Let's not short change them on the amount of companies they own. Brazzers, Digital Playground, Reality Kings, Babes, and they run Wicked's network and, I believe, Playboy's TV station as well. They're about as far reaching as they come.
Over the past couple months, they've made a few changes to the technical qualities of their videos that I think are worth mentioning. The first is that they've introduced 4K (3840x2160) videos, becoming the first site to offer 4K scene downloads. The earlier scenes are around 11Mbps, the newer ones are a little over 20Mbps. The second is that they've upgraded the 1080p versions of the newer videos to about 12Mbps, which puts them in line with other major network sites on a technical basis.
The sad part about all of this is that New Sensations actually does still shoot good content nowadays (if you get the chance, check out their newest DVDs), but they website is just so out of date that it's ridiculous.
In relation to the $5 Naughty America special running this weekend, they also have a $10 special going for Tonight's Girlfriend. If you're not one to be scared off by the fact that it's streaming-only, it's definitely worth that price.
Was a member approx. 2 months prior to this review.
Pros:
75,000+ scenes (even including repeats and extras) with 20-30 added every day
Good streaming player
Lot's of scenes that aren't available anywhere except VOD sites
Ability to cut scenes to only watch certain portions
Cons:
Navigation is okay, but could be better
Download options (could use 1080p HD option)
Most new uploads are standard definition
Didn't max out my download speed most days
Some premium channels don't do HD uploads for recent movies
Bottom Line:
When talking about Videobox, in the end it comes down to the basic question of quality vs. quantity. Which isn't to say that there isn't good content here. There is, and in a general sense, there's a lot of it. It's just that there's so much content, that a lot of the good stuff can just get lost, so you have to go hunting for it. And if you're solely focusing on the newly uploaded movies (which is a bad idea, IMO), then the ratio of good to bad looks even worse. When you're running a site with this much content, the thing you absolutely have to focus on is search and discovery. Making it as easy as you can find to find the type of content you're looking for makes the site look a lot better, because there's probably going to be something you really like here no matter what you're tastes are. And while Videobox does look like it's trying improve there, it looks like there's still a ways to go.
As stated, the big draw of Videobox is the amount of scenes. They list over 85,000 scenes, which is more than any other company that I can think of. Even if you get rid of all the repeated uploads (of which there are a lot), you've still probably got more than 75,000 scenes. Forget about a month, that's more content than most people could hope to go through in half a year. The content goes back at least a good 20 years, and you can find scenes that are a good deal older than that. And many of these scenes/movies are from companies that not only don't produce content anymore, but closed up shop before the internet became the primary method of porn distribution. In other words, these are scenes from companies that don't have websites, so outside of VOD this is the only place you can find them. Having that many scenes allows you to have so much variety in them that there is almost literally something for everyone.
When it comes to watching those scenes, everything is pretty much standard (good streaming, good downloading), with 2 caveats. The first is that the quality maxes out at 720p. Which is disappointing, but not a deal breaker. The second is a feature they have that makes it so that you don't have to download the whole scene if you don't want to. Basically, when you go to the scene page, you can pick a start point and an end point, and then just download the video between those two points. It works really well, and I can see it being great for people who just want specific acts inside a certain scene.
And now we get to finding those scenes. They do offer the basics that most large sites have in terms of finding scenes. All scenes are tagged with female talent and tags specific to the acts in the scene, so you can look for them that way. You can also combine these tags to search for multiple things at once. There is a small issue where searching for a tag (act or actor) with the search box doesn't always show all the scenes that have that tag on them. There are also a small amount of scenes that are tagged with the male talent in them as well, which is both nice and disappointing. It's nice that they have the ability to do it, but it's disappointing that it doesn't look like they have any interest in doing it. I've always found it's one of the easiest ways to decide which scene of a particular performer I'd like to watch, and think every site that is large enough to have recognizable male talent in their scenes should say who they are in some way. You can favorite movies, scenes, and actors, but not studios or directors, as far as I can tell. And as has been mentioned by someone else recently, it would actually be a great thing if it could notify you that someone in your favorites list has a new scene uploaded. It would prevent a lot of having to dig around to find their scenes.
There were also a few smaller annoyances that I encountered in my time here. The first was that I could never get a single file to max out my download speed. I can max out at about 2.5-3MB/s on pretty much every other site I visit, but here I never got above 2, which was strange. Another thing was the lack of HD in most of the recent uploads. Generally, when they upload 5 movies per day, and only one of them is HD. This is acceptable when it's obvious that the movie was shot before the spread of HD cameras. But what I don't like is when I know that movies were shot in HD, but there is no HD version uploaded. This was especially noticeable on the Vivid premium channel, which was doubly annoying seeing as I paid extra for it. And even with that, Vivid was still worth it, since as far as I know Vivid's site doesn't allow downloads, while their Videobox channel does.
Just on the basis of the amount of content they have, I think every porn movie fan should join Videobox at least once, as there's bound to be enough content to keep you happy for at least a month. Whether you should join for longer depends on your tastes, and how much effort you're willing to put into finding content that you will like.
I wouldn't go that far (just unsubscribing and not saying anything). I'd find other ways to say what I wanted to that aren't the comments section. Maybe to a general customer service e-mail account, or saying something to them on Twitter. I'd definitely find a way to let them know that I think their content is slipping, but I think you're right that the comment section might not be the best place to do it, specifically when it refers to the talent in the scene.
From what people are saying, what it's about is that billing companies are getting pressure from credit card companies about what sites can and can't do, and one of the things they're supposedly focusing on is sex that could seem non-consensual. And bound sex is on that list of things.
They create Hardcore Gangbang specifically because they had to get away from the bound aspect of Bound Gangbangs. The sites don't both update because they're moving away from Bound on purpose and Harcore is its replacement.
I'm not really sure what you're saying is not correct? The feedback loop comment? I do agree with much of the other stuff you said here, though (except the HD thing. 720p is still HD by every definition of the phrase. Hell, technically, 721x481 would be HD). Especially the fact that the customer isn't always right. I've worked in retail for way too long to actually believe that. I think as long as it's fairly obvious that you're primarily a video site with photos also, you're not doing anything at all wrong.
Also, if you check my reviews, I'm a video guy. Always have been, always will be. So your sites lack of zip files wouldn't bother me at all. Without really knowing much about your sites/network, I don't' know whether I would join or not (I've never joined a single model site/network yet), but this wouldn't be an issue that persuades me either way.
Yeah, that was easily the best fisting scene I've ever seen.
Though in general, I agree that it's done for the spectacle of it, and not because it's something that's particularly arousing to the person getting fisted.
The point of taking photos doesn't really have to be to allow collectors to download them. If nothing else, photos make for much better promotional material than videos. They're much easier to distribute freely (a fact that pirates take advantage of), and you can use them as part of your website design (especially on the front page of the site). Not to mention the ability to use them to make advertisements with (from banner ads to preview pages). The truth is that the majority of video sites that make their own exclusive content (as opposed to licensing it from someone else) shoot at least some photos to go along with it, and there's a reason for that.
Makes perfect sense once you realize it's a self-fulfilling prophecy/feedback loop. The policy on photos means that people who prefer photos to videos aren't going to join in the first place, so when they survey their members on whether they prefer videos or photos, their members are going to overwhelming say videos.
Basically, it sounds like the photos on the site are more about people who like just looking at them as opposed to people who like collecting them. I don't really see a problem with that as long as you can know that ahead of time.
I agree with this. It's possible (but pretty expensive) to put, for lack of a better word, moving fuckable parts on a life-sized doll right now. The only thing it's missing is some kind of AI/programming to control the parts (which shouldn't take long). Once someone does that, it's just about the cost coming down.
Protecting Minors We are strong supporters of RTA and ICRA, two of the most recognized self labeling organizations. Our site is properly labeled to assist in the protection of minors accessing inappopriate content. For information about filtering tools, check this site.
DISCLAIMER: ALL MODELS APPEARING ON THIS WEBSITE ARE 18 YEARS OR OLDER.
To report child pornography, go directly to ASACP! We're proud to be a corporate sponsor.
Have concerns or questions about porn addiction? We recommend this helpful resource.
