Anyone used Awiz Paysite Manager or other paysite CMSs?

[deltav]

I currently use a customized video & photo gallery CMS for my paysite, but it's getting pretty damn outdated these days. Been thinking about migrating the whole site to a 3rd party CMS, obviously a big undertaking so I want to get the best one for my needs.

Elevated X seems like the gold standard, but their pricing and services tier is more geared towards large networks rather than a single 'mom & pop' site like mine (i.e. no single-site license, etc).

Far as SiteDepth goes, they've got various errors on their own damn website, doesn't project much confidence in their product.

Awiz was also recommended. The price is right for sure, some of the features are decent but it's nowhere near as polished as Elevated X.

I'm not looking for everything to be fully automated with bells & whistles I'll never use... just a few time-savers and more importantly good navigation & other features for my subscribers.

Anyone used any of the above, or recommend one not listed?

[geedub]

I have a single paysite on nats and elevatedx, sometimes you gotta suck it up for a bit if you can.

Whatever you do, don't listen to the 10 people who chime in here to say you should use wordpress.

[Va2k]

I use to use it a few years ago I loved it back then.. Don't know what if anything they have done now...

[deltav]

Originally Posted by geedub

Whatever you do, don't listen to the 10 people who chime in here to say you should use wordpress.

Ahh, years ago I went down that road as an experiment and yeah - WP is in no way suited for a membership site.

[harvey]

Originally Posted by deltav

WP is in no way suited for a membership site.

you're wrong. There are way more WP based membership sites than the entire adult industry CMS (WP for adult included). I'm talking about a 10:1 proportion or bigger.

Anyway, AWIZ is (or WAS) a pain in the ass, pretty decent by the time it started, but right now is a caveman's choice. Please keep in mind I used it 3 years ago for the last time (and it was really outdated by that time), no idea if they upgraded it or not, so take my words with a pinch of salt. But if it's the same version they had... just forget it.

[rogueteens]

Originally Posted by harvey

you're wrong. There are way more WP based membership sites than the entire adult industry CMS (WP for adult included). I'm talking about a 10:1 proportion or bigger.

Anyway, AWIZ is (or WAS) a pain in the ass, pretty decent by the time it started, but right now is a caveman's choice. Please keep in mind I used it 3 years ago for the last time (and it was really outdated by that time), no idea if they upgraded it or not, so take my words with a pinch of salt. But if it's the same version they had... just forget it.

I have to agree, I used aWiz and it was okay but I found that using WP was much easier in the end.

[deltav]

Originally Posted by harvey

you're wrong. There are way more WP based membership sites than the entire adult industry CMS (WP for adult included). I'm talking about a 10:1 proportion or bigger.

Anyway, AWIZ is (or WAS) a pain in the ass, pretty decent by the time it started, but right now is a caveman's choice. Please keep in mind I used it 3 years ago for the last time (and it was really outdated by that time), no idea if they upgraded it or not, so take my words with a pinch of salt. But if it's the same version they had... just forget it.

Yeah, I meant in no way suited for an *adult* membership site. But I suppose your YMMV on that one. Would be curious to hear about specific adult subscription sites that do use WP for delivering lots of video amongst other things. In my experience - among other gripes - it just felt clunky & slow.

Thanks for the Awiz heads-up, what were the major problems you ran into with it? At a glance it does indeed look outdated, wasn't sure if that was more a result of their demo design or if it's built into the CMS so to speak. Any alternate recs then?

[NaughtyRob]

Awiz works good if you just want to pay for something once. If you have the cash, go Elevated X.

[Kolargol]

anyone got working aWiZ support email address? Their support board is not accepting my login and ticket system gives sql error...

[harvey]

Originally Posted by deltav

Yeah, I meant in no way suited for an *adult* membership site. But I suppose your YMMV on that one. Would be curious to hear about specific adult subscription sites that do use WP for delivering lots of video amongst other things. In my experience - among other gripes - it just felt clunky & slow.

Thanks for the Awiz heads-up, what were the major problems you ran into with it? At a glance it does indeed look outdated, wasn't sure if that was more a result of their demo design or if it's built into the CMS so to speak. Any alternate recs then?

About WP, I know there are many sites using it for adult, don't know which ones, though, but do a search in this board and you'll find it. As for delivering MASSIVE amount of video, even if not adult.... http://tv.msnbc.com/ , http://www.bbcamerica.com/ or http://www.rollingstones.com/ should give you an idea. Basically, if it's good for MSNBC or BBC I'm pretty sure it would be more than enough for any porn site, specially a small one.

See the problem with WP is that most people thinks of it as a "finished" product, when in fact is a time saving framework. Thus, there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING you can do with any CMS that you can't do with WP, as long as you customize it to your needs. The amount of knowledge you have (or money you're willing to invest) will define the site you'll have, as in everything.

Also, delivering video is a server thing. As easy as that. You can have any video oriented CMS in the world, and the final result will always depend on... your server. The difference is that with any "off the shelf" CMS, you're stuck with what you have. There's nothing that you can do about it. With WordPress (or Joomla, or Drupal, or any other open source CMS), the possibilities are endless. And I'm talking about FREE possibilities, let alone if you know you way to customize or are willing to invest money.

As for AWiz, sorry, I really don't remember the details since a long time has passed since I used it and can't recall the specifics other than it was extremely simplistic, outdated and lacked any flexibility. Just adding some AJAX script was a nightmare.

Anyway, as far as CMS goes, this is my order (ordered better to worse):

Open Source (WP, Joomla, Drupal)
ElevatedX
Carma
AWiz

there a few more like POrnCMS, but I have no experience with it so can't tell how good it is

[harvey]

I forgot: with WP new video abilities coming with 3.6, there's absolutely no CMS coming even close to it. The only drawback you'll have with WP (assuming you aren't a coder) is that you'll need to install 2 versions: one for the tour and one for members. ANd therefore, add content on both sides. If you know your ways around it... not even that

[NaughtyRob]

This is all that I have: [email protected]

Originally Posted by Kolargol

anyone got working aWiZ support email address? Their support board is not accepting my login and ticket system gives sql error...

[icymelon]

I bought awiz not sure the instructions are in english. I should give it another try.

[NemesisEnforcer]

Originally Posted by icymelon

I bought awiz not sure the instructions are in english. I should give it another try.

Command of the English language was a big issue with aWiz. They came out with a new guide, although usable, the English is still poor.

[NemesisEnforcer]

Originally Posted by harvey

Anyway, as far as CMS goes, this is my order (ordered better to worse):

Open Source (WP, Joomla, Drupal)
ElevatedX
Carma
AWiz

there a few more like POrnCMS, but I have no experience with it so can't tell how good it is

Ah, MAS didn't make your list.

[Bman]

I have used elevated x it is great but very very technical.
I have just been trying out porncms and have to say it is excellent. price wise and what it can do and ease of use.

[fitzmulti]

I have AWIZ for all of my members areas, and I like it.
I have the most current version, running flawlessly since Dec 2010.
Pre-programmed updates for months and months in advance...
Videos work great...AND the built in multiple use IP access prevention/password protection, is flawless as well.
2 1/2 years (on this version alone), of not paying extra for the password protection is worth the price....
If anyone has AWIZ needs any general tips or hep with it...hit me up, and I will try to lend hand.
;-)

[harvey]

Originally Posted by NemesisEnforcer

Ah, MAS didn't make your list.

My bad, when I said Carma I obviously meant MAS

[Shedevils]

Awiz can be pretty good, especially if you can code a little PHP to modify it. You can pretty much make it look like anything you like.

The single site pricing can't be beat. In general some of the other options have pricing that is stuck back in 2008 and unless you are running a program it doesn't work out.

[mikesouth]

I used awiz because at the time there was no billing manager for wordpress that worked with any of the adult ispsps. once its set up its decent in terms of cms...very low maintenance but there is a learning curve and you need to know html if i were doing it again today I would opt for wordpress

[mikesouth]

actually i never understood why netbilling hasnt jumped all over writing a membership plugin to integrate them to wordpress I would find that very useful

I have a site that only uses netbilling but no wordpress member plugins that can bill through netbilling

Mitch?

[PornDiscounts-R]

Originally Posted by fitzmulti

I have AWIZ for all of my members areas, and I like it.
I have the most current version, running flawlessly since Dec 2010.
Pre-programmed updates for months and months in advance...
Videos work great...AND the built in multiple use IP access prevention/password protection, is flawless as well.
2 1/2 years (on this version alone), of not paying extra for the password protection is worth the price....
If anyone has AWIZ needs any general tips or hep with it...hit me up, and I will try to lend hand.
;-)

Have they updated their video player?
I used it some years ago and even then it should have been flash.

If they still use the same player page, it would suck.

[Kolargol]

Originally Posted by thebestamateur

Have they updated their video player?
I used it some years ago and even then it should have been flash.

If they still use the same player page, it would suck.

They haven't, still the same crap.

[PornDiscounts-R]

Originally Posted by Kolargol

They haven't, still the same crap.

That is a shame, thanks for the update.

[NemesisEnforcer]

Originally Posted by thebestamateur

Have they updated their video player?
I used it some years ago and even then it should have been flash.

If they still use the same player page, it would suck.

Although they haven't updated it, you can change it yourself or ask them to do it. Their price(s) for customization is reasonable.

[PornDiscounts-R]

Originally Posted by NemesisEnforcer

Although they haven't updated it, you can change it yourself or ask them to do it. Their price(s) for customization is reasonable.

That is true. I did have a lot of custom Work done when i used it.
But now a days, it wouldent just be the player itself.
More the Whole way they are working with video.

The file naming for one bugged the hell out of me.
It`s actual a shame, because i think a lot of what they do is great. It just feels like they stop at 80% when adding stuff.

[k0nr4d]

A few people run our tube script as a members area cms if that's something you'd consider.

[PornDiscounts-R]

Originally Posted by k0nr4d

A few people run our tube script as a members area cms if that's something you'd consider.

Yup. I know.
I dont have the need right now. But i do have your tube script.

[deltav]

Originally Posted by thebestamateur

That is true. I did have a lot of custom Work done when i used it.
But now a days, it wouldent just be the player itself.
More the Whole way they are working with video.

The file naming for one bugged the hell out of me.
It`s actual a shame, because i think a lot of what they do is great. It just feels like they stop at 80% when adding stuff.

Can you be more specific on this?

What native video player do they use? Is it HTML5 & iDevice compatible?

I have modified the video player for our own custom video galleries (to JPlayer for the HTML5 capability) so I know this isn't a terribly hard fix, but it's possible their code makes things more difficult than it has to be.

And what do you mean by "file naming"?

One of my concerns about any CMS is that it will force a site into their cookie-cutter mode of organization... my vintage paysite has some unconventional setups (sections for audio files and other downloads, a division of photo & art galleries, 'articles' split apart from 'stories', etc), I'd hate find most of that constrained.

Originally Posted by Shedevils

Awiz can be pretty good, especially if you can code a little PHP to modify it. You can pretty much make it look like anything you like.

The single site pricing can't be beat. In general some of the other options have pricing that is stuck back in 2008 and unless you are running a program it doesn't work out.

That's kinda been what I've found unfortunately - CMS options jump from about $300 for the "deluxe" aWiz setup to Elevated X or MAS which are MUCH higher, there's little middle ground there. For a network of paysites the latter makes decent sense at those prices I guess, but for a small-scale single site like mine the ROI is just far far worse by nature. If they offered a reasonable single-site license I'd probably be all over it, however I'm guessing small time paysite webmasters like me are few & far between these days...

[PornDiscounts-R]

[QUOTE=deltav;19645984]Can you be more specific on this?

What native video player do they use? Is it HTML5 & iDevice compatible?

I have modified the video player for our own custom video galleries (to JPlayer for the HTML5 capability) so I know this isn't a terribly hard fix, but it's possible their code makes things more difficult than it has to be.

And what do you mean by "file naming"?

QUOTE]

Well, it have been years since i used it. So cant go into that much.
In regards to the "file naming" i was referring to the fact that you have to name your video files a specific way. Wich you are free to chose on setup, but after that you had to use that naming structure.

But it seems nuts to me that video files can`t have any file name you wich.
Having them all be the same ( different per option )
makes the download bad as well, as the end user have to rename on download.

Not very user friendly.
As said, it have been years. But that is how i remember it.

[Bman]

You can try out porncms for free for a month for what it is worth..it truly is a great cms... good luck in your search.

[plsureking]

Originally Posted by Bman

You can try out porncms for free for a month for what it is worth..it truly is a great cms... good luck in your search.

true story lol
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