Shannon Nutt

Dan is 100% correct. Island Fever 3 looks more like an upconverted DVD than an HD-DVD. Camp Cuddly Pines (from Wicked), on the other hand, looks quite good on HD-DVD. Both are 720p transfers, although upcoming titles from the studios ("Curse Eternal" for Wicked; "Pirates" for Digital Playground) are supposed to be in 1080p. Those are the two I'm waiting for to see how porn is really going to look on the new format.

Houstondon

From Adult DVD Empire's own website (where Shannon rules with an iron first): "The 2005 AVN winner for Best High-Definition Production, Island Fever 3 is Digital Playground's first-ever HD DVD release. See your favorite porn stars like you've never seen them before - in glorious hi-def!"
So, is that the case or is it the "Dan is 100% correct. IF3 looks more like an upconverted DVD than an HD-DVD." If the latter, will Empire lower the price or refuse to sell an inferior product to compensate their loyal customers. Just asking.

Well, all we need now is someone to say that IF3 looks WORSE in HD DVD so we'll have the full range of experiences to pick from. lol
I wonder if everyone's gear is making such a difference, individual perceptions are impacting the issue (I can't wait to read the official review at Empire now), or if something else is going on. While I didn't praise the difference as night and day, it was clearly discernable to me and Roger gushed about how much better the HD version looked, while Shannon and Dan saw little or no difference (technically, Shannon admited it looked better by saying it looked as though upconverted). Hmmmmm, the plot thickens (I wish my new TV were here)...

Shannon Nutt

Well, we are running a business, Don. And that's not a review, that's just text in a cell for promo purposes.

Perhaps I need to "backtrack" just a bit, less anyone take things the wrong way. Island Fever 3 DOES look noticably better on HD-DVD than its DVD counterpart, which looks rather soft (softer than I remember when I watched it a few years back). But it doesn't have the "wow" of an HD-DVD. There's not that 3-D look to the images that you get with a good Hi-def transfer.

My biggest concern is that customers are going to pick this up as their first Porn HD-DVD and think (with some of the "generous" reviews out there) that's the best the industry can do...and I know (or at least hope!) we're going to see much better from both Digital Playground and the other studios in the future.

Houstondon

I was just teasing ya' buddy! lol

"I would say the HD-DVD of IF3 looks a tad better in quality than the STANDARD version of Island Fever 4. That would be a good benchmark for those interested in buying it who may already own IF4."

Considering the span of time between the two, that's a pretty glowing statment; though I hadn't thought of using it for comparison purposes. (Good idea!)

"Just for the record, IF3 DOES look noticably better on HD-DVD than it's DVD counterpart..."

That was my main point, that there are differences (Dan felt hard pressed to find any) that can be easily noticed, if not as much as we'd like for a first effort. CCPPTM showed more improvement but it started off looking darker and grainier as it was a horror spoof shot at night while IF3 was cutting edge for pretty porn (shot in the day with great visuals to begin with).

"The only reason for my posting here is I'm concerned buyers will pick this up as their first porn HD-DVD and think that's the best the studios are ever going to do in this format."

It was the second HD DVD porno released so I doubt people will think that any more than those who look back at the first DVD, VHS, U-matic, or 8mm loops thought the initial releases would be cutting edge for the rest of the formats' existence. Even the titles you mention coming out in 1080p should pale in comparison to some of the titles Wicked Pictures will be releasing in the next year (per two of their directors) or Digital Playground (which will surely take advantage of the format when shooting Pirates II this spring/summer).

So we'll agree to disagree on this one, old friend.

I think we're in overall agreement; just to varying degrees (I might have been a tad generous on the title but the initial comments made by Burnt regarding Dan's review needed a counterbalance). I'll let our reviewer pal Spooky cast the deciding vote, cool? As far as old, thanks for remembering my birthday this week.

Houstondon

Update: The rumor about Vivid securing replication in the BD format currently has them providing hookers/contract gals and cash (no mention of drugs, strangely enough) to one of the plant manager/owners that initially turned down Digital Playground and Wicked Pictures. Seeing as how there are only eight places to get BD discs made, it struck me as odd that one company "found" a place to master the discs while the other two, earlier adopters at that, who called each of the eight could not get any to work with them. The party line about Vivid being more mainstream than the others seemed particularly strange considering Wicked's status as the only "all condom" company and level of consumer acceptance at their product (with Digital right in their with them, ever hear of "Pirates"?!?).

XavierMike

Maybe their first blu-ray release will be a "documentary" of how they were able to replicate on blu- ray.

bevilacq12

Are the porn HD-DVDs actually on HD-DVD discs? I just got Island Fever 3 and I'm pretty sure it's HD-DVD formatted content on a standard DVD. The bottom of the disc looks just like a normal DVD, not the violet/blue color all the other HD-DVDs I have are, and my HD-DVD drive seems to be spinning it a lot faster.... kind of like how fast it spins normal DVDs....

The encoding is only 720p and there aren't a huge amount of features, so I bet it would fit on a DVD-9. I'd definitely wager that Island Fever 3's HD-DVD disc is on standard DVD media and is being read by a standard DVD laser.

awmurray

Some are. I think it should have the HD DVD logo on it for it to be a "real" HD DVD. I think Island Fever 3 has a WMV-HD version floating around (which won't play in an HD DVD player). There's a thread here where someone is keeping a list of adult HD DVDs.

bevilacq12

It's definitely real HD-DVD content - it comes in the maroon HD-DVD case, has the HD-DVD logo, and plays in my HD-DVD player. I just think it's HD-DVD content on an SD DVD disc, the way you can have DVD-formatted content on a CD and it will play as long as the player has a CD laser.