all thanks to the porn industry

quote:

CES 2007: HD DVD versus Blu-ray - The porn industry says HD DVD
Las Vegas (NV) - Knowing their audience quite well, the adult entertainment industry holds their annual get together in Las Vegas to coincide with the CES. There is also a very pertinent crossover between the adult and tech industries - porn has a tendency to drive, and be driven, by technology. Which means HD DVD when it comes to high-def.

Quite famously in the war between Betamax and VHS the latter won especially because the adult industry preferred it. If you've been around long enough, you probably remember that the very early home video rental stores were primarily responsible for driving Betamax out of the market. And those stores carried almost exclusively pornographic content.

Although the market environments from then do not really compare to today's home video market, parallels are drawn between the Betamax-VHS battle to the ongoing and escalating fight between Blu-ray and HD DVD. One of the key questions at this year's CES actually is "Which high-def format will win the current format war - Blu-ray or HD DVD?" Surprisingly, it seems that there is no such question in the minds of the adult industry luminaries.

Putting myself through the arduous trek through the floor of the adult expo I did a quick straw poll on, the virtues of HD DVD versus Blu-ray, and the answer from a dozen companies, big and small, including Pink Visual and Bangbros editor-in-chief, is going into a single direction: HD DVD is the preferred format. Period.

One of the big problems they have with Blu-ray is its expense, followed by its market share. "Blu-ray has superior quality, yes," said a spokesperson for porn studio Bangbros, "but HD DVD is easier to produce, cheaper to produce and there are more HD DVD players in homes than there are Blu-ray players, for example in the Xbox 360."

Pink Visual heavily complained about the fact that Blu-ray discs cannot be replicated and a range of other studios, who did not want to be mentioned by name indicated that the cost of going with Blu-ray cancels the technology as a possible HD solution for this industry. "Only bigger studios can afford Blu-ray, and even then it's not economical," we were told.

It would seem that either Blu-ray has to do some catching up very quickly. But we got the strange feeling that HD DVD has won the format war already, at least in the porn industry.

source



slashdot says:

"If this is true, it's Beta vs VHS all over again and HD-DVD may be the foregone winner of the format wars. First, Heise reports (summarized from the German by sgknox.com) that Digital Playground, who were committed to Blu-ray last year, are now producing HD-DVD titles instead. No Blu-ray disk manufacturer would make their disks because Sony doesn't want porn on Blu-ray (just as with Betamax). Second, as reported by tgdaily, the porn industry overwhelmingly favors HD-DVD because it's much cheaper and easier to produce. As noted in the tgdaily article, porn was a huge factor in VHS winning the VHS/Beta format wars even though many people don't like to acknowledge it. Porn, like gaming, pushes tech adoption."

hahah ya gotta love pr0n :D

HD DVD it is.

Sony lose :) that's a win for the consumer in my books :D

f*** Sony and their propriatary crap

oh and let me just say
Editor-in-chief Bangbros Studios.... best job title ever

also your first link doesn't work matey

Not so sure that the porn industry is really the linchpin now. While it was true when VHS vs Beta was happening, how many porn video shops are there now compared with home general entertainment / movies? Every department store in the country now has a huge section for non-porn DVD sales.

s***loads of movie studios and manufacturers have signed up for Blu-ray (unfortunately?). I'd be surprised if they didn't win this one.

Most pron is acquired from the internets now isn't it?

cheers heardy its fixed now

I thought porn came in avi format anyway.

8-)

I like this post on slashdot titled "HD-DVD will win over "Blu-Ray" because of names..."

"HD-DVD" will win over "Blu-Ray" because of the name of the tech anyway...

Average consumer: "WTF is Blue Ray?"
Answer: "It lets you watch high-definition DVDs."
Average consumer: "Is there a Red Ray?"

Average consumer: "WTF is HD-DVD?"
Answer: "It lets you watch high-definition DVDs."
Average consumer: "Sorry I was such a dumbass."

haha that's brilliant

but he is more then likely right...

As I understand it.
A HD-DVD plant can make DVDs and HD-DVDs.
A blue ray plant can make Blue Ray discs.

And I can't see every customer (or even most customers) swapping to HD given most people don't have a HD TV.

So either the movie houses build new plants and maintain the old ones for blue ray ... or .... they just upgrade their current plants and produce HD and SD dvds.

My interest in HD movies is zero, there's no way I'll be upgrading any time in the forseeable future

Lol i'm that old I actually remember seeing a Betamax machine and the beta tapes. The beta cassettes were way more compact that the vhs tapes.

Sif you would be so arrogant to say 'no porn' on our media. Sony deserves what they get. They can throw blu-ray in the bin with Betamax and MiniDisc.

I think they need to make HD DVD/Blue Ray Disc players because both techs have many advantages. While HD is cheaper Blue ray sounds cool and can theoretically hold a lot more data. Also there is a list of support for both formats from big time studios and what not (its not just up to porn).

lg are gonna release a player that does both blu-ray & hd-dvd apparently.
linky

the problem will be Blue Ray is Sony, Not to sure how its headin but sony always make it that they are the only people who can produce Blue Ray Players. That would mean other brands can only make HD DVD players... that would make a bigger market in HD DVD?

My interest in HD movies is zero, there's no way I'll be upgrading any time in the forseeable future

I agree, it doesn't really make me wet in the panties at all. Most Australians still don't even have digital TV yet.

I sure as hell don't!

lg are gonna release a player that does both blu-ray & hd-dvd apparently.

Further to that, Warner have developed tech to store both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movies on a single disc. Probably a good thing for both parties, but it's all getting confusing as f*** for consumers.

As for the porn thing, with the Internet I don't think physical media will have anywhere near as much dependence on the adult industry as it did in the 80s but it surely will help HD-DVD's cause somewhat.

Personally I want HD to win because even though it's still technically proprietary Toshiba I see it as the better option. Sony always seems like the evil empire with all their in-house formats they try to popularise and then monopolise, mini-disc, memory stick, UMD et al so they can die in a fire IMO.

I'm not too interested in hi-def movies on them, that's not a selling point at all for me atm and I think digitally distributable formats (without DRM) are much better. But I know there will be a time soon enough where that extra disposable storage capacity will be handy.

Eventually everyone will have everything HD... It's just a matter of time. I can remember when DVD's first came out and they had this display at Myers showing them off. I was like, "WTF do you want to have all those extra options for?" Now I HATE watching the poor quality of VHS. No doubt the same will happen with HD when everyone gets accustomed to it.

I'll just sit back not being able to afford it for a few more years then BAM! I'll upgrade everything - TV... DVDs, DVD player etc. Of course by the time I can afford all that, the new technology will be out... which will surely be holographic movies.

Eventually everyone will have everything HD... It's just a matter of time. I can remember when DVD's first came out and they had this display at Myers showing them off. I was like, "WTF do you want to have all those extra options for?" Now I HATE watching the poor quality of VHS. No doubt the same will happen with HD when everyone gets accustomed to it.

VHS to DVD was a massive change though:

- better quality
- smaller size on shelf
- better life span of your media
- menus, special features, etc

DVD to HD-DVD, in whatever format, really only has the improved format. I'm not going to shell out $2000 for an HDTV, $1000 for a blueray player. I'm sure as s*** not going to buy movies I've already bought on DVD in HDDVD again (assuming they even try that - I assume that they can only upscale old movies to HD resolution so there'll be no actual quality gain).

I saw BlueRay at Harveys the other day. When I was up close to the 50" plasma it was playing on, it looked f***ing lush - but when I stepped back to a watchable distance (you can't sit close to a screen that big without having to turn your head to follow the action) the quality improvement was barely noticable.

My interest in HD movies is zero, there's no way I'll be upgrading any time in the forseeable future

well, im not really into moofies, but i do have a hdtv, so im interested

id like to see sony fail, just so they learn to not be too clever

I'm not going to shell out $2000 for an HDTV

Like having RCA jacks available to the TV, this is something that just happens. Unless you're a complete pov person and buy a really cheap TV then you just get HDMI and at least 720p these days.

I bought a 100 inch Sony Bravia LCD for 1900 bucks after Christmas. It has HDMI, f***loads of component inputs, 720p and is fully HD ready. HD equipment is likely something that will just happen to you.

$1000 for a blueray player

Yeh f*** that. My 50 dorrah DVD player from KMart will do for now for sure :) But eventually I see myself getting HD equipment as it falls into range. That cheaparse DVD player won't last a long time, and when I do uprade I'll take the fact that I can display HD quality into account.

Again, its something that just happens to you. We don't do like in the 50s and have a TV as "the TV" for 20 years now. Lifespan is like what, 5-10?

I'm sure as s*** not going to buy movies I've already bought on DVD in HDDVD again (assuming they even try that - I assume that they can only upscale old movies to HD resolution so there'll be no actual quality gain).

Both HD formats support backwards compatibility with DVD. Unless they remaster them or something it'd be pointless to replace your old media with HD.

Oh yeh, despite the fact that I bought a Sony TV, f*** Sony.

The TV is AWESOME for the price, really killer, but their market practices are annoying. If there was a comparable option for a non-Sony product I woulda bought it.

Up yours Sony you bunch of c***s.

All praises for HD-DVD IMO.

Is blu-ray just Sony? What about the BD association and all those other companies like Apple, Dell, HP, LG who helped develop it?

i know a few people that will grab the new tech pretty much as soon as it is stable. they have stopped buying regular dvds a while back to see which way the new format goes.
personally, my eyes are not so good that i can really tell the difference & as i get older they are just going to get worse so it's not a big deal for me either but i can see it will be for videophiles that regularly spend the big bux on home entertainment systems... like my old man. :P

Unless u have a kickass TV, High Def doesn't do s***.

Oh yeh, despite the fact that I bought a Sony TV, f*** Sony.

mother f***ing word

i would have bought a different brand, but sony got in first with their lcd rear projection jobbies

Wasn't Steve Irwin killed by a blu-ray?

I can't support it.

Death to Sony...Death to Sony...Death to Sony...etc, etc, etc

In Sony's defence they also developed the compact disc, which is was a colossal success. Sometimes better technology does win the people over.

Co-developed.

And no one wanted to share this time around which is a large part of the "problem"

well back in the day my dad bought a betamax video player.. and when we went to the rental store (back when they first strated up) they had all the movies in beta and vhs however the awesome quality was wasted a lil on our 1960's type TV tuner box setup

anyway slowly bit by bit as new releases came out.. les and less were available on beta.. so my dad bit the bullet and bought a vhs player...

the moral of the story is... i forget..

but the point is.. i forget that too

damn you TV giving me a short attention span

Not going into the topic at hand but......

Batemax was better than VHS and Minidisc is an excellent format - remebering it's been around in Australia for over 10 years - long before MP3.

Consumers are stupid and Sony's marketing is also questionable at times.

last edited by mission at 21:08:14 12/Jan/07

Consumers are stupid

No, consumers are just more interested in content, not the medium. How many albums were released on MiniDisc? Probably less than the number of toes you'd have left after walking on a landmine.

I had and used an md for years. It kicked ass

How many albums were released on MiniDisc?

The MD was to replace the cassette, not the CD. The plumetting prices of CD burners and the emergence of MP3 kind of ruined the party.

^ aint dat da trooth brutha

Sony are evil. May the grace of God purge the Earth of Sony.

Console wars eh? As far is i know it was just a bunch of pre-pubescent f*****s crying about what was better.

md sucks arse. not because of the hardware itself (because it was quite good for playback and recording) but because sony felt that they should restrict things like making a digital connection between your md and any other device that could not authenticate itself using their gay drm

quoting from cory doctorow, my main man

When MP3 rolled around […] instead of making a high-capacity MP3 walkman, Sony shipped its Music Clips, low-capacity devices that played brain-damaged DRM formats like Real and OpenMG.

Today, Sony is dead in the water when it comes to walkmen. That’s because Sony shipped a product that there was no market demand for. No Sony customer woke up one morning and said, “Damn, I wish Sony would devote some expensive engineering effort in order that I may do less with my music.” Presented with an alternative, Sony’s customers enthusiastically jumped ship.

Sony appear to think the same way about all of their formats, that is why their formats' marketshare is dongs.

(assuming they even try that - I assume that they can only upscale old movies to HD resolution so there'll be no actual quality gain).

Film prints are still about 3-4x higher resolution than HD, and they're developing better and better film scanners, so that if they can go back to film stocks they can remaster in true HD.

Some really old movies like Ben Hurr and Lawrence of Arabia are a whopping 7-8x higher resolution than HD! They used Imax resolution film. They stopped shooting films at such high resolution, because most cinemas couldn't afford to project it and it had to be down converted to 35mm.



last edited by Idol at 18:37:33 13/Jan/07

well we are talking 576i/p -> 1080i/p aren't we?

Thats a huge jump in image quality, at least on my plaz.

to sum up thread:

sony, not the one and only..

imo.
The future is not in discs you buy, it will be in online streaming and downloads.

So um f*** discs and stuff.

The future is not in discs you buy, it will be in online streaming and downloads.

HD movies are many gigs of data. This won't be deployed over the internet.

Don't get me wrong, your future where 15-25 GB movies can be streamed sounds awesome, but I don't think its coming anytime soon.

I gleefully await the day I see Gilmore Girls in HD

The future is not in discs you buy, it will be in online streaming and downloads.

I have zero interest in this until DRM is removed so I can do what I want with things I buy.

who the hell buy pr0n DVDs these days anyway....

HD porn? sound like i'll be trying to f*** the television soon

hmmm porn games for the wii ...

Don't get me wrong, your future where 15-25 GB movies can be streamed sounds awesome, but I don't think its coming anytime soon.

As bandwidth gets bigger so do the things we want to download.