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Blue Blu-ray
TopSpin writes "Early this year the meme circulated that Blu-ray might be going the way of Betamax, and for the exact same reason: Sony's unfriendliness to the porn industry. But at Japan's recent euphemistically named Adult Treasure Expo 2007, adult filmmakers said Sony has begun offering technical support, and this was later confirmed by Sony PR. The company stated that Sony would offer support to any filmmaker working on the format, no matter their industry. Apparently, Blu-ray is now the preferred medium for Japanese adult films."
Is there any consensus in the geek community about which format is liked best?
Without looking at the tubes, I've been curious (not too) about the end user functional difference between blu-ray and HD-DVD (aside from one having fewer syllables). Is it like buying a red porsche cayenne or a blue porsche cayenne? I'm not sure how two devices can compete with each other if they are essentially the same. Will their market lifetime boil down to non-technical reasons, as stated in the article? Is there some nifty upgrade path that one allows over the other?
I really don't care for the HD craze, I still buy plain old DVDs. Am I really in the minority?
Yes, I am a smart ass; it's better than the alternative.
It's an extension of "blue" comedy which contains more profanity.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
I am not looking to continue buying movies on plastic discs. Having movies sent through the mail or having to drive to a store should be unnecessary now. There are already a few internet on demand services for movies, and plenty of cable/satellite on demand services. Ownership services ala iTunes is probably around the corner. DRM-free would be ideal, so really whichever gets around to that first wins in my opinion. Not happening any time soon, but really not an issue in the debate. HD, Blueray, and iTunes all have it. With regards to pornography, I expect the industry will continue moving into the online direction. I suspect they will continue to be pioneers in the area actually.
8 years ago I purged floppies from my life, ripping them out of every device I had, and saving all of that data to newer disc. Around 2 years ago I pretty much purged CD/DVD from everything, sans a single portable USB DVD-RW drive I can use for anything. Magnetic and optical medium had its time. Flash drives/cards, solid state disk drives, and networks should be everything. Of course, the transition is slow, but that's why I took a stand. I don't buy software, I install new OS' from the network or an existing partition. The DVDRW drive is a read once and rip solution for music CDs, and periodic DVD backup aside from rsync. Movies I use cable on demand services, DVR, and theaters.
About the only reason why I would care for any next-generation disc medium would be for a viable backup solution. Not many available, nor cost effective at the moment. This is a pretty geeky view of everything, but I think that the general consumer trend will follow it. Most likely, both BlueRay and HD-DVD will slowly replace DVDs, but only when the cost is comparable for both the movies and for combination devices. The *real* next-generation media is when there is no media at all.
It's not the porn, it's the control. If Sony is willing to effectively censor porn then they've proven they're willing to use their power to censor. Who wants to take a chance on a format controlled by someone who has demonstrated their willingness to censor?
Cow Cube
Toshiba is the ONLY hardware maker for HD-DVD drives.
On the Blu-Ray side, you have players from Sony and Panasonic and Samsung and others (soon to be Funai players as well, the producer of the dirt-cheap DVD players for WalMart).
Sony learned well the lessons of betamax (also including have the format with more storage, and more studio backing). It's a shame the HD-DVD backers didn't bother to examine history to see where they were headed.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
For DVD and VHS, porn was a huge deal because it was difficult to obtain discreetly otherwise.
But nowadays any kind of porn you can imagine, and many kinds you would rather not, are all online. Porn media sales are nothing now compared with total video sales. So even though Blu-Ray is getting more and more backing from adult studios, it will not really have any effect.
On a side note though Japan and the US are in the same region with Blu-Ray, so Anime or other titles (such as this adult studio stuff) can all be imported directly. I'm just hoping most anime comes with English subtitles even just for Japanese release...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Apple originally sided with DVD-RAM.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
I have a "first-gen" 1080P TV, and it only does 1080P over VGA, not HDMI. For some reason the HDMI can only handle 1080i. HD-DVD seems to be happy to pump HD content over non-HDCP channels, while Blu-Ray players (certainly the PS3) insists on a HDCP protected channel or it downscales. So I can get either 1080i blu-ray or 1080p HD-DVD. A lot of people have HD-TVs with no HDMI at all. Ouch.
Of course, since I have one of those awful Vista computers that you guys complain so much about, there's a way around this, and I can watch both in 1080P.
Personally, if a movie is available in both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray I buy the HD-DVD version, because studios have had a habit of encoding Blu-Ray discs using MPEG2 so that they look like shite. I got my Blu-Ray for $300 when CompUSA closed. If you have the choice between a $170 HD drive or a $600 Blu-Ray, the choice seems obvious to me if you can't wait. As has been said, even the 30Gb capacity of HD-DVD is more than double the amount you need for a ultra-high-quality movie recording. Otherwise, wait and get a combo player and you're safe whichever way it goes.
I didn't either, until I spent some time with HD content. My TV is small by US penis-measuring standards, it's only 32" and it's only 720p, but there's a HUGE difference between SD and HD content in some programming. CSI:Miami looks fantastic, as does Saturday night AFL, I think sport is definitely a place you can expect to see a lot of growth in HD in the near future, and where it really pays off.
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
I agree with the quality difference, and when i move out i'll probably get me a HDTV instead of a standard one.
I recently went through the BBC Planet Earth site and downloaded all the HD clips they have. I believe they're only 720p as well (just checked, they are) and so i've been playing them on my 19" PC monitor which does 1440x900. People forget that standard PC displays can often play HD content! The video is just amazing, the details on some of the footage such as the Angel Falls. Any UK resident (or someone with a UK proxy at hand) i would highly recommend Planet Earth HD.
Put them on the HDTVs at work too, the number of people that stop and watch the telly we've got set up (compared to the shitty demo before) is startling.