With over 4,000 titles in tons of different categories,
NakedSword joins the ranks of competitive online gay DVD rental sites. So what makes it different? Let's take a look.
Because NakedSword offers the pay-per-view option, anyone can step inside their virtual video store and browse the selections (you do have to register, though).
Each video has nice thumbnails of each video cover. Though the navigation differs depending on how you choose to browse the videos (more on that later), generally you just click on the cover to see screencaps from different scenes-- nice to know what you're getting into before you buy. NakedSword also provides a short summary for each video for ease of navigation.
Videos on NakedSword are available for streaming or download (for 48 hours). Streaming video sizes depend on which player you're using. Real Player comes in three sizes: 56K, 350K, and 700K. Windows Media comes in 56K, 384K, and 700K.
There's also a “multi-rate” streaming option. Downloads are in Windows Media at sizes between 500K - 1500K. Of course, they offer a convenient option to buy the video instead. The pay-per-views that I looked at were either $12.95 or $14.95 per download and you only keep it for 48 hours-- frankly, you might as well buy it for that price.
The video quality is fairly good, though you get the expected graininess and pixelation when streaming. Also keep in mind that downloading a full-length movie is going to take a long, long (long) time at 400-ish megs.
There are more catches. Not all movies are available in both WMV and Real Player. Not all are available for download. Some aren't available for anything other than the $12.95 or $14.95 for the 48 hour rental.
Also, on my OS, I ran into several problems with NakedSword's DRM. I had to install some Windows DRM patches, and some other 'mystery' file I had to download when I tried to stream several video(the prompt didn't tell me what-- it just told me I needed to download it . . . and then update it) I also had loads of problems with downloading the videos to my hard drive.
Because the members' area doesn't look any different than the non-members' area, it's pretty confusing to even know if you're allowed to download, stream, or rent any given video.
NakedSword has flashy graphics and Flash animation, and nice shots of naked body parts for the eye-candy factor. But often, it seemed that the graphics were given more attention than the overall usability of the site.
Some good navigation points on NakedSword, though: They do have a nice “studio search” function, so if you tend to prefer All Worlds over Man Hunter, it's very easy to find those titles.
NakedSword also has an option to view videos by theme, such as bears, leather, Latino, 'fetish' (not specified), and a few others. And even from those results, you can sort the videos by name, studio, type of download (member or pay-per-view), or most recent.
NakedSword took some good concepts from good sites, and seemed to adopt some negative concepts from other sites. There are some nice navigational features. The option to view as either a member or pay-per-viewer is very user friendly. And the 4,000+ titles is more than a bonus.
However, I was pretty turned off by all the booby traps I kept falling into. The DRM issues, the mystery downloads, and the inability to stream and/or download some videos were a real pain. And at $12.95-$14.95 for a 48 hour download, it's hardly a bargain. Might as well buy the video.
