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Porn Industry May Not Decide Format War 185

Posted by Zonk from the assumptions-about-media dept.
nixkuroi writes "MSNBC Reports that the porn industry may be overstating their numbers and, as a result, may not be the decider of the next winning movie format. Even more interesting: Vivid Entertainment says that despite Sony's refusal to license Blu-ray to the adult industry, they've found a way to replicate the technology and will release Debbie Does Dallas on both formats. Film writer Jimmy Digiorgio states, in an email with MSNBC: 'In the past, porn embraced new technologies that were just gaining a foothold. DVDs are not new, and I don't think consumers perceive Blu-Ray and HD-DVD as new technologies. Instead, they see them as an evolution of an existing technology.... With Blu-ray [versus] HD-DVD, porn will go where the masses go.'"
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Porn Industry May Not Decide Format War More

Porn Industry May Not Decide Format War

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  • ugh (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Em Emalb ( 452530 ) <ememalbNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday February 09, 2007 @08:47AM (#17947148) Homepage Journal
    no way do I want to see any of these "actors" in HD, either format.

    • Re:ugh (Score:5, Funny)

      by baldass_newbie ( 136609 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @08:59AM (#17947250) Homepage Journal
      Em, they have "actresses", too.
      You would like them.
      I swear.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by CastrTroy ( 595695 )
        Most female actresses have gotten over the whole male/female gender thing and just started to call themselves actors. They are just as equal as the men, if not more important, so they don't feel the need to differentiate themselves.

        • Re:ugh (Score:4, Funny)

          by Splab ( 574204 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:24AM (#17947442)
          Most porn would lose a lot of their audience without women in the movies - so yeah, they are more important :D

        • Oh no! We've been found out! (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Henry V .009 ( 518000 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:59AM (#17947928) Journal
          Women are unequal and always will be. We men, so much better than women in every way, will always tack the "ress" onto "act" to symbolize this, damaging fragile girl's self-esteem and causing them to fail calculus in high school and earn less then men for equivalent work. Also, I personally have meaningless sex with brainless bimbos that I never plan to marry.

    • Re:ugh (Score:4, Interesting)

      by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:07AM (#17947330) Journal
      You're not the only one who has issues with HD format and adult movies. The folks who star in these movies are nervous about all the imperfections [itworld.com] that are showing up now that resolution is so high.


      I have a story from the NY Times (reg now required) in my journal which talks about this very issue. One of the solutions? Use software packages to 'soften' the images. In other words, film the movie in HD format then turn down the resolution so it is similar to that of what is on video tape or film.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by mgiuca ( 1040724 )

        I have a story from the NY Times (reg now required) in my journal which talks about this very issue. One of the solutions? Use software packages to 'soften' the images. In other words, film the movie in HD format then turn down the resolution so it is similar to that of what is on video tape or film.

        They're way ahead of you... just plug in any non HDCP/HDMI-compatible monitor into your HD video player, and the software inside will automatically "soften" the image for your viewing pleasure.

      • Maybe the solution to HD's Too Much Reality(TM) will be virtual porn, with the (cough) 'actors' (cough) 'acting' and then a HD computer image of an ideal sexual persona superimposed, ala Gollum?

        (Please note, I AM NOT, advocating Gollum porn. That is not what I'm saying. Yes, it is probably already out there. And no, I don't want to click on your link, illustrating that fact.)

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 )

      no way do I want to see any of these "actors" in HD, either format.

      Yeah, god forbid a woman have any imperfections on her. I understand this is porn and its supposed to be fantasy where all women are perfect but come on...Honestly, if my beautiful girlfriend didn't have a few small imperfections on her I'd be a little creeped out I think. And if you don't have a girlfriend (I honestly wouldn't be surprised with this being /. and all), that kind of mindset will work against you if you try to get one. Tru

      • Re:ugh (Score:5, Funny)

        by Bootvis ( 913169 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:46AM (#17947730)
        "Trust me, I speak from first hand experience."

        Urgh! ... Must ... Not ... Make ... Joke
      • "Yeah, god forbid a woman have any imperfections on her...And if you don't have a girlfriend ...that kind of mindset will work against you if you try to get one."

        Not necessarily. Perfection? No. But, I've found that with women, I do go more for quality than quantity. You can sleep with a ton of trolls....which in my younger years, I did quite a few. Drinking really helps that one.

        However, after a little while, I found I really preferred to ONLY target good looking women. Someone I'd actually be proud to

    • it is not that bad, actually.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *
      Wow, with this resolution I can even spot the silicone leaks!

      -Eric

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by vertinox ( 846076 )
      no way do I want to see any of these "actors" in HD, either format.

      I take it you've never had sex with a real woman with the lights on... Or maybe a woman at all.

      If it bothers you that much why don't you watch Hentai or Real Doll films.

      Seriously if imperfections gross out most of the fellows on Slashdot, I don't think any of you people really go on dates that much or maybe that most of you only have sex when completely drunk. God forbid you ever look at a real women. Much less one that isn't on a fuzzy VHS

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by gstoddart ( 321705 )

        Seriously if imperfections gross out most of the fellows on Slashdot, I don't think any of you people really go on dates that much or maybe that most of you only have sex when completely drunk.

        Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. Many of us, I'm sure, have been gotten laid more than a few times, and not only while drunk.

        It's not so much that the slightest imperfection on a woman is a disgusting thing. That's absurd. But, when you're watching porn on a large display (eg, my 43" TV), when they zoo

        • First, let me commend you on being able to use "vagina" and "bunghole" in a single post without being modded a troll.

          On to the reply - the camera not only adds 10 pounds, but yes, in close-up, it does horrible things to a person. Not just their naughty bits, but the everyday ones, too. Having had first-hand experience [thehousebetween.com] seeing my face blown up full-screen I can totally understand the trauma. I mean, if my nostrils look THAT bad, I really don't want to know what the rest of me might look like at such high-res,
          • "Bring back the fuzzy 70's film look!"

            But, PLEASE do NOT bring back the 70's untrimmed jungle-like bush.

            Lord, you look at some of those old films, you'd think they would have needed a machete to get through all that mess....

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Eivind ( 15695 )
          Besides, in RL you're making love to a *person*. And as they say, what goes between the ears is more important than what goes between the legs. porn-actors on the other hand don't have (well they migth *have* but the typical flick doesn't give any opportunity to show it) anything between their ears.

          It's not comparable. At all. My wife is the most beautiful girl in the world. I tend to start crying if I look at pictures of her for too long. Some model with looks very close to the current "ideal" could neve

      • I take it you've never had sex with a real woman with the lights on... Or maybe a woman at all.

        I don't know if the effect is due to the studio lighting, simple enlargement, or the color gamut of the television, but razor burn and pimples stand out about ten times as much on screen as they do in real life. Hell, you can witness that effect in SD. The combination of that and having a pimple five inches across on the extreme close-up is simply not favorable.

        • A new crop of directors (Score:5, Insightful)

          by alexhmit01 ( 104757 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @11:22AM (#17949312)
          And eventually, a new crop of porn directors will come up, who have learned their craft on HD Video (I can't believe I'm carrying on this conversation). The extreme close-ups make sense in a VHS 480i world, but not in an HD world.

          It's no different then the rest of television adapting. Most shows are show on film, and I the last time I read about the "technology of porn" was 5 years ago discussing HD adaption, and at the time, Vivid and Wicked were shooting their "movies" on film like a normal movie (multiple angles, stationary cameras, etc.), and everyone else was doing video (amateur style zoom-ins, etc., single camera, limited audio editing).

          Today, a pro Audio/Video editing rig is pretty powerful and straight forward, HD Video cameras cheap and powerful, so unless you have a preference for film (I personally do for movies, and I'll take a film transfer, grains and all, over an HD Video shot any day, but for porn, I have no idea, ask porn aficionados). I mean, watch an HD Net football or hockey game some time, since they are only shooting for HD, they pull the camera back, letting you see more action. Then watch an NFL HD broadcast, the camera is set for SD, so despite the greater resolution, most of the sides of the screen is wasted (you NEVER need the edge of the shot to go more than 2 yards beyond the deepest back, but if you have centered for SD, you just have grass behind them), etc.

          Some directors, rather than whining about Pan-and-Scan videos, shoot their movies with a cinematic 2.15:1 box and a television 4:3 box on the camera. When they set their shots up, they set them up for the movie experience and the television experience they want. In that case, you aren't "loosing image to go pan-and-scan" or even worse, shooting 4:3 and zooming in for the theatrical release, you have setup the movie to be shown in two ways, two experiences.

          No reason that HD porn isn't shot on video, multiple cameras, multiple mics (actual set mics, not the built in on the camera one), like a real movie, not heavily zoomed in, and editing for a 16x9 field. There is no need in HD land to do major close-ups, and you can watch the people engaged in the behavior, not just the genitalia. You might have to cut back on looping and reusing footage, but so what.

          In the age of amateur/quasi-amatuer Internet porn, where anyone can take nude pictures, put them online, or get them discretely printed at CVS, and home camcorders are small and $300-$500, I would think that the professional adult industry would WANT to move up market. They need to compete with the amateur offerings, and real production values could no doubt help.

          Compare HD Net's HD Video productions to the Network's film conversions. The film vs. video choice is a personal choice, there is no wrong choice. However, HD Net is SHOT for HD, it is shot assuming that you have a large, detailed screen. The Network are shot for 20" SD televisions. HD Net's production shows you the set and what's going on, the networks zoom in to a lot of head shots, ask yourself which looks better on an HD setup. The same rules apply for porn.

          On the plus side, one of the complains from the adult veterans was that all the imperfections show... they don't mean pimples and normal skin imperfections, EVERY actor and actress is complaining about that, mainstream or porn, and until they stop zooming in for the HD shots, it will remain a complaint. They mean all the plastic surgery scars, weird stretch marks from enhancement, etc. If HD shows all of that, while it may not eliminate plastic surgery in the adult space, it will force people to focus on quality (a well done augmentation), not just get the biggest your body can support... and that's not a bad thing.
          • Ah, that makes sense. So, in a nutshell, you're saying that if in SD, the pimple is 3 pixels across in an extreme zoom, the equivalent HD shot would not be as extreme a closeup and the pimple would still be around 3 pixels across.

            I guess in porn terms, the 300 pixel tall vagina would still be around 300 pixels tall. That takes the zoom down from 62% the height of the screen to about 27% the height of the screen. Makes sense to me.

            • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

              by alexhmit01 ( 104757 )
              Right, or in other words: learn to use the f'ing equipment... The "art" or "craft" of movie making or other cultural creations is working with the appropriate technology and limitations to tell your story. If you are writing music for a traveling bard, a small group of musicians to tour, a studio setting for vinyl, or a studio setting for digital audio in 5.1, you have different limitations.

              You don't see bardic tunes being popular as modern music, because the technology and economics changed. Similarly,

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by 1000101 ( 584896 )
            "In the age of amateur/quasi-amatuer Internet porn, where anyone can take nude pictures, put them online, or get them discretely printed at CVS, and home camcorders are small and $300-$500, I would think that the professional adult industry would WANT to move up market. They need to compete with the amateur offerings, and real production values could no doubt help."

            You must be talking about very, very small time 'players'. Most of the 'amateur' websites that generate any kind of revenue are owned and op
            • I'm really not up on most adult "websites," but from my interactions with those in the space, there is all sorts of stuff going on. The big players have different Internet divisions, one handling their studio stars (the original article mentions the interesting affect of how the old Hollywood studio system, or exclusive contracts, remains with the big adult players), one handling Internet only stuff, etc. The "amateur porn" is different levels of amateurism. There probably are small time people (the good
        • There must be a huge market for acne fetishists.

      • no way do I want to see any of these "actors" in HD, either format.

        I take it you've never had sex with a real woman with the lights on... Or maybe a woman at all.

        If you think a real woman is one with a 1080P 60 inch HDTV vagina.... I guess I have never had sex with a real woman.

        Seriously if imperfections gross out most of the fellows on Slashdot, I don't think any of you people really go on dates that much or maybe that most of you only have sex when completely drunk.

        Or are very very near sighted.

    • hi there, did anyone call for a really hair HD plumber?
    • Sure you don't want to see all of those great prison tattoos on the male actors in HD?

      I look forward to seeing HD pubic razor burn.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Grashnak ( 1003791 )
      I've said it before - the only thing uglier than Ron Jeremy's balls, is Ron Jeremy's balls in HD. *brrrrrrr*
    • Everyone knows the preferred viewing format for porn is divx.

      asf if you're desperate.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Trogre ( 513942 )
      From some guy in the '50s:

      'No way do I want to see any of these "actors" in colour.'

  • Too Much Control (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MrSteveSD ( 801820 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @08:49AM (#17947172)
    Porn or not, I find it quite worrying that Sony is able to dictate who is allowed to print films onto Blu-ray. If indeed that is the situation.

    • Porn or not, I find it quite worrying that Sony is able to dictate who is allowed to print films onto Blu-ray. If indeed that is the situation.

      Is it significantly more worrying than that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are able to dictate who is allowed to print games designed to be played on a television onto discs?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mgblst ( 80109 )
        Yes, it is a big concern, since it is highly likely that Blu-Ray or HD-DVD will become a standard, replacing DVDs (I know, there is change that they will both fail, and we can only hope).

        If you can not see a problem, with one company, like Sony, deciding that certain films are not ok, then you should think long and hard again.

        • it is highly likely that Blu-Ray or HD-DVD will become a standard, replacing DVDs

          Independent filmmakers who get rejected by the companies holding the keys to HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc will just print their movies on standard-definition DVD. Independent developers of arcade-style video games designed to be played on a television have no such option.

      • Is it significantly more worrying than that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are able to dictate who is allowed to print games designed to be played on a television onto discs?

        No, if Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have indeed this power (I'm not a gamer so I can't tell) then both are equally awful but the one will not justify the other. Imagine, for example, what would happen if Microsoft could do the same for software running on Windows. No firefox, no open office, no gaim, no [you name it].

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by montyzooooma ( 853414 )
      Last time this was raised I think it was agreed that Sony had said they would produce BR porn discs but that there was nothing stopping other production facilities with the appropriate equipment from producing them. The implication in the synopsis that porn companies are reverse-engineering BR is cute but inaccurate. Sony will let you make BR porn just not at their facilities.

    • Re:Too Much Control (Score:5, Insightful)

      by badasscat ( 563442 ) <basscadet75NO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Friday February 09, 2007 @08:57AM (#17947242)
      Porn or not, I find it quite worrying that Sony is able to dictate who is allowed to print films onto Blu-ray. If indeed that is the situation.

      It's not. Sony has unequivocally denied a prohibition of porn, yet it still gets parroted as fact all over the place (including on slashdot). Here: http://gear.ign.com/articles/756/756148p1.html [ign.com]

      Be sure you read the update near the bottom for the quote from Sony.

      AVN didn't find a "workaround" for Blu-Ray - that's just spin, as is pretty much everything else the porn industry says. Why would we not believe their sales numbers but we do believe they've somehow "reverse-engineered" Blu-Ray?

      • Re:Too Much Control (Score:5, Informative)

        by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:13AM (#17947368)
        Read the language of the article and the denial carefully. The claim was that "Sony has pressured [emphasis mine] Blu-ray disc manufacturers not to produce any media for pornography, threatening revocation of licenses for failure to comply." So, Sony is perfectly correct in stating that they don't outright prohibit porn on Blu-ray. However, they do seem to be pressuring the manufacturing facilities not to press them, and refusing to license their own manufacturing facilities for porn (and, possibly, even threatening to revoke the licenses of manufacturers). While that's not an outright prohibition, it's a pretty clear message to the porn industry.

        -Eric

        • Re:Too Much Control (Score:5, Informative)

          by Mongoose ( 8480 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @11:59AM (#17949940) Homepage
          Are you serious? They already have blu-ray AV in Japan. Japan and US are in the same blu-ray region. Therefore the US already has blu-ray porn. Do you feel confused now? The same company does HDDVD and UMD movies too. I'm sure you really hate Sony, but your theories are very wrong. Sony is only one member of the Blu-Ray group, and unlike HDDVD one company can't go out and bully others off the format by decree.

          Here is the place you can buy Blu-Ray porn, since you don't believe anything you read:
          http://www.glayz.co.jp/glayz.html [glayz.co.jp]

          I thought this was settled last time slashdot posted this bullshit story to begin with. AV is about profit, and people will persue profit. Just wait until more Blu-Ray presses are made and you'll be swimming in AV. Right now studios get brushed off for higher profit pressings like geek favorite movies ( early adopters ).

          Get a tin foil hat if you really believe what you're saying. The porn industry in the US wants discs stamped for the same price so they make a big scandal. We got into this a while back and even found some US AV studios getting ready to press Blu-Ray content very soon. I hope you don't also think you work for the CIA and are a gameshow host.

      • Yes it is. Theres a difference in what Sony says in a press release and what they tell thier manufacturing partners. Sony says 'we wont stop porn' to the media. But then a rep goes to a replication plant and reminds the owner that Sony would not be happy if any 'unrated' material were to be printed. The message is sent.

        Porn execs are typically sleazy and untrustworthy, but for some reason, I believe them over Sony this time.

        D

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 )
      I really don't think Sony has that much control over Blu-Ray. It seems to be a very popular misconception, but it's not Sony's to control. Blu-Ray was formed by an alliance of all the Japanese electronics makers except for NEC/Toshiba.

  • axis of pron (Score:3, Funny)

    by tomblag ( 1060876 ) <tom.blag@gmail.com> on Friday February 09, 2007 @08:53AM (#17947202)
    took over years ago

  • Darn it (Score:2, Funny)

    by MyNameIsEarl ( 917015 )
    And here I was waiting for the first shot to be fired across someone's bow.

  • Huh? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Hao Wu ( 652581 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @08:59AM (#17947254) Homepage
    What is the point of putting something that looks like 8mm film on HD, BluRay, or DVD for that matter?

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by organgtool ( 966989 )
      Because it's in HIGH DEFINITION! You're probably the kind of guy who buys stereo amps with volumes knobs that stop at 10.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by brunes69 ( 86786 )
      I imagine they're talking about the new "Debbie Does Dallas" series(es), especially given that Vivid didn't make the original series.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by garcia ( 6573 )
      What is the point of putting something that looks like 8mm film on HD, BluRay, or DVD for that matter?

      You obviously don't watch porn, especially not porn that has been placed on HD-DVD already. If you are watching porn and it's 8mm quality, then you're watching amateur pornos that aren't what people are talking about here.

      We rented some movie that was a direct rip off of Pirates of the Caribbean and the case contained both HD-DVD and DVD. It was some high quality stuff including CGI.
    • What is the point of putting something that looks like 8mm film on HD, BluRay, or DVD for that matter?

      PROFIT !
      Everyone will be getting rid of their super 8 projectors, betamaxes, vcrs, and regular old dvd-players, and will
      need new copies of everything on the new format, of course. How many of you bought a CD of something
      that you previously owned on vinyl or tape?
      They need to keep people locked in to "devices", and "formats". etc.
      And that is how "THE MAN" keeps you down.

  • Raise Your Hand if... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ironring2006 ( 968941 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @08:59AM (#17947256)
    FTFA...Now you've got Google and you type in 'amputee sex' or whatever you want.

    Let's get a show of hands to see how many people googled that. No? Legs? Anyone?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *
      I suddenly feel a strange urge to go rent the movie Crash [imdb.com]. Is that wrong?

      -Eric

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Duds ( 100634 ) *
      I have no mod points so I'm going to have to risk karma to say... I love you.

      (Assuming you're an amputee yourself of course ;))

  • Refusal? (Score:4, Informative)

    by dysfunct ( 940221 ) * on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:02AM (#17947284)
    Didn't Sony already claim that this is not true? As far as I understand it they have no intentions and/or means to prohibit the licensing or sub-licensing of pornography even though they themselves won't press or publish it. Details see here. [eetimes.com]

    I also believe Vivid's claims that the revenue of the porn industry is grossly overestimated. Yet having worked at an adult media shop and reseller I know that even though there might not be that much profit to be made there's a still a damn high volume of discs sold. And this is the important factor in this whole discussion: there might be less market share in terms of profit but higher market share in terms of media sold.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Slashcrap ( 869349 )
      Didn't Sony already claim that this is not true?

      If they did, then I believe them.

      How cynical would I be if I didn't?

  • Well... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by NXprime ( 573188 )
    The 'masses' are going on the internet and ditching newspapers, magazines, music cd's, dvd's, boxed games and applications. To me it seems silly to even bother buying porn on DVD. Porn is what is expanding the popularity of the internet and so must be considered the logical choice as the next major format.

  • Sorry, but the adult corps haven't a clue (Score:5, Interesting)

    by l0ungeb0y ( 442022 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:04AM (#17947308) Homepage Journal
    I'm a very sex positive guy and have a total of 4 porno DVDs. These sit happily out in plain view within my collection of over 300 DVDs.
    Being that I am an above average DVD consumer, I really don't see where the Adult Entertainment Industry thinks they have any real clout in the DVD market.
    In fact, the only real use of a HD-DVD or BluRay disc I see that makes good sense for the adult sector is bundling movies in Standard Definition together on one disc to try to bolster disc sales I would imagine would be waning due to broadband video download becoming more obiquitous.

    The very notion of the adult sector claiming that they are somehow driving global DVD sales... that's a laughable notion at best.
    It really makes me wonder just how much drugs those guys shove up their nose in a day.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I really don't see where the Adult Entertainment Industry thinks they have any real clout in the DVD market.

      Well, they like people to think they do, that's for sure. And it's an urban legend that just can't die. If you think of it in the sort of memetic sense, the whole "porn determines the course of technology" idea is perfectly adapted for survival in America. Too many people want to believe that it's true for the absurdity of the notion to stop them from doing so.

      So yeah, the interesting issue isn't w

    • Re:Sorry, but the adult corps haven't a clue (Score:4, Insightful)

      by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:47AM (#17947742) Homepage

      Being that I am an above average DVD consumer, I really don't see where the Adult Entertainment Industry thinks they have any real clout in the DVD market.

      I think you misunderstand. I don't think it's the adult industry claiming they have an exceedingly large amount of clout.

      It's everyone pointing out that, historically, porn was a factor in deciding new media decisions and adoption. Initially, Sony wouldn't allow adult titles on Beta, and it's popularity in VHS contributed to the success of that format.

      This isn't the adult industry going around saying "all your base are belong to us", it's analysts and pundits saying that, in the past, they have played a large part. This whole thread is the someone from the adult industry saying "umm, it will be the consumers who decide this, not us".

      But, it is an inescapable fact that an incredible amount of porn is sold on DVDs each year, and, it rivals the Hollywood system in terms of volume and moneys involved. And, it's probably big enough to influence the number and type of players being sold.

      Cheers
      • I agree completly and would like to add have always wanted to add the following: This is the age of the inetrnet, like anyone needs to go in to a sketchy store anymore to buy pr0n.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ivan256 ( 17499 )
        It's everyone pointing out that, historically, porn was a factor in deciding new media decisions and adoption.

        Based on a statistical sample size of one.

        But, it is an inescapable fact that an incredible amount of porn is sold on DVDs each year, and, it rivals the Hollywood system in terms of volume and moneys involved.

        The plain and simple truth is that the entire porn DVD market produces the annual revenue of a single Hollywood blockbuster DVD release. Just one. $200 million dollars or so and falling. Those

        • "It's everyone pointing out that, historically, porn was a factor in deciding new media decisions and adoption."

          Based on a statistical sample size of one.

          Based on a rigorous sample size, you're probably right. But, anecdotally, there have been numerous new technologies which have come out over the last few decades -- for a lot of them, people joked that unless the orn industry adopted their usage, that piece of hardware was doomed to fail. In most if not all of them, they didn't get adopted by the porn in

    • I think you'll find that the porn industry survives more more on the rental market than on purchases. A whole heck of a lot of people are not going to OWN porno DVD's, but if they go to the video store (or whatever Netflix equivalent) and rent them frequently, it does make a big difference which format it's in.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kabocox ( 199019 )
      The very notion of the adult sector claiming that they are somehow driving global DVD sales... that's a laughable notion at best.
      It really makes me wonder just how much drugs those guys shove up their nose in a day.

      This comic applies: http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic= 815 [questionablecontent.net] Those guys have far too much sex and have a sexual over load. The only metaphor that we have for their experience is drug use. Its sad that oversexed individuals are viewed the same as drug users, but hey if that's how you
    • What you meant to say was "I own over 300 adult DVD's but 4 non-adult. I can understand their clout in the industry".

      Don't need to thank me for pointing out your mistake.

    • The very notion of the adult sector claiming that they are somehow driving global DVD sales... that's a laughable notion at best. It really makes me wonder just how much drugs those guys shove up their nose in a day.

      First, the reason that the adult film industry holds so much influence is not that they drive sales of current technology. They hold clout because the industry often is the first to test and adopt new technologies. For example, VHS/Beta for the first time allowed people to watch movies at hom

  • ya'll are missing the point (Score:5, Funny)

    by dgr73 ( 1055610 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:06AM (#17947326)
    HD porn may actually finally be the porn that's good for relationships. Once you see the "actors" in glorious HD, your girlfriend/wife suddenly starts to look a whole lot more appealing.

  • Of Course! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pdaoust007 ( 258232 ) on Friday February 09, 2007 @09:10AM (#17947346)
    Porn is only but one factor in who will win the format war. In the early 80's porn really made a difference in the Beta vs. VHS war because there was such a large demand for people to be able to enjoy porn in the comfort of their own homes. That was a huge driver and made a difference in VHS toppling Beta.

    Fast-forward to today, does anybody think that the driver for HD Porn is as strong as being able to watch porn in your own house back then? It's not... So even though porn may be a factor in the blu-ray vs. HD-DVD war, it certainly won't play as big as a role as it did back int he 80's when it was Beta vs. VHS.

    All these porn studios won't be able to ignore the millions of PS3's out there for long if there is in deed a market for this kind of stuff so in the end, like Vivid, they will find a way to bring porn to Blu-Ray if they have a chance of making a profit that way.

  • Translation (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    With Blu-ray [versus] HD-DVD, porn will go where the masses go.'"

    Basically he's saying that they see no real need to choose/anoint a particular format now anyway, as they, just like everyone else, acknowledges that the DVD->HD jump is nothing compared to the VHS->DVD jump. So when, and if, a format takes hold and gains momentum, they'll just ride the wave. They have little to nothing to gain by selecting a camp now.
  • The vast majority of it is transmitted over the internet. With just about everyone having broadband now, it's cheaper, easier, and more private. There's likely already hi-def stuff porn available anyhow, so these new formats aren't bringing anything new to the table.
  • ...about the porn industry having the power to decide the format war never convinced me in the first place.

    Yes, it is said that the porn industry were largely responsible for VHS beating Betamax, even though the latter was technically superior. But that wasn't the only factor. Keep in mind -- Sony was incredibly restrictive of its format, whereas VHS licensing was much more liberal, so most VCR manufacturers opted to produce equipment for VHS. That's a pretty important point too.

    Also, keep in mind, al
    • Of course there was an Internet back then, but since it was all just ASCII porn back in those days, your point is still valid.

      • Of course there was an Internet back then, but since it was all just ASCII porn back in those days, your point is still valid.

        You are, of course, quite correct in pointing that out! In my defense, though -- I was aware that the internet already existed back then, and I didn't mean to imply that it didn't. What I was thinking of when I wrote my original post was more along the lines of "there was no internet available to Joe Normal User", or "there was no internet available to Joe Normal Porn Viewer". I sup

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Isn't that like, 30 years old? Is there nothing more up-to-date that is worth remastering? What's next, "The Devil and Mrs. Jones"? or, how about "Fritz the Cat"?

  • I suspect the adult industry does decide the format war, and that the decision indirectly came before either format was even released. You can today get any kind of porn, in any kind of media (including, but not limited to, images, text, spoken word, interactive games and movies) online for low or no cost, quickly obviating the need for cassettes or magazines sent in plain envelopes.

    I would say that this by itself makes for a steep hill for either format to climb to acceptance, and it may well be the straw
  • MSNBC Reports that...

    It's not MSNBC "reporting" anything. It's Newsweek; they both share the MSN domain because Newsweek (owned by the Washington Post Company) has a deal with Microsoft (hence the MSN.com) in the same way that NBC does (MSNBC; NBC News doesn't have its own website because of their deal with Microsoft, there's just the MSNBC one). To say that "MSNBC is reporting" such and such is like saying that "Yahoo! News is reporting" when it's actually the Associated Press or Reuters.
  • Do not underestimate the power of the Dark side of the Force.

    D
  • I surely can't be the only one bored rigid by this 'debate'
  • ...Debbie goes both ways? (Blu-ray and HD-DVD)

    Tim
  • who pays for porn these days?
  • Porn already determined what the future will be, and have implemented it. On-line distribution, DRM-free, streaming or download, use of free trailers and even full movies via bittorrent to drive people to commercial pay sites, etc. They are so far ahead of Sony, et al, that the poor SOBs don't realize that they've already lost.
  • The porn industry had porn on both formats. Consumers made the decsions. Mostly because VHS was cheaper, even if it was slightly lower quality.
  • What? Sony doesn't want blue movies on Blu-Ray. So why did they call it that then?
  • First off, when the porn industry helped pick VHS vs BetaMax there wasn't the internet or other good forms of media to watch porn. (Cable TV was still a luxury) What the porn industry picks now will have little bearing on which format wins.

    There is also the issue of do we really *want* Bluray porn ? Who wants to see a 5' penis on a large widescreen. Any porn I purchase on Bluray must be lesbian porn.

    Beyond that, if you are still complaining about the DRM in both formats, give up ... its a losing battle.

  • But (Score:2)

    by Trogre ( 513942 )
    Did anyone here really believe that pornography ever *was* a driver of technology?

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