Wetlook World Forum

Message # 39968.4.1.1

Subject: Re: Are DVDs going away?

Date: Sun 03/05/09 16:01:20 GMT

Name: MK

Email: wamtec@comcast.net

Website:

By AnthonyX - anthonyx@jowc.net Sun 03/05/09 15:25:43 GMT

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Thanks for all the detailed info. I wasn't aware that downloadable clips were of such limited bitrates - that nobody was offering anything close to Blu-Ray level. It certainly reinforces the point that the best picture quality will only be available on Blu-Ray.

As to the value equation...

You present it from the producer's point of view... $30-$35 for a disk containing material you'd have to pay $70-$80 to download. Well... from one consumer's point of view it's more of a push because I've only ever been interested in 2 or 3 scenes out of perhaps 7 or 8 per tape/DVD I've bought. The best deal I've ever seen was Wetlook Unlimited's custom compilations. Although it makes each DVD more expensive, it works out to better value.

What I'm now looking for is dressy wetlook - business suits and the sort of dressy/business-y outfits you see on ALLWAM's wetlook, on Blu-Ray.

For what it's worth: the next level up in quality is already under development. There is a certain amount of resolution and color space available in a theatrical film frame; it's several times higher than the current hi-def standard. The standard in development will be the equal of film. When it finally arrives as a consumer media standard (probably 5 years or more away), it will obsolete Blu-Ray in the same way Blu-Ray has obsoleted DVD. It will mean a bigger change for broadcast TV than we are currently seeing with the DTV conversion currently under way, so it may be a while before such a transition occurs. It will also require a major upgrade of the internet before the necessary data rate can be streamed... it would need fiber into the home... I think this is happening, but very slowly.

By MK - wamtec@comcast.net Sat 02/05/09 18:02:19 GMT

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But there is a BIG difference in quality between an online download clip, and a dvd or Blu-ray version of that same media, and so I continue to archive and produce DVDs for a small niche of customers who are sticklers for quality and have big screen tv and hdtv and want to experience wetlook at the highest quality.

FYI, the highest picture quality you will get from any online site offering downloads is 2mpbs to 3 mbps picture quality.

A regular DVD made at the 2hr mode per disk, will give you that media presented at 5mbps picture quality...i.e. 2 times higher quality than a high quality download site. I have now stopped making dvds in the 2hr format, and for the past year I have now started archiving and creating all my newest DVDs in a 1hr format per disk, which renders the media at the 10mbps picture quality ... i.e. 3-4 times higher quality than a high quality download store.

And in the last 2 months, I just have just started making my newest shoots in HD format and releasing those in Blu-ray format, which are presented at 17mbps picture quality ... i.e. 6--7 times higher quality than any download store clip.

So therefore there is a trade off with download clips versus dvd or Blu-ray media....you get quicker delivery and convenience, and a lot more privacy (cos the wife does not see things coming thru your mailbox), but you get much lower quality media from a download clip. With media on DVD or Blu-ray, it is true that you are at the mercy of the post office (and your wife if she sees the package in the mail), and you have to wait 5-7 days to receive it, but then the media you get on disk will be 4-8 times higher quality than any download clip will be.

Also, one other factor to consider, is the cost factor. Most download stores charge $7 to $10 for a premium quality download store clip. If you order a DVD, then you get at least 8-10 scenes on one DVD for only $30 to $35....but if you had to buy those 8-10 scenes individually in a download store, it will cost you $70 to $80 to buy those same scenes ala carte in a download store, so with a DVD you get far more scenes, at 4-8 times higher quality....for a price that is far far less than those clips are in the download store.

That is why the download store owners (and I am one too) are happy to see more and more people ordering downloads, and less people ordering dvds, cos of he big difference in pricings for ala carte clips.

Just to make full disclosure.....I am not favoring either one format or another....cos I do not mind what format folks order...cos I produce all kinds of formats, so whatever format you want, I already offer it anyway, so it makes no matter what formats people prefer. I am merely continuing to produce high quality disk formats, cos I have a base of hardcore wetlook afficionados who are sticklers for quality that you can only see when you order things on a disk....i.e...if a girl is standing 30 feet from the camera and is wearing tan colored pantyhose ....you can't tell if she is wearing nylons or not from an online clip....cos it is all a blur.....but if you look at that same setup on a blu-ray disk....you can easily see the detail. Now....being able to see high quality detail many not matter to some folks....i.e. if you are a wet jeans fan....you can see wet jeans from 30 feet away....on even a low quality youtube clip......but when you are a legs and nylons fan as I am (and many of my customers are too) than those details matter...which is why they prefer to order the higher quality dvd versions etc.

It is true that most people prefer downloads now....just as most people prefer to buy economy cars too...

But there are still some folks that want a  higher quality.....like a Mercedes....which is why you have sites like  http://wetlookdvd.com/ who specialize in high quality for those folks who want something more than you get from a download clip.

MK

By RM - Sat 02/05/09 15:00:28 GMT

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