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Why Ultra HD technology could make the porn industry a little uglier

Giuseppe Macri Tech Editor
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For better or worse – and scandalous either way – the adult entertainment industry has always driven innovation, but the tech-savvy industry may be better off away from the latest high-definition cameras.

Ultra high-definition 4K-resolution is the latest HD video quality tech and sports four times the number of pixels as 1080p HD output – the original barometer of high-definition quality.

First assumptions would seem to suggest clearer, more life-like visuals would be nothing but a boon the porn industry would immediately embrace. But first glances might suggest otherwise.

In an industry that sets out to create perfect fantasy scenarios, the reality of the flawed human body coming through in painstaking detail might prove to be more painful than pleasurable.

Adult websites Pink Visual and Huccio – with the tagline “we innovate, you masturbate” – plan to implement ultra-HD as early as December, while others aren’t planning any upgrade at all.

“I’m quite happy with the quality we have available at the moment, and I won’t switch this up unless I absolutely have to,” Joanna Angel of the website Burning Angel told The Verge.  “Eventually I bit the bullet and got our first HD camera, but I really saw no difference in the quality. In fact, I thought it got a little worse. We had to light things differently, girls had to do their makeup differently, and it took some time before we got it right.”

The adult entertainment industry has been setting the bar for format wars since publishers adopted Japanese developer JVC’s VHS tape over the Sony Betamax tape. Sony won the latest bout after the industry chose Blu-ray discs over Toshiba’s HD DVD, proving once again that whichever way adult entertainment goes, the rest of Hollywood follows.

As technological innovation continues to expand at a growing rate annually, the rise in expense and competition – especially online – may have finally numbered pornography’s days as an industry innovator.

“In spite of its reputation as a technological trendsetter, porn’s probably going to be following the crowd on this one,” Angel said in The Verge. “With less money to be made in the porn game, there’s less money to spend experimenting with tech — which means the adult industry may not be taking the lead on innovation again anytime soon.”

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Tags : pornography
Giuseppe Macri