Expensive Transition

This transition could not have come at a worse time for many in “Porn Valley,” the area of the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles that has become the epicenter of the U.S. sex film industry.

Hundreds of small operators have flooded the market with low-budget films, stepping up competition and eating into profits across the board.

Given the current climate, few production companies can afford to switch. Creating true high-definition films is a complex process requiring special HD cameras that cost up to $80,000 apiece.

After filming, the material must be encoded and formatted on machines that cost as much as $20,000, equipment not needed for current DVDs. Then the film must be replicated, which can cost at least twice as much per unit as standard discs.

Not everyone is complaining. Deep-pocketed production companies like Vivid Entertainment, the industry’s largest producer, have been shooting with high-definition cameras for more than a year.

Vivid is preparing to release its first title HD title—Kink, starring Stefani Morgan—in October. Like some major Hollywood studios, Vivid will release its high-definition titles in both formats until a clear leader emerges.
‘Pro-sumer’

Industry observers predict smaller production houses that film scenes with so-called “pro-sumer” cameras will find it increasingly difficult to compete, as high-definition becomes the norm.

With the overwhelming majority of XXX films today barely selling 1,000 copies, most filmmakers will not be able to cover the cost of switching to high definition.

“We usually are pioneers, but the last thing the industry needs is a switch to another format,” said Paul Ward, managing partner at Major Video Concepts, an adult film producer and distributor. “It would be insanity.”

Mr. Hirsch recalls that it took about five years for the market to shift from VHS to DVD. The shift to high-definition DVDs will probably take much longer, he said, and the porn industry is not likely to be leading the way this time.
http://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=17936

Why does the porn industry have such an influence on the rest of the movie and video business? They have a huge audience, and porn fans will buy the latest equipment. In 2005, the porn business had sales of approximately $12.6 billion. That means that not only is that creepy guy who lives down the block a fan of porn, but so is that nice couple who live next door. So, when all those new HD DVD (or Blu-Ray) players are in the porn enthusiasts’ homes, regular movie companies don’t want to get caught with their pants down. They’ll want to use a format that the vast porn audience will already be using.

So, I guess the prudent thing for consumers to do is to wait. See if the porn industry really dictates the technology, and see which format survives before purchasing those expensive new machines that will be able to record and play HD DVDs on your TV.

But I’m not betting against the porn industry. It seems to get bigger and bigger each year, just like its stars. The industry releases about 11,000 videos on DVD each year. That’s 11,000 different porn movies annually. Obviously, this far exceeds the number of “legitimate” movies that are released. Forgetting the commercial aspect for a moment and just thinking about the writing and producing of these movies, 11,000 is a staggering number. Are there really 11,000 different pornographic stories? Per year? How different can each of those 11,000 videos be? How many variations can those clever porn writers think of when it comes to, “Come on in. My husband’s out of town?” Since stories are secondary in pornographic movies, could there possibly be 11,000 different positions? What are the other 10,977?

I don’t have HD TV, but I’ve seen it in stores and at friends’ houses. It’s great, especially for sports and movies. But I’m not sure how it would enhance watching a porn video. Will it make the siliconed breasts look even more unreal? Is it going to make that motel wallpaper look any cheaper? Do you really need to see men with pale legs and black socks in High Definition?

Apparently so. Both the adult and the tech companies are banking on viewers grabbing this technology faster than a porn star can take off her nurse’s uniform.
——————————————————————————–

Lloyd Garver writes a weekly column for SportsLine.com. He has written for many television shows, ranging from “Sesame Street” to “Family Ties” to “Frasier.” He has also read many books, some of them in hardcover.

By Lloyd Garver
©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/26/opinion/garver/main1548040.shtml

Encrypted files protect your privacy and secure your porn from anyone borrowing your computer, while DRM makes the studios more comfortable with providing content.

Still, I don’t think the compression is a big story outside the geek world. Everyone knew we would fit bigger files into smaller containers someday, just like we know that someday we’ll get a good chuckle out of my thinking 5 mbps is an acceptable download speed. (I remember describing my brand-new 56-kbps modem to a friend as “lightning-fast” … those were the days.)

It’s the user experience that determines the fate of IPTV, and I think Entice TV has done a good job with its user interface. It doesn’t try to look all internety. Instead, it feels like TV. If you can navigate your DVR, you can navigate this. Any Windows MCE remote control will work with it, too.

And while you can of course watch your downloads on your computer screen, Entice TV optimizes the video to look good when you view it on your HD television set.

And when I say look good, I mean it looks good.

I’ve heard about Hollywood actors writing clauses into their contracts to prohibit directors from taking certain close-ups when shooting in high-def because it will reveal too many flaws.

But in porn, we’re not so concerned about minor physical blemishes. We’ve already seen the red bumps on their inner thighs, the varicose veins behind their knees, the pimples on their backs and the scars around their breasts. We know the folds of labia and the angles of cocks, and we’ve seen every orifice licked, probed, penetrated and proudly displayed.

High-def porn offers a level of realism that standard definition just can’t touch, promoting a more intimate viewing experience through clarity and nuance. It’s easy to fake an orgasm with big movements and lots of noise; it’s not possible to simulate the subtle skin shivers, the involuntary muscle twitches, the soft puffiness of a woman’s nipple at the peak of her arousal, a small batch of goose bumps in a delicate place.

One thing IPTV does well is offer a delivery and marketing mechanism for experiments and innovation on the content side. Susan foresees character-based series developed around contract stars, as well as infomercials and talk shows that could never broadcast on pay-per-view.

Entice TV might also be instrumental in ending the battle between two high-def DVD formats, Blu-ray and HD-DVD. You won’t have to decide which type of player to buy, based on your best guess about what movies will be available for each format, when you can download all your entertainment (adult and otherwise) instead.

“We think we will help drive the adoption of IPTV and high-definition video,” Susan says. “This gives people a reason to take advantage of their fast connections and to push for developing even faster speeds. After all, with e-mail it doesn’t matter if you have 1.5 (mbps) or 20 (mbps), but with video it does.”

http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70327-0.html

34D Treasure Chest…

Retailing for $49.95 in the US, Digital Playground’s Region-free three-disc Pirates: Collector’s Edition has so many bells and whistles that it puts the majority of mainstream Special Edition DVD releases to shame. The first disc plays host to an anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer of the film itself, accompanied by a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and an entertaining commentary featuring director Joone and a number of the film’s stars. Disc Two hosts  a behind-the-scenes documentary, blooper reel, the original two-minute short shot during the making of Island Fever 3 that served as the inspiration for Pirates, a look at the making of the film’s digital effects, audition footage and more.

What’s most interesting about this release is Disc 3, the WMV-HD DVD, which contains the main feature in 720p resolution. You need a Media Centre PC running Windows Media 9 to play it and an HD Ready TV to show it, but the results are fabulous. No wonder it’s gone on to break so many sales records in America. Director Joone explains Digital Playground’s success with HD: ‘Reviewers and critics spoke highly of the contrast between HD delivery (in Island Fever 3) and non-HD delivery. Being “the first” at anything, especially when the anything is a cut above, often attracts the consumer. Pirates is our newest and many more will follow once Blu-ray is released. We have been shooting all of our titles on HD and will release them in this format when the market warrants it.’

While Pirates seeks status as the acceptable face of adult filmmaking, not all of the industry’s producers are welcoming the HD microscope into their bedrooms. But if a multibillion dollar industry that produces 11,000 titles a year is making the move to HD, does it really matter if Hollywood follows suit or not?

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Home_Cinema/DVD_Players?Article=/Home%20Cinema/DVD%20Players/M5S2T9R7

But it’s doubtful that HD porn will nudge viewers in the right direction. The HDTV microscope could kill the fantasy that the adult industry peddles. Hollywood is already learning this lesson the hard way: HDTV has revealed that some glamorous stars look a lot more pedestrian than we’ve been led to believe. And the makeup tricks that protect the aging and less-than-perfect are easy to spot in HDTV. When technology pundit Phillip Swann first saw the Charlie’s Angels movie in HDTV, he was taken aback by Cameron Diaz’s appearance. “Diaz looks like a different person,” he marveled in the pages of Television Week, noting that her face has been ravaged by acne over the years. “She’s still very pretty. But to be very frank, I doubt that she would make People’s ‘Most Beautiful’ list.” Of course, as long as they’ve got some bedroom skills, adult performers needn’t be absolute world-beaters in the looks department, so they tend to be a lot less lovely than your average Hollywood star. In addition, they end up revealing a lot more nooks and crannies than their mainstream peers, which means many more physical flaws can wind up on-screen. That’s no big deal for peddlers of lowbrow or amateur smut, in which bad bodies are the norm. But keep in mind that DirecTV will be broadcasting films from two sources, Playboy and the Spice Channel, both of which pride themselves on being vendors of classy porn. The action on Spice is tame compared to what you might find at the local XXX store, and the stars typically sport toned, pneumatic bodies without visible shortcomings. If Cameron Diaz’s otherworldly reputation can’t survive HDTV intact, what chance does the Spice Channel’s talent have? And will HDTV customers readily fork over $14.99 per three-hour movie block once they realize that the naughty sorority sister their order conjures up has amateurish implants, and the lucky TV repairman’s skin redefines the word “leathery”?

HDTV isn’t impossible to fool, and porn producers can surely figure out some ways to beat the technology’s realism. To better conceal whatever facial or follicular quirks Jennifer Aniston might possess, Friends painted its primary set in light purple—the resulting aura supposedly gives the cast a healthy glow, even in HDTV. And makeup artists are already experimenting with airbrushes, misting their clients’ faces with thin glazes that don’t look too pancakey. All of these tricks cost money, however, and the adult industry is notoriously stingy about raising its production costs. DirecTV may be right to bet on HDTV’s eventual success, but it’s unlikely that adult movies will hasten that future. Even if the average price of an HD-ready set dips below $1,000 some day, porn connoisseurs may still prefer their thrills the old-fashioned way—with the gritty details obscured by strategic lighting and makeup. When it comes to televised porn, technological ignorance may be bliss.

Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired and a fellow at the New America Foundation. Photograph of porn actors on Slate’s home page by Peter Turnley/Corbis.

http://www.slate.com/id/2094788/

Porn studio Digital Playground, which claims to have produced the largest number of high definition movies in the industry over the past three years, said it is choosing Blu-ray Disc for all of its “interactive” films because of its greater capacity. It also selected Blue-ray because Sony chose the format for its PlayStation 3 (PS3) box, due out in November.
The co-founder of Los Angeles-based Digital Playground, who goes by the one-word name “Joone,” said the fact that Sony chose Blu-ray guarantees his studio an instant home audience.

“PlayStation 3 is going to be the Trojan horse that will get a lot of numbers into the home theater systems — the living rooms,” said Joone, who is also a movie director. “Technology-wise we’ve chosen Blu-ray, which doesn’t mean we won’t support both formats … but as far as having really cool technology and a lot of storage for future proof, Blu-ray is a good format.”
Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD are the new optical-disc formats that are positioned as replacements for DVDs with high-definition content.
Blu-ray is not only backed by entertainment giant Sony, but Panasonic, LG Electronics, Philips Electronics and movie studios Disney and Fox. Blu-ray offers storage up to 50GB capacity, or up to nine hours of high-definition content. In contrast, HD-DVD has 30GB capacity and is supported by companies like Toshiba, NEC and Warner Home Video.

Paul O’Donovan, an analyst with Gartner Inc., said pornography’s support of either DVD format will be a “strong factor” to the uptake of the technology by the general marketplace, but even more critical is Sony’s adoption of the technology.
O’Donovan said even though initially the Blu-ray format will be more expensive and will come after that of HD-DVD, the sheer support it is receiving from the entertainment industry, including pornography studios, will catapult it to a victory within a range of 18 months to five years.

Steve Hirsch, head of the adult film studio Vivid Entertainment, said he’s currently using the HD-DVD format because it was the first to come out, but his studio will begin burning to the Blu-ray format as soon as it’s available.
“The adult industry has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. We don’t have any theatrical distribution issues nor do we have big box retailers, like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster, to cater to. We’re forced to find distribution wherever we can,” Hirsch said.

Hirsch, who founded Vivid Entertainment in 1984, said the porn industry — just as in the 1980s — will have a big influence on the outcome of the latest high-definition video format wars. In the 1980s, Hirsch said VHS tapes started selling for $50 a piece and Betamax went for $55. “Therefore we pushed VHS harder, and in that sense we did have something to do with VHS winning out,” said Hirsch, whose studio pulls in an estimated $100 million in revenue a year.

“It was the adult industry who jumped right in and were putting movies on both VHS and Beta. We pushed the actual technology more than anyone else,” he said. “The adult industry has always been ahead when comes to technology.”
But not everyone believes the format war will be determined by the porn industry. Steve Duplessie, founder of research firm Enterprise Strategy Group, in Milford, Mass., and a Computerworld columnist, said the porn industry’s influence over the fate of VHS and the upcoming high-def DVD formats is overstated. Duplessie said VHS ultimately won over Betamax because Betamax was a proprietary format owned by Sony, while VHS was more open.

“I love the whole pornography concept simply because porn is still the number one money-making use of the Internet. But I don’t believe the porn industry will drive the format. Like any other industry, it will supply what the consumer wants,” he said.

http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/05/02/pornhd/index.php?lsrc=mwrss

Even The Porn Industry Can’t End HD

 Format War

It’s almost a cliché that the porn industry tends to be a driver of new technologies and a kingmaker when it comes to standards. The industry is definitely on the cutting edge when it comes to internet distribution of movies, and many have predicted that the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray battle would hinge on which format was adopted by Silicone Valley. But this particular format war has become so convoluted that even the adult film industry is taking an uncharacteristic wait-and-see approach with the new technologies. Studios aren’t inclined to make a heavy investment in a new format, when so much remains unclear. Meanwhile, the longer this battle rages on, the shorter the lifespan for the eventual winner; the porn industry is already interested in more advanced modes of distribution.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060814/0748218.shtml

As much as we like to talk about the ongoing format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD and our readers comment on it, the simple fact is that very few of us actually own either format yet. This is definitely related to the high prices and growing pains early adopters are subject to but the fact is neither one is available in significant quantities yet. As more manufacturers prepare to jump in to the battle this holiday season they may not be able to because of their shared reliance on blue lasers. Only a few companies worldwide produce them and none have been able to get very good yields. Even Sony, who produces blue lasers for themselves and others, has predicted a shortage as they seek to roll out the Playstation 3 and BDP-S1 and according to this article, have suspended shipments to others. For manufacturers who have to rely on someone else for a supply, this could mean a delay until 2007 before many players and drives are launched.

http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/08/29/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-on-hold-for-blue-laser-shortage/

Avert Your Eyes!High-definition porn has arrived. That’s bad news for HDTV.

By Brendan I. Koerner
Posted Monday, Feb. 2, 2004, at 5:52 PM ET

Anyone who caught yesterday’s Patriots triumph on a high-definition television can attest to the technology’s upside. An HDTV’s ultrasharp pictures are a boon when it comes to spying the precise contours of Joe Andruzzi’s gnarled fingers. But that degree of clarity isn’t necessarily a plus when watching less spontaneous fare. Viewers who think that, say, CSI star Eric Szmanda is a paragon of male perfection might not like the HDTV shock of realizing that—horrors!—the heartthrob sports layers of orange makeup, not to mention a dermatological blemish or two. If HDTV is sharp enough to reveal a G-rated entertainer’s humanity, the technology’s harsh gaze must be all the worse for those who make their livings in the nude. So when DirecTV announced last week that it would be broadcasting pay-per-view adult movies in HDTV, starting last night after the Super Bowl, one had to wonder whether the company’s decision-makers actually bothered to watch some samples. A big part of the allure of porn—at least the relatively highbrow variety that DirecTV shows—is that the participants appear to share few of our species’ physical foibles, thanks to clever lighting, makeup, and surgery. Your spouse may suffer from a dearth of gym time or the occasional bout of acne, but Kobe Thia’s on-screen personas are always in tip-top shape. (Caveat clicker: Kobe Tai’s home page is relatively tame, but it contains links to much raunchier sites.) 

DirecTV is obviously familiar with porn’s track record as a driver of nascent technologies. The adult industry’s decision to embrace VHS in the early 1980s, for example, helped kill Sony’s Betamax, despite the latter format’s superior quality. The infant Internet grew quickly thanks to erotic chat rooms and bulletin boards to the chagrin of AOL, which sought to sell the online world as family-friendly. Since fewer than 6 percent of American living rooms boast HDTV sets and many of the most popular network shows (e.g., The Simple Life) still don’t use HD cameras, the industry understands that viewers need a nudge to join the revolution.
http://www.slate.com/id/2094788/