Review Replies (7)
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Replies to the user review above. |
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1
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rearadmiral (0)
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Great review, and I'm not just saying that because I agree with everything you wrote. You've provided some important details about some new changes to the site.
But... the fact remains that I do agree fully with what you wrote. The model the use is unsustainable and promotes quantity over quality. They need to pull back to one or two better updates per day rather than loading up the crap that they do.
What I am glad you reported on was the "HD" stuff is now lower quality. It wasn't great the last time I joined a few months back, but now knowing it's even worse I likely won't ever join again. Why would anyone pay to join VB when it doesn't offer them anything they can't get for free on a Tube site? One of the reasons I pay for porn is to get access to better quality.
Oh how the mighty have fallen!
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03-21-15 09:40am
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2
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pat362 (0)
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I'm glad you did this review because I also joined last month and I didn't want to do a review. I think the site sucks but it may be more because of what I was hoping to see and less because of what is available.
I totally agree with you about the premium channels and I would add that the last time I was a member. I'm pretty sure Elegant Angel was not part of the premium channels. I would be a lot happier with VB if instead of looking to add newer stuff that is too often subpar to older stuff. They simply tried to add content to the studios they already have. Where are all the older Elegant angel, Evil Angel, JM production, Zane Studios, Diabolic, Anabolic and I could go on movies that exist but can't be found anywhere. VB already has many of those studios movies so why can't they add content for those studios?
I wouldn't have been as harsh with my score because there is simply too much porn for what you pay for but my last visit may truly be the last time I actually bother joining VB. Unless I see them adding movies to past studio than I don't see myself giving much of a shit about what they consider to be good updates right now.
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03-21-15 12:12pm
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3
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Dirt D (0)
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REPLY TO #2 - pat362 :
The score is directly related to the significant drop off in quality.
I should add that not only does the dropping of the WMV format signify a loss of download quality, but ALSO a drop of STREAMING QUALITY. The "HQ" button that was available while streaming every video is now greyed out for 88% of their content now (I'll explain this number next). It only remains on the videos available in HD format.
To add some more detail, for those unaware, as of today, 03/25/2015 they have a total of 108424 scenes, but only 13793 (12%) are available in HD. Of those HD scenes, 4396 are Premium-only and not available with the standard membership, leaving you with 9397. So maybe I was speaking in hyperbole before, but the facts are 92% of their content is in the same quality you would find on a free tube site.
The purpose of buying a subscription from VB was for the quality of streaming and downloading, and to support the porn studios in a 3rd party indirect line. We pay VB, VB pays studios, studios can then continue to pay performers and keep producing movies. With VB so nonchalant about such a significant drop off in quality, I would not recommend them at all, so I feel the score is warranted. Its almost as if they are begging me to use free tube sites by their recent changes. I would rather piece meal memberships, a month here, a month there, at all of the studios I like directly. They will offer quality in HD, have more videos than is available on VB, and sometimes cost cheaper than the $15-$35 fee that VB charges for premium channels.
If you are set on a collection site like this, I'd recommend Videosz before this one. They have similar studios and the download quality is (NOW) much better (though that wasn't the case 3 months ago).
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03-25-15 07:40pm
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4
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pat362 (0)
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REPLY TO #3 - Dirt D :
Let me see if I can reply to some of the stuff you wrote.
1-Although WMV was a very good a stable format. What came after it is for the most part superior in large part because they improved on what WMV had done. MP4 is so much better format than WMV and it takes up less drive space.
2-The vast majority of the content on VB is not HD and never was to begin with. In fact it was never filmed in HD in the first place so how could it somehow become HD now that it has been digitized. Now of course many of the premium channels will have more HD but it's probably because their content is a lot newer and was filmed in HD.
Of course good luck with an Evil angel or Elegant Angel content that is more than five years old because it won't be in HD.
3-I applaud your reasoning for joining VB. If more people did like you did then maybe we wouldn't be in the situation that we are in but you have to realise that the VB business model was never a profitable endeavour for most porn producing studios. Those still producing porn right now make a lot more money when you join their site than the pittance VB must pay them for their movies. Add the fact that the bulk of the VB content is of dead studios and you realise that the only people profiting from a site like VB are the owners of VB.
4-I think that people should join both sites at least once but more would be better. each of them has stuff the other doesn't have so it's a good idea to join both to cover your bases.
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03-26-15 06:24pm
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5
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Dirt D (0)
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REPLY TO #4 - pat362 :
I'm going to answer each point directly:
1) How did they improve when they simply dropped a format and added no replacement? If I'm selling pizzas, my large is 18", my medium is 14" and my small is 10". One day I tell my customers it was hard to bake the 18" pies because its a lot of dough to roll and toss properly and nobody else in town is making 18" pies anymore, and then I rename my 14" pizza "large" on the menu at the same price as the old 18", what exactly did I do?
They previously offered WMV in a high and medium bitrate, around 3000 and 1000 respectively, and an MP4 in a medium and low bitrate, around 1000 and 500 respectively. 4 formats for every video on the site, excluding the 13k videos that had a 5th HD format. Now they elimated both WMV and only offer the two MP4 formats which they've simply renamed "MP4 medium" files calling them "MP4 high".
2) It goes without saying that if a video was not shot in HD it cannot be uploaded in (real) HD. My point is that every video they upload it should be offered in a format that is similar to purchasing or renting the actual DVD, whatever format it was shot in. I think its fair to presume that was their original plan for the site. Something that digitally replaces your neighborhood porn store.
3) Money coming in to a dead studio is almost like free money for junk in your garage you thought was old and useless. Most studios still producing porn have no need for a middleman eating into their profits.
4)I will join Videosz maybe once a year, but most likely go direct from now on. I wont join Videobox again because Im not joking when I say the quality is equal to free tube sites. But that's just me. For those who don't download and look mainly to stream, it might have some value.
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03-29-15 02:24pm
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6
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pat362 (0)
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REPLY TO #5 - Dirt D :
Let's see if I can add some stuff to your excellent points.
1-I didn't want to imply that dropping WMV was an improvement so if that is what you got then sorry. I just think that that offering the videos in the superior MP4 is an improvement because it is a better video format that WMV. I can appreciate it if you were a huge fan of WMV and if that is the case than seeing it disappear would be an annoyance but that is the nature of the beast when it comes to technology. The better one normally eclipses the other ones.
2-Bit rate and so call HD formats don't always mean a lot if the finish product is indistinguishable from one version to the next. I honestly didn't see any difference with the stuff VB is offering now to the stuff they were offering a few years ago
3-I appreciate where you are coming from but it's been my experience that VB was never all that good when it came to offering the same quality as the source material. In fact I always thought that they added a loud musical soundtrack to videos that I'm pretty sure never had them on the VHS or DVD. I think VB does a moderately decent job at digitizing the original material so that it is as close as they can get it to the source material without costing huge sums of money.
3-And yet studios like Evil Angel and Jules Jordan are still using VB as a means to make some money even though they themselves have their own streaming and downloading sites. I must really suck to have to do that to make sure that some people at least pay for a part of the production of porn instead of going the tube way.
4-Actually if streaming what you want than Hot Movies or AEBN is the way to go. They have a better selection and the quality tends to be a little better but the cost is just too high for most people to use it on a regular basis. I'm old school so the kind of porn I like tends to be of lower resolution than most other people seem to like so video quality isn't as important to me. One of my favorite ite is classic porn and let me tell you it's not remotely close to HD. What pisses me the most about VB is that so little of the older stuff they should have is missing from their library while so much of what can be found elsewhere is in over abundance.
*I'm really considering joining VideosZ in the next little while so maybe I will post a review or add a comment.
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03-29-15 05:13pm
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7
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Dirt D (0)
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REPLY TO #6 - pat362 :
1- I don't care whether its WMV or MP4. My only preference is quality by way of the bitrate they offer it in. 1000 bitrates are garbage and comparable to a tube site. I still don't think you get that they were already offering MP4 since the dawn of time. They didn't add any new format.
2- I'm not sure what you are trying to tell me here. Are you suggesting that VB spent over a decade classifying videos into a "High" "Medium" and "Low" quality range when it was completely unnecessary and Medium was indiscernible from High and nobody can tell the difference? There is no difference between a video in 3000+ bitrate compared to 1000 bitrate? This is something I'm not even going to try and convince you otherwise. If you think there is no difference, I'm not going to go any further.
3-Jules Jordan and Evil Angel specifically offer their directors exclusive rights over their own movies. They don't belong to the studio, rather the director. I've read this about both studios already. This is why you will find some directors on VB and not others. IE: you'll never find a Rocco video on Videobox despite the Evil Angel contract, and you won't actually find one Jules Jordan directed video, only from other directors within the "Jules Jordan Video" studio itself. Some directors would rather pimp their videos on 20 different websites and grab every coin they can. Others like Jules has his own website that he is trying to grow and needs no middleman.
4- I used Hotmovies and AEBN for years until simply the quality just wasn't up to par anymore. To try and stream in their highest quality stream causes buffering (even on my 24 Mbps ISP). I actually started to join sites like VB to get much better quality and to OWN the movie rather than "rent" it in a way with PPM streams. Now I use those sites just once in a while only to preview new movies, and figure out which studio site I want to join to download and own the video.
As I said, to each his own how they view porn. If you are into streaming movies, and don't get wrapped up in quality of the video feeds, much of what I'm saying might not matter. If you mainly know exactly what you are looking for and simply want to download to own it in a high quality, VB used to be great, if not the best at this.... but not anymore. They now score low.
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03-30-15 11:15pm
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