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Content
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| Quality : |
17.5 / 20 |
| Quantity : |
15.0 / 15 |
| Entertain : |
13.5 / 15 |
| Updates : |
10.0 / 10 |
| Exclusive : |
2.0 / 05 |
| Download : |
4.5 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
62.5 / 70 |
| Navigation |
| Easy : |
8.5 / 10 |
| Features : |
4.0 / 05 |
| Design : |
3.5 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
16.0 / 20 |
| Other |
| Originality : |
4.0 / 05 |
| Hard Facts : |
5.0 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
9.0 / 10 |
Scoring Criteria New
New Update!
As of Aug 15th, 07, price of a site is no longer factored into the overall score/rank. |
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| Editor: Spencer |
Initial Review: 03-19-07 |
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1. Loads of content available.
2. Big daily updates.
3. Lots of video file options.
1. Downloads were a bit slow.
2. Navigation could be expanded even more.
3. A bit more expensive for best quality.
4. Quality is good, but not great.
"In most areas, DVD Store excels as a video site, though a few changes would be awesome." |
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Today we're reviewing a site called DVD Store, though they're not actually a DVD store technically. They run a typical DVD-based membership site, offering unlimited downloads of the videos they offer. They actually have two membership options, which isn't too abnormal, but there's a big price difference between them: $15 a month for basic membership, and $30 a month for the premium membership. The difference is in the quality, with the better one coming in at DVD quality video. They offer some decent stats on their main page as well: 2,249 DVD's online for a total of 10,694 scenes. They also add around 5-6 new DVD's a day, and are really pushing the envelope there.
The goods:
- Loads of content available. It's a friggin' DVD mega-site, so of course they have a lot to see. When you compare a normal reality site at 50 episodes online vs. DVD Store at 2,269 full DVD's online (each with 5+ scenes of course), it's a blowout. Sure you can find sites with more content (namely most VOD sites), but you get a lot for your money here.
- Big daily updates. I'm seeing five full DVD's added each and every day lately, which is about as good as any update schedule I've seen.
- Lots of video file type options. Each scene has nine different viewing options depending on which type of video you want, and which quality setting you want. There are two DVD-resolution options (both in MPG), three WMV choices, three Quicktime choices, and an iPod download as well. About the only thing missing is a true streaming server which would be the icing on the cake.
The bads:
- Downloads were a bit slow. It could be temporary, but if it's not this is a big problem. Video downloads were coming in around 1/6th of our normal speed. Even a download accelerator program (pulling in only four downloads at once which is where their server maxes you out) could only get to about 60% of our normal speed. With the big file sizes, it was a little slow getting a video in.
- Navigation could be expanded more. They offer most options you're used to seeing to navigation around, but I wouldn't mind more still. For instance, I'd like more "genre" categories than the ones they have listed. Where's "cumshot" or "facial," or "redheads" and "ass to mouth?" Also, their search was a little confusing; you can pick more than one option (of a genre for instance), but I don't think it worked right. The more options I picked, the larger the results got. I'd rather use an AND search when picking more than one category.
- A bit more expensive for best quality. Other sites use the larger membership price for better quality idea as well, but DVD Store requires you to double your membership to $30 a month instead of $15 a month which is a big jump. I wish the top price was a little lower.
- Quality is good, but not great. I was a bit surprised to see the best-quality videos looked decent, but other sites definitely top them in this area. There's a little pixelation present at times which is unfortunate.
Conclusion:
I'd say DVD Store is one of the better video sites out there. There's a ton of competition in this realm lately, and most of the sites are just average to each other. They seem to have grabbed most of the options you'd want here, and deliver a good experience. I think they still have a little work to go to grab top nods, especially in terms of quality, but they're definitely doing things right here and it's great to see the competition heat up.
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