Debbie Does HD

David Weigel | April 6, 2007

Blu-ray is going to become the Betamax of the digital disc era because, frankly, it won't play dirty.

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.

Steven Hirsch, founder of Vivid Entertainment Group, said Walt Disney Co. also refuses to use DVD makers -- known as replicators -- that press porn titles.

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.

What was Sony thinking, exactly? By shutting off that source of video they were going to save the world from porn?

Comments

|4.6.07 @ 2:04PM|#

DVDs are dead technology walking, anyway, right?

|4.6.07 @ 2:06PM|#

Who buys porn dvds anyhow?

|4.6.07 @ 2:06PM|#

I'm not sure that this will kill Blu-ray like it killed the Beta-Max. VCRs were the only effective way to get porn into the home when they came out. Now we have the internet.

the buggles (?)|4.6.07 @ 2:07PM|#

video killed the radio star?

[runs off]

Justin Slotman|4.6.07 @ 2:10PM|#

Sony was probably simply afraid of angering Disney. In these early days of FORMAT WAR!!!, they can't afford to lose a studio, especially the Disney catalog.

But, honestly, porn isn't going to make a difference in the HD DVD/Blu-ray war. It helped VHS cream Beta back in the day, but porn was hard to find back then. Now we have an entire set of Intertubes designed expressly for the easy transmission of pornography. It's not an edge any more, having the porn.

Justin Slotman|4.6.07 @ 2:11PM|#

FFF beat me. Curse you, foe of Tony Stark!

Jack|4.6.07 @ 2:13PM|#

The very thought of seeing pores and ass hairs in 1080p is pushing me solidly into the blu-ray camp. Yikes

|4.6.07 @ 2:15PM|#

Maybe porn won't sink the Blu-Ray ship, but Sony will find another way. Remember, Sony is the company that screwed the actual BetaMax and left us with the inferior technology of VHS.

|4.6.07 @ 2:23PM|#

I'm thinking that this might be the last generation of movie playing stuff where the physical storage is that important. Either On-Demand tv catalogues will grow to the point where through subscription/pay per view rental format, you can watch any movie or movies that you buy will end up being stored on your 80 teraquad mini-hard drive.

|4.6.07 @ 2:25PM|#

inferior technology of VHS

Inferior in some aspects, superior in other important ways -- notably recording time. There's an essay in Choice about the Dvorak keyboard, Betamax and other supposedly "superior" technologies that lost in the marketplace. Long story short, IIRC: they weren't really superior or they would have won.

|4.6.07 @ 2:31PM|#

Anonymo- I don't know about the recording times, but I do know that our BetaMax had much, much better picture quality than VHS did.

|4.6.07 @ 2:37PM|#

Interestingly, Sony may speak with a forked tongue on this issue.

When adult UMDs (the little discs played by the Playstation Portable) came on the scene, Sony said it was ¨regrettable¨

The funny thing is that the only fabs that pressed UMDs were strictly controlled by Sony.

Go figure.

|4.6.07 @ 2:46PM|#

I'm still not convinced that they won't both become the new Betamax when an actually superior technology, as opposed to a higher-capacity version of the same old format that use a new set of subtitle fonts, shows up.

MikeT|4.6.07 @ 2:48PM|#

Heh. Will it even make that big of a deal? In college, I knew very few guys who paid for porn DVDs. They'd just spend $24.95 or less to buy access for a day to a porn site, download everything and cancel the account. $24.95 (actually a few $$ when trials were available for many sites) bought a whole lot of porn.

|4.6.07 @ 3:11PM|#

It's not an edge any more, having the porn.

I'm sorry, that's just funny.

All your porn are belong to us.

|4.6.07 @ 3:30PM|#

Yeah, I don't think the lack of porn (for now anyway) will kill Blu-Ray. Sony's ace in the hole in this format war is the PlayStation 3. Once the PS3 reaches a critical mass I think it may push Blu-Ray over the top. Or it may be cease to be a war once universal players, like the one LG Electronics just released, become available. One player, many discs.

|4.6.07 @ 3:50PM|#

Actually, a lot of the porn stars don't want their movies in high definition. You see all the imperfections, the most notable of which are bad effects from all the plastic surgery.

|4.6.07 @ 3:53PM|#

The PS3 has already lost the console war. Its too expensive and doesn't make a quantum leap over the PS2, except for the blu-ray.

VM|4.6.07 @ 3:58PM|#

And, Daniel - it takes away from the smooth, creamy beauty of the scheisse video

|4.6.07 @ 4:00PM|#

Anonymo- I don't know about the recording times, but I do know that our BetaMax had much, much better picture quality than VHS did.

Quite true, as I understand it. But what I'm saying is that while videophiles see the better picture of Betamax and presume that makes it a "superior" technology, others saw the ability of VHS to record an entire football game and found it superior for their purposes. There's no objectively "superior" technology in these cases, so complaining that the masses were tricked into picking a lesser product is really just sour grapes.

The point of the Choice essay I referenced was that people will use those instances (Betamax, Dvorak keyboard, etc.) as examples of how the market fails and needs the guiding hand of the state to correct it when Averge Joe makes the wrong choices.

|4.6.07 @ 4:16PM|#

Actually, a lot of the porn stars don't want their movies in high definition. You see all the imperfections, the most notable of which are bad effects from all the plastic surgery.

The scary thing is that you don't even need HD to see that, much of the time.

|4.6.07 @ 4:35PM|#

The PS3 has already lost the console war. Its too expensive and doesn't make a quantum leap over the PS2, except for the blu-ray.

I wouldn't count it out just yet. It is the least expensive Blu-Ray player available right now.

Mike Laursen|4.6.07 @ 4:35PM|#

the inferior technology of VHS

I realized the advantage of big, blocky VHS tapes the first time I saw a 4-year-old kid insert her favorite Disney movie in a player and hit the start button.

|4.6.07 @ 4:53PM|#

You mean you have to pay for porn? There are no porn torrents you can leech from?

|4.6.07 @ 4:54PM|#

Anonymo, an understandable typo in your admirable post. Lemme help:

The point of the Choice essay I referenced was that people joe will use those instances (Betamax, Dvorak keyboard, etc.) as examples of how the market fails and needs the guiding hand of the state to correct it when Average Joe People make the wrong choices.

|4.6.07 @ 5:16PM|#

Note the article goes on to say that Blu-Ray is more costly to replicate but not impossible.

Disney had a mixup during the early days of DVD when some adult titles got placed in their DVD cases. Since then they have banned replication facilities from doing adult work on the same presses.

BD and HD are still very early in their deployment: ~300 BD titles and ~250 HD DVD titles compared to 25,000+ SD DVD titles on the market. Once production gets ramped up and more replication facilities come online, you'll be able to get all the BLUE-ray pron you need.

I think the betamax vs. VHS analogy doesn't fit with these new formats either. More likely it will be like PS2 vs. XBOX. Marquee titles (Madden, Tiger Woods, Debbie Does Dallas) get released on both, while some franchises pick a side. All IMHO, of course.

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6408423.html
D

|4.6.07 @ 5:25PM|#

"Disney had a mixup during the early days of DVD when some adult titles got placed in their DVD cases. Since then they have banned replication facilities from doing adult work on the same presses."

Seems reasonable and logical. I'd believe it if Disney weren't so absolutely full of crap all the time.

|4.6.07 @ 5:31PM|#

As for "superior" technology:

Some people like easy to use items that perform like shit but don't break down and act predictably. Other people will put up with headaches to view a format with higher quality picture and sound. One really has to decide whether one cares about ease of recording and long play times or whether one cares about superior picture and audio quality.

I've found that seeing the damn thing in the movie theater is the only way to go.

eb|4.7.07 @ 11:28AM|#

Since when does an equipment manufacturer determine programming. I'd say this is a more compelling case of restriction of free speech than all of the other hysterical claims of the past 5 years combined.

What if Sony decides that no documentaries that insult Sony or any of its affiliates will be allowed to be pressed into blu-ray? Where are the civil libertarians on this? I'm sure this is legal but certainly not right.

I would have respected Sony's decree more if it included all Rob Schneider films.

MJ|4.7.07 @ 1:03PM|#

"I'd say this is a more compelling case of restriction of free speech than all of the other hysterical claims of the past 5 years combined."

Why? It's not as if there aren't other formats for people to obtain porn on. It's entirely possible that Sony may have put this format at a competive disadvantage against other media, and their Blu-ray venture may fail as a result. Which leads to the pedantic point that Sony has every right exclude porn producers from using their product, as it may in the long run harm Sony more than anyone else.

|4.7.07 @ 7:28PM|#

Question: Why would anyone ever pay for porn when you have this site?

http://cheggit.net/

21 terabytes!!!! of free porn for the masses.

lunchstealer|4.9.07 @ 6:07PM|#

Seriously, who wants to see that much detail in porn, anyway? Next people will be wanting the Smell-O-Vision guys to let porn producers license their product.

|4.10.07 @ 10:28AM|#

Follow up from a press release today:

CDGIRLS.com, a well-know adult internet site but relatively small adult video producer, announces that it became the first adult studio to release adult content on Blu-ray, the Sony-backed DVD disc, delivering its Jenna Haze Oil Orgy in true 1080 High-Definition video. CDGIRLS.com found a way to work around Sony's resistance to allowing adult content to migrate to the Blu-ray formula. Only eight companies in the world can replicate Blu-ray discs, and two are controlled by Sony. Five others replicate discs for Disney, and their arrangement with Disney stipulates that they cannot handle adult films.

Only 8 companies in the world? Sounds like a great business opportunity. I would much rather see those free minds and free markets at work than the civil libertarians.

|4.10.07 @ 2:59PM|#

"Only 8 companies in the world? Sounds like a great business opportunity."

Sounds like the world's worst biz opp.