AEE – Video – Sex in Review

We took a look at the video offerings at the Adult Entertainment Expo, but the term video means a lot of things these days. It has to encompass concepts such as VR, streaming, holograms, 4K, 3D, and chat. That was all on display at the show.

It the past, it was major studios with giant booths, but at this show two things dominated- Cam Girls and VR. Both were everywhere, and often combined.

We’ll be doing an upcoming feature on VR, so we won’t spent a lot of time on it now, but from this show it is clear that there will be a lot of emphasis on it in the near future. Besides pre-recorded streaming VR, there were a number of companies offering live VR streams. RGBVR was even offering a turnkey solution that allows anyone to stream live VR shows.

The cam companies were out in force, with the majority of them set up with rows of people live camming from the show. Camming has been around for quite awhile, and many popular porn stars got their start camming, including Aspen Rae, co-host of this year’s AVN Awards.

This is the decade of camming, as in the early 2010s decade the technology hit a point where it really is the most lucrative way to produce adult content. Viewers get a more interactive experience that they can’t get for free on a tube site. In terms of cost for the cam companies, once you have the infrastructure set up, the performers cost you very little as they are profit participants. They have the opportunity to make a lot more money, and how much really depends on them.

A cam show is a bit like being in a strip club with a sexy girl, but for a little extra tip she’ll take you in the back room and do whatever you want. In a cam show, no back room is required, but neither can she do anything directly to you. Of course, that is changing with the addition of interactive features (which we cover in more detail in our upcoming interactive sex article). Depending upon the setup you can also directly talk to the girls if you have a microphone. Smartphones are well set up for interactive cam shows, although I would suggest not doing this in a busy airport or anywhere else other people are.

Unlike a video, though, there is no fast forwarding in a live cam show. Perhaps when we get super fast quantum computers that can play videos before they are even created, but for now, we are stuck in real time. Despite that limitation, you can see quite a bit of free content on the cam sites, you just can’t fast forward to the good parts. You typically purchase tokens, which can be used to tip the ladies to get them to do specific things, or to take you into a private show.

Sex.Sex is a cam site that focuses on community features. Created by John and Kira, members are able to share what they view with others. They have a Scan Cam that scans through all the live cams available and shows you six to a screen playing in real time. They have women from teenagers to grandmothers (far more of the former, but a few of the later). Their Get a Ride feature lets you watch the custom shows others are requesting and paying for, while you pay a lot less. They also have a feature where you can earn tokens by sharing via Twitter.

Cam4 offers regular cam shows, while Cam4VR offers VR shows that require VR headsets. The Cam4VR shows are compatible with Samsung Gear, Google Cardboard, Oculus, and Vive. They have men, women, couples and transexuals. Obviously, they have far more regular shows than VR shows.

CamSoda was showing a hologram of a woman at the expo. It was really just a novelty though. It is in a large plexiglass pyramid that you can walk all the way around, but it simply won’t fit in most people’s living rooms. Not that most could afford it. You can enjoy their cam shows, though. They have a VR cam house, VR live shows, and featured porn stars. They also have a fuckbot, spankbot, and sybian that you can control remotely. A lot of the performers have specialties, including toys, anal, ohmibod, lovense and even squirting.

CamSoda’s Holographic display

MyFreeCams bills themselves as the #1 Adult Webcam Community, with 1,328 models. They list the number. How it compares with others I do not know, as others don’t list the number and I was not about to go counting them all. Some of these sites can be a bit confusing, but MyFreeCams has an extensive and well organized Wiki covering every detail.

Putting on a show at FreeCams.com

Chaturbate is the term they coined for masturbating while chatting online. They are setup using the now somewhat retro term of Chat Rooms, although that does best describe what they do. They talk to you, but you type into a chat window, which is the typical way these things are done. They claim to be the largest cam site. I did a quick calculation and they had over 2,250 cam listed., so maybe they are. I do like the blog posts the performers put up that tell us more about them. Their booth was filled with a huge number of cammers.

Busy activity at the Chaturbate booth

Reality Lovers is a VR site supporting Samsung Gear, Google Cardboard, and Oculus. You download the 180 degree videos and then play them on your VR device. They are adding more genres for 2017, the first being MILF.

VR Bangers supports Playstation VR, Samsung Gear, Google Cardboard, Oculus, and Vive. Their site announces some exciting content, 4K 360 degree VR experiences. In January, they have Joseline Kelly starring in the XXX parody SeXFiles, in February they have Cindy Starfall in Asian Virgin and Isabella Chrysten in VRB Art Class and many more. For more announcements on the many other “experiences” they have upcoming, check out their site. It looks quite ambitious.

This is not to say that traditional scripted porn is completely on the ropes. Sure, it is a lot more difficult to make money at it than it used to be, but major companies are still turning out quality material. They may not have been as well represented at this show (even Vivid had a very small booth, and many companies were no shows), but as you can see from our Awards Season – Xbiz and Awards Season – AVN articles, a lot of interesting films are being produced.

Clips are still popular, but a lot is available for free. But what if your needs are more, shall we say, specific? That is where companies like I Want Custom Clips come in. They will make a custom clip based on the elements you specify, including the costuming and sex toys they will use. The concept is nothing new. Many years ago my wife did some porn (mainly just for fun, not as a career), and one of the things she did do was make some custom productions. The requests were sometimes a little odd (she did a scene with another girl with both of them wearing men’s underwear) and some really odd ( a clip of a woman pressing an accelerator to make the car engine race- she did not do that one). Taking control of your clips can be fun- who doesn’t like top feel like they are in charge during sex? Ok, there are quite a few, but for those of us who like to be in control, custom made clips might be just the thing.

I still like the VOD movie sites, primarily because they have such a huge selection of content. One of the best, Hot Movies, was at the expo. You can read more about them and Adult Rental in our Modern Peep Show article.

Sometimes you just have to go with the classics, and that is exactly what Mr. Skin brings to the table. It is hands down the best celebrity nude site and nude and sex scenes from mainstream productions site anywhere. They have been around since 1999, and get around 10 million unique visitors every year. Besides that, Mr. Skin (aka Jim McBride) is a pretty nice guy. He was there doing his podcast live from the Expo.

Mr. Skin doing his live podcast

And of course, there were the porn stars. They had their own hall in which to pose for pictures and talk with fans. Here are a few of the adult performers we met at the show: