Bel Ami Online
site reviews > Twinks & Boys > Bel Ami Online
Reviewed on 23 Sep 2008
When looking for, or asking about, quality twink sites one name is going to come up over and over again - George Duroy's Bel Ami Online. It's one of the best gay sites out there that combines hot Eastern and Central European guys between 18 and around 24, a beautifully designed tour, tons of member features and a fairly high standard for quality.
Let me preface the rest of the review by saying that I do love the content inside Bel Ami Online. It's good quality and the models are very hot, but I do have a fair amount of complaints, mostly regarding the member area navigation. There are many different areas that you can explore at Belami Online. It takes a bit to get used to as it is mostly flash based and very odd. This is one of those sites that tries way too hard to get into the web 2.0 style of things. That is, if you opt for the advanced version of the site. The basic layout gives you three tabs - model, video, and images. You might lose some of the neat features, but I much prefer surfing it this way, so if you log in and things are confusing, just click the word Basic where it says Switch to BASIC on the upper right of the page.
Now let's talk about updates. While there are no update dates inside Bel Ami Online, when you're in advanced mode, there is a page called Updates that shows the last 180 days' of updates. I counted 170 total, which means that Bel Ami either updates frequently or updates with several videos and pic sets at a time when they do update. Either way, members get plenty of new stuff to check out. You can browse through the content via the models, the various video categories (if you're in advanced), and the photo sections and related categories (again, in advanced only).
There are 1600 movies available at Bel Ami Online in both Flash and WMV formats, and they're pretty good quality, too. They're shown at 682x512 and the WMVs have a 1.02 Mbps - the Flash videos appear to be similar in quality. You don't get many viewing options here, though - it's either watch the full scene flash, or watch the full scene WMV. No matter what connection you have, be prepared for a wait as the download speed is almost dialup slow - I couldn't get over 100k downloads and another reviewer couldn't get over 60k.
I had no problem watching the videos, but they do use DRM and it's takes one more click than most DRM plus there's an ad on each DRM screen offering to sell you the DVD. Btw, another Gaydemon reviewer uses Vista and could not get the downloaded videos to work at all - the vids would go through the DRM license process but only play sound. That reviewer had no problem with the Flash videos, though.
There are 816 photo sets, and while the pics are wonderful, I have to say that I really do not like their gallery setup at all. It's flash and a pain to use, plus the only way you can download pictures is to get the entire zip set. With that said, when you download the pictures in the zip files, they're around 666x1024, although if you opt to view the pics on the site, they're shown smaller at around 375x570. There's also a set of screencaps that comes with each video inside the site. These pics are shown at 640x360 and are pretty good quality for screencaps. There's not many for each video, but it is a way to preview the action.
Bel Ami members get access to forums, special prices on their DVDs, and a rather entertaining blog called Johan's Journal. . Unlike many porn site blogs, this one actually does do a great job at keeping you entertained and really letting you get into the heads of the people behind the site.
Belami Online delivers absolutely delicious twinks that are possibly the hottest and horniest I've seen at any site. I would be hard pressed to find a guy I didn't like there, to be perfectly honest! The videos can be streamed or downloaded, although the downloadable videos do use DRM. The site navigation is frustrating, to say the least, and unless you are browsing in basic mode, it's confusing and not at all user-friendly. On the other hand, the site gives tons of updates, although since they're not dated I can't say whether they add them one at a time or less frequently but in a larger batch. If you're looking for the sexiest eurotwinks anywhere in good quality downloadable content, you won't want to miss Bel Ami Online!
Things we liked:
- Exclusive content
- Gorgeous twinks
- Downloadable videos
- Big video and pic collection
- Large updates
Things we didn't like:
- Content not dated
- Slow download speeds
- Unintuitive navigation and odd features
- Site uses DRM
Membership prices: ( billing by CCBill Netbilling )
- Trial: $19.95 (10 days, recurring at $34.95 monthly)
- Monthly: $34.95 (recurring every 30 days)
- Quarterly: $79.95 (90 days, recurring $34.95 monthly)
- Half year: $149.70 (6 months, recurring $34.95 monthly)
Click here to visit Bel Ami Online
medvidek | 29 Aug 2008
My rating:
don't know what is up with the other guys... there is a download zip file function for all images on the site... just click and all images are on your hard drive
Duncan Watts | 14 Jun 2008
My rating:
As has already been stated, this site is stingy and gives you nothing for your money. Not even able to download photos, let alone videos. Poor value. I don't recommend it.
some guy | 11 Dec 2007
My rating:
er, the review mentions (unlike the one I read before joining) that you CANT DOWNLOAD PHOTOS. Buyer beware and they wouldnt give me a refund either. great quality but stingy, also BAD navigation so it's hard to find stuff. Don't join.
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