Is Sony going to limit BD content?

1941 Views 19 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Neo1965, Jan 15, 2007

CRFTony

Discussion Starter · Jan 12, 2007

I'm considering buying an PS3 so that I'll have a Blu Ray player. I would also be playing games on it, but I already am satisfied with my XBox360 so the gaming isn't a factor at all, watching movies is.

I originally bought into HD-DVD but it seems like that format is going to lose. Plus, a lot of the movies I'm interested in are from Lionsgate, which is dedicated to BD. All of this is making me thing that BD is the way to go.

However, today I read that Sony is not allowing porn companies to produce BD content. I don't care about that as I don't buy porn on DVD but what did concern me was that Sony also told Synapse films that they don't want their movies either. Synapse releases more obscure, cult type horror/thriller films. I'm wondering and worried about how far Sony will carry this. For instance, would they not want the Anchor Bay catalog? 90% of what I buy is horror, so if BD is going to start censoring that type of content, I don't want to buy into yet another format that cannot meet my needs.

Does anyone have more info on this?

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nyg

· #2 · Jan 12, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by CRFTony /forum/post/0

what did concern me was that Sony also told Synapse films that they don't want their movies either. Synapse releases more obscure, cult type horror/thriller films.

Do you have a link? That would really be foolish if Sony prevents the indies from releasing on BD. I don't care if they allow porn or not but they damn well better allow the indies.

Neo1965

· #3 · Jan 12, 2007

2

Kind of doubt Sony is against Horror. Not only do they produce a lot of horror movies. If you look at Silent Hill, Saw series, covenant, UE, Descent, RE:A, American Psycho, Reign of Fire, AVP, there's already a lot of horror out there.

Note also that there is not much Sony and Disney and Fox can do to stop anyone from making disks that can play on BD players. What they might do is say, "go away until xx/xx" if asked to help author some fancy multi-angle interactive titles

, but that's likely because they have bigger fish to fry at this point. (My guess).

There should be other authoring houses who can step in, but the pricing may not be to their liking.

If the content owners want to author simple movies that can play on a BD player, heck even I can do that on my BD-RE burner.

I just can't get fancy menus working (or multi angle) - because i don't have the time to play with DVDit!Pro HD.

There is one thing though, for simpler authoring with Menus, the HD DVD with ulead VS10+ is the cheapest way to author content. In fact, if the movie is not too long, they could have authored it on a DL DVD and it would still play on a HDDVD player (as it would on BD if you really want to do it).

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CRFTony

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 12, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by nyg /forum/post/0

Do you have a link? That would really be foolish if Sony prevents the indies from releasing on BD. I don't care if they allow porn or not but they damn well better allow the indies.

I read that Don May, Jr. (head of Synapse) said this on the Mobius video forum. If I remember correctly, one title he specifically said Sony didn't want was Thriller: A Cruel Picture.

As for replication, I didn't know about that. That makes me feel a bit better.

Mike1117

· #5 · Jan 12, 2007

The indies are leaning towards HD DVD for two reasons:

1. It is much cheaper to produce HD DVD than Blu Ray. For smaller runs from the indies, the cost difference is significant.

2. The number of Blu Ray production facilities is limited and production is geared towards the big studios. HD DVD can be made from any line producing regular DVDs so it is easier for the indies to get their hi-def content made onto HD DVD.

Neo1965

· #6 · Jan 12, 2007

Once you author your title, the replication cost of the disks are miniscule including all the details you print onto the label side of the disk.

Someone else posted this very useful site that offers replication services.
http://www.proactionmedia.com/hd_br_replication.htm

As you can see, the HD30 costs a few cents more than BD25, but note that they cost $1 more than a DVD in quantities of 10K. That's including all the printing of labels.

Given what people are charging for BD is not just $1 above DVD, the costs are coming in from somewhere else.

Probably the volumes are still too small.

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camaj

· #7 · Jan 12, 2007

Yeah, volume has a huge baring on profitability.

As someone said, Sony can't stop people releasing what they want on Blu-ray. Perhaps the BDA can but I doubt it. The issue seems to be that Sony refuse to replicate certain discs and because there's a lack of duplicators, this is perceived as Sony won't let X publish Y.

People have to ask the common sense questions such as "Why would the BDA allow Sony to decide?" If Sony was the gatekeeper no one would want to risk publishing on Blu-ray. What if they decided that they didn't want certain controversial films (say Lolita)? Studios would flock to HD DVD in their droves

Neo1965

· #8 · Jan 12, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by camaj /forum/post/0

Yeah, volume has a huge baring on profitability.

As someone said, Sony can't stop people releasing what they want on Blu-ray. Perhaps the BDA can but I doubt it. The issue seems to be that Sony refuse to replicate certain discs and because there's a lack of duplicators, this is perceived as Sony won't let X publish Y.

People have to ask the common sense questions such as "Why would the BDA allow Sony to decide?" If Sony was the gatekeeper no one would want to risk publishing on Blu-ray. What if they decided that they didn't want certain controversial films (say Lolita)? Studios would flock to HD DVD in their droves

Did they stop replication or just not want to work with authoring the titles? From what I understand, calling up proactionmedia and saying "I am so and so, and I want to deliver you a DLT of my title next wednesday, and I want 10K BDs" should give you a quote.

IE: how can Sony stop a company from pressing a 10K run of a particular title for any studio?

Besides, if anyone watched Devil's Reject and Saw, it should be clear that taboo topics are clearly being put on BD titles.

Come to think of it, I can't think of anything in mainstream porn (not that I've seen any

) that would have as much of a grossout factor as Devil's Rejects.

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Art Sonneborn

· #9 · Jan 12, 2007

2

Quote:
Originally Posted by Neo1965 /forum/post/0

Come to think of it, I can't think of anything in mainstream porn (not that I've seen any

) that would have as much of a grossout factor as Devil's Rejects.

Oh, I don't know about that. That blockbuster, Big Butt Anal Slammers Vol. 6 would give it a run for it's money.

Art

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spwolf

· #10 · Jan 12, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Neo1965 /forum/post/0

Did they stop replication or just not want to work with authoring the titles? From what I understand, calling up proactionmedia and saying "I am so and so, and I want to deliver you a DLT of my title next wednesday, and I want 10K BDs" should give you a quote.

IE: how can Sony stop a company from pressing a 10K run of a particular title for any studio?

Besides, if anyone watched Devil's Reject and Saw, it should be clear that taboo topics are clearly being put on BD titles.

Come to think of it, I can't think of anything in mainstream porn (not that I've seen any

) that would have as much of a grossout factor as Devil's Rejects.

they cant and they wont... someone posted bogus roumour based on news that those porn companies selected HD-DVD.

I very much doubt that Sony's factories produce runs of 5,000 or less, like the average good porn movie, so porn companies usually go to independent replicators.

there are no limitations on who can produce what content on BD's...

dad1153

· #11 · Jan 13, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Neo1965 /forum/post/0

Come to think of it, I can't think of anything in mainstream porn (not that I've seen any ) that would have as much of a grossout factor as Devil's Rejects.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Art Sonneborn /forum/post/0

Oh, I don't know about that. That blockbuster, Big Butt Anal Slammers Vol. 6 would give it a run for it's money.

Art

And of course you saw that one upscaled in crystal-clear clarity (and WAF to boot) on your theater, didn't you Art? Silly me, all this time I thought it was candy that was making your theater floor sticky!

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WriteSimple

· #12 · Jan 13, 2007

I think right now indie replicators do not have the tech expertise to do BD50.

But I don't think that is why Digital Playground is "forced" to release it on HD-DVD30. If Joone had wanted to, he can restrict the BD content to just 25GB and be done with it, just like what the dual-format studios have done.

ProActionMedia (the name has porn built-in to it) has the site up and running for months. But they're not doing the authoring. Somebody else must do that and maybe the porn studios are having trouble finding authoring studios who are not already swamped with work from the majors.

fuad

beatboy77

· #13 · Jan 13, 2007

For those porn lovers amongst us, Vivid Entertainment annouced yesterday that they will release "Debbie Does Dallas...Again," on Blu-ray in late March or Early April. Here is a link to the article and the article itself:

Quote:
Vivid Entertainment will release its first adult film on Blu-ray and HD-DVD in late March or early April, TVPredictions.com has learned. The first release will be Debbie Does Dallas... Again, a remake of the classic Debbie Does Dallas. The film stars Stefani Morgan as Debbie and is directed by Paul Thomas.

Vivid, which generates $100 million in sales annually, told TVPredictions.com last November that it would release its debut HDTV DVD on Blu-ray first and HD-DVD later.

"As of now, it (the first release) will just be Blu-ray," said Vivid CEO Steve Hirsch. "But that's not to say we won't release it in HD-DVD later. Blu-ray seems to have the momentum. But we're not in the business of picking winners. We will produce content for all formats." But a Vivid spokeswoman today said Debbie Does Dallas...Again will be released in both formats on the same day.

Asked if that reflected a change in position, the spokeswoman said: "I don't know about that. We've been talking only about releasing in both formats starting with Debbie."

http://www.tvpredictions.com/debbie011207.htm

~Josh

denass

· #14 · Jan 14, 2007

same article has conflicts with sony saying doesnt want porn and yet vivid is ok.

Will see what the outcome is

wouldnt be surprised if vivid is pulled if you read the whole article

http://www.tvpredictions.com/adulthddvd011107.htm

Dammenion

· #15 · Jan 14, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by denass /forum/post/0

same article has conflicts with sony saying doesnt want porn and yet vivid is ok.

Will see what the outcome is

wouldnt be surprised if vivid is pulled if you read the whole article

http://www.tvpredictions.com/adulthddvd011107.htm

Actually it's not the same article. One article is quoting DI saying Sony didn't want to help DI, nothing about blocking them just not helping them, so that switched to HD-DVD

Newest article is Vivid saying they already have a release date and are releasing on Blu-Ray. Guess they dont need their hands held as much as DI does.

AnthonyP

· #16 · Jan 14, 2007

CRFTony:

the problem is that Sony is many things. They are a music label, they are a HW maker, they are a movie studio, they are a replicator, they are one of the founding memnmbers of BD.... You ned to look at what person (hat) you are talknig about. Sony DAC (the replicator arm of Sony) is not willing to replicate iffy content. Part of it is a morality clause that many large replicators that also replicate for majore studios.

It is not Sony the studio or Sony the BD spokesperson that is sayting NO but Sony the replictor. Other content (not acceptible to DAC) can be replicated somewhere else

chokeslam

· #17 · Jan 14, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by CRFTony /forum/post/0

I read that Don May, Jr. (head of Synapse) said this on the Mobius video forum. If I remember correctly, one title he specifically said Sony didn't want was Thriller: A Cruel Picture.

As for replication, I didn't know about that. That makes me feel a bit better.

Thriller is rated X (equivalent to a modern day NC-17), I believe, even though it's not a porno. I don't think HD would do much for this film, but it will make me very upset if Synapse goes with HD DVD over Blu-ray.

Neo1965

· #18 · Jan 15, 2007

Based on various media reports that keep popping up here and there, a lot of respectable blue chip companies are involved in internet porn. Much of the morality clause only applies when there's no money to be made.

When cash is being thrown around, that clause tends to disappear faster than... ok, I'm not going there.

ewitte

· #19 · Jan 15, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretender2j /forum/post/0

As others have said it's really has nothing to do with Sony and any large replicator would turn down such a small batch, porn or otherwise.

JB

All HD-DVD/Blu-Ray batches are small right now. VHS productions probably even still 5x higher.

Neo1965

· #20 · Jan 15, 2007

The difference between 5K and 10K units is in pennies. But there is a startup tooling cost that might be a problem for a small company. Also authoring the multi angle and interactive side could be beyond the capability of a small company.

But if they only concentrated on the plot, the acting, basically just the movie maam. And forego the other playfull aspects for now, there are many Apple/PC tools that can help them - especially if they don't get too ambitious and can take smaller initial steps - like MPEG2 until the tools become cheap enough. Or they can just do HDDVD until the tools are cheaper.

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