16 Comments so far

1. Alan on May 8, 2009 4:15 pm

   There are a few recently re-issued flicks that I’ve downloaded from AEBN and certainly ‘some’ of them compare favourably to what’s coming out today, but I while I might rent/download them, I sure wouldn’t be paying full price for something I probably threw out (in VHS format) when I last moved…

2. JC Adams on May 8, 2009 5:18 pm

   Alan — That’s a good point about downloading catalog titles vs. renting/buying on DVD. I probably should have thrown that on there as a poll choice anyway, even though the poll is specifically about DVDs. But that gives me an idea for another poll that I’ll run maybe next week.

   Regards,
   JCA

3. DeWayne on May 8, 2009 7:47 pm

   I purchased some of the best Falcon and Catalina DVD’s when they were first issued. recently I have bought some of the Eurocreme Model DVD’s which make good compilations.

   This is one area where some of the established porn studios can take a cue from Hollywood.

   Bundled compilations say 3 or 4 DVD’s of top stars. A Josh Weston DVD combo pack from Falcon or HELLO a Jeremy Jordan pack.

   I have a definite interest in both yeah my personal tastes at Falcon spanned Jeremy to Josh. No wonder Deep South is my all time favorite from Falcon!

4. Alan on May 8, 2009 9:59 pm

   To be honest, JC, I bought my last porn DVD just over a year ago and have rented very few since. As recently as 3 years ago, I was probably watching about 80% of my porn on TV, now it’s like 97% on my computer. But as you say that’s really another topic for another day (or poll).

   But I DO wonder if there isn’t a greater willingness to put more ‘vintage’ stuff online than necessarily releasing it on DVD. Case in point is that Chi Chi is currently uploading a lot of older Catalina Videos onto AEBN recently. While some, no doubt, are worthy of ‘resurrecting’ I have to wonder whether titles like ‘Secret Boys Club’ (gay porn stars on roller skates was an idea best left long forgotten IMO) make it to DVDs as opposed to being available online only…

   BTW, I should also thank you for the ‘like them alive option’ – I have wondered if I was the only one who finds wanking to dead guys to be frequently very much a turn OFF…

5. Will on May 9, 2009 5:08 am

   Alan you are most definitely not alone, that was the box I checked. Necrophilia ain’t my thing either.

6. DeWayne on May 9, 2009 7:51 am

   Will,
   Porn is a little different than watching Bette Davis in a classic movie.
   I can’t watch Joey Stefano cause we know too much about his death now some of the old Catalina DVD’s ignorance is bliss.

7. Casey on May 9, 2009 9:57 am

   My biggest issue with companies re-issuing the classics is the rice. If the films are part of a library a company has owned for years and no money is being spent on presenting the titles in the best way possible, why are they priced at $50-60? Bijou is the worst offender here, considering their discs are simple DVD-R’s made to order and their sales only affect maybe 10% of their huge library.

   Any company releasing classics must be willing to spend $$$ cleaning up the films from ORIGINAL ELEMENTS (not a VHS or 1″ or 3/4″ master) and get historical extras such as interviews with filmmakers, talent, historians, etc. (bonus scenes from other movies don’t count to me as extras). A decent film transfer doesn’t cost a fortune anymore, and there are a number of transfer houses who deal with explicit material.

   And I have no problem jerking off to movies featuring deceased performers.

8. Casey on May 9, 2009 9:57 am

   Oops, I meant the “price”, not the “rice”. Doh!

9. T-Bird on May 9, 2009 10:05 am

   There is no need to take a current heart throb take a hot sexy picture of him maybe even give him one scene in a movie and fill the rest of the dvd with older clips of movies past.
   I have always found this a little deceiving, if you want to use old scenes and push your product more power to you. That is what “best of” titles are for..

10. Mark on May 9, 2009 12:38 pm

    I’m far too spoiled with the high-quality of porn these days. Movies that I loved and thought were totally hot back in the day…put them on now and they are almost unwatchable, many of them. The quality in so many ways is just not up to snuff.
    I go to my local porn rental place, though, and it seems like half of what’s there in the “new releases” are old films re-released. That’s been going on for awhile. I never rent them, and wouldn’t buy ‘em. Porn needs to be fresh, immediate.

11. Jamie on May 9, 2009 6:59 pm

    The comments on this thread show that most people have little, if any, understanding of what’s involved with bringing old movies to new formats. On one hand, we read complaints about studios not being willing to spend the dollars to professionally transfer the material, when the process for film (called telecine), if done well, costs about $90 per minute just to digitize. For

    other formats — mainly videotape — there is still the conversion from analog to digital, which is less expensive but still considerable. All of this is before the cost to “clean up” all of the flaws and defects inherent in older and other formats, let alone create the “special features” apparently required, and then master and replicate a disc.

    And on the other hand, the price of $50 to $60 for such a disc is too high.

    Of course, you can take the Bijou approach: project the film on a wall, aim a video camera at the image, don’t bother with any cleanup or mastering but just burn the disc by hand, and then the quality issues will be even worse. Or you can take the Chi Chi approach and release the old material directly to online formats, where the quality isn’t such an issue; afterall, you’re watching it in a much smaller format aided by the video card and multi-core processor pc supported by millions of dollars worth of programming, all to show you a 640 by 480-pixel image at best, represented in that little 4-by-3-inch video window on your monitor.

    Interestingly, and please correct me if inaccurate, but the re-releasing of old videos is somewhat unique to the gay side of the business. Aside from the re-release on DVD of a few straight classics (Deep Throat, Behind the Green Door, Debbie Does Dallas), the straight side of the business seems to discard their much more voluminous older material in favor of cheaper-to-produce new content. Maybe it has something to do with the role that porn plays in the gay community as compared to straight; and let’s not forget that the majority of what’s been re-released in terms of gay titles is condom-free (which is not to say bareback, as that is a whole style and genre, and a topic better left out of this conversation!).

    I’ve written before here and elsewhere that the price of gay porn is complicated and misunderstood as represented by glib remarks demanding the highest quality filmmaking in the face of a small — make that very small — market unwilling to pay for first-rate porn. Add in the plethora of free porn alá xtube or the outirght theft of torents, and it’s no wonder you see the demise of Colt after Raging Stallion.

12. steve kozich on May 10, 2009 6:28 pm

    I would like to see some of the old, 1970′s loops, Also what has heppened to some of the older actors, lie Kurt Bauer, he was one of my al time favorites. Is there a site to learn more about these actors.

    steve

13. Casey on May 10, 2009 7:24 pm

    Jamie, you can get a flat rate at many transfer houses for a transfer of a feature film for as low as $1000. That’s a whole movie digitally remastered for that price, less than the $90 a minute you quoted. Depends on where you go to get the work done, and with the economy the way it is, a lot of places are dropping their prices to keep business coming in. I work with several companies who remaster classic films, including adult fare, and prices are not as high as you suggest.

    Classic straight porn continues to come out regularly on DVD to a market that, while nothing to rival contemporary product, still thrives enough to demand titles languishing in vaults and available only on out of print VHS editions.

14. Bill in S.F. on May 13, 2009 8:40 am

    At this point, I will only buy a reissued porn on DVD for three reasons:

    * It’s a movie I really want (a star, usually) and I don’t have it on VHS

    * The DVD extras seem worthwhile (JC, not to blow smoke, but your interview with Jerry Douglas for the “Dream Team” DVD was excellent. I’ve watched it several times) and some effort has been made to spruce it up.

    Otherwise, it isn’t worth the money, especially at the price of a new movie. And this whole deal about putting one new scene of some sexy boy onto a compilation is frankly a ripoff.

15. Bill in S.F. on May 13, 2009 8:41 am

    P.S. That was only two reasons. I’m getting old, sue me!

16. fozzdick on May 13, 2009 9:34 am

    I bought some reissued al parker vids on dvd.Terrible quality.Just awful.I ended up tossing them.Lesson learned I guess.I loved al,I was so let down.I bought his “inches” on vhs and it was great.The tape to dvd seems to present a problem.