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Porn Industry Mulls Next Generation-DVD 369

Posted by Hemos from the porn-and-stock-trading:-the-internet-today dept.
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."
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Porn Industry Mulls Next Generation-DVD More

Porn Industry Mulls Next Generation-DVD

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  • eh? (Score:4, Funny)

    by PoopJuggler ( 688445 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:06AM (#11309466)
    Blew Ray?

    • Re:eh? (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      No. HD-DVDA

    • Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD--what is the actual difference? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by bonch ( 38532 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @11:23AM (#11310574)
      From what I understood, Blu-Ray continues to use MPEG-2 while HD-DVD uses MPEG-4, so HD-DVD didn't need as much space as Blu-Ray does. But looking at specs online, I see that MPEG-4 is listed as one of many codecs supported for both. It's confusing following the process of both formats.

      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?

  • This should be fairly obvious... (Score:4, Funny)

    by medraut ( 136992 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:07AM (#11309471)
    The bigger the better!

    Sorry, couldn't help myself.

  • They have porn on DVDs now? (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheLoneCabbage ( 323135 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:08AM (#11309472) Homepage

    I just thought it was all in the internet?

  • Ah vice (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Qzukk ( 229616 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:08AM (#11309473) Journal
    In the end, porn really is what drives technology forward. You can believe that when we have fully tactile 3d VR, we'll have it because the porn industry invented it.

    • Re:Ah vice (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jafomatic ( 738417 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:18AM (#11309575) Homepage
      Close, but I'd like to suggest the following edit:

      "You can believe that when we have fully tactile 3d VR, we'll have it because the porn industry paid for it"

      • Closer, but I'd suggest the following edit:

        "You can believe that when we have fully tactile 3d VR, we'll have it because porn consumers paid for it."

        The porn industry picks technologies but it's their customers who have to buy the new ____ players to see the latest and greatest.
        • I think by "paid for it" he meant funded (as opposed to invented.)

          "You can believe that when we have fully tactile 3d VR, we'll have it because porn industry funded its developement."

    • Re:Ah vice (Score:5, Interesting)

      by R.Caley ( 126968 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @10:11AM (#11310006)
      In the end, porn really is what drives technology forward.

      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.

      • Re:Ah vice (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Dun Malg ( 230075 )
        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

      • Re:Ah vice (Score:4, Funny)

        by OzRoy ( 602691 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @05:26PM (#11315059)
        I remember going to one of my friends archaeology lectures on a whim and it turned out to be all about sex and archaeology.

        I don't remember all the details but I do remember that they had dug up what were obviously wooden dildos. However, when they were discovered the attitude was that they just could not be dildos, so for a long time they were classified as 'arrow straighteners'.

        I'll never forget the picture of the large double ended arrow straightener the lecturer showed us next.

  • 11000? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by slavemowgli ( 585321 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:08AM (#11309479) Homepage
    11000 porn titles a year? Goodness, who's actually watching all that? I rented a few porn movies myself when I was young(er), but to be frank, I never was impressed with any of them, and I returned most (if not all) of them without even finishing watching them.

    Did I just watch the wrong ones and miss those that are actually entertaining (in whatever way)?

    • Re:11000? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Ohm2k ( 262274 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:10AM (#11309496)
      Funny thing is, I've never finished watching one either. /seen the first 6 minutes several times tho...

      • Re:11000? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by stinerman ( 812158 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:45AM (#11309798)
        I'm assuming there is some reason why you rewound the tape after each viewing.

        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:11000? (Score:3, Funny)

          by Qzukk ( 229616 )
          I had to recall the exact time offset and rewind to there

          Every VCR I've had automatically rewound to the point where the tape was when it was inserted if you hit the rewind button.

          I guess porn drove that innovation too ;)

    • Re:11000? (Score:5, Funny)

      by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:13AM (#11309530) Homepage
      I rented a few porn movies myself when I was young(er), but to be frank, I never was impressed with any of them, and I returned most (if not all) of them without even finishing watching them.


      Turning it off after the first 4 minutes isn't a failure of the porn, it's lack of stamina. ;-)

      • Heh. ^_~ That's NOT what I meant - I stopped watching them because I was genuinely bored. No, really!

    • Re:11000? (Score:5, Funny)

      by eclectro ( 227083 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:14AM (#11309551)
      11000 porn titles a year? Goodness, who's actually watching all that? I rented a few porn movies myself when I was young

      Back in the day when we were boys we had one (1) playboy for the whole neighborhood.

      And we were grateful.

      • Re:11000? (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Luxury. When I was a lad you were lucky to sneak a copy of National Geographic from neighbor's mailbox. But you try to tell that to kids today...

    • Re:11000? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gl4ss ( 559668 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @12:01PM (#11310908) Homepage Journal
      people WATCH PORN, mostly because people MASTURBATE WHILE WATCHING PORN, mostly because getting an orgasm feels good - whatever way you had it(it's biological that people feel good after an orgasm, so don't start humping a dead tree and telling there's no feeling in it).

      maybe you should have spanked the monkey instead of trying to find the plot(unless you were watching some crazy 70's porn flicks, like alice in wonderland and such)? they're made for masturbating, cheap modern whores so to speak. if you were just watching them with your hands on the table you were doing it wrong, sorry.

      this is not a troll, it's the truth. that's why porn is so popular.

    • Re:11000? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by lost_n_confused ( 655941 )
      Nice to have 11000 titles but what is the volume per title? For years I have read so many articles that companies made so much money off of porn. The largest porno movie company is Vivid Entertainment Group [hoovers.com] their volume was $150 million for 2003. How many movies a year have a gross larger then that in US ticket sales? Not counting world wide ticket sales,DVD and VHS sales. Seems like there are a zillion porno sites out there. How many of the porno sites are all owned by the same company on a handful of serv
  • Bet on the one with weaker technology...

    Then again, 20 extra gigs of "Twin Peaks" sounds awfully compelling...

    Jerry
    http://www.syslog.org/ [syslog.org]

  • Finally a voice of reason (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lokedhs ( 672255 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:10AM (#11309494)
    I've been saying this for a long time. The porn industry is driving technology.

    Why did VHS win and Betamax fail? Some people (including me) argue that the biggest reason is that all th eporn was available on VHS. Wasn't there a statement against porn from the betamax people?

    Which industry was the only industry for a long time acually delivering profits selling stuff on the web during a time when all other industries promised a lot but only delivered losses?

    And remember the multiple-angle button on the DVD players? Who really thinks that this button was designed for the sports industry?

    I think the article hits the nail right on the head. The porn industry will decide which format will be used.

    • They (the betamax people) did that? Then it's no wonder they lost indeed, and not just because it happened to be the porn industry. I think it's reasonably safe to say that any attempt to control or limit possible content is doomed to fail when there are equally-good alternatives available that do not have such restrictions.

      • Re:Finally a voice of reason (Score:4, Interesting)

        by lokedhs ( 672255 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:31AM (#11309679)
        Yes, and since I wrote the previous post other people have commented that Sony actually prevented porn companies from licensing the technology. A recipie for failure if you ask me.
        • Definitely, and even more so since there's basically nothing wrong with porn (in a sense that'd mean you shouldn't license "your" technology [whatever "your" actually is supposed to mean in this regard - it's not like "intellectual property" actually *is* property, but that's another matter] for use with it, that is).

    • Re:Finally a voice of reason (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ari{Dal} ( 68669 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:22AM (#11309603)
      Oh, it's completely true. It's a well established fact that the porn industry leads the rest of the pack when it comes to embracing technology and making money off of it.

      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:5, Interesting)

        by Ath ( 643782 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @10:07AM (#11309963)
        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.

        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.

        • Re:Finally a voice of reason (Score:5, Interesting)

          by greenhide ( 597777 ) <jordanslashdot AT cvilleweekly DOT com> on Monday January 10, 2005 @11:10AM (#11310475)
          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.

          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]
        • Very early porn had verisimilitude because there was no porn industry and the only people who could appear in it were amatuers or at best prostitutes. Even 1950s Playboys and stag stuff was more amateur than professional, and this was true up until the 1970s when plastic surgery and porno production improved and there was a desire to make the women (and the men) "more perfect".

          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
      • I'd have to agree with the high resolution of HDTV being contrary to porn.

        My 65" HDTV shows me wayyyy too much detail at times, and it's a turn off. Stretch marks, surgery scars, acne, razor burns... it's not stuff you want to see in high definition. And for some reason the directors still love their closeups.

        If you're watching DVD's on a 27" or smaller television, it's not the same as a 65" HDTV. Seriously.
    • You're obviously ignoring the reason that all the *movies* were available on VHS.

      Certainly porn was available as well. But I doubt your typical video shop was ever renting more than a few porn films a week compared to dozens of copies of Rocky, Terminator, Tron, The Breakfast Club, Wierd Science, Top Gun, etc, etc. And Betamax screwed up by not getting films from the major studios, so they cut themselves out of the top-blockbusters-on-video market, which was where most people agree the VHS-versus-Betamax

      • Re:Finally a voice of reason (Score:4, Informative)

        by Tassach ( 137772 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @02:19PM (#11312483)
        But I doubt your typical video shop was ever renting more than a few porn films a week compared to dozens of copies of Rocky, Terminator, Tron, The Breakfast Club, Wierd Science, Top Gun, etc, etc
        After the big chains (Blockbuster, Hollywood) gobbled up most of the independent video rental places, the few surviving independents were hard-pressed to survive. The only way for them to do that is to offer stuff Blockbuster doesn't carry, and for the most part that is Porn.

        According to a former girlfriend, who worked for an independent video store, porn accounted for over 50% of their rentals. The other half was mostly niche/non-mainstream stuff which Blockbuster didn't have a good selection of -- anime, arthouse stuff, and foreign films.

        Before Blockbuster opened, people would come in and get a "regular" movie or two, and maybe a porno. After Blockbuster opened, the customres would just get the porn, because they were getting the new releases at Blockbuster (and blockbuster doesn't rent porn).

        It's hard for an independent to compete on new releases, when BB is getting 50+ copies of every movie [at a hefty discount] and the independent can afford maybe 5 copies [at full price].

    • costs dimes to make but sells for dollars, is addicting, legal, and non-fattening.

      Which industry was the only industry for a long time acually delivering profits selling stuff on the web during a time when all other industries promised a lot but only delivered losses? [...]The porn industry will decide which format will be used.

      Yah, porn comes pretty close if you watch out for silly Tennesee postmasters.

    • Yes we all know the VHS/Beta issue with Porn.

      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.
      • 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.
        It certainly does seem like Sony learns from its mistakes.

    • Re:Finally a voice of reason (Score:5, Insightful)

      by zero_offset ( 200586 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:59AM (#11309888) Homepage
      I've been saying this for a long time. The porn industry is driving technology.

      Tip to moderators: It isn't +1 Insightful if everybody has been saying that for a long time.
    • And remember the multiple-angle button on the DVD players? Who really thinks that this button was designed for the sports industry?

      When they want to sell the DVD player, they talk about that button a lot, but I've yet to find a use for it... Are there really movies that offer multiple angles? Which ones (both porn and non-porn)? I never, ever saw a multiple-angle enabled movie (or never noticed it...).

  • If there is a new technology, it's either the military or the porn industry who uses it first, either the killing professionals, or the...you know where this line is leading.
    • What's even more funny is that for most people, it seems to be perfectly OK to talk about the military and killing people and so on, but mentioning sex is a taboo.

      It just doesn't make sense when you think about it...

      • Re:Funny in a way. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Vo0k ( 760020 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:41AM (#11309759) Journal
        Too true. A game released as adult-only: Tons of gore, rivers of blood, some glimpses of naked tits. Same game released as PG-13: Tons of gore, rivers of blood, pixelated tits.

        But it's not only production...

        Remember "Morrowind?" There was a character named Crassius Curio, a lord with taste for earthly deligts. He wasn't a very demanding master. His tasks were quite simple. "Take off all your clothes and show yourself to uncle Crassius." Menawhile other "lords" demanded assassination of competitors, mugging people, blackmail, requested bribes, wanted betrayal and all kind of such filth. Now visit Morrowind forums and look up for threads "most hated NPC". Of course harmless Crassius is far in front of the list and many people boast how they sneakily murdered him or what tortures would they want to apply to him.

        It's scary how activity of destroying life is more accepted that creating it, and how strong hipocrisy makes otherwise harmless (unless of course taken over by the crime organizations, i.e. because of the reputation) porn industry "the devil".
        Probably if it wasn't treated as such "sneaky back door" stuff, all the wrongs (rape, slavery, violence) could be fought better too. ...and now we have Mafia bosses deciding what standard we will use.
  • One thing I wouldn't want to watch in HD pron though... those rear end going on stuff might show more detail (and colors) than I could stomach :)

  • Betamax (Score:5, Informative)

    by n0mad6 ( 668307 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:12AM (#11309523)
    One only has to look to the Betamax [wikipedia.org] to find a superior home entertainment technology that lost partially because the porn industry embraced the competitor. (actually, IIRC, Sony refused to license the beta to porn).

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


    These guys are creative geniuses. Who'd of thought of that? MORE camera angles. What a clever way to fill up that extra space.
    • These guys are creative geniuses. Who'd of thought of that? MORE camera angles. What a clever way to fill up that extra space.


      Well, the multi-angle feature in the DVD spec seems to have been used in two ways -- commentaties to show the way the film was built, and porn.

      I'm sure there are ligitimate uses of multi-angles.

    • What a clever way to fill up that extra space.

      AGGGH. STRUGGLING...

      Must not... take... bait...

  • Maybe (Score:2, Funny)

    by ptomblin ( 1378 )
    Maybe if they'd stop selling those "all weekend erection" pills they wouldn't need longer porn movies.

  • Porn has always played a big role in technology... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ddent ( 166525 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:14AM (#11309547) Homepage
    They have been heavily involved in the development and early adopters of: online credit card transactions, streaming video/webcams, VHS, multi-angle DVDs, pop-up ads, affiliate programs, pay-per-view, 900 #s, geo-targetting... the list goes on.
    • Don't forget GPS, electric typewriters, electric toothbrushes, space-age polymers, bicycle protective gear, the camera-stylo, the "you must be at least this tall" sign at amusement parks, flexicuffs, any number of gadgets and machines the proper use of which I cannot even imagine, and reality tv.

      I'm looking forward to multiple commentary tracks, from the producer/director and the actors.
      "This montage here is homage to Eisenstein's battle on the frozen lake in Alexander Nevsky, and the backdoor finale ev

  • Choice quote (Score:2, Funny)

    by castlec ( 546341 )
    "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. that's a classic if i've ever seen one

  • The "mainstreamifcation" of pr0n (Score:4, Funny)

    by jacobcaz ( 91509 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:15AM (#11309553) Homepage
    It's coming, and then there will be a conservative backlash followed by a puritanical period...followed by more pr0n.

    <ObSimpsons>
    Marge: "Fox turned into a hard-core porn network so gradually, I didn't even notice!"
    </ObSimpsons>

  • Lame ass format war (Score:2, Insightful)

    by brywalker ( 738506 )
    The reason DVD is so popular isn't so much cost or quality, even though it helps. It was because it was the ONLY format. Most people that have a DVD player now can't even tell the difference between VHS and DVD (sad, I know) and only got one because they can borrow movies from their friends and because they are cheap. This whole thing is going to blow up in their faces because Joe Average isn't going to know which one to get and they sure aren't going to buy 2 players.

    At that rate, even if there are all in

  • More isn't always better (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anita Coney ( 648748 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:24AM (#11309620) Homepage
    First, if the industry puts more and more porn onto one disc they'll risk losing sales if they charge more for that one disc. If someone is ordering porn on sees a $50 disc and a $25 dollar disc, I'm guessing they'll go with the $25 disc, regardless of how much porn is on the former.

    Second, the vast majority of porn actresses are NOT that good looking. Sure they look somewhat OK on DVD, but once you put them on HD you'll start noticing the grotesque flaws, e.g., surgical scares.
  • "Manufacturing 11,000 titles a year, the industry would have a sizeable say in the debate."

    It's not the size of the say of the debate, it's how fast you can mass produce those discs. DISCS, perv.
  • Customers demand the terabytes of disk to store hundreds of hours of p0rn; they demand broadband to deliver it; they pioneered ways to pay it over the net.
  • From what I've heard, Betamax lost to VHS because at first they were both proprietary formats. Betamax held less tape BUT had a higher quality. Sony made Betamax but at first would not let the porn industry use the format since they felt it was immoral and unethical. I know that Japan has had some very serious anti-porn laws in place in the past. This also could have been an issue. Anyhow, I think it was JVC that came up with VHS and were more than eager to cash in on the porn goldmine. These two new
  • Doesn't the porn industry put out VCDs? If the porn industry is going to be the driver in this, I'd put my money on the cheaper technology, provided it's good enough to get people to buy. That means more margin on the cheap products you sell a lot of. How many expensive, elaborately produced DVDs do they do?

    Even on a fancy LotR style DVD set, you could just go to multiple disks. This would cost more, but its on a more expensive product. Lower costs on cheap products make a huge difference in profitab

  • It's not the porn industry (Score:4, Insightful)

    by a_nonamiss ( 743253 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:38AM (#11309741)
    It's not the porn indistry per se that is driving this technology, it's capitalism. The article makes it seem as though the porn industry is lined with visionaries that sit around all day and come up with ways to better society. They're not driving anything. They're reactionaries. While it's true that the porn industry has fuled the emergence of many technologies, they are doing so mostly by accident. They are only in the business of making money. Take DVD's for instance. They are much cheaper to produce, they are more durable, lighter (cheaper distribution) and they don't melt when you leave them paused on one scene for a long period of time. This is clearly a natural fit for the porn industry, so they started producing DVD's. Same goes with the porn explosion in the early days of the Internet. Inexpensive distribution, and people clearly had poor judgement when they were wanking off. (Why do you think they can offer subscriptions for $29.95 a month.)

    I know this post comes off as porn bashing, but let's not give those guys (and girls) too much credit. They saw an opportunity and seized it. Same with mass spammers. They aren't trying to ruin the Internet, but where there's a buck to be made...
    • I'd say this is more about improving access to customers. Remember, this is an industry that has to cope with moral stigma. An industry that the so-called "moral majority" wants to censor.
      The porn industry faces an uphill battle when it comes to distribution, and is unhappy about this. The mainstream movie industry only cares about keeping the level of control it currently enjoys.
      No wonder Hollywood is scared to death of p2p, but San Fernando lives with it.

      Porn embraced video tapes because customers felt e

    • Re:It's not the porn industry (Score:5, Insightful)

      by deblau ( 68023 ) <slashdot.25.flickboy@spamgourmet.com> on Monday January 10, 2005 @12:23PM (#11311138) Journal
      There are two industries that drive tech: porn, and war. Always have, always will. But the only reason porn is listed is because it's tolerated in the US. The military alone drove Soviet tech. The problem with your theory is that their socioeconomic system was communism, not capitalism. They put the first man in space, made the first spacewalk, and the Russians are using Soviet legacy tech to get our astronauts into space when we can't ourselves. Capitalism has nothing to do with tech development.

      To be a little more precise, in the US capitalism is the economic vehicle that the porn industry and the military industrial complex are driving to reach higher technology. Capitalism is a nice theory, but it requires money to actually make it work. That money comes from Ron Jeremy and Donald Rumsfeld. (Never thought you'd see those two in a sentence next to each other, did you?)

      Without assigning any moral judgment to porn (or the military, for that matter), I simply state that those two industries contribute the largest amount of money to new technology development.

  • "Obscene Profits: Entrepeneurs of Pornography" (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kriegsman ( 55737 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:41AM (#11309766) Homepage
    Recommended reading: Obscene Profits: The Entrepreneurs of Pornography in the Cyber Age [amazon.com]. This book maps out how pornography has propelled technology forward through the ages, from the printing press to the Internet. Amazon even lets you read the first few pages [amazon.com].

    It's interesting to see the HDDVD/BluRay discussion in some longer-range historical light.

    -Mark

  • The winner will be... (Score:4, Funny)

    by NoNeeeed ( 157503 ) <slashNO@SPAMpaulleader.co.uk> on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:42AM (#11309770)
    ...the one that is most resistant to sticky fingers marks.

  • If you want to get an idea of just how big porn is (Score:3, Informative)

    by i_want_you_to_throw_ ( 559379 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @09:54AM (#11309863) Journal
    It accounts for about $30 million dollars in tax revenue for the San Fernando Valley.

    Oh baby, yes,..make more movies! Yes, yes, oh yes!!!!!....<CIGARETTE>puff</CIGARETTE>

  • Blu-Ray RECORDS! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by infofreako ( 194212 )
    I may be misinformed, but EVERY time I see a prototype of a Blu-Ray unit, it says Blu-Ray Recorder. This should be a significant advantage for ANYONE who's owned HDTV for more than a day or two. Eventually, you want to record these beautiful concert performances in 5.1 and time-shift the Sopranos. So far as I've read, HD DVD is a playback only device, just like DVDs today. If Blu-Ray can RECORD HD and playback when it launches, it MUST win over the other format. Early HDTV adopters need to make sure of i

  • This quote kills me (Score:3, Funny)

    by DemENtoR ( 582030 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @10:03AM (#11309924)
    "Adult film producers want the higher quality picture as well as extra space for creative expression--like giving viewers choice of camera angles."

  • From a porn store clerk's POV... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by YukiKotetsu ( 765119 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @10:08AM (#11309970)
    Seeing as how I used to sell this stuff in mass quantities to some of the lowliest scum on the face of the planet, all I can say is this...

    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.

  • 11,000 titles a year? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nurb432 ( 527695 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @10:12AM (#11310014) Homepage Journal
    All kidding aside, that is a LOT of product. I wonder how much they actually make off these movies. Cant imagine they cost much to produce.

    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.

  • Another viewpoint (Score:4, Insightful)

    by IndiJ ( 842721 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @10:36AM (#11310200) Homepage

    I think the porn industry will have little or no influence on this fight. Unlike with Betamax/VHS, the porn producers already have a cheap, ubiquitous format, and there's no way that porn is stretching the limits of DVD.

    I think computer users will influence the decision. Given a penny or two's difference in medium cost, a computer user will most likely opt for the bigger storage medium. I doubt many will have any qualms about a $50 difference between a Blu-Ray-ROM and a HD/DVD-ROM, considering the huge size difference. A number of game companies are already endorsing Blu-Ray, because they have no problem packing in extra content (the game itself and associated media, possibly in many resolutions, artwork, story boards, sound files, desktop themes etc. etc.).

    The entertainment industry is leaning towards HD/DVD for the moment, but I think that the sheer volume of Blu-Ray discs that computer users would consume (movie consumers don't buy stacks of 100 discs at a time) would force the price down to compete or beat HD/DVD. The entertainment insudtry would probably have to follow the crowd, assuming they don't jump on the bandwagon early. The porn industry would probably follow later.

    Many people are aware that the porn industry has been a major driving force in the adoption of new entertainment technologies. However, the next-gen DVD isn't exactly a new technology per se, it's just an upgrade to an existing technology. It offers pretty much nothing new to porn producers except more space, which they don't need. DVD's already have scene-selection, menus, multiple angles, soundtracks, etc. What really does the next-gen format have to offer?

  • Yup. (Score:3, Funny)

    by xZAQx ( 472674 ) <zrizer&sbcglobal,net> on Monday January 10, 2005 @11:03AM (#11310425) Homepage
    Manufacturing 11,000 titties a year, the industry would have a sizeable say in the debate.

    I concur.

  • 11,000 Titles a year? (Score:3, Funny)

    by catdevnull ( 531283 ) on Monday January 10, 2005 @12:07PM (#11310962)

    Holy Coitus Interuptus, Batman! I'm not amazed at the volume as much as I as am amazed about the creativity behind actually titling that many porn movies.

    I imagine a brain storming session migh go like this:
    "Bob, what do we have for this week?"
    "Well, Tony, we have 4 girl on girl releases, 2 double penetration features, 3 gay features, and a couple of light one-on-one featurettes for cable."
    "What are we going with?"
    "Glad you asked, Tony. Right now, we've got Hair Pie Tango II, Bushmasters, Vagitarians from Outer Space, and Lesbian Luau; for the 2 on 1s, we have Git-R-Done and Heads or Tails?; for the gay demographics, we've got Mandango, Cock-A-Doodle-Doo, and Bunghole Burglars III. For the cable features, we're going with Flesh Fetish and Return to Blue Lagoon II.
    "Great. We'll get 'em to graphics for the cover design and then send over to marketing..."

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