• SLR

  • AV1 Is Now Live on SexLikeReal!

Is there literally ANY baseline to a lifetime membership? Seems the only thing of which you're assured with a lifetime membership is a neat little username and password. So for now, downloads are being eliminated as part of the membership baseline. Because of the immense improvements and costs associated with a new codec. There is LITERALLY nothing preventing them from next eliminating free streaming as part of the baseline membership. Because, you know, new codec and all... Then, as I said, you are left with your neat little username and password.

This is really a sham and a scam being perpetrated on your paying members. People paid for their memberships with the knowledge they would have access to downloads as part of that membership. To eliminate those is literally the definition of bait and switch. But the tone of your posts has shown what you think of your paying members.

Plenty of new fish in the sea, right?

    sportclimber I'm not sure the new encodings are even an upgrade. It seems like they are just using the nvidia hardware accelerated encoding av1_nvenc which has NEVER been known for good quality. Just good speed. I think the x265 encodings may have been better quality.

      doublevr Streaming ot downloads is like all-in-one headsets to wired, around 90/10.

      You guys are fighting the losing battle.

      If there are so few people downloading, why kneecap us? It shouldn't make much difference to your budget to keep providing original quality downloads

      If people want to pay for AV1 downloads they can go ahead, charge for the cutting edge stuff since it costs more resources to create

          jommy Does it cost more resources? I doubt it does. The AV1 encodes are using the built in encoding on nvidia cards. I'm pretty sure that's less taxing than what they had been doing. And that's the insensitive they have for the change. It's not an upgrade for users, it's a more efficient process for them.

          If you were software encoding AV then yes that would be taxing. But using the built in hardware encoder on an nvidia card? No I don't think so.

              onyxone

              My theory is that they likely sold quite a few lifetime subs aka the people invested in High Quality Original Downloads. Now that source of revenue has dried up and PPV is the only way to make that demographic keep paying more.

                  harigeharry

                  "It just doesn't make any sense, I don't believe it will return any income to SLR and it WILL eat resources. Just stop all that crap and focus on the core business, the reason that we're here: high quality SLR VR originals."

                  Many a businesses have died due to Hubris and not listening to their core audience, pray it doesn't happen to SLR.

                      petex67 Well I do think highly of @doublevr, I believe that if a decision turns out the wrong way, he'll see it in time and reverse it before any real damage is done. I strongly doubt his 2D decision though but enough has been said about it, we'll just have to see how it goes.

                          You simply cannot offer a lifetime subscription, take features away, and then charge extra for them. No sensible person considers this acceptable. If you want to take away original downloads for new subscriptions going forward, then, while I still don't like that, it's at least not taking away something someone already paid for. Active subscriptions should retain the ability to download original quality, at least until the next renewal date (for non-lifetime subscriptions).

                            harigeharry

                            If the high quality SLR videos continue and continue to improve then to me even though I am not a 2D VR fan I will glady except the trade off.

                            Right now the SLR videos are getting super sharp tothe point that non PT still look pretty darn good processed as AI PT. The colors are deeper and crisper.

                            For me the name of the game is total immersion and they are pushing forwards again towards this and not backwards.

                                PaulBlart Thing is, if you bought a subscription a month ago you thought you were paying for HBR files. Then they take those away and give you 'free' flat video's instead, something you're absolutely not interested in. How is that even fair?

                                    harigeharry transcoded 8K downloads used by majoring of users are there all the way.
                                    Things have to change. PPV will be also coming with AI script where available
                                    Should be a nice upgrade for those who are into it.

                                      harigeharry

                                      I hear you. Ill let DoubleVR or someone else respond to that aspect of it but as far as creating the ultimate immersive videos at least recently it has been more steps forward than backwards..

                                        sportclimber

                                        So for now, downloads are being eliminated as part of the membership baseline. Because of the immense improvements and costs associated with a new codec.

                                        I've read somewhere that companies distributing video content using AVC and HEVC codecs have to pay royalties to MPEG LA.

                                        AV1 was developed by Alliance for Open Media (Google, Netflix, Amazon, etc,) to be royalty free alternative to HEVC.

                                        I would assume using AV1 would lower the costs, instead of increasing it.

                                            mirdumar

                                            I mean if they are switching to AV1, they could replace the HBR HEVC with HBR AV1, nobody will mind that. They are completely eliminating the HBR option which is the problem since that's what a lot of us joined SLR for.

                                              doublevr

                                              doublevr If we lose some random complainers for rising the bar it's okay

                                              Holy shit I'm dying lol. I know stuff like this rubs some people the wrong way but I think it's great. I'm glad you have a vision and are making it happen.

                                              I do understand the frustration for those affected by the decision to remove the HBR original downloads, but I can't imagine there are a lot of them. I used to download a lot of my favorite videos (I have ~ 3TB) and was annoyed when the download limit was imposed. Even then though, I couldn't justify downloading the original files because of their huge size. I'm guessing that the majority of people who care that much about peak quality are the same people who would pay extra to get it, while 99% of the customer base doesn't care and just wants to watch some cute naked girls in VR.

                                              I mean, these forums are in no way representative of the general customer base. I visit occasionally and it's always the same people on here. Just because there's like 20 people complaining about losing a feature, it doesn't mean SLR is going bankrupt. And those who are saying that they're ending their subscriptions... ok? That was always an option. Most people just cancel subscriptions when they aren't getting what they want. They don't make entitled posts on niche forums. Again, I do understand the frustration but there's constructive criticism and then there's whining.

                                              So I just want to take a moment and say thanks to the SLR team. This is by FAR the best pornsite I've ever used. In fact, it's the only one that I've felt compelled to subscribe for more than a month or two at a time (I'm yearly). The fact that you have your own video player is awesome. I know Heresphere might be a technical marvel (and I used it for years on my pc) but I sincerely prefer DeoVR. The layout and usability is just way better for anyone who's not meticulously adjusting the settings. Being able to one click AI passthrough is just chef's kiss.

                                              The commitment to trying new things is what I appreciate about SLR. I thought passthrough was whatever when it was coming out, but now that I have a Quest 3, holy shit. Passthrough is most certainly the future. And the fact that AI passthrough is available on every video I watch is absolutely incredible and worth every cent of my subscription. It's not perfect, but it's currently the worst it will ever be. And as long as it's good enough to convince the lizard part of your brain that there actually is a naked girl on your bed, that's what matters to me.

                                              Aaaaand I'm super excited to see if SLR can get involved with guassian splatting. If SLR can do what BraindanceVR is doing or even make something better, we will all be living in the future.

                                              All in all, I'm super excited to see what's coming in the next few years. It's great that you have a vision and I wish you nothing but the best.

                                                    Thogapotomus It's great that you have a vision

                                                    The vision is making as much money as possible. You are delusional if you think it's about anything else.

                                                    If the company wants to create something new and charge more for that, fine. But to take away something I've already paid for is wrong. It's not a vision, it's a scam.

                                                        onyxone Well, nothing wrong with making as much money as possible, in fact, every company should maximize its profits for its shareholders. But selling a subscription and then take away parts of that after you've sold that subscription is a scam indeed. Kinda sounds harsh but I don't see how you can sugar coat it. You sell a service and after you've received the money you deliver a downgraded version of the service you were selling. Like people asked here rightly, how is this even legal? And what stops them from putting everyhing beyond 4k VR after a double paywall? I mean now it's the HBR version, but what's next? Like somebody said above, what stops them from stripping down your rights to just a forum login and putting EVERYTHING behind a double paywall?

                                                        But yeah just like @Thogapotomus said, what else can we do than complain, we're just a few forum users here anyway. Nobody is going to start legal action against SLR of course. So we just b*tch a bit about it here. People who have a monthly/yearly subscription can stop but the lifetime guys can't do much at all. I guess that's the risk of taking a lifetime subscription.