Porn industry mulls next-generation DVD

Reuters
Published on ZDNet News: January 9, 2005, 3:50 PM PTAs goes pornography, so goes technology.

The concept may seem odd, but history has proven the adult entertainment industry to be one of the key drivers of any new technology in home entertainment. Pornography customers have been some of the first to buy home video machines, DVD players and subscribe to high-speed Internet.

One of the next big issues in which pornographers could play a deciding role is the future of high-definition DVDs.

The multibillion-dollar industry releases about 11,000 titles on DVD each year, giving it tremendous power to sway the battle between two groups of studios and technology companies competing to set standards for the next generation.

“It’s sort of like the buzz around the campfire,” said Peter Warren, DVD editor at industry bible Adult Video News.

One side of the divide is a standard called Blu-ray backed by consumer electronics heavyweights like Sony, Philips Electronics and Thomson and movie studios Fox and Disney. Blu-ray offers storage up to 50 gigabytes, enough for nine hours of high-definition content.

On the other side of the fight is HD DVD, which has much the same structure as current DVDs and, backers say, is cheaper and easier to manufacture as a result. Supporters of the disc format and its 30GB capacity include companies like NEC, Toshiba and Warner Home Video.

Adult film producers want the higher quality picture as well as extra space for creative expression–like giving viewers choice of camera angles.

Pornographers weighed in on the coming battle last week at the industry’s Adult Entertainment Expo, which ran parallel with the largest U.S. technology fair, the Consumer Electronics Show, and had many of the same technologies–sometimes a generation ahead.

Sentiment about the format rivalry varies, depending largely on the size of porn producer.

Smaller outfits seem to prefer HD DVD for its lower cost, while larger outfits tend toward Blu-ray for the capacity.

“We’re kind of riding it out a little further to see where the trend goes,” said Jackie Ramos, an executive in the DVD division at leading porn producer Wicked Pictures. But if he had to choose, Ramos said, “Blu-ray technology sounds pretty attractive.”

Paul Hesky, chief operating officer of Multimedia Pictures, one of the smaller groups, disagreed.

“Most of the DVD manufacturers in my business do not want the Blu-ray format because it requires new capital investment,” he said, adding, “I know for sure one format or the other will be out (on the market) by this time next year.”

Others say they want to see what consumers prefer.

Adult Video News’s Warren said HD DVD production would be a “fraction of a fraction of the price” of Blu-ray, but that the latter format could not be dismissed.

“Blu-ray is going to be very expensive for anyone to do but it is going to be a player,” he said.

Blu-ray supporters, however, argue that the increased cost of its processes is negligible.

Hollywood has begun lining up on both sides of the battle as they have watched the growth of DVDs slow. They will want a new standard in place soon, to accelerate again.

Many are watching the porn industry to see what happens.

“That whole business has driven technology adoption of several platforms,” said one major studio executive. “A better, more intense experience is a good thing for porn.”
And those on the bleeding edge move forward again…

Probubly will be a lot of responses here from people who:

ttp://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-5518574.html

HD comes on strong at AVNThe Other Vegas Show XBox360 has killer app at lastBy Charlie Demerjian in Las Vegas: Saturday 07 January 2006, 18:26

WHILE COMPANIES waffle and debate how to screw consumers harder over high def video, the porn industry is doing HD now, with harder screwing on it, not with it. Several companies had HD titles here and there, but I only found one, Lurid, that was all HD.

Lurid specializes in HD porn, and they currently have 13 titles out and counting. There are a lot of problems with doing HD, and much of the industry is doing it basically wrong. It has come a long way from the state of affairs of last year, and HD cameras are much more available. The problem is that editing equipement is not, and most companies don’t have the expertise, money, or will to do it on their own. This leads to movies shot in HD, then downsampled to be edited on normal rez machines. It is then upsampled and burnt to DVD, giving you pretty awful quality.

Lurid on the other hand does everything start to finish in HD, giving you quality that I can’t use snappy saying about for fear of angering the moral minority, but think slogans for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Needless to say it is HD all the way through, shot in 1080i, and downsampled to 720P for production and print. They are shipped on two DVDs, one in standard def, the other with a WMVHD movie on it as a file. The next thing for them to tackle is the consumers, or dumb sheep as I like to call them. They see an HD sicker on something, and assume it just works. If they buy a plasma TV and it does HD, they assume that their DVD player will do it. Wrong. Lurid was giving away an XBox360 on their stand because it is one of the only consumer devices out there that can do HD movies at the consumer level. In the above picture, they are streaming smut from a MCE05 PC to an 360, and as you can clearly see from the pictures, the quality is great. You can see every little [not a chance that this will make it in, so I will censor it myself], and the donkey too. Without Microsoft and the XBox360 team, we would not have true high quality filth, thanks guys.

If trends hold, this year there are a few like Lurid at the beachhead of HD, and by AVN 2007, everyone will be there. While the big boys are making a lot of noise about standards fights, screwing consumers, and the like, porn is there now. You can buy it all day long, inexpensively and technically correct. Who is the leader again? µ

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=28821

Porn industry to have big influence on HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray
Posted by Dennis on 10 January 2005 - 09:44 - Source: News.com

GristyMcFisty lets us know about an interesting article over at News.com. It seems that the porn industry may have a big influence on the future of high definition DVDs. As most of you will know, two DVD formats are currently being promoted: Blu-ray (backed by companies such as Sony, Philips and Disney), offering a capacity of up to 50GB and HD-DVD (backed by companies such as NEC, Toshiba and Warner Home Video), offering a capacity of up to 30GB.

The porn industry releases over 11,000 DVD titles per year and thus they have a lot of power to influence the battle between two groups. But, currently the porn industry has no favorite. Smaller outfits seem to prefer HD-DVD for the lower cost, while larger outfits tend toward Blu-ray for the capacity: 

The concept may seem odd, but history has proven the adult entertainment industry to be one of the key drivers of any new technology in home entertainment. Pornography customers have been some of the first to buy home video machines, DVD players and subscribe to high-speed Internet.

Pornographers weighed in on the coming battle last week at the industry’s Adult Entertainment Expo, which ran parallel with the largest U.S. technology fair, the Consumer Electronics Show, and had many of the same technologies–sometimes a generation ahead.

“We’re kind of riding it out a little further to see where the trend goes,” said Jackie Ramos, an executive in the DVD division at leading porn producer Wicked Pictures. But if he had to choose, Ramos said, “Blu-ray technology sounds pretty attractive.”

Paul Hesky, chief operating officer of Multimedia Pictures, one of the smaller groups, disagreed.
“Most of the DVD manufacturers in my business do not want the Blu-ray format because it requires new capital investment,” he said, adding, “I know for sure one format or the other will be out (on the market) by this time next year.”
Others say they want to see what consumers prefer.

Hollywood has begun lining up on both sides of the battle as they have watched the growth of DVDs slow. They will want a new standard in place soon, to accelerate again.

Many are watching the porn industry to see what happens.
 

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/11186

May 02, 2006 5:27 pm ET

Porn industry may be decider in Blu-ray, HD-DVD battle
By Lucas Mearian, Computerworld

Just as in the 1980s, when the Betamax and VHS video formats were battling it out for supremacy, the pornography industry will likely play a big role in determining which of the two blue-laser DVD formats — Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD — will be the winner in the battle to replace DVDs for high-definition content.

Ron Wagner, director of IT operations at E! Entertainment Television Inc., in Los Angeles, said his company has already chosen the Blu-ray Disc format, in large part because of talk in the porn industry favoring it over rival HD-DVD.
Wagner said that while attending last year’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) annual conference in Las Vegas, more than one panel discussed “several major players in the porn industry going the Blu-ray route.” He said the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD rivalry was also the buzz around NAB 2006 last month.

“If you look at the VHS vs. Beta standards, you see the much higher-quality standard dying because of [the porn industry’s support of VHS],” he said. “The mass volume of tapes in the porn market at the time went out on VHS.”
E! Entertainment is using Blu-Ray discs primarily for Sony’s XDCam applications for acquisition of television programming materials. The television network, which has more than 85 million subscribers to its celebrity gossip and entertainment news, said it is not considering optical formats for long-term data archiving, but will stick with magnetic tape for now.
The pornography industry, which generates an estimated US$57 billion in annual revenue worldwide, has always been a fast leader when it comes to the use of new technology, according to analysts.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/05/02/pornhd/index.php?lsrc=mwrss

Sex Drive

Imagine yourself on a big squishy couch inside a closed booth at the adult entertainment trade show in Las Vegas. Against one wall, a gigantic high-definition television set shows gorgeous people, almost life-sized, having sex somewhere luxurious and tropical. Against another, a slightly smaller flat-panel TV displays the same video in standard definition.

The noise of the show floor pounds outside the walls and yet you feel you’ve reached an oasis. A bottle of water appears at your side, and you sink into the cushions and prop your feet up on the coffee table while the on-screen couple shares an orgasm.

All the while, you’re deep in conversation with the president of an on-demand adult entertainment company, talking excitedly about compression algorithms, encryption, bandwidth, user-interface design and the future of video delivery.

Hot!

Susan Keil is the president of Entice TV, which launched its internet protocol television service (or IPTV) in January, and her enthusiasm for her company is contagious. I came away from our interview feeling smug about having business-caliber DSL in my home office — I usually get about 5 mbps incoming — and tempted to buy an HDTV set even though I rarely have time to watch it.

Entice TV, one of the first IPTV services, offers full-length videos from a number of adult production companies — in high definition, with 5.1 surround sound, and in wide screen, if the source material allows. The studios set their own prices for rentals, purchases and subscriptions, on top of your monthly ($5) or annual ($30) Entice TV membership fee.

Susan points to advances in compression and standard digital media tools as the foundation of the company’s services.

“The bandwidth is there now, and only getting better,” she says. “We’re able to deliver content without any proprietary hardware. There’s no physical set-top box to buy. It’s all standard.”

While Entice TV didn’t develop its compression algorithms itself — it uses the “imediasee” platform developed by Broadline Media — the compression is one of the reasons Entice TV is making waves in adult entertainment.

On a standard 1.5 mpbs DSL connection, it takes about 15 minutes to download a full-length feature in standard defintion. (Susan says a high-definition feature-length movie would take at least two hours at those speeds.)

Entice TV is adding progressive downloads in the near future, which will let you watch a video while it downloads. You’ll need at least 1.5 mpbs for standard defition. But with extra speedy DSL like mine, you can just about watch the stream in high-def.1
It’s as discreet as it gets, too. “Entice TV is basically a direct point-to-point communication between distributor and viewer,” Susan says. “It’s as private as e-mail.” The point? So far, one-to-one communication is not subject to the same content regulations as one-to-many communication like broadcast, cable and satellite.

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

High-Definition Porn On The Rise

Smarthouse Team - Thursday, 23 March 2006

The porn industry is leading the way in adopting High-Definition recording, having already released two record-selling skin flicks.

There are many reasons why high-definition video will be a universal success. For a start, everyone is clamouring for it. Electronics manufacturers are churning out affordable HD-Ready TV sets, Hollywood can re-sell its back catalogue (again) in a new format, broadcasters can charge extra for HD channels and slowing DVD sales will be replaced by soaring HD DVD/Blu-ray sales. Good news all round then. But it’s all for nothing if consumers don’t buy into it, too.

As far as content is concerned, porn gives sport a run for it’s money as one of the most desirable categories of HD programming. So it should come as no surprise that the first movies to be filmed, edited and released in high-definition are skin flicks.

With hindsight, it’s impossible to ignore the effect the adult entertainment industry has on emerging technologies. When Sony launched its Betamax VCR in 1975 it ignored the adult sector entirely and uptake was slow, as even early adopters (generally young men) stayed away.

It wasn’t until JVC launched VHS, and the adult industry embraced the format, that the home market exploded. The VCR turned out to be Japan’s biggest single export, Deep Throat became the most profitable film ever and Betamax eventually limped into obscurity. Fittingly, Deep Throat was also released recently on a HD format for the Xbox 360.

Cable TV providers quickly realised that people wanted to watch adult films in the privacy of their homes, and when satellite broadcasters came along, they made sure there was plenty of pay-per-view porn on the menu. More recently, DirecTV has begun showing adult movies in HDTV to American audiences. HDNet and INHD are set to follow suit.

While Hollywood considers the risks of copy protection and hardware manufacturers squabble over formats, the adult industry has already begun moving over to HD production. Digital Playground is leading the way in this field and has recently launched its second high-definition release, Pirates. Since their first adult HD feature, Island Fever 3, Digital Playground now shoots all of its films on Sony’s HDC-950 1080/60i cameras to futureproof its catalogue.

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

Follow The Porn
Lloyd Garver Says That’s What  You’ll Be Doing In Home Electronics
April 26, 2006
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(CBS) Like it or not, in the next few years, you’re probably going to be following the lead of the porn industry. I’m not talking about wearing high heels to bed or making noises like a wounded rhino. I’m talking about video technology.

If you are into electronic home gadgets, you may already have a High Definition television in your home. Now you’re probably trying to decide which of the two formats for recording and playing HD DVDs you should buy. Toshiba has the HD DVD format and Sony has the Blu-Ray format. In the spirit of corporate stupidity, the two formats are not compatible, and based on the history of the Betamax versus VHS war, only one format will survive. The porn industry recently made a commitment to Blu-Ray, so mainstream movie companies will probably be closely behind them, so to speak.

Hollywood knows now that it would be foolish to ignore technologies used by the porn industry. Pornography customers were among the first to buy home video players so they could watch their porn on their own TVs. This was a much more comfortable environment than some seedy movie theater. Hollywood studios didn’t pick up on this right away. In fact, some studios fought home video all they way to the Supreme Court before making it one of the most profitable aspects of their business. Adult entertainment fans were among the first to buy DVD players so they could watch their porn on DVDs rather than videotape. And when the mainstream studios were saying that nobody would watch movies on the Internet, the porn industry blazed the trail there, too. It’s no coincidence that porn’s Adult Entertainment Expo runs at the same time and place as the largest U.S. technology fair, the Consumer Electronics Show. Surprise, surprise, they’re both held in Las Vegas.

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

Hi Def to Cause Porn Shakeout?

Porn producers are usually tech pioneers, but industry is shying away from HD.
August 14, 2006

They aggressively pushed the VHS videocassette, led the change to DVDs, and were among the first to make money off the Internet. 

No one could say that the adult film industry has shied away from new technology.

Nor should they have. Each new technology made it easier for porn companies to make and distribute films, first through home video and then via the Internet.

As a result, hundreds of sex film companies have popped up over the last decade, driving an estimated $4.3 billion in sales in the United States last year and making household names out of starlets like Asia Carrera and Jenna Jameson.

Adult filmmakers are once again grappling with the latest technology—high-definition DVDs. But HD video is so confusing and expensive to most sex film producers that some industry insiders suggest the technology could actually prompt a much-needed shakeout in an industry that has for decades only known robust growth.

“There will be fewer companies, fewer small budget films, and less of the riffraff operators,” predicted Peter Warren, associate editor of Adult Video News, the industry’s leading trade publication.

Format Wars

Much of the confusion has centered on the looming format war between Sony’s Blu-ray standard and Toshiba’s HD-DVD technology. The two companies have been unable to agree on a common standard and are independently forging ahead in hopes they will emerge victorious in the marketplace.

That has forced many consumer electronics makers, computer companies, and Hollywood studios to pick sides, a scenario eerily reminiscent of the battle between VHS and Betamax. Some studios, like Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., have opted to hedge their bets and back both formats.

The porn industry is just as confused about which format will win. Adult filmmakers would like to exploit the extra-storage available on Blu-ray discs, but they are wary about the price of Blu-ray DVD players and the high cost of Blu-ray discs.

The industry has been unwilling to push one format over the other, leaving most producers with little choice other than to adopt a “wait and see” attitude.
 
“Confusion is pervasive in the adult film industry,” said Tom Funk, a former IT consultant turned porn film maker. “They don’t necessarily understand the technology, and then there’s the format war.”

http://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=17936