Playboy TV review

Ever since Playboy first appeared on the scene in the form of a nightclub back in 1960, Hugh Hefner has spearheaded a continuing campaign to have every man in America, now every man in the world, read or enjoy Playboy in some form or another. Whether by publishing literature from the likes of Kurt Vonnegut and Saul Bellow or simply showing off the bodies and some of the world’s most beautiful women, Playboy has never stopped evolving. Now that television has moved to an online format in High Definition, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to find that Playboy TV has followed suit and can now be found at Playboy dot TV. Showing an impressive selection of original Playboy productions with such titles as Sex Lives, Totally Busted, and Around the World in 80 Babes, everything you loved about Playboy’s television channel is now available online and it’ll only cost you $19.95 a month for complete access.

Pros:
Interesting mix of informational lifestyle presentations (School of Sex), adventure shows (Badass, 69 Sexy Things 2Do B4 U Die), and model-centric content that offers a more intimate look at the gorgeous Playboy bunnies (Playmate Profiles, Shootout, Hot Babes Doing Stuff Naked).

The video streams provided here on Playboy TV look fantastic and present everything in clear, vibrant High Definition Flash format. Resolutions reach a native 720x480 pixels and look strong at high bitrates, but it’s in the expanded full-screen mode that these videos really shine. Crystal clear images (well, as good as you can expect from streams) make each episode look great.

All Playboy TV content can be viewed on iPads, iPhones, Androids, and pretty much any other portable media device you can imagine. Portability is important to today’s erotic connoisseurs and it’s great to see these videos having multiple platform capabilities.

If you’re somewhat entertained by the idea of naked shenanigans but really just want to see some hot fucking, you’re in luck! Many of Playboy TV’s shows feature explicit hardcore sex that might be placed in an education context (see School of Sex), but is still hardcore and quite hot.

Cons:
Everyone knows pornstars generally make terrible actors, but did you know they make terrible television presenters, too? Tera Patrick hosts School of Sex and does an astonishingly bad job, coming across like a more vocal Price Is Right girl who can’t seem to stop nodding her head and switching her poses every three seconds. Dull delivery.

Compared to Playboy’s cable channel, there isn’t all that much premium content available on Playboy TV right now. Although 373 scenes might seem like a lot, many of them will only cater to a small audience; naked shark spotting/feeding anyone? Didn’t think so.

There doesn’t seem to be any page where you can check to see in what shows each model appears. Unfortunately, this also makes it difficult to find out the names of performers.

While it’s good to see Playboy TV offering playback of their videos on portable media devices (iPad, iPhone, Android et al), it’d be nice if the site included a page instructing members on how to setup their device for said playback. There’s no information given on exactly what devices are compatible and if a mobile version of Playboy TV exists or whether users should just point their device’s browser to the same URL used by desktop and laptop users.

Episodes of Playboy TV shows are not available for download and must be streamed directly from the website. While this is not unexpected (most video-on-demand services don’t offer downloads) it’s still disappointing to find yourself at the mercy of the webmasters and producers, who could take down your favorite episode anytime they like.

Conclusion:
Playboy has been a staple of cable television since its launch in 1982 (as The Playboy Channel) so its eventual migration to an online video-on-demand service is no surprise. Now that Playboy TV (the online version) has finally launched, this reviewer is pleased to report that things are looking pretty damn good. Videos stream quickly and present high-quality images that hit HD resolutions when enlarged to full-screen. With a wide range of show types (lifestyle, educational, adventure, interview, and plain old erotic nude scenes), there’s bound to be something to please most viewers. As we’re still in early days, it will be interesting to see if Playboy TV can keep up the steady stream of new material and become a true alternative to the as-of-now still stronger television equivalent.