High-Def Movie Pass review

Reviewed by J., 2006-07-13
Categories: Videos, Movies, Babes, Pornstar, Blowjob, Hardcore, Butts
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Review summary: High-Def Movie Pass claims to be a revolution in resolution and sure enough the videos are bigger than on most other sites. But to call it true High Definition would be stretching it. The action is fine but quality of the movies varies too much.

Intro promises

- "...uncensored adult videos in high definition!"

First impression

If I were a more masochistic person, I would count the number of times the site's front pages mentions "high definition," "hi-def" or "HD." But I'm not, so suffice it to say it's a lot. The layout is basic and effective - very crisp and clean looking photos drive the point home - "This stuff is gonna look good!" They make a point of saying that HD video is so high quality that current DVD technology can't even hold the amount of information required in an HD video. This is true, but what they don't mention is that, unless you have an HDTV, you can't actually see HD either. Unless your video card has HDMI or component outputs (don't look- it doesn't). That's not to say you won't be able to tell the difference, of course- less compression means less ghosting and artifacts such as pixelization and muddy blacks. They've got an HD video sample and it looks pretty damn good, so I'm looking forward to see what they have in store for us.

Our opinion

Well the main members' page is an explosion of thumbnails. There are at least 50 images here... it's a bit busy. It wouldn't be a problem except that, between the thumbnails for exclusive stuff for the site, there are thumbs for external links to bonus content. There's a place for that stuff, but the middle of the front page is not it. The result is a confusing cacophony of images that took me several minutes to figure out. At the top you've got a banner for the site and a navigation bar. Below that are links to what I assume are their three newest video updates. Then some "Featured HD content" links. Then some "recent updates" which are not the same as those listed above. Then more "Featured bonus content." Then the "Archives." Then links to some "Free Sex shows!" If you got bored reading this, I assure you that seeing it is no more exciting. Simply put, this layout just isn't simple enough. I'm not completely against having links to bonus content on the main page, but the exclusive content should certainly come first and said content should certainly be organized in such a manner that the user knows what's new. Plus, since there are no dates on any of these, I'm not sure how often the site gets updated. I came back a couple of times over the course of a couple of weeks and found new stuff each time, so I would imagine you could count on at least one per week.

Interestingly, this main page is the ONLY way to view the available video sets. So, assuming the images closest to the top are the newest, I click one of the girls' thumbnails and am quite relieved to find the video selection page for each site quite streamlined in comparison to the main page (though you still get a "Free sex shows!" banner at the bottom). I was bummed to find a lack of standardization on the video sizes and formats. I was hoping the technical aspects of the site would redeem it a bit, but I hardly know where to begin! Most updates are viewable or downloadable in sections or as a complete video- though, to download the sections, you must first load the viewable version's page, which is a bit annoying. Some videos are all WMV format (no word on Mac compatibility), some all MOV and some are available in both formats. Some are available in a High or Medium version, while some include only a Low and a High or don't include a listing of the quality at all! It's really quite annoying. And, since I don't know what order the videos were released in, I can't tell you which ones are the newest and are most likely to be the new standard for the site. Anyway, I'll ignore the low and medium speed formats since the only real reason to be on this site is the high quality stuff, but the fact that I ran into a few videos with dead links doesn't bode well for any of the content.

The high speed WMV format is of HD dimensions (1280x720) and is compressed at about a 4Mbps bitrate. Now, they made a big deal about these being "true HD" but unless Windows Media Player found a way to scan progressively, these are actually 720i and not 720p, (or, even worse, 720p played back at 720i which would explain the choppiness evident in some of the videos) making it not exactly "true HD." Plus the videos are compressed- probably at around the DVCPRO codec at best, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was the HDV codec that records highly compressed "HD" onto MiniDV tapes (you can buy these cameras at Best Buy). The reason I mention all this stuff is that, while these videos look very good, they don't look perfect. I also had some weird scanning problems with the WMV format on my television (I have s-video out to my TV from my PC)- I've not had issues with other sites or content. There's fuzziness and pixelization both on my monitor and my television. The same goes for the high speed Quicktime which, at a whopping 1.46 GB for a 25 minute vid, should look like the second coming of Our Lord and Savior, looks... well... good. Not great. Not perfect. And, get this: it's 640x480 and compressed with an old Sorensen codec! Not only is it not HD, it's not even true Standard Definition with that old school compression!

A download manager is recommended since there was trouble completing downloads. You don't want to risk a 1 GB+ file being cancelled halfway through!

At this point, I don't know what else to say about the site. The content is standard "cameraman says mean shit to girls, his friend fucks them then cums on their faces" stuff that sites like Bang Bros and Mikes Apartment have long since beaten into the ground. The only draw to this site is the HD and this site, as far as I can tell, is HD-less. You get the hour-long HD-sized downloads for sub-SD video. There's lots of third party bonus content available here, which ranges from decent (featuredmemarea.com stuff) to the ridiculous (CandidCam's "Fugly Flashers" comes to mind). This site is also a portal to a few HD-themed sites, including HighDefAssFucking, HighDefBlowjobs, and HighDefCumSwap all with the same clumsy layout and quality of videos. In fact, several of the videos are doubled up here.

Conclusion

High-Def Movie Pass is a one trick pony with a bad leg. Without the anchor of actual HD, this site doesn't nearly hold its own, especially for the outrageous price. There will be a time when porn is available in HD on the net, but for this site, that time is not now. Whether they're just out to capitalize on the HD craze or simply don't know what constitutes true high definition is not clear, but it's obvious to me that this site is worth neither your money nor your time. Yes, the videos look very good. But you can get more content more quickly elsewhere for less money.

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Total average: 78.3/100      Our score: 6.0/10

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