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Content
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| Quality : |
19.0 / 20 |
| Quantity : |
15.0 / 15 |
| Entertain : |
15.0 / 15 |
| Updates : |
10.0 / 10 |
| Exclusive : |
2.0 / 05 |
| Download : |
2.5 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
63.5 / 70 |
| Navigation |
| Easy : |
9.0 / 10 |
| Features : |
3.0 / 05 |
| Design : |
4.5 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
16.5 / 20 |
| Other |
| Originality : |
3.5 / 05 |
| Hard Facts : |
4.5 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
8.0 / 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: Duke |
Initial Review: 02-20-07 |
| Follow-Up Review(s): 09-13-07 |
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1. Huge collection of DVDs.
2. High video quality, several levels.
3. Clean design, good browse tools.
1. Pay-per-minute can be expensive.
2. Some buffering on HD quality vids.
"A cleanly designed VOD site with a very sizable library of DVDs to choose from." |
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Yappo is a big ol' pay-per-view movie site. They have different packages to purchase minutes which can then be used to stream the movies or download them for 7 or 30 days. It's not necessary to be a member to browse around and see everything they have to offer. Guests can search and navigate around just as members do. This review will be helpful in pinpointing some of the details of Yappo but a self-guided tour will largely let you know whether they have what you're looking for.
The Goods:
- Huge Collection of DVDs. The sheer number of DVDs is always a key to PPV sites like Yappo. Simply put these guys have many thousands of titles from a ton of studios. They're very likely to have most any title or performer you're looking for.
- High Video Quality, Several Levels. The streaming videos open in a stand alone media player and the HD and T1 quality levels being very high. There are also the additional choices of the broadband, dsl, and dialup levels for quicker streaming. On my cable connection the highest HD vids streamed quite fast and the buffering was decent when jumping around the movie.
- Clean Design, Good Browse Tools. The overall layout and appearance of Yappo is professional. They give the right tools with a keyword search along with star, studio, and niche filters as well. Even better is the help menu which lays out the technical aspects along with "how it works", billing, etc.
The Bads:
- Some Vids Have No Scene Preview Pics. As I browsed through the collection I ran into movies without any preview pics except for the box covers. This means it's necessary to stream the movie without any scene details which is annoying. This was the one big negative that jumped out at me as I tried to pick movies to watch.
- No Specific Dates on Updates. Considering how many movies are in the collection I have no doubt these guys make additions regularly. As a review though I like to see a clear track record of dated additions so I can get the specifics on the update situation. I know surfers also like to get as many details as possible too.
- Pay-Per-Minute Can Be Expensive. This is simply the nature of the beast when it comes to video on demand sites. The huge movie library is Yappo's best asset but in return you can end up paying a lot of $ going per minute or renting. A lot of surfers like to download and save movies forever which is obviously not an option here.
Conclusion:
Yappo brings all the pieces together that I expect from the video on demand site. It's professional and easy to use with impressive video quality. The only shortcoming I found in the content itself was the lack of preview pics on some of the movies. Well I guess they could add some fancier advanced search functions too but that's not totally necessary. Basically they have a complete site so long as you're okay with the streaming only pay per minute formula.
| 1st Follow-Up Review |
Review: 09-13-07 |
Yappo continues to be a quality VOD site with a huge collection of movies and clean site design. In browsing around the site I'm not seeing the missing preview thumbnails anymore. During our initial review that was an issue and now it seems to have been corrected. The new releases page also does have dates posted for the new additions although judging by the dates it seems they do batch releases with a ton of movies on some days. The bottom line is it's a huge site and quantity is the site's #1 asset. For those who like movies on a pay-per-minute basis Yappo is definitely a worthwhile site to take a look at.
Score increased from 85.5 to 88.0.
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