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| Content Quantity: |
18/20 |
Content Quality: |
20/20 |
Updates: |
10/10 |
| Entertainment: |
14/15 |
Navigation & Design: |
10/10 |
Download: |
4/5 |
| Value for Money: |
15/15 |
Reviewer's Tilt: |
4/5 |
Total: |
95/100 |
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Site info help
Site info updated August 7 2007
| Pictures: |
725 photosets (approx. 60-180 per set)
1800 px resolution (3000 px version available for 49 photosets)
Additionally 24 video stills with every video |
| Video: |
281 (approx. 10-20 minutes each)
Windows Media (wmv) available
Highest quality: wmv 1280x720, 4200 kbit (640x480, 1400 kbit on most videos)
No DRM protection |
| Pricing: |
1 month recurring: $24.95
3 months recurring: $59.95
2 months non-recurring: $59.95
3 months non-recurring: $69.95
5 day trial: $9.95 (rebills at $27.95 every 30 days unless cancelled) |
2nd look, August 7 2007:
It's only been six months since my original review of Xisty, but a few things have happened that I feel warrent a second look.
First of all the photo and video collections have been growing fast and steady at a rate of five new photosets and four (up from two) new videos every week, which brings the total number of photosets up from 590 six months ago to 725 at the time of writing. The video collection has grown from 202 to 281. This means that Xisty can most definately be considered a very large site at this point, even though it's obviously never going to catch up to a site like Twistys in terms of sheer size.
As I mentioned in the original review though, Xisty has some strong points going for it that means that I'm not at all feeling like saying something along the lines of "don't bother, just go with Twistys". The currently 137 babes at Xisty are all gorgeous, and though you can also find many of them at Twistys (and some other sites as well), the amazingly beautiful high res photos at Xisty are all shot by their own photographers, whereas at Twistys (I started this comparison, so now I better finish it) you will find a lot of non-exclusive photo and video content, and among all the great looking stuff, also a lot that's pretty bland and barely worth a look.
At Xisty damn near every new photoset is a work of art. Alright, I might be pushing it a bit there, but I'm just trying to outline the differences between these two - both excellent - sites.
Aside from a photographer who's damn good a what he does, 137 babes, high resolution photosets and a great looking and very powerful site interface, Xisty now has another ace up its sleeve as well - HD video. Since May two of the four new videos added every weekend have also been available in full HD quality at 1280x720, 4200 kbit, and I probably don't need to tell you that I think this is just the perfect way to present some of my favourite Eurobabes like Eve Angel, Peaches and Jo.
Well, looks like this ended up partially as a recap of my original review - not the first time that's happened with a second look - but I wanted to make sure I got my opinion through here, that Xisty is a damn good semi-hardcore/hardcore babe site, and if not quite up there with sites like Twisty and Club Sandy in sheer variety and entertainment value, then certainly leading in terms of technical quality and overall presentation.
No changes to scores, but we're close to an extra point in both Quantity and Reviewer's Tilt.
Update, February 5 2007
I just got a mail back from the owners of Xisty, confirming my suspicion (read under the cons below) that the Xisty people are indeed shooting all the content on their site, and happen to have sold some of it to Twistys where I recalled seeing some of the photosets and videos.
So as it turns out Xisty is not a "copycat site" at all in terms of content, rather the opposite in this particular case.
It was also confirmed that they plan on keeping their beautiful high quality content to themselves in the near future, rather than selling parts of it to other sites, which is probably a good idea from a business perspective, since Xisty is afterall still a significantly smaller site than some of it's most comparable competitors.
Pros
+ Xisty is a fairly new, very well designed and already pretty large glamour babe site. The vast majority of the content is great looking solo girl (posing or playing) photosets and videos (about three times as many of the former as the latter), but you do get a few lesbian and hardcore guy/girl videos/photosets as well
+ There are currently 112 beautiful ladies on the site, most of them (but not all) from Hungary and the Czech Republic (always popular choices with this reviewer). Eurobabe fans should recognize several if not many of them, a few of the most well known names include Anetta Keys, Monica Sweet (also known as Jo), Peaches, Sandra Shine and Zafira, but there were many other I recognized if not by name than at least by face (and assorted other body parts)
+ Five new photosets and two new videos every week
+ Great video quality, 640x480, 1400 kbit, and all videos can be downloaded in either a single file or four chunks. Streaming them is also an option, either in the same high quality or a lower 320x240, 350 kbit version.
The photo content is arguably even more important than the video content at Xisty, and fortunately all the sets I checked out (I sampled among both the latest and the oldest sets) looked nothing short of amazing, photos sharp and clear and the resolution well above what's common even on photo heavy sites, no less than 1200x1800 pixels. All photosets can be viewed online (manually or with the slideshow feature) or downloaded in zip files
+ As if 1800 pixel photos wasn't already impressive enough, currently 49 photosets are also available as "super zips" (downloadable zip files only) at 3000 pixels.
You might be asking yourself, "why would I need 2000x3000, or even just 1200x1800 pixel photos if my monitor can only show something like 1024x768 or 1280x1024?" Because you can get some absolutely spectacular closeups (assuming of course you don't use the "fit to screen" or similar function in your browser or image viewer).
In many photos (upper body, lower body, headshots) you are pretty much looking at the babe in actual real life size, occasionally larger if we're talking pussy shots etc., and while your 15-24 inch monitor may only show a face or a couple of nice round tits without scrolling the picture, you can see every little wonderful detail and imperfection in her skin. Every little drop of water if she's just stepped out of a pool or shower. Every drop of moisture on her pussy lips.
While that kind of closeup views might not be particularly desirable if you're looking at your average plain or semi-ugly chick, with bad skin, too much or too little makeup, and a few too many stray hairs here and there, the ladies at Xisty don't exactly qualify as "plain" or "semi-ugly". These babes look stunning up close and personal
+ Very well designed and great looking site as indicated above. Looks aren't everything though (not even in porn), and you also get model pages, photo and video sections, rating system, slideshow feature as mentioned and a general layout made with easy navigation in mind. One thing lacking is a seperation of the the content in solo, lesbian and guy/girl, but that's partly an indication of how little you get of the two latter categories.
I guess category seperation could prove useful, possibly even necessary as the site grows larger though, assuming they don't plan on sticking entirely with solo girl content in the future
+ The updates section of the site uses a neat calendar interface, and at least at the moment you can see a preview thumbnail pic of all updates coming in the next three months no less
Cons
- While the scores, the list of pros above and the raw numbers in the info boxes should tell you that Xisty is a great site, it's probably safe to say that it has its work cut out for it if it wants to compete with an older and much larger site like Twistys.
The two are for a large part very similar in the type of content they offer (Twistys isn't sticking to mostly Eurohotties though, but has a lot of babes and pornstars from around the world as well, but we can probably assume that the model roster at Xisty will grow over time), and since both at least partially make use of non-exclusive content I even ran into a fair number of photosets and videos you can find at both sites (given the consistency in style and quality of particularly the photo content at Xisty, I won't rule out that they might actually be shooting all their own content and Twistys are buying/licensing some sets from them, and downscaling the quality. That's just a guess though).
Xisty does have a few particularly strong points as pointed out under the pros above, like the higher video quality and the extremely impressive photo resolution, both the regular 1800 as well as the 3000 pixel versions, so it's not just a simple case of saying "pick Twistys, it's bigger". Xisty definately deserves a visit, and the extensive tour should give you a very good idea of what you can expect in the member area (assuming I didn't do my job well enough with this review)
(Member area screenshots)
Click here to visit Xisty
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95+ Excellent
85-94 Very Good
75-84 Good
65-74 Acceptable
-64 Don't Bother
Full rating info here
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