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 February 1, 2006 Why the HD DVD/Blu-ray War Won’t Matter
In terms of emerging video technologies, the adult-film industry is a good barometer for what’s to come in the general consumer marketplace. Many of the companies within the adult industry are the earliest adopters of new technologies, bringing innovation to the marketplace far ahead of mainstream companies. The adult industry is technically savvy, its market is huge, and its direction ends up often being the guiding light for the entire industry. Take high-definition video, for example. While mainstream video producers seem content to sit on their hands, waiting for the battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray to take place and name one format as the winner, a number of adult-video companies are already producing and delivering high-definition content to consumers. One of these companies is Digital Playground, whose founder, Joone, is considered one of the leading technical innovators in the industry. I talked with Joone at last year’s CES about the company’s pioneering work with high-definition (HD) video, and this year in Las Vegas I had a chance to sit down with him again to talk about the future direction of HD-content delivery. Digital Playground has been shooting all its productions in high-definition video for over three years -- even videos that are being released only in standard definition right now. This means that the bulk of the company's current catalog can be re-released in HD when the format takes a firmer hold. Still, the company hasn't been sitting around and waiting. Digital Playground released its first high-definition feature, Island Fever 3, well over a year ago, and just a couple of months ago released Pirates, a high-budget production that was again shot and released in HD. Pirates comes packaged with three discs, two of which are standard-definition DVDs and one of which is an HD DVD. Pirates won 11 times at the recent AVN Awards, including for "Best High Definition Production." Although his company currently delivers the bulk of its content on optical discs, DVD or otherwise, Joone feels that the emerging high-definition formats, HD DVD and Blu-ray, are mediums for the "meantime" -- necessary interim steps to what’s probably the real future of high-definition-content delivery: the Internet. At present, though, the Internet is not sufficient to deliver full-length features the way a disc format can, so the disc still rules. However, in time that will change, and when it does change, Joone foresees the ability to download the content of an entire disc, features as well as all the extras, and funnel it straight to your high-definition TV. In the coming format war, Joone favors Blu-ray for a few reasons. First, he points out that Sony will incorporate Blu-ray into PlayStation 3, which should give it good market presence right off the bat. Second, at this time it seems like Blu-ray will have higher capacity than HD DVD -- 25 gigs versus 15 gigs. Joone wants the highest capacity, but not necessarily for the movie itself. "The HD codec is about three times more efficient for compression than the standard-definition codec," he says, meaning that HD DVD’s more limited capacity is still sufficient for the movie. Rather, Joone wants Blu-ray's additional storage capacity so he can include more extra material onto the disc, something Digital Playground already does plenty of with current releases. Blu-ray should allow them to do more -- for more people. But there’s another reason -- perhaps the key reason -- that Joone believes in Blu-ray: "I want Blu-ray to win because it’s the last disc format we’ll see. Blu-ray has enough 'future-proof' to it." Andrew Blake of Studio A Entertainment echoes Joone’s feelings on future formats. Blake is unique in the adult-film industry in that he’s one of the last filmmakers to shoot his features on real film. In fact, his films are lauded as much for their artistry and style as they are for their content. Like Joone, Blake obviously cares about the quality of the product he delivers, and he’s quite sure that he won’t be shooting in a digital medium anytime soon. According to Blake, "[High-definition video] still looks like video, only clearer." But whether Blake agrees with shooting in a high-definition format or not, he does see digital delivery of content as the future for his industry, and, as such, his features are shot on film, converted to digital, and made available on DVD today and in HD when it becomes more commonplace. Blake, too, sees the disc formats, including HD DVD and Blu-ray, as "dinosaurs," with extinction not too far away. He also favors the Internet for content delivery: straight from the production company to your HDTV is the preferred way, with no physical medium in its path. While a certain portion of the video industry is waiting for the HD DVD/Blu-ray war to take place and create a shakeout of sorts, the adult industry isn’t just moving forward. It's looking ahead and preparing to move beyond the next big thing. Yes, HD DVD and Blu-ray will have their place -- for now -- but it’s quite clear that the next important medium is no medium at all -- straight through the Internet and into your home with no disc, no video stores, and no more late fees. Ultimately, what Joone wants to see for his products is "download to own," and that is exactly where the entire video industry is ultimately heading. ...Doug Schneider
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