justifying premium account - lack of content

Hi

So first of all, i dont mind being a "premium" member and helping out whisky media.

But lately i have a hard time seeing what the benefits are?

Videos are hd for everyone (as it should be)

Bombcast is free (as it should be)

The one thing im missing is behind the scenes stuff. Like Dave and vinnys random pc game, there should be one today, but there isnt. And "premium" member videos are being put out maybe once a week?

As i said, i dont mind paying to help out an awesome site, i am just thinking what the benefits are for new potential subscribers who wants to get value for there money.

Eeeerrrm, been kinda wondering the same thing myself. I guess the satisfaction of helping support the sites? I dunno.

In all seriousness, the mobile version of the site was the main thing that got me subscribing. However, I don't often use it anymore, as I tend to access the sites more from my iPad now than my iPhone (and the full sites look lovely on a tablet). Keep edging towards unsubscribing myself, but it's pretty cheap (around £3.50 a month - 80p-odd a week) so I always keep it. To support the sites if nothing else.

Meh.

There was a 5(?) hour random pc game live stream yesterday

@SuperTaylor said:

There was a 5(?) hour random pc game live stream yesterday

Closer to 6. And the archived (And AMAZING) 3,5 hour Fortune Street TNT archive got put up today.

That's over 9 hours of content in TWO days.

@SuperTaylor said:

There was a 5(?) hour random pc game live stream yesterday

This. And it was awesome.

As was Breaking Brad last (?) week.

I feel like I get more than value for money. Not to sound arrogant but if find £30 ($50) pound for a year of Giant Bomb alone a pretty insignificant amount in the grand scheme of things. Say if they do 2 hours of subscriber content a week (which is a modest assumption) that's 104 hours for £30. I guess it comes down to how much you like the crew.

Jeffs Jar, Breaking Brad, Loading last save, no ads, itunes rss feeds

Ugh, this whole thread reeks of unfounded opinions. As others have stated there has been quite a bit of premium content lately... 4hour breaking brad, 4hour tnt, 6 hour livestream of a pc game. Jar time with jeff etc.

I have no idea what you're talking about. There is definitely a ton of premium content and the PC stream was yesterday...

Also

@Henrikhoe said:

Videos are hd for everyone (as it should be)

The youtube HD has nothing on Whiskey Media HD player.

Try it for yourself. Put the whiskey media videos on High instead of HD and then match it with youtube's 720p and go back and forth. The Whiskey Media player on High is actually a little crisper than youtube's HD.

That's why they put HD out for everybody. They didn't realize how bad the youtube videos would be with their compression.

TNT is not premium and anyone can just watch the archive on JustinTV. But I agree that Breaking Brad and the PC Game yesterday are great content. If only they'd upload the video, I wasn't able to catch it live. 6 hours is going to be a biiiiiiiig file.

@Henrikhoe: that is the problem I see and why I don't sign up. This is a business, and lots of times I get the feeling it is not run that way, see - Alex telling people he doesn't care what they think of him. You should not really have to or need to help them out. If they put out stuff that made it seem like something I would pay for, then there would not be these threads. I mean, the really low quality, or what I see as low quality to the I love monday video intro is what says it all to me. Yes it is quirky but it can be both quirky and well done. Just having Ryan there is really off putting. I guess I am just expressing my disappointment that they want to make money but the features the site has are not things you dont find elsewhere, besides the quicklooks.

HD video on YouTube is more compressed than what you get from the Whiskey player. We're still getting a higher quality version, and people seeing the site's videos for the first time aren't seeing heavily compressed 360p videos that frankly looked really bad.

The Random PC Game you're talking about was scheduled for yesterday, and started when planned. Then went for over 5 hours. It takes a while to get a video that long onto the site - as shown by the 4 hour Breaking Brad from last Friday that went up at the beginning of the week, and the 3.5 hour TNT that happened two nights ago that you can watch in the Whiskey player instead of the crappy Justin.tv player.

There's been plenty of premium content to justify the price in my opinion, and now that the review season is over, there's only going to be more.

@emergency: Tbh though, a new member is going stumble on this site and think that shit should be free, as it would be on every other videogaming site. You have to realise the topic was worded in that way.

That's because Vinny has been away, but as you can see from the TNT, things are much better now that he is back.
 

@Henrikhoe:For the record, there was a five hour random PC game live stream yesterday.

I would also like to point out that you are basically paying for the thing that you like to still exist, regardless of what that gets you over other users.

No subscribers = anti-consumer revenue streams = no/shitty website.

When I registered for premium all we got was the happy hour. Now we have way more content that is way better (on average), so no I don't think the subscription is worth less.

@Henrikhoe: 52 premium videos, the sites better quality HD, supporting them, live show on the site in HD, etc for $50 a year? Worth it. A premium video a week is more than enough.

I don't know if this applies to anybody, but I believe the mobile site is for members only?

If it is that is reason enough to subscribe, I use the mobile site lots.

The subscriber content is now the best content on the site and there's plenty of it. You're outta yo mind.

Also, keep in mind that this is the holiday season.

The value is in what they already make. Being a student i subscribe when i can afford it, usually every odd month or if there's something coming up i do not want to miss (SNES Night).

The value is in knowing you're keeping the site alive. I like the current format as being a mainly video based website and HD youtube videos not costing them anything it makes sense to offer them, but still offering incentives like the premium videos and moblie site to those who want it.

@McGhee said:

The subscriber content is now the best content on the site and there's plenty of it. You're outta yo mind.

So true. Breaking Brad and the Lantern runs have been the best premium content to date. Random Ass PC game is up there as well.

@Doctorchimp said:

I have no idea what you're talking about. There is definitely a ton of premium content and the PC stream was yesterday...

Also

@Henrikhoe said:

Videos are hd for everyone (as it should be)

The youtube HD has nothing on Whiskey Media HD player.

Try it for yourself. Put the whiskey media videos on High instead of HD and then match it with youtube's 720p and go back and forth. The Whiskey Media player on High is actually a little crisper than youtube's HD.

That's why they put HD out for everybody. They didn't realize how bad the youtube videos would be with their compression.

This is hardly a compelling reason to shell out money, so harping on this point probably isn't wise. "Oh, it's slightly more compressed HD." Who gives a shit? Most people are watching it on devices with small enough screens where it doesn't/barely makes a difference.

It's like when people compare Netflix HD to a Blu-Ray. Yeah, there's a difference. No, it doesn't matter to anyone but a small fraction of people.

There are reasons to subscribe, but when people hammer on points like this it makes it seem like they are really reaching.

Phantasmagoria.
 
That is all.

Plus you get the occasional premium video over at Tested and Screened. Jar time with both Will and Rorie. You get a free shirt when you sign up as well. There's also the Radio Show they do once every couple months. Also, it's not expensive to sign up.

For me Giant Bomb definitely justify the price. I watch more stuff here than anywhere else. YouTube comes the closest but it's much harder to find high-quality, entertaining stuff; at least with as much consistency.

Quick Looks are probably the site's bread and butter and getting those in HD all the better. Downloading was a major incentive too; I don't always trust my internet to be consistent enough to stream HD. The new features are really damn good too; Breaking Brad is practically worth a subscription by itself. The equivalent of a Quick Look that lasts ages, has a goal, generates rage and features Brad; what more could you ask for?

Phantasmagoria yesterday was great fun and the combination of all that stuff is well worth the price in my opinion.

Oh and if they keep doing challenges like the Lantern Run and Beaking Brad I'll resubscribe forever.

Obviously not worth supporting these hard working and funny folk. I'll never pay!

I use the mobile site plenty, so that's enough for me.

After the holiday and I actually have cash from not buying games, I'm switching to yearly.

This is a much stupider reason, but I also like embiggen. Makes videos the perfect size for me.

You must have missed yesterday's unintentional Phantasmagoria endurance run, because if you saw it you wouldn't have made this forum post.

@SuperTaylor said:

There was a 5(?) hour random pc game live stream yesterday

Can't believe I missed this. I would have loved if the archive for this went up today but that doesn't seem likely.

I dropped my sub for a couple weeks...... then subbed again. It's just not the same without the premium content

Because where else will you see Will Smith's office?

http://www.tested.com/late-night-with-will-no-jars-allowed-premium/47-639/

@TeflonBilly: Yeah, they can put up quantity, but I want quality. The ability to download videos is pretty cool, since my phone doesn't get great reception at work.

There's never been anything to justify the price but hey it's $5.

I pay because i like the video podcast of tested, the stuff rorie and jeff does on those videos and the various random videos like breaking brad, random PC game etc.

Do i think they could do more? yes, i think they should do video cast of the GOTY stuff for subcribers and frankly all the podcast like tested does, i think it would be an incredibly interesting thing for premium people, it's $5 a month.. you get more then $5 in content.

@Hizang: yea mobile site is very awesome

Will and rorie also have their own jar times

I first subscribed because i wanted to see what all the fuss about the Dagger fall video was about, totally worth it! But in the grand scheme of things $50 a year is practically nothing and I'm not rich at all, but what's $50 like one games worth ? I just like supporting the site.

If Vinny and Dave playing Phantasmagoria for 5 hours wont convince you, nothing will. If you dont feel you're getting enough value, then don't subscribe. Which is totally okay.

@KaneRobot: That's not what I said.

I'm not comparing Whiskey's HD with Youtube HD. I'm comparing the Whiskey High (360p) setting to Youtube's HD (720p) setting. It's still sharper than youtube's HD.

I love the site. I want it to be successful. Thus I subscribed - not because they put must-have items behind a paywall (though the premium videos are excellent) but because they DIDN'T and I wanted to reward that.

If you use the site regularly and don't feel guilty about not paying, that is between you and God. (And by God I mean Cool Baby.)