Can High Definition DVD save porn?

[Martyporn]

.. with the current retail recession showing no end in sight.... What are peoples thoughts on the future of DVD and this new format of it ? Are any producers out there shooting it ? Are they going to?

As a very good friend of mine who works for a well known Film Production House in the Valley (Chatsworth) has commented that ...

' the girls hate it!! It shows all the pimples........ ' ..lol

and that some of the industry's leading ladies are refusing to shoot in this format..... because; it shows up all their imperfections...

[steveb]

Nothing can save porn Captain Mainwaring! It's doomed! Doooomed!!!

If you want to be kind to the ladies' looks then a mild "soft" filter on the lens can work wonders.

And no, that doesn't defeat the object of using HD, anymore than diffusion on 35mm film does.

I was under the impression that a lot of US producers have already switched to HD DV?

[Jacques]

The problem is do you back Blu-Ray, HD-DVD or HD-WMV? To avoid the high-street battle you go for HD-WMV and then find that nobody can play 1080p and can only just play 720p.

So the comsumer has to upgrade his DVD player to one of two formats of which no-one knows which will be the victor yet, or he has to upgrade his 12 month old PC because the spec is not enough to play HD-WMV.

It's Betamax vs VHS with a little V2000 thrown in just for good measure, all over again.

The question you should ask is 'Can porn save Hi-Def DVD?' If evey producer decided on Blu-Ray, what technology would you buy into?

[PKAY]

I shot a couple of scenes with Lala on HDV - they look great but I haven't had a chance to do anything with them yet!!

[DanG]

Word on the street from porn valley is that Blu-Ray is putting a lot of folks' noses out of joint on the adult side of things, including Digital Playground (who did initially announce they would be backing Blu-Ray, although I'm no longer sure this is the case). Apparently, companies are being denied access to the authoring technology and so forth, hence the swing towards HD-DVD.

On the mainstream side of things Blu-Ray looks to have a better line-up of mainstream movie studios behind it, but it's apparently going to be a fair bit more expensive than HD-DVD (players and media), so that could play a factor. They would do well to remember that porn effectively decided the VHS/Betamax format war....and Betamax was apparently technically superior too!

[pagangod_uk]

This an interesting one...!

Firstly, the use of HD isn't going to improve the CONTENT of porn, it's just going to make bad porn look even worse - meaning that it will only accentuate the flaws in lighting, make-up, and most importantly, believe it or not, focus.

Everything will appear fine in the viewfinder, but sometimes, when viewed on a (HD) monitor footage can be out of focus.

Focusing on HD cameras is so much more critical than other types of camera, both Video and Film, and could cause problems for the average porn 'director' - in the TV industry, focus-pullers have become much more de rigueur out of sheer necessity.

I can't see focus-pullers getting gainful employment in the porn business though!

Most likely HD porn directors/camera ops will resort to that porno camera stand-by: the wide-angle lens - plenty of depth-of-field etc. Problem is when you go in close you get distortion, resulting in girls faces going all round and pie-shaped and even the most petite derriere looking the size of a small country...

Urmmm, sorry for going a little of-topic there!

As for the formats issue, well I think it's wise to let these formats hit the streets and give 2 or 3 years or so for the dust to settle - I don't think the battle of the formats will be as protracted as that between VHS and Betamax - technology finds it's footing a lot quicker nowadays I tend to find.

I think the key is to NOT rush out and buy the latest format - be patient, see what happens.

Last word - that old fallacy about Betamax being superior to VHS - I had both formats and they were pretty much the same - approx. 230 lines resolution. Betamax was actually technically inferior to VHS because the heads ALWAYS remained in contact with tapes - even when in standard RWD/FFWD - therefore causing friction and thus more wear and tear.

Phew!

Peace,

PG.

[John Mason]

The only thing that can save UK porn, is a change in the law. This will enable producers to be able to compete and sell their product openly. At the moment the shops are killing the industry with their greed! Two years ago I was getting ?7 for a title now it's only ?3.30. The shops stilll charge the punters the same price! This is what is killing UK porn and I doubt Hi Def will make any difference in sales only increase production costs which are being cut to the bone as it is!

[blackjaques]

Get Ofcon to allow full R18 on the Sky platform and allow mail order of R18 DVD from the U.K.

[Martyporn]

Thanks for the Debate guys....

I love the techinical stuff although I must admit I am a bit of a technophobe!!

Undoubtedly there are advances to be made to help our industry... Allow mail Order, R18 internet selling, Porn on the High Street (HMV etc), Lower the cost of sex shop licenscing, Hardcore on the television even.......

No doubt these would help our industry by making it more accessible to help with unit turn-over... The angle I am coming from is with regards to simply High-Def DVD in whatever format , is yet another medium to view porn in!!! I believe it can't be copied either and is obviously superior in terms of quality of sound and picture quality. Also the disc on replication will no doubt proove to be more expensive... therefore Higher prices will be garnised and the end consumer will help to pay for this by paying an inflated price to what is available now......

Hopefully this will help as more money can be generated all round for everybody... it's how it works in the States... everybody get's a share in the dollar.....

And most are now shooting in High-Defn (States) ... so it will happen, it's just a question of when it's impact will hit here.....