Porn To Decide Our Future
Author: AF Duncan
April 6th, 2007
Continuing today’s surprisingly pervy trend, here’s an interesting article from Yahoo/Reuters that says the porn industry could be the deciding factor in the HD-DVD v. BLU-RAY format war:
Thirty years ago, VHS toppled Betamax in part because of the adult film industry, and now some see blue movies playing a key role again as backers of HD-DVD and Blu-ray maneuver to make their formats the standard.
The stakes are high. As prices of high-definition televisions and DVD players fall, backers of the rival — and incompatible — formats are looking to tap a home and rental DVD market approaching $25 billion.
Yet so far, neither next-generation format has been able to land a knock-out blow.
James McQuivey, a principal analyst at technology research firm Forrester, said in the VHS-versus-Betamax war, porn provided a significant boost for the winning format.
He also noted the adult entertainment industry has often paved the way with new uses of technology — such as streaming video on the Internet — and said porn could help tip the scales in the current DVD format battle.
I have to admit, I love the idea of porn secretly piloting the direction of home entertainment technology for the last 25 years.
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17 Responses to “Porn To Decide Our Future”
April 6th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true, porn has a big effect on the adoption of new media.
April 6th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Francis Coppola once commented that the invention of the porn film preceded the invention of narrative film;he was probably joking- but I suspect there people gettin’ naked on camera before George Meilies made A TRIP TO THE MOON (a film which, after all, did include dancing girls…)
April 7th, 2007 at 11:04 am
The idea that porn had an effect on VHS vs. Betamax is a romantic one, however not based in any truth. The deciding factor over that, which was big enough to overpower ANY other factors, was JVC vs. Sony vs. MPAA.
While greedy and short sighted movie studios (some things never change) tried to halt the use of the formats, Sony took the brunt of the legal battles, focusing money and energy on that as JVC started pimping the hell out of VHS, dedicating time and money to the format. That is the main reason we got stuck with the inferior product.
VHS porn didn’t really take off until the late 80s, and the battle was well over by then, with no beta products left. The JVC/Sony debacle was taking place in the late 70s and early 80s.
So, no, porn had no influence on that one. They did however basically “make” DVD as a format.
April 9th, 2007 at 6:53 am
>>So, no, porn had no influence on that one. They did however basically “make” DVD as a format.<<
This is 100% wrong, according to my New Media professor who’s kind of an expert on this stuff. Sorry!
April 9th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Dan, so am I. You’re professor is incorrect. After all, those who can’t do…
Sorry!
April 9th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Besides, don’t contradict me with he said she said when I’m offering you specifics of how it went down. Sweet jesus!
April 9th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Tae, no need to apologize for being wrong with simplistic blanket statements such as “porn had no influence on that one” that you fail to backup with evidence. Because even if the reason you state had something to do with it, the truth is that better marketing, and getting more licensees onboard to distribute their movies on VHS, combined with porn, were the real drivers of VHS adoption.
But since I like to backup my statements, please read the following, by New Media researcher and historian John Carey:
There is a broad generalization that applies to many technologies: the early uses and the early users for a technology may differ from later uses and later users. VCRs illustrate this process. When VCRs were first introduced in the U.S., they were quite expensive. Early users included businesses and schools that used the technology for training and education as well as high income households, especially those with an interest in the latest electronic gadget. Household usage included time shift viewing of television programs (Dobrow, 1990) and a considerable amount of pornography (a majority of videocassettes sold and rented in the late 1970s was pornography). Businesses, schools, people who were willing to pay a high price for time shift viewing of programs, and those who wanted to see pornography made up the initial group of users and uses. They made it possible for a second stage of adoption to occur, at a lower price and with a different mix of uses, including videocassette movie rentals and (later) videocassette sales.
In the case of VCRs, there were also some important unanticipated events. The emergence of “mom and pop” video rental shops was unanticipated and unplanned. Yet, these shops were critical for the second and third stages of VCR adoption to occur. This suggests that the growth of a technology is often a fragile, changing process. Early use can be different from later use and the elements that are critical to success at various steps along the way can sometimes come from unplanned and unanticipated sources.
The lesson here is that those who are introducing a new technology or service should try to anticipate the mix of users and uses at each stage. Since this is very difficult, they must be prepared to shift strategies as they move from early to later stages in a product’s development.
April 9th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Dan, what do you do for a living?
April 9th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
I scour the Internet trying to prove people wrong!
April 9th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
You’re fired.
April 9th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
haha — I think I deserve a bonus!
April 10th, 2007 at 8:04 am
Nope. Here\’s what I do for a living. I\’m a preditor. That\’s a producer/editor. I also often write the material I am cutting. Before that I was an editor. Before that a DVD author/menu designer. Before that an assistant editor. Before that a tape operator. I\’ve been working in the post end of the industry since I was 17. Before that, I basically grew up at a television station, since my mom is the programming director for 2 stations out here in LA. I\’ve spent basically the entirety on my 30 years on this planet amassing a working knowledge of the post production industry, its past, present and future. If you need any more references, I\’m sure Andrew and Steve will vouch for my knowledge.
I was doing a little google searching, and I found plenty of articles to back up what I said. I\’m not going to link to them here. That\’s not really the point. They don\’t address the porn aspect specifically, so they are not necessary.
Here is what is necessary to know. Porn in the 70s and 80s was underground. WAY underground. Not much was produced. Partly because of the cost. Back then, they shot porn on film. It was cost prohibitive to produce more than a few a year. Then the late 80s came, and with them the advent of shooting on video. This opened the floodgates. porn was produced by the hour, right here in the San Fernando Valley. That was the porn explosion of the late 80s and early 90s.
The point of that little porno primer is that your friend\’s assertions don\’t fit the framework of reality. The amount of porn necessary to make a difference in the late 70s and early 80s did not exist. It wasn\’t there. It wasn\’t until later that the porn boom arrived and the format war had already been decided.
I hope you take a little time to consider than I\’m just trying to arm you with knowledge, since you are unfortunately being given misinformation by your high school new media teacher. Like I said, those who can\’t do, teach. Next time though, please try not to couple such amazing arrogance with your ignorance. It makes you look really bad, and floods Steve\’s site with misinformation. That\’s not cool to him.
April 10th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Well, I’m glad that your mommy works for 2 TV stations and that you’re a producer/edior, but I don’t see how that adds credence to your claim. You can take potshots at my professor(s) and evidence and me all you want, but it doesn’t make you right. Nice try, though.
April 10th, 2007 at 8:34 am
I’m sorry you wish to remain willfully ignorant. Good day.
April 10th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Thanks. I’m going to see Grindhouse, should be fun.
May 14th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
I’ve been in the TV and movie industry since the early 80s. I can attest that Mr. Brooks couldn’t be more wrong. “T Unit” is partially correct with his pointing out the legal battles against the MPAA. That was a component of the reason so many titles, from Bambi to Moscow on the Hudson was put to VHS immediatly. Beta couldn’t keep up with the amount of games. The same thing almost killed the X-Box out of the gate.
If there were more porn titles on VHS, it was because there were more titles on VHS, period.
May 15th, 2007 at 3:55 am
Hi George,
If re-read my posts, you’ll see that I also mention your reasons:
>>the truth is that better marketing, and getting more licensees onboard to distribute their movies on VHS, combined with porn, were the real drivers of VHS adoption.