The VideoBox Blog

When I started working at Videobox as a software engineer almost 2 years ago, I was really looking forward to working on mobile video.  The future was now.  Netflix on mobile was a year away.  Hulu on phones cost extra.  But I could see it coming.  What did we have to offer?  Not much, it turned out.  We had some sort of “beta” experiment going on, but it felt like an unfinished product.  I did sort of have the ability to watch porn, but just not my porn.  I wanted better.  It never passed what I called “the bathroom test”.

Introducing the new-new m.videobox.com!  Now you can see your complete stash of dvds, scenes AND movies!

The performance and video quality has been drastically improved.  And the UI has been fully tested on both Android and Apple devices.  No flash. Just great streaming video.  Anywhere.

Now With Video Format Switching!

The performance is going to be much better on WiFi connections as opposed to 3G cell networks.  I did my best to detect network latency and toggle between two formats, which are both encoded in H.264:

• WiFi Network Format: 640×480 @1200KBs
• 3G Network Format: 320×240 @300KBs

So pull out your phone and head to the bathroom.  You’ll be glad you did.  I guarantee it.

–Ben

VideoBox contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I owned a Roku. I replied no, but was intrigued by zapp’s blog posts here and here. The exchange went something like this:

VideoBox: We’re sending you a Roku, want you to install the VideoBox app, and write a blog article detailing the procedure.

rope: Me?

VideoBox: Yes.

rope: You do realize I’m the least tech savvy person in the universe?

VideoBox: Exactly! If you can manage it, anyone can manage it. Do you have a high speed internet connection?

rope: Yes.

VideoBox: Do you own a television manufactured post 1955?

rope: Yes.

VideoBox: See, it’s easy. Just hook up the Roku to your home network.

rope: What’s a home network?

VideoBox: (stifling laughter) You’ll figure it out.

rope: Will you also be sending me a 1080p LCD HDTV so I can fully immerse myself in the Roku experience?

VideoBox: Goodbye.

Come inside and I’ll walk you through the Roku setup and VideoBox app installation. It actually is easy, and provides great entertainment. I would encourage everyone to consider a Roku purchase.

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Hey Everyone,

In the spirit of less text and more show, here are some photos from our final day at AEE.



Kristina Rose



Annie Cruz with Alec Knight



Rachel Starr



Tory Lane



Diamond Kitty



Trina Michaels



Bree Olson



Tara Lynn Fox



Tiffany Star



Gianna Michaels



Gina Lynn


We’ve got a lot more footage to come, so stay tuned and remember to check back regularly for more photos and videos from this years Adult Entertainment Expo!!

- Phil

Hey Videoboxers,

Phil here reporting to you guys from the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. We’ve got a ton of awesome footage and photos to share with you guys, but for now I’m going to share some highlights from Day 1 and 2.

Day 1 – VIP Bowling Party with Digital Sin/New Sensations




Kagney Linn Karter Hitting The Lanes with a Disney Princess Bowling Ball!!





Kagney Linn Karter was bowling right next to us, she was very sweet and took a picture with us.



The beautiful Courtney Cummz!



I caught Alexis Texas just before she left and jumped in for a photo! =)



Just before we called it a night, I ran into Steve Holmes at the circle bar (inside the Venetian).


Day 2 – AEE Convention


Our good friend Annie Cruz came with us to the convention and did a killer job as the Videobox Hostess. Here are some of the stars we talked to:



Allison Moore



Dana DeArmond



Joanna Angel



Nina Hartley



Kagney Linn Karter



Sophie Dee



Jynx Maze



Kelly Madison



Zoe Voss



Cali Lee



Monique Alexander



Francesca Le



Phoenix Marie


So far I’ve had an amazing time at AEE! Thank you to all the stars that took the time to chat with us. I’m excited for Day 3, so be sure to check back on the blog tomorrow night when we close out our final night in Fabulous Las Vegas! Cheers!

- Phil

Hey everyone,

We are aware that many of you are having problems downloading custom clips from WMV files. Some of the common issues we’ve observed include:

1. Custom clips downloads end up downloading an entire movie
2. Windows Media Player gives an error when trying to stream a custom clip
3. Custom clip playback issues

We’ve been working tirelessly to resolve this issue for the last week, and I’m happy to report that we’ve found a solution! We’ll be pushing out this fix and re-encoding the affected files. We expect all instances of this problem to be absolved by the end of this week. If any of you experience further issues downloading custom clips from WMV after the end of this week, please report your issues to Customer Support. In the meantime, you can continue downloading custom clips using the new custom clip method and downloading your clips in H.264 format. When using the new custom clip mode, simply select either the “iPhone” or “H264″ file format. Again, I apologize for the recent issues with WMV files — we definitely hear your reports of such problems, and our main priority is to ensure that you have the best user experience on Videobox.

Cheers!
Phil

Today, July 1st, 2010, marks both Canada Day, and the day VideoBox uploaded its 50,000th scene (includes premium channel scenes). Now I believe every July 1st is Canada Day, whereas the site’s accomplishment will presumably be a one time event. Congratulations to everyone connected with VideoBox for this momentous achievement. Congratulations as well to member mitchrocn22 who wins our 50,000 scene contest with his prediction of June 29, 2010. A free one year subscription and a VideoBox mug will be awarded to Mitch. Special mention to member polksalad1, who appeared to be in line for the victory, until a site cleansing pushed the winning date back a few days. Polk, I have imposed upon site management, and you will be awarded a consolation prize. I am not privy to the specifics, but you and Mitch will both be contacted with all the details in the near future. Aside from the shared date, what do 50,000 VideoBox scenes and Canada Day have in common? I haven’t the vaguest idea. But to celebrate the occasion, here are a dozen of my favorite site scenes featuring Canadian girls. If you have any particular “Canadian” scenes which have caught your fancy, please disclose them to the membership by leaving a reply to the post.

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…or are you just happy to be a member of VideoBox?

Yes, as the title of this post implies, we’re rolling out mobile device support. Now, as a member of videobox, you can enjoy the pleasures of our content from not only the comfort of your desktop or laptop computer, but from your mobile device as well.

We’re literally putting porn in the palm of your hand.

Starting today, point your mobile device to m.videobox.com. Login and start experiencing the true rewards of one-handed browsing. We’re supporting the current Android OS, The Palm product line, the iPhone and iPod Touch, and of course, the iPad.

We’re calling this beta because we’re still working behind the scenes to improve and expand the user experience.

• We are still working on and definitely plan to evolve the “Favorites” implementation to support all your saved clips and videos.
• We intend to add additional details about the scene along side the preview image.

If you’ve got a mobile browser in your phone, whip it out, check it out and send any bugs, enhancement requests or suggestions our way.

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In early December 2009, we posted a contest to the blog, with the challenge being to predict the date that scene # 50,000 would arrive at VideoBox. The original article can be found here. The very next update to the site (just minutes away) will push us over 49,000 scenes (includes premium channel scenes). A VideoBox mug and a free one year membership await the winner. Let’s see if we can zero in on the expected winning date, and separate the contenders from the pretenders.

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Comedian George Carlin did a now-infamous bit in 1972 called Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television where he used all of the words that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided that you can’t say on TV (shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits if you’re not familiar).

Sort of like the FCC, adult payment processors have a “blacklist” of words that can’t be used on a site that accepts their payment methods. Consequently, you can’t use any of them in a comments, descriptions or clip names on the site. If you try to post one in a comment, the comment will simply disappear.

The list is mainly made up of terms having with ladies who are not of legal age engaging in sexual activity, but there are some that may surprise you – and explain why your comments disappear for no apparent reason.

Pissed – Yes, pissed is the past-tense of piss and piss can mean pee, but it’s still not clear to me why pee is even that bad. Regardless, if you say something like “I’m so pissed that Daisy Marie got those hideous bolt-ons!” your comment will vanish into the ether.

Brother/Sister/Father/Mother/Son/Daughter – I realize that this is probably targeted at incest, but c’mon. They’re not even consistent! You can say mom or dad, but not mother or father? An example of a comment that would trigger this rule might be “Can you believe Jewel De’Nyle’s mother got into porn? She’s a swamp hag.”

Asleep/Sleeping/Sleep – I guess using these words in a porn context can be rapey, but it seems a bit over the top to me. The result, in any case, is that an innocent sentence like this wouldn’t make the cut: “Shucks, I’d sure like to sleep with Jenna Haze.”

Alcohol/Drunk – This is another one that can be rapey in the wrong context but doesn’t really accomplish much. You can talk about wanting to ply a young lady with beer or wine in order to force her to have sex with you (none of those words are on the list), but you can’t say something like “You would have to be drunk to think that Chasey Lain looks even semi-fuckable these days.”

I hope this list will help guide you when writing comments or describing clips. If your posts continue to disappear even though you’re not using words on this list or talking about raping kids, my advice to you is to quit using racial slurs or talking about “kotoran,” which is a term you should not Google. Ever.

Hello Videoboxers,

As we continue to work aggressively on refining our website, improving its layout and providing functionality that gives you better-than-ever access to content that interests you, we want to proactively advise those of you still using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 that we are joining many high-profile technology companies in phasing out support for that browser.

We ask that you take a moment and update your browser to the current version of Internet Explorer, or — even better — download and install one of the other excellent, modern browsers currently available at no cost to you.

I’ve provided some links to downloads of these browsers at the bottom of this post.

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