While production and hardware costs may plummet as HD DVD and Blu-ray become more accepted in the marketplace, adult producers fighting for market share as well as amateur operators with limited distribution channels, have the option of delivering HD content on standard “red laser” DVDs — a technology known as 3X.
Many adult video producers, particularly small-scale shops, have struggled with the cost of meeting consumer demand for hi-def content. While production costs reportedly have been dropping with the introduction of lower-cost hi-def camcorders and related equipment, the cost of hi-def disks remains quite high in comparison to the cost of standard DVDs.
Ongoing questions over the licensing of Blu-ray technology have not helped the process, although some producers have found ways around these limitations.
Standard DVD players are incapable of HD DVD playback due to the higher data rates that hi-def formats require, so consumers will need an HD DVD player to view the disc; producers will not need to use expensive HD DVD or Blu-ray writers and discs to make them.
The particular appeal for adult producers over their mainstream counterparts centers on time and technology, because the length of typical adult productions is much shorter than a Hollywood movie. Additionally, resolution and frame rate matter — with 3X being better suited to 720p or even 1080i recordings — as opposed to those produced as1080p.
3X DVD allows for using UDF 2.5 file structures along with AACS copy protection, and enables 720p, VC-1 or H.264/AVC playback, offering excellent quality within the fairly limited space that standard DVD discs offer.
Microsoft is reportedly doing well with sales of 720p / VC-1 on its XBOX Live Video Marketplace, signaling consumer demand for this level of quality.
To make things easy, a new recorder, Toshiba's Vardia RD-A301, can burn HD DVD content to DVD-R/RW/RAM disks, allowing nearly two hours of video to be burned to a 4.7GB disc from its 300GB internal hard drive. The RD-A301 will be available in Japan this December for about $870. No U.S. launch has been announced yet.