Porn Industry May Be Decider in Blu-ray, HD-DVD Battle

[zombie]

http://www.computerworld.be/index.cf...17&style=34360

03 May 2006

Porn Industry May Be Decider in Blu-ray, HD-DVD BattleJust 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 or HD-DVD--will be the winner in the battle to replace current DVDs for high-definition content. Ron Wagner, director of IT operations at E! Entertainment Television, 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.

Just Like VHS vs. Beta

"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 $57 billion in annual revenue worldwide, has always been a fast leader when it comes to the use of new technology, according to analysts.

Sony Is Key

Blu-ray is backed not only by entertainment giant Sony, but also by 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, 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 victory within 18 months to five years.

Porn Influence Overinflated

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., 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," Duplessie said. But I don't believe the porn industry will drive the format. Like any other industry, it will supply what the consumer wants."

Yay for porn!

[AV_Integrated]

While porn may have been a factor 20 years ago, the Internet is where most people are getting their XXX fix these days. While DVDs may be popular and certain groups may be backing Blu-ray or HD-DVD, the reality seems to me that porn no longer will be a major influence on the outcome.

BUT: If some studio execs have it in their head that porn IS a major indicator, then that exec may lean towards that technology for the sheer stupidity of history instead of looking at current facts and technologies rationally.

Which, in the end, should point them towards Blu-ray anyway. Right?

[digital.view]

Originally Posted by AV_Integrated

While porn may have been a factor 20 years ago, the Internet is where most people are getting their XXX fix these days. While DVDs may be popular and certain groups may be backing Blu-ray or HD-DVD, the reality seems to me that porn no longer will be a major influence on the outcome.

BUT: If some studio execs have it in their head that porn IS a major indicator, then that exec may lean towards that technology for the sheer stupidity of history instead of looking at current facts and technologies rationally.

Which, in the end, should point them towards Blu-ray anyway. Right?

There is something missing from your theory.

Two parts....the first is...Yes it's true the internet has been a factor in sales of the porn industry -- while 20 years ago it wasn't a factor. But the internet also has been a facilitator on on-line DVD/VHS purchases as well. Walk in to your local porn shop and buy a porn DVD? Nope. No need. Just buy your DVD on-line and have it mailed to your residence in discrete packaging. So, as the internet porn sales has grown. So has DVD sales.

And that goes to my second part...which is that relative to the sales of 1980, the sales of DVDs alone has grown to 10 times the size in revenues.

Tracking of sales not been studied as much as they should be. But estimates are around 50+ Billion WORLD WIDE (mags, dvds, internet, cable). DVD rental/sales in the WORLD WIDE are around 20 billion.

And people don't just buy one media type. Many buy DVDs, mags and internet.

I don't think we should be asking of porn is a factor on which media format gets an edge. That should be obvious. Of couse it's a factor -- regardless of what era we live in. I think we should be asking WHY Digital Playground (the largest adult film maker) chose Blu-ray over HD-DVD.

http://www.familysafemedia.com/porno...tatistics.html

[JTK]

I'm inclined to believe the glut of cheap/free porn all over the Internet renders porn less than a factor than it once would have been. Possibly a complete nonfactor outright.

[zombie]

Despite the internet, sales of adult DVDs are huge. I have no reason to think porn won't help out Blu-ray especially since they've got the largest adult studio, Digital Playground, in their corner.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by nyg

Despite the internet, sales of adult DVDs are huge. I have no reason to think porn won't help out Blu-ray especially since they've got the largest adult studio, Digital Playground, in their corner.

Fine by me.

[hmurchison]

I think it'd be silly to think that porn wouldn't influence the formats. However it is vastly overstated that somehow porn on Blu Ray is going to work in the BDA's favor like it did for VHS in yesteryear.

I think it's pretty stupid to align to one format. If you're a content provider you provide content for any platform with an acceptable ROI. Frankly I couldn't care less because I don't waste my money on poor movie production.

[no_wei]

Originally Posted by hmurchison

Frankly I couldn't care less because I don't waste my money on poor movie production.

That's the nail on the head right there. I'm just going to come out and say that regardless of any moral or ethical arguments, the porn industry offends me on the level of production value. Now granted, I'm not an expert on the subject, but from what I have seen porn's production value might as well be zero.

While I definitely concede the point that the porn industry has had a major influence on certain technologies, it seems to me that they've adopted technology that allows them to make more and more money off a worse and worse product.

although, i suppose by definition, pornography is not a quality product.

/no

[JTK]

Originally Posted by no_wei

That's the nail on the head right there. I'm just going to come out and say that regardless of any moral or ethical arguments, the porn industry offends me on the level of production value. Now granted, I'm not an expert on the subject, but from what I have seen porn's production value might as well be zero.

While I definitely concede the point that the porn industry has had a major influence on certain technologies, it seems to me that they've adopted technology that allows them to make more and more money off a worse and worse product.

although, i suppose by definition, pornography is not a quality product.

/no

I certainly agree with you on this count and I would suspect many others do as well.

I think we all understand that a discussion like this is purely from a business/pragmatic standpoint.

[hmurchison]

Also keep in mind that some states have limitations on the type of adult content you can order via the internet. Go to one of those places that rent adult DVDs and they'll list which states they cannot mail to.

I don't necessarily think that's right but I just wanted to highlight some other issues that may not be considered.

[BTBuck1]

dude i love porn anyway i can get it. And in HD...oh my! You know when i first got dvd way back when, i thought the "angle" button on the remote was for porn movies. lol

[Psiweaver]

I think porn will have a major impact because even though it has a huge online market most people don't wanna get comfy in front of there computer they want to do it in bed or on the couch or something comfortable(unless they have a really nice computer chair) My point being there is still a large market for the material. Production values are low but profits are huge which is exactly what you want in a business. IF they can get away with it why not.

The reason to be an exlusive content provider is I'm sure you get a discount on licensing fews and you only have to author one dvd not too which saves you more production costs. Its a gamble but one that can pay off highly in the end. If you think that authoring dvds is cheap even for porn you don't know a whole lot about the business.

[mainman]

Which side does the adult industry support?

I just heard, that the adult industry decided to go with HD-DVD, is this true?

[phranctoast]

i heard they were supporting blu ray. I also heard this a long time ago. It could have changed.

Traditionally whichever side they chose would be the inevitable winner of a format war.

Today its a lot different with the internet and downloads. A lot less people buy porn dvds.


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

[hmurchison]

Digital Playground still seems to be Blu-Ray only. HD DVD may make some inroads with some smaller studios.

We'll see.

[mainman]

I dont know, but I just read at a dutch website, that the bigest project manager of the porn industry in the US chose HD-DVD.

The site gave as source some guy wich is a member at their forums.

Here is the link:
http://www.ng-gamer.nl/nieuws.php?id=2096&comments=1
You can translate it to English with one of those those translation sites.

[takezo]

Originally Posted by mainman

Which side does the adult industry support?

I just heard, that the adult industry decided to go with HD-DVD, is this true?

I don't think most people don't need their porn in High Def. In this digital age, porn on home video could just dissapear as people can download all the porn they want via Internet.

[techstyled]

I heard they go both ways...





Sorry, couldn't resist.

[phranctoast]

who wouldnt want a nice HD closeup of some razor stubble?

[Digital-On]

Hey all,
I agree that the adult industry supports blu-ray! I know this as I am an adult industry insider and we have been trying for some time now to get our titles onto blu ray disks. We may have to switch to HD-DVD only as a result of the lack of love we're getting from replication facilities (no pun intended)
Collectively we have several of the major adult producers ready to author content on the Blu-ray format, but we are unable to find a single replication facility who is willing to replicate for us! I'm officially offering a bounty for anyone who can point me in the direction of a replicator with lines available who will replicate our content! I have cutting masters ready to go out now.... already authored and ready to go... just need to find a willing partner (couldn't resist that pun).
We can discuss how you would like your bounty when I find available lines.
Much love for the Blu-ray, but ur giving us blu-balls!