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 March 1, 2009 Beyond Blu-ray: Part One -- Diversification and Digital Playground
This month I begin a series of articles exploring the latest trends in video to determine what might be the Next Big Thing. This first installment will look at developments within Digital Playground, one of the most technically advanced producers of adult films. Makers of adult films are well known as early adopters of the latest technologies, often becoming the trendsetters. As I’ve done previous Januaries, this year I sat down with Digital Playground founder Joone at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, to find out where his company is headed. Digital Playground did pioneering work in the 1990s by creating adult’s first interactive CD-ROMs, and more recently have become the industry leaders in providing adult films in high definition. They were the first adult studio to begin filming in high definition, the first to come to market with a high-definition release (on HD DVD), and currently have the largest catalog of Blu-ray releases of any adult studio in the world. They also claim to have created the adult industry’s first "crossover" title. After being re-edited, their X-rated Pirates received an MPAA R rating that allowed Digital Playground to sell the release through mainstream retailers. In previous years, Joone and I had talked mostly about HD DVD and Blu-ray to gauge which way the market was heading. It’s important to Joone to shoot his company’s videos in the highest resolution possible, and going into this year’s interview, I expected him to champion the next high-resolution format, 4K -- the forthcoming format that boasts about four times the resolution of Blu-ray. Not surprisingly, Digital Playground has been filming in 4K for some time now, once again getting a head start on the adult film industry by creating a back catalog of even higher resolution. But while filming in 4K is being done, distribution isn’t what’s on Joone’s mind these days -- anything DP shoots in 4K is released on Blu-ray and DVD; they have no intention of attempting to create 4K releases anytime soon. According to Joone, mass-market 4K is far off, and Blu-ray and DVD will remain the dominant physical formats for a long while yet. In fact, they might be the last disc-based formats we ever see. Resolution-wise, there’s nothing beyond Blu-ray, at least anytime soon. If there’s a buzz term to attach to what’s going on with adult video right now, it’s distribution diversification, as I was told by Farley Cahen, Digital Playground’s VP of New Media, whose job it is to keep tabs on the latest ways to deliver content to consumers. In short, adult companies like Digital Playground are getting away from limiting themselves to specific physical or download formats, and are instead looking at all methods currently available to get their content out. In addition to Blu-ray and DVD, DP now distributes via downloads to computers and to iPod-type devices (now an explosive area of growth for adult and mainstream films alike), and through various types of television broadcasts and pay-per-view methods, whether cable or distribution, through hotel chains and the like. Joone feels that the adult companies that will prosper are those that, like his, focus on the product -- i.e., the finished video -- then leverage all of the many methods available right now, not just one or two, to get it out there. In Joone’s words, "Today, you need to give consumers the choice." He warns that adult companies that don’t adopt this strategy won’t be as profitable as they can be, and might not even survive. After all, with all the pirating that goes on, end-users will find their own ways to distribute content if manufacturers don’t offer them. If you visit Digital Playground’s website, you’ll see many different ways to purchase their videos. It wouldn’t be surprising to see these strategies make their way into mainstream films. However, Joone was quick to point out that, as of today, all distribution methods are not equal, and even if it’s the same video, the products aren’t all the same. For example, although you can download 1080p clips and trailers from a variety of sources, including mainstream companies such as iTunes, no one offers true 1080p downloads of complete films, including Digital Playground. High definition from their site extends to only 720p. Then there are the extras that are often included on DVDs and Blu-rays, but usually aren’t offered as downloads. To get the best, you have to buy the Blu-ray Disc. Today, the focus at Digital Playground, and at adult film companies in general, does not seem to be the next generation of video resolution but, instead, to leverage every possible method of content delivery. A format of higher resolution than Blu-ray will come along someday, but not any time soon -- and when it does, it might not be a disc. However, Joone didn’t leave this year’s interview without pointing to another trend on the horizon. As I closed my notebook, he said, "3D might be the emerging technology to look out for." Indeed, with the number of video-display manufacturers offering 3D technologies that don’t require special glasses, that’s another area that the adult-video industry might move into soon. I suspect that, when I meet with Joone at CES 2010, 3D might even be our main topic of discussion. For my next article, I’ll be talking with the industry’s top makers of A/V processors to learn what their next-generation products will include, and what they feel the future of home video will hold for video and audio playback. . . . Doug Schneider
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Over the last few years, video
enthusiasts were fixated on the format war between HD DVD and the Blu-ray Disc. That
became old news last winter, the minute Toshiba, which developed and backed HD DVD,
threw in the towel and left Blu-ray the sole physical high-definition format. Since then,
many video enthusiasts have been wondering: What’s next? Is there anything beyond
Blu-ray?