Technology Leaders
So, what is hiding behind the slightly cryptic title of this page? Actually I just went with ambiguouity to make you look.
Joking aside, by technology leaders I am here referring to those porn sites that seem to have realized that a growing number of Internet surfers did in fact get rid of their slow and outdated dialup connections a while ago, and would prefer that those speedy broadband lines be put to good use with crystal clear full screen videos.
While an increasing number of sites are now catering to those needs with 640x480 video resolutions and occasionally even higher, coupled with high bitrates that ensures a crisp and clear picture, there are still many others that stick to appalingly low qualities like 320x240, 300-700 kbit that are entirely unsuitable for full screen viewing with a very blurry and pixilated picture.
That may have been acceptable a couple of years ago due to speed limitations, but no longer in my opinion - except as an additional option for those still not fortunate enough to be on broadband.
The sites listed below are those that go a step further than even those where video quality is generally pretty good. When I have reviewed multiple sites from the same company that all share the same video standards, they will be grouped together.
Update, January 30 2007: It seems I'm starting to run into sites with 640x480, 1000-2000 kbit videos on a fairly regular basis, and that's certainly a very good thing. Since the intention of this page was to list the sites that went above and beyond common standards, I've decided to raise the minimum requirements for being listed here. 640x480 is probably still some way from being the norm, but having something like 15-25% of the total number of reviews appear on this page doesn't seem quite right either.
So with that in mind, the new minimum requirements for being listed on the Technology Leaders page are videos (a significant part of them, not just the latest five or ten or so) at 720x480 (DVD resolution), 1500 kbit or, if photo content is a very significant part of what makes a specific site interesting, clear and sharp looking photos at at least 1800 pixels on the long side, and this quality has to apply to the vast majority of the photo collection.
Additionally in this last case, if there's a video collection on the site as well, the quality should be pretty decent, something like at least 480x360, 1000 kbit - but the decision to include one of those sites is bound to be a bit more subjective than for the video heavy sites.
Video Quality: 1920x1080, 8000 kbit
In late 2006, Ass Traffic boosted the video quality quite significantly since my original review, from a mediocre 448x336, 1400 kbit to a really great looking 960x540 or 960x576, 3000 kbit widescreen version plus a (4:3 format cropped) 640x480, 1500 kbit version if your Internet connection can't quite stomach those 700+ Mb downloads.
Photo quality has also been improved a lot - from around 680x1024 pixels to 1000x1500.
Prime Cups and Tamed Teens - two sites I've reviewed more recently from the same company, also feature the same high quality on all videos added since Fall 2006.
Now (late 2007) they've gone a step further with the latest few videos on the three sites - full 1080p HD at 8000 kbit. It's the best I've seen yet, but obviously entirely intended for members with a) a 1080p HDTV connected to your computer in one way or another, or a fairly large widescreen monitor running at at least 1680x1050, b) a very fast Internet connection, 30 minutes of video clocks in at 2.5 GB, c) a fairly powerful computer that can play these high resolution videos without stuttering (specific requirements are listed with the HD download links on the sites).
Don't worry if you can't quite match those requirements though - obviously the three lower qualities are still available.
Video Quality: 1440x1080, 8000 kbit
While the old 640x480, 2000 kbit videos at FTV Girls certainly don't look half bad, several of the competing sites in the toys/masturbation niche have been moving to 720p HD videos in 2007, so I guess it's no surprise that the people at FTV Girls have decided to do the same. And a nice surprise it is indeed.
With this move on their latest videos (HD option added in December 2007), they are not only matching nearly all other HD porn sites out there, but surpassing them.
The actual chosen HD format is a bit of an odd "sort of 1080p" thing. At 1440x1080 it's a 4:3 format, only it's really not - it shows as widescreen video with black bars at the top and bottom, but in full screen mode Windows Media Player matches the width to the width of your widescreen monitor (or HDTV) and crops out the black bars, leaving you with a widescreen video with an actual viewable pixel area of what must be around (according to my calculations) 1440x810.
Full 1080p HD it may not quite be, but coupled with the extremely high 8000 kbit bitrate, these new videos are nevertheless ultrasharp and utterly fantastic to watch on a large monitor or HDTV.
Video Quality: 1280x720, 5200 kbit
Both the babes and the video quality may be great at Glossy Angels (and the photo quality as well at 1333x2000 pixels), but the collection is currently very small for a site of this type and the updates aren't coming nearly fast enough to gain on the competition, so I'm probably gonna have to recommend you skip down to MC Nudes just below for an, in my opinion, vastly better take on the softcore babes niche, or a little bit further down to Xisty if you like your gorgeous naked babes to occasionally throw some toys, another girl or even a cock into the mix.
Video Quality: 1280x720, 4800+ kbit
While the spectacular softcore high res (up to 3320x5000 pixels) photography is probably the main attraction at MC Nudes, it certainly doesn't make the site any less interesting for fans of gorgeous, teasing, nude babes that their sizeable video collection is for the most part offered in full HD quality.
A really amazing site with technical quality to match the looks of the many stunning ladies.
Photo Quality: 1280x720, 4200 kbit
In May 2007 the video quality on two of the four weekly new videos at Xisty got a significant quality boost - from 640x480, 1400 kbit (still used on the other half of video updates) to full HD at 1280x720. The video collection is now also quite impressive in size, 281 10-20 minute videos (August 2007).
An equally interesting attraction at Xisty is likely to be the 725 photosets, like the videos all starring beautiful glamour babes, and all made to look nothing short of amazing thanks to not only an obviously skilled photographer, but also the high 1200x1800 pixel resolution and crisp, sharp colors that don't suffer from overcompression and subsequent quality loss.
An even larger (downright huge actually) 2000x3000 version is available for currently 49 of the 590 sets.
Video Quality: 1280x720, 4200 kbit
This hardcore guy/girl video site unfortunately only partially live up to its promising name. Out of a little over 60 videos, only 11 are actually in HD quality, and it looks like this small selection isn't really growing, as new video updates (and most of the collection in general) are released in 640x480 or 720x480, 1100-1300 kbit - a pretty far cry from HD, especially given the fairly low bitrates on these versions.
High Def Movie Pass also has a few other problems, like a monthly membership price that's $10 higher than the $30 usual and accepted "maximum price".
Video Quality: 1280x720, 4000+ kbit
The incredibly large multi niche site 1 By Day has joined the growning number of HD sites with its major site overhaul in mid 2007. While the quality - as you would expect - varies greatly on the older 2001 to mid 2007 content on the site, the already 350+ videos (790+ as I'm updating this a mere eight months later) on the new section of the site are all available in full 720p HD quality, plus an impressive lineup of lower quality options.
The new photo content looks fantastic as well, with the highest option at around 1330x2000 pixels.
Hands on Hardcore is a smaller (but by just about any definition of the word, still huge) site from the same company, featuring exclusively hardcore guy/girl content, including a lot of anal and double penetration videos and photosets.
DDF Busty is closer to 1 By Day in terms of the mix of solo, lesbian and hardcore guy/girl content - but around the same size as Hands on Hardcore - but as the name suggests, big and in some cases downright huge boobs are very much the main theme here.
Both Hands on Hardcore and DDF Busty feature the same high video and photo quality as 1 By Day, and introduced it in fact already back in late 2005, which must have made them some of the very first porn sites with HD video.
Video Quality: 1280x720, 4000 kbit
In Focus Girls and Only Cuties - the second and third sites from the Sapphic Erotica team - both offered 720p, 4000 videos right from the start, and since April 2008 Sapphic Erotica has moved to the same impressive quality. Not that the 960x540, 2000 kbit they has previously been using for a couple of years was anywhere near half bad.
Lower video qualities are obviously also available on all three sites if your Internet connection isn't quite up for those large HD downloads.
At around 2000x1300 pixels (plus two smaller sizes) - now also on all three sites - the photo content is also well worth mentioning here.
Video Quality: 1280x720, 3500+ kbit
It's early June 2007 and I'll just make this little addition to what I wrote below about ALS Scan a few months ago. Six of the 30 new videos released in May were in full HD quality, and it looks like we can expect a lot more of those in the future, though I'll refrain from speculating on how long it will take before all new videos are in HD.
As of late February 2007, ALS Scan has increased their video quality from an already very good 640x480, 1500 kbit to an even better 720x540, 1800-3000 kbit. As you can see, the bitrate varies somewhat (though even 1800 kbit looks great at the new higher resolution), but given that the upgraded quality has only been in effect for about a week at the time of writing, chances are they may still be trying to get the best balance between quality and file size.
In addition to the new high video quality, it's also worth mentioning that all recent photosets at ALS Scan are available in a huge 2700 pixel version - some of the latest even larger, like 3278x2122.
Video Quality: 1280x720, 3200-3700 kbit
Club Nella is the new official site of one my favourite lesbian babes over the last couple of years. At the time of my review, only a few months after the launch of the site, the collection of Nella videos and photosets is unfortunately still pretty small, but at least they've helped made up for that with an ample collection of content with other Czech babes.
The video quality of half of Nella's videos is amazing at 1280x720, usually 3700 kbit. For some reason they aren't quite as crystal clear as some of the HD videos I've seen on other sites, but that's nitpicking for sure. The rest of the videos on the site, both Nella's and the bonus videos, looks pretty great as well at resolutions ranging from 640x480 over 720x576 to 960x540 and bitrates usually between 1500 and 1800 kbit but going as high as 5000+.
Nella's photos are worth mentioning on this page as well because of their large 1662x2500 pixel resolution, and the rest of the sets at Club Nella aren't half bad either at 1600 pixels.
Video Quality: 1280x720, 3500 kbit
Upperclass Video is only the second site I've reviewed offering videos in full HD resolution - unfortunately so far only the most recent 16 of them, although the older ones still look good enough to just about squeeze in above the minimum requirements for a spot on this page.
While Upperclass Video doesn't quite have what it takes to rank among my own favourites, they certainly do deserve some credit for both the very high video quality as well as for the experimental and quite interesting split screen, dual camera angle system they use.
Video Quality: 720x480, 2900-4000 kbit
The 720x480 version was reserved for the slightly more expensive VIP membership until March 2007, but after they decided to stick with just one membership type (plus a few discounted multi-month options), this DVD quality version (full DVD resolution anyway, and the bitrate is high enough - usually varies between 2900 and 4000 - to make the videos look very close to the original DVDs) is now available to all members.
The monthly membership price has gone up a bit at VideoBox, but it's still cheaper than the vast majority of all porn paysites out there, and with the sheer size of the downloadable DVD collection and now this high video quality, it's definately my favourite among the DVD download sites - and at the time of writing (and quite possibly forever) the only site to receive a total score of 100/100 here at Mike's Porn Site Reviews.
Video Quality: 720x576 or 640x480, 2000 kbit
Viewed as a whole the technical quality at Teen Dreams is a bit of a mess to say the least. Given that this huge teen site dates back to '97 that's not really much a surprise though, I think I've yet to see a site go back and reencode hundreds of videos to bring them up to speed with current standards.
The quality has fortunately improved nicely over the years, and most of the latest videos look really great at either 640x480 (for the non-exclusive content) or 720x576 (most of the recent exclusive videos), both at 1500-2000 kbit, usually 2000.
The photo content is also worth mentioning, especially the exclusive sets, as they are often ultra sharp and as large as 1200x1800 pixels.
Video Quality: 720x540 or 640x480, 2000-2200 kbit
Teens site My Sexy Kittens has a few severe flaws that are worth considering before deciding to join, such as a steep membership price and a limit of only one running movie download at a time, but there's certainly nothing wrong with neither the babes, the hot solo, girl/girl or guy/girl sex, nor the video quality. Even the oldest videos dating back to late 2004 are in an excellent 640x480, 2000 kbit quality (although with a slightly more pixilated look than the more recent additions).
Video Quality: 720x480, 2000 kbit
Some months back the BrainPass network started offering all their new videos in a great looking 720x480, 2000 kbit version, and at their rather brisk update pace, it means that you can already find hundreds of videos across the network in this much improved quality (as a matter of fact, a bit of multiplication suggests that this number may already have exceeded one thousand).
On most of the older sites the majority (even all in some cases) of the video content is still only available in 480x360, 700 kbit - and I have my doubts whether the BrainPass guys will ever actually follow through on their original promise to reencode all those several thousand old videos, but this network is nevertheless still already offering more videos at DVD resolution than many other networks or sites could ever hope to offer at all.
Video Quality: 720x480, 1600 kbit
While the photo content (which by the way, is also very impressive at an approx. 1000x1600 pixel resolution) is probably more of an attraction at busty Latina babe Luna's site than the short softcore videos, it doesn't make it any less impressive that this amateur site has opted for such a high video quality.
Seems like these small independent sites are often a lot more interested in actually giving their members the best possible experience than the case is with the huge multi-million dollar porn site companies with 50+ more or less bland sites, where quantity over quality seems to be the mantra (if they even deliver in the former).
Photo Quality: 1333x2000 px photo resolution
Both video and photo quality is well above common standards on this impressive solo/lesbian teen site. The video quality hovers just around the lower limit for inclusion on this page, the resolution is impressive at 720x576, but the 1200-1500 kbit bitrate could have done with a slight boost to give some added sharpness. Calling it a disappointment would be quite an exaggeration though.
Photo quality is great as well, three sizes available, the largest 1333x2000 and good sharpness and clarity.
Photo Quality: 1360x2048 px photo resolution
Here are another two solo girl sites offering their many great looking photosets in a large 1360x2048 pixel version (downloadable in zip files, only the smaller 708x1066 version can be viewed online). The video quality is pretty damn good as well, 640x480, 1500 kbit.
The huge site clothing fetish site from the same company, Only Tease (around 250 models, nearly half a million photos and more than 700 videos), offers the same photo and video quality on all fairly recent content (from late 2005 and onwards).
Photo Quality: 1696x2544 px photo resolution
Yet another couple of solo girl sites with an impressive resolution on the photo content (it's amateur content though, so it might not look quite as neat as the flashy glamour style stuff from Xisty, Eve Angel, Mya Diamond and to a lesser extent the semi-pro looking photos from the Only Tease guys).
Unfortunately photo size and quality is one of the few things the Magic Geena and Magic Laura sites have going for them. The sites are small, the update schedule appears to be very slow and the video quality doesn't look nearly as good as you would expect from 640x480, 1900 kbit.
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