The world of adult entertainment is generally defined by hardcore sex and lots of it. But beyond the salacious, sweat-drenched action, the industry has consistently made technological advances well before its mainstream counterparts.
From home video to the Internet, adult has broken new ground and reaped the financial benefits to the tune of billions. Such is the case again; Vivid Entertainment Group has introduced its Burn-to-DVD service, allowing users to download features from its Web site and burn them onto a standard DVD disk.
The service costs $25 per feature, about the same as a traditional DVD, and comes complete with a DVD menu, chapter navigation and other interactive features available on the original DVD title. The package will be copy-protected.
“We're not concerned with the piracy issue,” offered Vivid co-founder Steven Hirsch. “There's always going to be a certain group of people who try and figure out how to break the code. We're aware of that, but this has been tested for quite a while, and we're comfortable with the DRM [piracy-preventing software] that's in place.”
A potential dilemma is attendant with Vivid’s cutting edge computer advances: how do you keep from treading on the toes of the mom and pop outlets, the traditional brick and mortar retailers? For Hirsch, it’s a key issue.
“The one thing I want to make clear is that we are and continue to be sensitive to the needs of distributors and retailers,” he said. “That's why we're only doing 30 titles initially, and why they are older catalog titles. We will ultimately window our new releases so that they come out on DVD first, and then move to Burn to DVD probably 90 days later.”
Though low cost and user-friendly shopping are inherent to business on the Internet, Hirsch is not trying to become overly competitive.
“We will always price them in a way that never undercuts the retail price at the stores,” he stated. “That's important. The trick is to sort of walk the fine line between trying to exploit some of those new technologies, and protecting our distributors and retailers who have been there for us for a number of years. I certainly don't see this technology putting the retailer out of business. I don't see that happening. But again, we want to be sensitive to their needs, at the same time, we want to be the guys up front exploring alternative revenue streams.
“Those are sort of the things we're focused on, and really the way it works with our industry is that because we don't have theatrical distribution, and we don't have distribution through Walmart and Blockbuster.”
This has allowed adult to remain steps ahead of mainstream Hollywood, in terms of tech advances.
“Guys like Walmart and Blockbuster are responsible for a huge percentage of the overall [mainstream] movie sales,” Hirsch remarked. “So I think they don't want to upset them. In addition to the fact that they have producers and directors and stars and they need to work out some royalty arrangement. We're not in that position and we're able to take chances.”
The Burn-to-DVD software will be offered by All Adult Channel, which developed the proprietary burn-limiting software.
Vivid’s initial run of 30 titles will be in standard definition DVD quality, with high definition titles soon to be available; the company shoots about 80 percent of its titles in hi def.
Vivid’s service is yet another chapter in the struggle between Blu-ray and HD DVD standards, which remains to be resolved. Proponents of both claim to be the next step in video technology.
