys, but there's a good choice here. They have a fair few guys from outside the USA including some uncut guys which is unusual for a US site and goes well with the theme.
Technical wise the site is pretty impressive. I found downloads blisteringly fast - on average at least 2 - 3 times faster than I average on other sites. This is probably due to the fact that you cannot do multiple downloads, manually or with a download manager - kind of a shame but it does mean super-fast downloads. The way they enforce it can be irritating though - you can browse back from the download page to the last page of scenes/models you were on, but it won't then let you go to any other page until your download is finished.
They offer MP4 files in HD (1280x720 @ 8000k) and regular (720x480 @ 2000k), and WMV files though these are 720x480 only. I downloaded all three of one video to compare and was impressed with the quality of the smaller files, and as the HD ones are big (often up to 1GB in size) I stuck with those. I found the MP4 to be subjectively slightly sharper. In-browser streaming is also available (flash-based) at 640x360 and I found it acceptable though not super-fast.
I was initially minded to score this site in the 90s as I was impressed with the video quality, concept of site and fast download speeds.
However a few little niggles made me decide to downgrade it somewhat. I used their support form to e-mail a suggestion but I was ignored despite including my e-mail - same as when I couldn't access the site for a few hours and e-mailed their support address. On a related note, they let you comment on scenes/models and you can rate them good/bad but they don't ever seem to reply to the comments, which is a shame. Their blog doesn't get updated often either.
I appreciated the fast downloading, but I didn't like the way it restricts you from browsing the rest of the site whilst downloading - it took away some of the advantage for me as I want to be able to at least preview other videos whilst I wait for the downloads. There has to be a better way they could do this.
I was also disappointed to find a lot more solo scenes than I expected, though some of these do involve the cameraman getting a BJ which is nice! Sometimes I felt the videos could use a little more imagination - there's rarely any "theme" to them, just straightforward sex in a studio - which may appeal to some but I sometimes like a story/fantasy which they rarely do - and the odd time they did try it, it seemed a bit half-hearted to me. The "XXXtras" they mention are basically desktop wallpapers/calenders which are nicely designed but not really a big bonus, and some "behind the scenes" videos which are - I did enjoy those.
Finally, the variety of "altnernatives", whilst welcome, does mean that some of the duo scenes involved a model I loved but with a model who did absolutely nothing for me. The really out-there emo twinks with make-up, piercings and dyed hair do nothing for me, and they often were teamed with guys I did like. Conversely, some of the guys who just have a few tats or long hair might not be "alternative" enough for some people.
Other minor low points were a "captcha"-type security code to log in every time, poor searching (there's no proper search function as such, and the use of niche cloud tags didn't really make up for it), and the fact you can't download models interviews to keep - a real shame as I love them and find them sexy, and this is the only site I've seen that doesn't allow downloads of them.
Overall this is a site with a great concept well-executed with good choice of files and fast downloads, but the single-download-only restrictions, poor support and feedback and poor search function holds it back a little.
I'll probably rejoin in future, but the one update a week won't be enough to keep a regular member. |
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