Porn Industry Mulls Next Generation-DVD 369
MBCook writes "ZDNet has an interesting article about how the porn industry might end up deciding the outcome of the HD-DVD/Blu-ray debate. One side likes the higher capacity of Blu-ray, while others like the lower costs of producing HD-DVDs. Manufacturing 11,000 titles a year, the industry would have a sizeable say in the debate."
Re:Finally a voice of reason (Score:5, Interesting)
Print, phone sex lines, cinemas, VCRs, dvd players... you name it, the porn industry is making money off of it long before anyone else is.
I have heard it argued that the reason HDTV hasn't taken off as quickly as expected is because porn just can't stand up to such high quality images. Those 'perfect' bodies show their many flaws when displayed under high definition, and for most porn 'connaisseurs' , that ruins the fantasy aspect. If ms. X suddenly has zits all over her ass and acne scars on her face, it just ain't that sexy anymore.
Whether that's true or not, i've no idea. But it's food for thought.
Re:Finally a voice of reason (Score:4, Interesting)
Betamax lost out because of this... (Score:2, Interesting)
"Obscene Profits: Entrepeneurs of Pornography" (Score:3, Interesting)
It's interesting to see the HDDVD/BluRay discussion in some longer-range historical light.
-Mark
Re:11000? (Score:4, Interesting)
Personally, I had to recall the exact time offset and rewind to there so my parents wouldn't pop in the tape and it be in a different spot (call me paranoid). They never caught me on that. But (as Chris Rock has alluded to), I did leave it in the VCR one day.
Alas.
Re:Finally a voice of reason (Score:3, Interesting)
Some other notes. When the LaserDisc was supposed to be the next 'big thing' the company that created the technology (Pioneer perhaps) refused to license the mastering tools to the porn industry, thus killing the format.
When Sony and the other partners came up with DVD, the first high-end duplication machine (and licensing deal) in the United States was with Vivid Video. Thus ensuring the success of the format.
Blu-Ray RECORDS! (Score:2, Interesting)
-nfo
Re:Finally a voice of reason (Score:5, Interesting)
Although it kills me to post a serious reply in this article, I will only remind you that by far the largest and fastest growing porn segment is amateur porn. And when I say amateur, I don't mean a bunch of lipstick lesbians in a film collective that are making their own films. These girls are often the ones you might casually pass on the street, and the reason you pass them is because there is nothing worth stopping for. The idea that consumers who already like watching such porn would be offended by seeing the flaws in all their glory seems a bit suspect.
From a porn store clerk's POV... (Score:5, Interesting)
There is no reason for them embrace this new technology until it becomes mainstream and cheap. So few movies make use of the multiple camera angles , and those that do cost $59.99 (retail mind you.) They're the Jenna Jameson or (insert some triple implanted face lifted ugly skank here) movie where she's not even doing another guy, it's all solo vibrator stuff.
If they need to put more content on there, they just put it on another DVD fairly cheaply, then hike the price up a lot. The Fashionistas was some glamourous production, coming on 4 discs. Yes, 4 discs. Just like LotR, 2 discs were movie, 1 was extra crap you'd never watch, and 1 was more extra crap you'd never watch. $79.99 retail. It's about the only movie I've seen use multiple disks for actual content that wasn't just cuts of other movies.
Most movies that are over 60-90 minutes are just a bunch of cuts from other movies, some huge 8 hour montage.
Not to mention bondage, those movies are a total of 30 minutes. That's it.
$29.99 - $39.99 is the selling point price it seems for most profit. Hell, we'd sell movies we bought for $1.50 for $39.99 and people would buy them. Want to make some money? Open an adult bookstore. They raked in about $20K net profit... net... per month.
I highly doubt they'll use the extra capacity to make a longer movie, or even put in extra angles, or much of anything else. They will move to the next gen format only when other people are using it enough to make profitable to them.
Why?
They are already making a lot of money without using next gen discs, without putting in extra content, and without putting in extra angles. All this is fluff that people do not care about, they just want to buy some movie that has a picture of a goat on the front.
Yes, true story... some man wanted to rent a movie that said "Explicit material" on the front and had a picture of a goat. He asked me at least 10 times if they had sex with the goat in it, and each time I assured him it was illegal and there would be no animal sex of any kind in it. After all this, he rents it anyways just to make sure.
f-ing sick. I'll spare you some of the more graphic stories, but let me tell you... nothing makes you more apathetic for humanity that working in a pr0n store for almost three years.
Re:Ah vice (Score:5, Interesting)
When archiologists dig up ancient sites, they often find small fired-clay figurines of naked women with exagerated primary and secondary sexual characteristics.
Due, I presume, to the need to be published in sober journals, these are usually described as religious totems etc.
However, ISTM this is the earliest example we have of technology being driven by porn.Just imagine some neolithic teenager making clay wank-material and looking for some way to make them survive his sweaty little grip... And ceramics were born.
11,000 titles a year? (Score:3, Interesting)
I notice they are not too concerned about so-called piracy, and are still profitable. Or at least if they are annoyed, they havent gone public like the other members of the entertainment industry.
Re:11000? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Finally a voice of reason (Score:5, Interesting)
There's a diffence between appreciating porn featuring non-models and liking porn that features dumpy acne-riddled women with cellulite.
Most people who like amateur porn probably like it for its "girl-next-door" feel. The myth of amateur porn is that they're completely genuine and are probably so horny that they would have let themselves be photographed for free, just to get off on the idea of men watching them. In a sense, professional models are both more powerful (as they are seen as being in control of their sexuality, as this is their full time career) and more objectified (they are appreciated only for their physical appearance, and not who they are as people). Amateur models are seen as less empowered (they are often depicted as being approached, unawares, by men with cameras who are able to "trick" them into being captured on film; although both models and amateurs are doing it for the money, the money becomes more apparent with the amateurs and is generally framed in language of "supporting" the amateur [often in her pursuit of a college degree]) and yet more personified (on many sites, the section where the amateur keeps a journal, diary, or an online forum is very popular).
So the difference between the two types of porn is more on personality than on physicality. I think the expectation would be that you still expect physcial perfection from both parties. And remember: there's plenty of people with "plump" fetishes. I don't think there's many people with "bad skin" fetishes.
Ugh. Nevermind [livejournal.com]
Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD--what is the actual difference? (Score:5, Interesting)
So am I right in saying the only technical difference between each disc is that Blu-Ray holds more data and has twice the data transfer rate? Googling for actual differences between the two, beyond vague descriptions of "differing manufacturing processes," is difficult. Based on the assumptions above, Blu-Ray appears to be the superior format. I just want the absolute most superior movie format for posterity's sake.
When you get right down to it, which format is the best?
Re:11000? (Score:3, Interesting)
Amatuers popular because it seems real (Score:3, Interesting)
This went on until the women ALL had "perfect" (if often cartoonish) breasts, all the men had huge cocks and could cum like a fire hose. After a while it just stops seeming real -- the people are too perfect and the action was so predictable and soullessly acted, leaving people to not believe these people are ACTUALLY having sex.
I think this is what largely drives amateur popularity.. It seems like they're really having sex not putting on a performance, and the people involved are like people you've had sex with or interact with, adding to the voyeurism. It's more real.
I also think the lack of verisimilitude in traditional modern porn had a lot to with the rise of "ultracore" stuff (fake rapes, S&M, etc) -- the soulless performances led people to want something that was more emotionally compelling, even if it was for the "wrong" reasons.
Re:They have porn on DVDs now? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Ah vice (Score:3, Interesting)
Heh. Some of the stuff I've seen painted on ancient greek pottery give modern porn a run for its money. I'd like to see a sober journal description of that stuff. "We think this is some sort of depiction of...errr...fertility rites. Yeah, ritual fertility rites."