rerun119 That's really surprising. Have you never gone to a scene page on the website and clicked the buttons?

      Let's explore further how this current SLR non-thumbnail world can be inefficient and/or misleading when trying to determine the content of a given scene...

      Hmmm, "Melissa In Your Room". That seems like a nice bedroom scene. Let's check it out.

      https://cdn-vr.sexlikereal.com/images/55536/vr-porn-Melissa-In-Your-Room-AV-cover-app.jpg

      That sure seems like its going to be a "gym" or "workout" theme to me--what happened to the bedroom?. Probably a solo vid too because there's no other person in the cover photo, right?

      Let's hover over the thumbnail and watch the preview.

      https://cdn-vr.sexlikereal.com/preview/14x1/56102_300p.mp4
      * Note the above isn't cropped like the hover previews are. In the hover preview there's no other person to be seen.

      Well, all I can see is Melissa, so this reinforces that its a solo scene...with maybe some simulated sex.

      Melissa is looking hot so let's take a look at the scene page.

      https://i.pstorage.space/i/0bpZQ5bAd/original_Melissa_in_your_gym.jpg

      Ugh, WALLOFTEXT. TL;DR.
      Skip over the Video Specifications because not-a-nerd.
      Oh, there's some tags. "Blow Job"? I thought this was Solo. "Cowgirl", "Reverse Cowgirl", "Cumshots" Waitaminute--all this wasn't in the hover preview. Let's check the Photos...

      https://i.pstorage.space/i/k81J931wL/original_Melissa_in_your_gym_NONPOV.jpg

      Well, now I'm really confused. Is this alpha passthrough or what? And what is up with the gym? Oh, look there's a dick--I guess its not Solo. Wait, why am I seeing all this man body...this must be Non-POV.

      This would be so much easier if we had like a collection of screenshots from the video itself so we could quickly see what the POV was, what positions, what the background is, etc.

      I guess we have to start the video in the browser in order to figure out whats what with this vid._

      Buffering...buffering. Ok, no gym.
      Fast-forward. Well, it starts POV. Still looks Solo though.
      Fast-forward. It looks like she's giving a blowjob but I can't see the dick. Is this simulated sex?
      Fast-forward. Reverse cowgirl. Still can't see the penetration...must be simulated sex.
      Fast-forward. Cowgirl. Yup, no penetration--definitely solo with simulated sex.
      Fast-forward,. POV kissing. Solo.
      Fast-forward. Close up. Clearly solo.
      Fast-forward. Missionary. 3/4 of the way through. This is absolutely Solo with simulated sex. But at least its POV.
      Fast-forward. Missionary with feet. I don't remembering seeing "Feet" in the tags. Still simulated sex though.
      Fast-forward. Doggy Style. Simulated.
      Fast-forward. Handjob/Cumshot. Minute 55:21 out of duration 56:21 and it looks like there may be a dick or a dildo. Wut?

      10 minutes later and we still don't really know what the hell is up with this vid.

      OR

      Click Photos, then Thumbnails, and look at...

      OK, no gym, alpha passthrough, totally POV. Oh there's some penetration--definitely not simulated sex. Handjob, blowjob, reverse cowgirl, cowgirl, armpit action, POV kissing, looks like conversation, close up from the rear (mmm, butthole), close missionary, far missionary, oh feet action (thats new), and it looks like it finishes with doggie.

      That took like 2 seconds to determine all that info via thumbnail contact sheets.

        fuccaneer it's very irregular to check things like this in a global scale. Content consumption is super fast pacing.
        We have to squeeze in the most of engagement in the shortest form.
        Right now we are actively exploring transition to the new formats and UI.

            doublevr it's very irregular to check things like this in a global scale. Content consumption is super fast pacing.

            This is the forum. People in the forum spend hours on watching content. They care about quality. They write hundreds or thousands of forum posts about it. And they look at contact sheets. All the arguments referring to what 'fast-paced' regular users grabbing their headsets once a week for a quick wank might need to be happy do not convince forum users.

              I read that to mean "fuccaneer is a dinosaur whose preferences are extinct and so he needs to adapt or die".

              In other words: a company who was founded on customers who are technological fetishists with a deep interest in delving/investing into obscure ways to enhance their sexual self-gratification now wants to cater exclusively to ADHD millennials, drive-by surfers, and second/third-world phone-only customers who likely have never paid for porn in their lives.

              Let's follow the business model of OnlyFans where the vast majority of their income is derived from stolen credit cards and cryptokid paypigs.

              Sorry, that was a bit overboard of a response to merely losing thumbnails.

              I'm still butthurt though. Maybe its just a fact of getting older--I still like my desktop computer and I don't think I've ever masturbated with my phone.
              I respect that a business has to change to remain competitive and continue building markets. However, it kind of feels like you're actively abandoning your older customers. You have to understand that this will cause hurt feels, right?

                fuccaneer Ignoring power users is par for the course here. If the lowest common denominator doesn't use a feature, or it can't be monetized, it's apparently worthless. It's a shame because this is a super helpful feature that for sure costs SLR damn near nothing.

                  fuccaneer there are better things to enjoy.
                  It's not like vinyl lovers are the driving force for music industry.

                  Slr is the moving force of spatial media. Let's focus on great things and ditch what keeps us from getting there.
                  We really want to fucus on things that matter. Even this discussion and changing the workflow takes time that could have been invested in innovation.

                    Hairsational That's really surprising. Have you never gone to a scene page on the website and clicked the buttons

                    No, not that I remember. I do want to see what the scene is going to look like so I would start playing the scene and just keep skipping forward to see what it will look like.
                    I'm not saying this is a better way to do it but if they don't bring back the sheet thingy then you can always do it this way.

                        rerun119 Yes, aware. That's how everyone has to do it with other sites after all.

                        The contact sheet is absolutely the better way though because it takes 2 seconds. Skipping through the video takes a lot longer and you end up with crap videos in your watch history and probably feeding into recommendations.

                          the latest thing we are discussing is extracting AI enhanced frames to give you a perfect idea of content, angles, positions, etc so you don't need contact sheets at all.
                          instead of 4 random photos currently uploaded and random CS timecodes you will get a perfect series of the hottest moments across timecodes.

                            doublevr So how many AI enhanced frames are you gonna give us? I still fail to see how this will be any easier than the old contact sheet.

                            This whole debacle reminds me of the old saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it"!!!

                              fuccaneer This is a great walkthrough of exactly why I'd expect the sheet to be a core feature that is just never questioned. I'm simply baffled that we got to the point where you had to tell that story in the first place - this process is something people have been doing for decades when deciding what media to favorite/download/add-to-playlist/etc. If the company did not understand this in the first place, are they aliens? Still attempting to pin down how exactly the homo sapiens neurology is structured? This feels like if a grocery store stopped selling food and someone had to explain to them how humans require ingesting edible nutrients in order to survive.

                              doublevr ok the turtles go deeper than I thought. They aren't aliens themselves, but rather AI created by aliens, slowly figuring out how to convert this planet to AI. Next up: volume, seek bar, and zoom controls will be removed, replaced by DILDY the personified sextoy, your automated video assistant who controls everything for you. I'm trying to wrap my head around how adding another AI process to get screengrabs saves resources compared to a deterministic slicing of the video, which erniescar69 can do in seconds.

                              erniescar69 How is SLR currently creating contact sheets if it "takes significant rendering time and slows release process"?

                              Maybe something bizarre like doing an entire transcode but just setting the output fps to 0.01 😆? Or perhaps some intern was put on that duty while having to also prototype DILDY. Each sheet has been a pain: "ok DILDY, now jump to 1/48th of the way through the video and take the first screenshot" - "sure thing boss, and I've uploaded the screenshot to your Facebook too!" - "NO DILDY stop, delete that!" - "sure thing boss, I've just deleted every contact sheet for all videos sitewide. Also your mother has commented on your recent Facebook post!"

                                    Recently, I explored other sites to see how they compare to SLS. I actually subscribed to one before I realized that they didn't have contact sheets . . . . I thought "how stupid". Needless to say, I canceled and remained here. I'm honestly now waiting to see how they "resolve" this issue to determine my next year subscription. Hooping they do the right thing here :-)

                                    doublevr I think fuccaneer summed it up really well. Because I'm not going to buy a scene that I know I'm not going to like. Even if it's my favorite actress or favorite sexual practice. I've bought a scene a few times that was supposed to end with a creampie but it didn't.
                                    Thumbnails contact sheets. They are a really important feature. I don't know how many people blindly buy a video without knowing what's really in it. But as you wrote yourself, 150 of us used this feature. And as for exclusivity. This feature was only possible after the full scene was released. So the exclusivity has been preserved.

                                        Hairsational My experience using the website is so much worse now not having this feature

                                        I completely agree. I hate the site without them. It was such a dumb fucking decision to remove them in the first place.

                                        https://www.sexlikereal.com/scenes/taking-you-to-the-edge-edging-delux-black-angel-56811?tab=photos

                                        This is a perfect example of why promo pics are absolutely useless.