“In the battle over next generation DVDs, pornography could prove to be the XXX factor that helps determine a winner,” Reuters reports.
“Thirty years ago, VHS toppled Betamax in part because of the adult film industry, and now some see blue movies playing a key role again as backers of HD-DVD and Blu-ray maneuver to make their formats the standard,” Reuters reports.
Reuters reports, “‘If the porn industry wanted to break the logjam of HD-DVD and Blu-ray, it could,’ McQuivey said. ‘If they said ‘We are going to go with HD-DVD’ you would see a few million homes immediately go out and buy HD-DVD players. They have that power,’ said James McQuivey, a principal analyst at technology research firm Forrester.”
“It is a potential weapon that one side, at least, has ignored. Instead, Blu-ray backer Sony Corp.blocked manufacturers from producing porn DVDs in that format—a move that some say has pushed adult film studios into the camp of HD-DVD camp led by Toshiba Corp.,” Reuters reports.
“Steven Hirsch, founder of Vivid Entertainment Group, said Walt Disney Co. also refuses to use DVD makers—known as replicators—that press porn titles,” Reuters reports. “This makes finding a Blu-ray replicator willing to alienate Sony and Disney almost impossible for porn studios because the format requires costly new equipment and there are only a handful of replicators able to make such DVDs.”
Reuters reports, “That isn’t a problem for HD-DVD because that technology is based on previous-generation standards, which makes it far simpler and cheaper for companies to hire replicators to press their DVDs.”
“HD-DVD machines are cheaper but Blu-ray has backing of a majority of the mainstream studios and an advantage in that the format is compatible with the PlayStation 3, the latest version of Sony’s popular series of video game consoles,” Reuters reports.
Full article here.
Related articles:
Fastmac debuts Blu-ray drive upgrade for Apple PowerBook, iBook, MacBook Pro, iMac & Mac mini – April 06, 2007
Blu-ray aims to replace DVDs within three years – March 15, 2007
MCE Technologies brings Blu-ray Disc to Apple Mac – January 25, 2007
Warner’s ‘Total HD’ disc format has both Blu-ray and HD DVD on same disc – January 17, 2007
LG announces first dual-format hi-def DVD player; plays both Blu-ray and HD DVD content – January 05, 2007
TDK pumps Blu-ray capacity up to 200GB per disc – September 02, 2006
Roxio Toast 7 for Apple Mac adds Blu-ray support – July 25, 2006
Apple and Microsoft showdown over Blu-ray vs. HD DVD? – July 14, 2006
Ricoh creates ‘universal’ optical disk lens; reads and writes Blu-ray, HD DVD, DVD, and CD – July 10, 2006
Broadcom announces decoder chip that plays both Blu-ray and HD DVD – January 03, 2006
Welcome to last November’s discussion.
yet another mistake sony has made, but this is old news
dallas:
“Besides, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are just going to both flop. They are not the same as VHS vs Beta. Back in the 80’s we had nothing to watch movies with. That is why one beat the other.
That is not the case today. We have DVD’s now and neither Blu-Ray nor HD are that much better. This war is more like SA-CD’s vs DVD-A. They are both going to bomb. “
Honestly, even DVD sucks.. I mentioned “region coding” and lack of ability to easily back up or copy the fragile medium of DVD.. what I failed to mention was how horrible the experience is with all the extra FBI warning crap and commercials that hijack your player and your TV experience.. people have become used to internet video where we can get instant access to our content without all that BS.. if we PAY for our movie there’s NO EXCUSE as to why we should have to sit through that crap every time we want to watch a movie that we OWN.
I really sincerely honestly hope your right Dallas and hope these sucky formats bomb, and we’re left with some high quality download video where we can skip all that extra horrid crap. And while at it lets get some form of global distribution without region coding or country stores.
Oh please, I’m so fed up with people acting like the adult industry “has the power” to make or break a format. It’s giving their disgusting and degrading “business” *far* too much credit.
I think Blu-ray is clearly in the leading position right now, and if Sony and its partners blow it, it will hardly be due to the singular fact of lack of porn. Frankly, I’d support Blu-ray if for no other reason than it ISN’T porn-friendly. That’s a plus in my book!
First, I agree with Nobodi’s (above) comments concerning the commonly espoused theory that porn tipped the balance away from beta and toward VHS. I do not pretend to know for sure what happend at that time, but I’m a little suspicious that this “porn killed betamax” thing is a myth. Sort of like an urban legand.
Second, I agree with those that think that neither blu-ray nor HD will be much affected by porn. Again, I have no statistics or knowledge to back this up. Rather I am relying on decuction from the facts.
1) Porn on the internet is ubiquitous
2) Porn from the internet is private.
3) Quality is, I’m guessing, not one of the top priorities for porn watchers
4) I strongly suspect that porn is watched for minutes rather than for hours, so why get an entire disk?
5) I also strongly suspect that porn viewers highly value diverse material to watch. While it’s true that a Blu-Ray or HD disk can contain a lot of varied material, the Internet is literally infinite in it’s variety.
So Im guessing that the vast majority of porn will be obtained through the internet and therefore porn will have virtually no effect on the upcoming format wars.
I totally agree with twilightmoon@mac.com on this and I’ve been saying it for a while. They are both going to bomb like dvd-audio and s-cd. The reason these bombed, is because most people don’t care about having top-notch quality, they care about convenience. dvd was much more convenient than vhs — no rewinding! HD-dvd and blue ray offer no convenience benefit over dvd. I predict that they’ll fail in the movie distribution business, with internet downloading and streaming being the clear victor. However, blue ray will find a niche market for data storage, prevailing over hd-dvd because of its higher capacity. But this will be short lived as flash memory will over take it as prices fall and capacities rise.
It sounds to me like Sony’s on top at the moment.
They’re both screwing each other.
Ne’er mind. The Net will win for content delivery.
“It’s giving their disgusting and degrading “business” *far* too much credit,” said Jared.
Disgusting and degrading? Where can I get some?
Cable companies and the internet have mostly replaced the DVD porn industry.
Really it’s the internet, you just can’t find the stuff on either cable or DVD that’s on the internet.
The interne rules for porn.
If I had to Do Dallas all over again, it would be on the net, babez.
Spread the Love
-deb
Someone has to have the guts to admit to viewing porn and I do and I’m not ashamed of it. Yes you may have a moral objection and that’s your right. It’s just that different people have different moral viewpoints.
Likewise I’m old enough to remember the Beta/VHS wars and that porn did contribute to some extent the final outcome and that’s it . The porn industry has been flogging this argument for years and the view is wildly overblown. (They have had a greater influence on the development of the internet.) However there were several other factors involved.
1. Betamax players and tapes were more expensive than VHS
2. And this is the clincher. Back in the late 70s one of my friends was working at this new shop called a Video
Library. A video library, like a public library loans items to users, and in the case of video libraries (stores) they
charged a small fee for the loan. He told that to keep overhead costs down at that store over time they started
purchasing the cheaper VHS tapes. OK so that’s anecdotal evidence but it makes economic sense.
3. Consumers voted with their wallets and gave more and more support to the VHS standard.
4. Somewhere along the line the studios, and the companies they gave licences to started supporting the VHS
standard.
Fast forward to the present: Three years ago I stopped purchasing porn VHS tapes and began buying dvds. Then I thought WTF I’ll download the movies. End of story. Porn will have less of an outcome on the result than was the case back in the late 1970s. It’s the internet that is the real determining factor.
And on a personal note I don’t really give a damn who wins this standards war because I’m quite happy with the quality of current dvds and anything else I want I can get in Xvid format from the net. The real reason Blu-ray and HD-DVD is being rolled out is DRM. There’s a whole generational wave on the way that doesn’t believe in copyright and the studios are racing to head off this wave with new secure standards. To say they are peeing in their pants is an understatement.
Must have Blue-Ray……and lots of lube…….
Disney/Sony can’t use porn pressers just like Walmart/Target can’t use child labor. The PR would affect their stock downwards up to double digits….meaning billions off their market capitalization. Big words for all you screwup-highschool-dropouts.
Think before you drink….or open up your mouths.
BluRay is done as a mainstream video format. It was in an uphill battle from the start, since the underlying cost drivers of the format (players and discs) are totally at a disadvantage when compared to HD-DVD. The PS3 failing in the console wars is another nail in it’s coffin. Yet, while pr0n might have some effect, I think SONY’s own mental illness is what’s going to finally sink it. Check out this story from DailyTech.com:
Blu-ray Disc Specification Change Threatens Current Players
http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=6702
“Blu-ray Disc Java is coming this fall, and it may be incompatible with some of today’s machines…
The Blu-ray Disc Association has mandated that all players of the format released after October 31 must adhere to a specific feature set that is currently not standard for today’s hardware. All Blu-ray Disc players after the fall date must support BD Java, a programming language for Blu-ray Disc media used mainly to deliver picture-in-picture for in-movie commentary and special features… [However, e]arly adopters of Blu-ray players may find themselves with inadequate hardware to support media using BD Java software…
[Optical storage analyst Wesley Novack says] “This might be bad news for early adopters who have already purchased a player, but it will not prevent them from playing back future Blu-ray movies. Owners of first generation Blu-ray players will probably not be able to use the full range of interactive features available on future Blu-ray Disc titles.”” Owners of current Blu-ray Disc players who are concerned about the future utility of their hardware are assured by manufacturers that current players won’t be made completely obsolete with the new standard [and discs will still play]… [Yet] Unlike the HD DVD standard, Blu-ray players are not required to have Ethernet ports for firmware updates. Blu-ray machines with upgradable firmware likely will have a greater chance of conforming to the mandated format this fall. Although HD DVD is not without its own set of early adopter issues, support for a standard programming language is already solidified for the format. HDi, an XML-based format developed by Microsoft and Toshiba, is mandatory on all HD DVD players and enables picture-in-picture special features to run alongside the feature length film…
Paramount has taken a different approach with Blu-ray’s apparent shortcoming. The studio released Mission: Impossible 3 on both [formats]…, though the HD DVD version features a video picture-in-picture commentary, while the Blu-ray version does only with audio… Only a couple Blu-ray movies feature picture-in-picture commentaries, those titles being Descent and Crank, though they do so without BD Java. Cleverly, and perhaps inelegantly, two complete versions of the movie are stored on a 50GB Blu-ray disc. One version contains the normal version of the film, while the second one features the picture-in-picture commentary hard-encoded on top of the film…
Famed DVD producer, Van Ling, expresses discontent over the lack of standardization of the Blu-ray format. “The whole problem comes in when some manufacturers toe the minimum line and some others might make twice the minimum [functionality] on players,” said Ling. “In my view, I shouldn’t have to know what every single player can do. Rather than downgrade my creative vision for the lowest common denominator player, I want to create something [that fully realizes Blu-ray abilities].”“
So, not only are early adopters being screwed, but the producers are also pretty fed up with it too (so much for ‘broad industry support’). Like I said, BluRay is done – it’s just a matter of time.
Oh, and the reason why I posted so much of the story is that, despite sending it to them, MDN wouldn’t run it.
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Not to mention that the number one selling BR player is also a high-end video game system, thereby giving Sony a “kill two birds with one stone” advantage in the home video arena.
Wow, so the best-selling BR player is also the worst-selling game console? Doesn’t say much for Blu-Ray as a format. And if Blu-Ray is “winning”, that doesn’t say much for next gen formats overall.
Maybe those who say Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will go the way of SACD and DVD-A are right.
“The PS3 failing in the console wars is another nail in it’s coffin.”
Erm … rather gigantic assumption there, don’t you think? The PS3 has only been out for a few months.
“This might be bad news for early adopters who have already purchased a player, but it will not prevent them from playing back future Blu-ray movies.”
Translation: this is a mountain in a molehill. The movie will still play. So they won’t have picture-in-picture in the older players. The average person doesn’t care about this. Non-issue. Move along.
And BTW the idea that the porn industry will not be able to find anyone willing to replicate a Blu-ray disc for them, is simply ludicrous on its face.
To the people saying porn is not bought anymore… it is just downloaded online for free…. well, how is the porn industry bigger in revenue then the NFL and MLB and NHL and MLB and NBA all put together? People ARE buying DVDs currently, and after the porn biz backs HD-DVD, it will make it the standard… for one reason… the porn biz goes with available and less expensive… and that is HD-DVD right now.
The porn biz did help with Beta vs VHS in that VHS was slightly less expensive and more available and the players were cheaper too. Sony just will not learn this lesson. Porn also pushed DVDs forward too. Porn pushed the internet forward too. Just look at the numbers for porn on the net… it is the leading use. There is something like 28,000 viewers of porn every SECOND. Wether any of you want to admit porn in a driving force in any medium… it is true, and that will not change.
Check these out… lays it out pretty well.
The Dude abides.
I had no idea that the reason for the porn industry’s adoption for HD-DVD was because they have been blackballed from Blu-Ray.
There may be serious consequences as a result of this.
Sony should just step up and say what needs to be said… “Disney, you need a next-generation format, more than that format needs you.”
Odyssey67,
This article seems to refute some of the things you say above, although I always appreciate a good discussion.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/04/06/bluray/index.php
‘been blackballed from Blu-Ray.’
Better than blue-balled from black Ray….
MW:parts
because it has a higher capacity. If blank blu-rays are available for burning that would definitely help w/backing up. Imagine 50GB on 1 disc! I could back up with a ten pack or less every time.
Hard drives are way too cheap and much too versatile for me to bother with a 50 GB burn. Might be nice to have a disk image burned to one for emergency booting and restoring, but I’d rather do it to HD so it’s actually usable.
I dunno, this whole argument being cast in the mold of the VHS/Betamax war is a bit off base. Those were as much a hardware standard as a formatting standard. You couldn’t shove VHS and Beta in the same hole, but a modern drive could support both HD and Blu with no problems (other than the licensing fees). I really can’t see where any of this means much because MEDIA, as a hardware standard is fast evaporating anyway. We want the data, not the plastic, so who gives a fsck what kind of plastic it’s on anyway. Photoshop will open a GIF and a TIFF, so let the punters war away with their formats and in 2 years buy a player that supports both for a reasonable cost. Or better yet, just buy everything digitally and screw the plastic.
And if you do screw the plastic… film it. that would be **hot**.
-c
MW: ‘road’ (to nowhere, come on inside)
Grabbing screenshots from a DVD in Mac OS X is easy–it is built into the OS, you just need this freeware to make it easier to access:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/25009
HD will show every freckle, blemish, wrinkle, how thick the make up is etc… in other words the quality will be as good as a downloaded avi file.
in reply to :
“Artist: Nobody would know that the same machine made Junglebook and Junglebush”
Nobody would know that the same machine that made “Old Yeller” made ‘Old Yeller’
Nobody would know that the same machine that made “Old Yeller” made ‘Old Yeller’
The Dude:
“To the people saying porn is not bought anymore… it is just downloaded online for free…. well, how is the porn industry bigger in revenue then the NFL and MLB and NHL and MLB and NBA all put together”
If this is true, this should be pretty easy to verify. Anyone got any links?