28 May 2008
Pride Vault
site reviews > Videos > Pride Vault
Pride Vault is a gay megasite that offers access to 12 "premium gay sites". They list all the sites on their tour with a focus on exclusive content, HD video and regular updates. This is where I got confused, because one of the "gay" sites offered on the tour is actually a bisexual site, and 3 more of the sites are DVD archives, which means they don't offer exclusive content. Since I was feeling impatient today, I logged into the member area to figure it all out. What members get access to isn't exactly what the tour would lead one to believe - but on the other hand, the member area does have a LOT of content, so let's take a closer look.
First of all, there are 10 sites listed in the member area of Pride Vault, not 12. Somehow the 2 Brazilian sites got left out. Site members do get access to a LOT of content, but while most of it is non-exclusive DVD content, there is plenty of it. There are over 770 DVD titles adding up to way over 2500 full scenes, but there are only 60 exclusive episodes spread throughout 6 exclusive sites.
The exclusive sites that make up the Pride Vault lineup are Straight Fuck Fest, Boys Lick Ass, Married Men Exposed, Cum Filled Boys, Panty Ass Boys and Straight Cumswap. The DVD sites are Pride Mov, Gay Download Key, Bi Archive and Twink Mov.
While Pride Vault claims to update all their sites regularly, this isn't exactly the case. The Newest Content page shows that the Pride Vault exclusive sites haven't updated in over a month, and a peek at one of the DVD sites shows it hasn't updated in almost a month. Luckily for members, one of the DVD sites, Pride Mov, updates with a new DVD every day and the bi site and the twink site update every week, so members get access to 9 new DVDs each week.
Now let's talk videos. The 60 exclusive videos are WMVs shown at 622x350 with about an 1.7 Mbsp bitrate. These look good and can be downloaded as clips or full scenes, and there's a smaller size available as well as a smaller streaming Flash version. The DVD sites offer their videos at 640x480 with a bitrate of between 750k and 1.4 Mbps. These are also WMVs and are offered in a smaller size as well. All the movies in all the sites are downloadable and use no DRM, which is always a plus. Quality varies from good to amateur and quality is especially variable in some of the older DVDs where the quality of the original source material may not be the best. I didn't see any of the HD videos promised on the join page, but there could be a few I missed.
One of the biggest issues I had with Pride Vault is the advertising. In addition to the large and intrusive ads on the member home page, some of which could easily be mistaken for content thumbs, one of the DVD sites - Pride Mov - also has a large thumb ad on their member home page. And it probably goes without saying that the Find A Date link leads to a service members must pay to use. Also worth mentioning is that I did find an issue on the join page, where there are 2 pre-checked offers, so be sure to read those. And lastly, the $1 trial rebills at a full $10 a month more than the regular monthly membership.
If you're looking for a site offering tons of downloadable DVD content plus a collection of 60 exclusive vids, Pride Vault could be just what you're looking for. While the member area didn't live up to all the tour claims, there are still over 700 full DVDs to watch and 3 of the DVD sites update regularly, although the exclusive sites are small and haven't updated in a month. All the videos in all the sites are downloadable and don't use DRM.
Things we liked:
- Downloadable videos
- No DRM used
- Some exclusive content
- Large DVD collection
- DVDs updated daily
Things we didn't like:
- Exclusive sites aren't very big
- Exclusive sites haven't updated in a month
- Some ads easy to mistake for content
- Large intrusive ads on member home page
- Pre-checked offer on join page
Click here to visit Pride Vault
Membership prices ( CCBill Paycom )
- Trial: $1.00 (2 days, recurring every 30 days at $39.91)
- Monthly: $29.91 (recurring every 30 days)
- Quarterly: $59.95 (non recurring? unable to find out!)
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