The image and video lab
Original Decody stills of lab character IRIS-09, a four-second stills reel, and what Candy Live Action, JOI Dream Clips, and Ourdream actually cost when the face has to stay the same.
Lab journal · 2026-09-15 · Updated September 2026 · 11 min
Other review sites publish in-app selfies and a voice player. That is the
right instinct: you cannot rank picture and video from a logo. We will not
host someone else’s companion as if she were ours. So we built a lab
character — IRIS-09 — and we stress her the way we stress apps:
same brief, different night, did the face hold.
Tells we look for: left-eyebrow scar, cyan streak, SHIFT hoodie. Lose those and you failed identity lock even if the skin looks expensive.
Lock vs drift
LOCK 
DRIFT · FAIL Same person, different light
Consistency is not “one good thumbnail.” It is whether you still believe it is the same woman at 3 a.m. in a warehouse and at 10 a.m. in a diner.
NIGHT 
DAY A clip we actually own
We do not scrape Candy Live Action or JOI Dream Clips onto this domain.
Those belong to the apps. What we can ship is a four-second stills reel of
IRIS-09 — play it like a clip. Watch the stencil: the generator even slipped
IRIS-09 toward IR15 on later frames. That slip is
the whole category. Apps do it. Our own reel does it. Grade it.
IRIS-09 · LAB REEL · stills, not a platform export How the paid apps scored this cycle
Live platform captures from testing still sit on each review (Candy, JOI, Ourdream galleries). The numbers below are the lab’s picture / video grades, not the overall rank.
Candy AI
Live Action is real and expensive. Chat is why it wins.
Ourdream AI
Photoreal lock is the product. Chat is a half-step behind.
JOI AI
Dream Clips punch above the $4 sticker. Extra clips do not.
Kupid AI
Voice is the reason to pay. Video is not the reason.
Candy Live Action is a real-time video stack and a token shredder. JOI Dream Clips are the best cheap in-chat clips if you stay inside the five. Ourdream wins stills. None of them get to use a real person’s face on our watch — the line.
Head-to-head with memory tapes: Candy vs Ourdream vs JOI. Ranked list: Top 10.