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Even The Porn Industry Can't End HD Format War

from the bring-in-the-UN dept

Mon, Aug 14th 2006 7:50am — Joseph Weisenthal

It's almost a cliché that the porn industry tends to be a driver of new technologies and a kingmaker when it comes to standards. The industry is definitely on the cutting edge when it comes to internet distribution of movies, and many have predicted that the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray battle would hinge on which format was adopted by Silicone Valley. But this particular format war has become so convoluted that even the adult film industry is taking an uncharacteristic wait-and-see approach with the new technologies. Studios aren't inclined to make a heavy investment in a new format, when so much remains unclear. Meanwhile, the longer this battle rages on, the shorter the lifespan for the eventual winner; the porn industry is already interested in more advanced modes of distribution.

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Sanguine Dream, 14 Aug 2006 @ 8:03am

Damn
Okay if the porn industry is having to play wait and see then this is out of hand. But I don't blame them cuz that is what I'm doing. I don't even have an HDTV yet because I don't know enough about them. Never rush into new tech without at least understanding it.
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s, 14 Aug 2006 @ 8:15am

what's wrong with dvd?
There's not a big enough reason to move on from dvd yet. All this hooplah is premature.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2006 @ 8:37am

Re: what's wrong with dvd?
Answer: The encryption was broken.

To the entertainment CONSUMER, there is nothing wrong with DVD. To the computing CUNSOMER, there is nothing wrong with DVD. Hell we cant even get freakin BLIZZARD to ship WoW in dvd... (at least not in the us, they seem to think we americans only want multi-cd sets... those rat bastards)

To the Entertainment producers, DVDs represent a mistake. They THOUGHT their content was going to be protected from piracy when it shipped on a DVD. Now they think that the protection is too weak, and copying/distributiuon is rampant (which its likely not, but they think whatever they want to think).

So the entertainment industry needs stronger DRM in their media delivery mechanism. What better way to shove stronger DRM down the consumers throat than by sugar coating it with higher video resolutions. Oh, did I mention they gt to raise the price of the content again?

This is a win-win-win for the content industry (if successful is forcing the adoption of a new standard) and a lose-lose-neutral for the consumer.

Have fun buying your movies over again.
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Sanguine Dream, 14 Aug 2006 @ 8:50am

But...
VHS was copied no problem.

DVD can now be copied not problem.

No matter which of the new formats win (the industry will more than likely back the one with the tougher anti-copyright measures) it will be broken in less then 2 years.

I kinda see these new formats as a way for the industry to bide time until the law catches up with technology in the way of more aggressive methods of tracking and tougher penalties for people who violate those copyright laws.

No matter which format wins the industry, not consumers, will reap the true benefit.
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Sanguine Dream, 14 Aug 2006 @ 8:50am

But...
VHS was copied no problem.

DVD can now be copied not problem.

No matter which of the new formats win (the industry will more than likely back the one with the tougher anti-copyright measures) it will be broken in less then 2 years.

I kinda see these new formats as a way for the industry to bide time until the law catches up with technology in the way of more aggressive methods of tracking and tougher penalties for people who violate those copyright laws.

No matter which format wins the industry, not consumers, will reap the true benefit.
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Teilo, 14 Aug 2006 @ 8:51am

The winner will be the first one to be cracked
It's simple. The first viable crack that does not rely upon cludges like screen captures, will establish the winning format. It's simple economics. People will not willingly purchase a format which they know has limited use, vs. a format which they know they can use in any way they choose.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2006 @ 9:00am

DVD's are ok, except they are obsolete. There are a number of formats available now that double the capacity of the current dual-density format and more coming that will increase it by orders of magnitude. The surface is also going to be scratch proof and as cheap as the current formats are. Scratching is a huge issue with the current formats. Sure, you can be happy with dd-dvds. Sure you can. People said the same thing about vhs.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2006 @ 9:02am

"the shorter the shorter the lifespan" ... oops?
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opusrex, 14 Aug 2006 @ 9:07am

Re: what's wrong with dvd?
There just isn't enough reason to for me to leave the DVD format. I rarely watch movies, gave up console games after the Xbox and most of my music is in mp3.

Wake me up when this actually affects my pc-centric life.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2006 @ 9:16am

Re:
by Anonymous Coward on Aug 14th, 2006 @ 9:00am DVD's are ok, except they are obsolete. There are a number of formats available now that double the capacity of the current dual-density format and more coming that will increase it by orders of magnitude. The surface is also going to be scratch proof and as cheap as the current formats are. Scratching is a huge issue with the current formats. Sure, you can be happy with dd-dvds. Sure you can. People said the same thing about vhs. The surface is going to be scatch proof??????????! ROFLMAOLOL!!!!! And I recall that we were suppose to be able to live in a lunar colony by 1990! And all our autos wen't going to have wheels by 1980! Tell me another one and pass the beer! Seriously, when one of these HD-DVD formats is the choice for hard-copy distribution of pc games and software, then I'll invest in the hardware. Or if the p0rn-industry picks one, which ever comes first. Cheers.
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Guard, 14 Aug 2006 @ 9:22am

Whichever format wins, we lose.
So with the restrictions their fighting over between the two formats, will the end format be limited to movies, since if we're using these hi-capacity discs for file writing and transfer or other uses, we don't exactly want restrictions limiting us from our own data...

Seems that we're waiting to see how little we can do in the end with the winner.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2006 @ 9:29am

Re: Re: what's wrong with dvd?
he collectors edition of WoW has an installation DVD plus the CD set.
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jsnbase, 14 Aug 2006 @ 9:31am

Whoa there
It's not so much that the porn industry -can't- end it as that they -aren't- ending it.

Never underestimate the power of porn.
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John Q Public, 14 Aug 2006 @ 9:36am

I'm with Sanguine
I'm waiting too. Since HD will be the standard by the end of the decade, it follows that HD technology will become much more affordable. Granted, my buddy's HD setup is pretty sweet for watching football, the $5000 price tag to do it right is annoying.

I don't think the Porn industry cares too much about hi-def money shots, they have much more need to control the delivery and security of the format, but hey, its porn -- thats the only reason I still have a VCR, so I can record it from the pay-per-view, put the tape in a shoe box, and hide it from the kids.
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rijit (profile), 14 Aug 2006 @ 9:41am

RE: Whoa there by jsnbase
"Never underestimate the power of porn."

Great quote =D
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IrrationalDebates, 14 Aug 2006 @ 10:34am

Re: Re: what's wrong with dvd?
Actually, to the computing consumer, there is a big advantage to a 30-50 gig medium over a 4.5-9 gig medium... the math isn't difficult... work it out.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2006 @ 10:54am

Re: Re: Re: what's wrong with dvd?
About that...

Of the 50 or 60 computer geeks I know, 3 or 4 of them actually burn dvds. And they ones do that to take their mpeg rips off their hdds.

Of the others, most have dvd burners, and never use them.

Of the average consumer, they dont have dvd burners. They wouldnt knwo what to do with one if they did.

Perhaps you meant that the computing consumer was supposed to be purchasing pre-burnt content. And prey tell, besides games and movies (already discussed), what content were they supposed to be purchasing on this 50 gb disk?

Oh, you just meant that bigger is better just cause its bigger? I can tell you work in marketing.
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captain obvious, 14 Aug 2006 @ 11:16am

we keep forgetting...
that the average consumer is stupid. HD-DVD sounds "official" where blu-ray is some crazy word that soccer moms will be afraid of. people will think 'i have an HD TV, i must need an HD-DVD.' mystery solved... take this one to the bank
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Duh, 14 Aug 2006 @ 11:21am

fence sitting
Maybe the porn industry isn't sitting on the fence. Maybe, as the write-up implies but doesn't fully make the connection, the porn industry is once again showing the way. DVDHD vs Blu-Ray is a red herring, the real next step is direct downloads, and once again porn is right there on the cutting edge. This supposed standards battle is not like Beta vs VHS, it's like vynl vs 8-track. One of them may lose worse, but neither of them will win long term.
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Eric, 14 Aug 2006 @ 11:36am

Re: Whoa there
Say what you will about the morality of porn... these people know their business and know their customers. Too bad you can't say the same for the MPAA/RIAA and such.

I'd just like to point out that the porn industry has been selling its content digitally for the last ten years without anything by way of meaningful DRM, and have even gone so far as promoting it on P2P networks.
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Eric, 14 Aug 2006 @ 11:36am

Re: Re: Re: Re: what's wrong with dvd?
Once in a blue moon I burn photos to DVD rather than CD when I actually take more than 700 mb worth in a single weekend (I shoot in RAW, which is the only reason it gets that big).

The bottom line is that there's very little by way of data that a consumer needs 4.7 gb for, let alone 30-50.

(Although... 50 gb would be big enough to create an image of my hard drive and back it up to disc. But even then, I'm not sure it's a great advantage over the external hard drives I use now).
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HDFury, 14 Aug 2006 @ 11:53am

RE: What's wrong with dvd?
I would have to say that other than backing up your porn collection there really isn't a need for a disc (that whether you want to believe it or not is not going to be "scratch proof") that is 30 gigs or more. IT uses tapes, we have for a long time and they work. I can use a tape a lot before it's done........how many times can you re-burn a DVD or HD-DVD or even Blu-Ray? People don't even know what to do with the space that is available to them now.
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Sanguine Dream, 14 Aug 2006 @ 1:05pm

Is that much space needed?
For I while I was thinking of building my next PC with a DVD burner so I could back up my files with fewer discs than traditional 700mb CDs. Well over the last few weeks I've been looking up external harddives. Sure 2x400gb externals cost more but they will last MUCH longer (and take less space) than any burned DVD or CD.
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Lay Person, 14 Aug 2006 @ 1:37pm

Why???
Why pay?

Porn is porn...it's all over the internet for free!

Perhaps I'm missing the point. Maybe there is better porn than others but isn't porn about having sex, exhibitionism, and more sex?

How far can anyone put a twist on porn and make it something more than what I've stated?

If there is a variant of porn I'm unaware of...what is it?

It's all over the internet people and it's free. No matter what you do with it, all you need watch is about 10 minutes worth to notice a difference.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2006 @ 2:34pm

Re: Re: what's wrong with dvd?
I have a dvd burner. Used it thrice.

Tried downloading DVD iso's of linux. $%^&ing things failed each time. (nothing could boot the disks, no idea why, no longer cared).

Other than that, never needed the ability to burn a dvd.

Yes, there is such a thing as the current technology meeting or exceeding current needs.

Maybe that will change in the long run, but for right now... I coudlnt care less about being able to burn 50 gb as opposed to 4.7 gb.

Since the move from CD-R to DVD-ABCDEFGHIJKL... didn't "create the need by supplying... supply" I highly doubt there will be a demand for more.

Now... Maybe if it was also orders of magnitude FASTER and otherwise convenient, then yeah, I would think a shift to new medium was in order. But I don't drive a mack truck to work every day cause its bigger than an F-150 and I don't need a BLU-Ray burner cause its bigger than a DVD-R either.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2006 @ 2:41pm

Next-gen Microsoft games "backed up" to hard drive.
Next-gen Sony games "backed up" to disc.

Guess which one involves more disc sales? :)
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jsaltz, 14 Aug 2006 @ 5:33pm

What an abomination.
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brian, 14 Aug 2006 @ 6:24pm

i like porn
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Aug 2006 @ 8:15pm

Re: brian
"i like porn"

Well, thats a relief. I was beginning to worry about little brian.
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danny, 17 Aug 2006 @ 4:48pm

Re: Whoa there
Then the industry had better start handing out cheaper better cameras that can record direct to BR or HDVD. BROADCAST QUALITY not prosumer hdv crap (sorry to be crude)
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Charles Bailey - filmmaker, 9 Sep 2006 @ 7:26am

Porn in the age of HD
Maybe I'm running a bit late to the punch on this topic, but I have to say, as one of the leading producers of adult films on the east coast, I really dont think our buyers are seriously interested in Porn being on HDDVD or Blu-Ray.

In reality, most of our buyers don't care about seeing some of the garbage being produced on HD.
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Ryan, 31 Oct 2006 @ 6:03am

maybe you dont
I have probably burned well over 1500 dvds in the time i have owned a burner. in this day and age how can anyone live without one. with the increasing size of data on hard drives, the growing speed of the internet to deliver high speed information,it simply makes sense from a pc standpoint to go bigger. for example- an entire season of F1 racing including qualifying in digital format downloaded from the internet totals over 30 gigs. in order to put that on disk i have to span it across multiple dvds, where as next gen disk could all be on one disk.

is the need general? probably not, but there is need. these comments make it sound like no one burns dvds. but there are in fact many many people who do burn them, and could definitely use the higher capacity.

i agree that the movie industry and such are only pushing the format for anti-piracy and money, and the dvd will be around for a long long time, but it would be nice for us power users to have a bigger medium for data storage.
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PrOnJunkie, 4 Aug 2007 @ 11:14am

I don't think it matters.
I have HD-DVD, and I might end up buying some porn for it, but I have never bought a DVD for porn either, so not sure… I have invested some $$$ into the WMVHD format though. Either way, HD Porn is the best. :)
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Rated HD, 9 Aug 2007 @ 11:03pm

And the winner is...
I'm not entirely certain that the "industry" will be the deciding factor in the format war. When it comes to HD Porn the Internet is clearly the #1 distribution channel.
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High Definition Porn, 31 Jul 2008 @ 10:32am

High Def Porn Industry
The adult industry would of loved to go with HD Porn DVD hence it is cheap to create hd porn on that, but since blu-ray took the knock out. They will be making all the hd porn on blu rau
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adult blu ray, 6 Sep 2008 @ 4:31am

Adult blu ray porn
where do you buy our adult blu rays ? at adult blu ray
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Mark (profile), 3 Sep 2009 @ 10:17am

It will all end up in downloadable form
Porn is going be almost all online (DVD is shrinking at about 30% a year), so it is less of an issue. You can download 1080p hd porn in MP4 and WMV now.
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