Writing that the porn industry has traditionally been ahead of the technology curve, Richtel found that some industry professionals haven’t been keen to embrace a technology known for improving picture clarity.
“They have discovered that the technology is sometimes not so sexy,” Richtel wrote. “The hi-def format is accentuating imperfections in the actors — from a little extra cellulite on a leg to wrinkles around the eyes.”
According to Stormy Daniels, one performer Richtel spoke with, one of the biggest problems with shooting in hi-def is that it highlights razor burns.
Robby D told the NY Times that the hi-def experience the viewer gets cannot be matched.
“It puts you in the room,” he said.
But Daniels disagreed, telling the Times that she wasn’t “100 percent sure anyone would want to see their porn in hi-def.”
Digital Playground contract star Jesse Jane took a different tact, telling the Times that she would have her breasts redone because of hi-def. As for the stretch marks on her stomach, Jane said she deals with the blemishes by using tanning oil.
Aesthetics aside, Richtel noted that more pornographers were taking the hi-def route, even if printing content shot in hi-def onto one of the two competing next-generation formats had hit a stumbling block in the form of Sony.
Last week, Sony, which backs the Blu-ray Disc hi-def format, said that it would not mass-produce pornographic videos.
“The decision has forced pornographers to use the competing HD-DVD format or, in some cases, to find companies other than Sony that can manufacture copies of Blu-ray movies,” Richtel wrote.
In the meantime, studios such as Vivid Entertainment Group and Digital Playground have been shooting hi-def content for several years, releasing those titles on standard format discs while waiting for HD DVD and Blu-ray to become more popular with consumers.
Digital Playground has announced that it will release its first four HD-DVD titles this month. Vivid will release “Debbie Does Dallas … Again” on both formats sometime in March.
“The studios said their experience using the technology gives them an advantage in understanding how to cope with the mixed blessing of hyper-crisp images,” Richtel wrote. “Their techniques include using post-production tools that let them digitally soften the actors’ skin tone.”
