The issue rages on, Sony waffles daily on its position, the producers are getting ticked. Can a video format survive without the backing of the porn industry?
I have my doubts. I’ve heard it claimed that that’s what led VHS to overcome Betamax; VHS + porn > Betamax + technical superiority.
I don’t think I’ve ever bought any form of media and thought to myself “Sure, it looks great, but will it have porn?” I don’t know whether HD or Blu Ray or whatever is going to win the day but I’m not so sure it’s porn that will decide.
Marc
I’m just not sure if porn and high def are a good combination. Stretch marks, implant scars and VD bumps are going to be a little too prominent. Hell, you watch porn to ESCAPE reality!
Yes, easily. This isn’t the 1980s - back then, if you wanted video porn, you’d either go to a theater or rent a videocassette. And since theaters are fairly sketchy, the cassette is going to be pretty much your only option. However, since the 1980s we have seen the fantastic growth of this thing called the “Internet”, which I’ve been told holds large amounts of pornographic content. Why should I care whether I can get porn for my blue-ray player, when I can get it on my computer? It’s even trivial to output video from my computer to my big-screen TV, if I feel the need to do so.
I think it can, as long as it can compete on some other grounds.
My impression is that the vast majority of porn is delivered over the internet, not on any physical medium, and that this ratio is likely to increase. When you consider the fact that the internet will continue to grow and will be able to offer high definition video (probably already does), and the fact that relatively few people want to show off a nice bookshelf full of porn discs, I don’t see the lack of porn on Blu-ray to be a major limiting factor.
It will be a factor, but it doesn’t have to be the deciding one. Of course, right now, Blu-ray is pretty much tied on disc price and film availability with HDDVD, so there’s not a lot of reason to choose it over HDDVD. If it managed to pull ahead on one of those, though, I doubt that the porn thing would be a big issue.
Regarding VHS vs. Beta, I’ve heard that it was a combination of much cheaper VHS players (since Sony wouldn’t license the tech) and being the first one to get to a 4-hour tape (which could reliably record sporting events) that gave VHS the edge.
Also, things were way different then. Before VHS, to see video porn you had to go to some seedy theater and sit there with a bunch of scuzzy guys. Home video porn was a big deal. Now you can just spend 10 minutes on the internet, making it much less of a big deal.
I think we’ve gotten past the point where porn can switch anyone’s thoughts on technology.
Even if you accept the VHS/Beta aspect, there’s a huge difference in the market now. Back then, getting porn meant a magazine, an 8mm projection film or you went to a skeevy porn theater/peep show. That was it. VHS meant you could buy/rent porn at a significantly less skeevy store, or get a copy from a friend, and watch it conveniently in the comfort of your own home.
Today, getting porn on Blu-Ray means that you’ve opened up nothing more than a 4th option for getting high quality porn at home. You already have VHS, DVD, and the internet, going to Blu-Ray isn’t much of a bump up. The improvement is not even in the same universe as going from a theater to a VHS tape.
I could survive not having access to hard-core porn on Blu-Ray. What really bothers me is the fact that Sony is in a position to decide what other people are allowed to put on Blu-Ray discs. It should be none of their damn business.
From here.
and
So Sony isn’t saying that porn can’t be put on blu-ray, it’s saying that THEY won’t put porn on blu-ray. Someone else will step in to do it, and life will go on.
well, my OP came from an article I had read about Hollywood making 9 billions while Big Porna made 14. So I set out to find that article again to link here. Instead I found this:
oh well, as you were
I thought there wouldn’t be any porn on blueray/hdtv anyways because the cameras are too expensive and its just not worth it. Porn thrives by churning out thousands of cheap movies, i think its very doubtfull it would be worth the expense of going hi def.
Eventually, hi-def will become the standard, just like color became the standard. You can get an HD camera for under 10 grand, it’s not exactly outrageously crazy money for a studio to spend on equipment, especially considering how many movies you can make with one camera.
Sony has a lock on production of discs? I swear they are always shooting themselves in the foot.
Legal question: Does Sony have the right to control anyone else’s use of the medium? If you plan to commercially release product, do you need to license it from them? If so, they could control it.
I agree with Paul in Saudi that if they did, it would be shooting themselves in some body part, although it might not be the foot.
Second legal question: Do users or sellers of the medium pay any royalty to Sony?
HD Cameras? In another thread, someone tried to tell me that movie cameras are already HD, but it’s the tapes and tv that bring down the quality. This was after a statement I made about needing to film something with an HD camera.
So, is there such thing as an HD Camera or not?
In digital video you have cameras with a variety of resolutions from a few hundred thousand pixels to HD. If you use actual film, like non-porn movies do, you’re well past HD territory in terms of resolution right from the start, and it’s the transfer that brings it down to whatever format you use.
Lots of 'em. Here’s one.
It was VHS’s early technical superiority that made it the winner. That superiority was they were the first to come out with 2 hour tapes so people could record movies. By the time that beta 2 hour tapes were available. VHS was more dominant in peoples homes.
I also have my doubts that Sony could really prevent people from recording porn on the beta tapes and them selling them. The porn business is relatively low volume and was even more so when VCRs were just coming out. They could have purchased blank beta tapes and recorded onto them just like anyone else.
Blue-Ray and HD will both die at the hands of broadband and DVRs, I predict, and it won’t even take more than a few years for it to happen.
Gazpacho, there are so many things wrong with your last post that I don’t know where to begin, and I hope this isn’t a hijack (we are discussing medias, marketing, and past experience, aren’t we?).
“VHS technical superiority”? Hunh? Beta was the better quallity product. VHS had long playing times, at a degraded image. I don’t call that superior unless length is your only concern.
“VHS…2 hours”? VHS had a 6 hour mode early on, Beta a 2, later boosted to 5. Most techs think the longer playing time on VHS was what gave it the advantage. VHS always seemed to be one jump ahead.
“The porn business is relatively low volume”? What? The porn business is often credited with leading the pack in sales!
Sounds like Sony has been thru this before but never learned their lesson.