Note: About a year and a half ago, I was lucky enough to be one of the first online (or major media) reviewers to glimpse some of the high definition titles coming out before Blu-Ray and HD-DVD were finalized as the new formats for HD productions. One of the titles I took a look at was Dreamcummers by HDHE, starring a wealth of performers in vignettes that had been shot in high definition and released in an early computer version of the format. The WMV files would only play on my computer but they looked great compared to a lot of standard definition titles, making me wish they had been in a truly HD format that I could enjoy on my television. Well, as promised at the 2007 AEE Show where the company had a booth set up (beside the mechanical bull that performer James Dean was too chicken to ride), the company has begun releasing their back catalog to fill in some of the gaps that HD DVD owners have been waiting for. To date, only a handful of HD titles in porn have been released, most of the big name titles being reviewed on DVD Talk with Camp Cuddly Pines HD DVD and Pirates HD DVD offering marginal (but appreciated) improvements in resolution but clearly leading the pack of contenders for best high definition release of the year so far. Now that HDHE is releasing full fledged HD DVD porn, those of you so equipped can finally have a laugh on your Blu-Ray buddies (to date, only one full Blu-Ray title is out on porn and I'm writing that review later today) as the amount of porn HD DVD titles is substantially higher, albeit with the caveat that most of these are older titles newly remastered in the high definition format. The content was the same as the last version but it did look and sound better so you can read the whole review or simply skip to the technical area for a head's up on what you'll get.

Dreamcummers HD-DVD

High Def Home Entertainment/Playtime Pictures

Genre: Vignette

Director: Da Clit Master

Cast: Exotica, Tommy Gunn, Charmaine Starr, Kris Slater, Sharon Wild, Alex Rox, Cherokee, Tyler Wood/Durden, Venus, Mark Davis

Length: 99:55 minutes

Dates of Production: 12/5/2004 to 5/31/2005

Extras: There were no extras.

Condoms: Some

Audio/Video Quality: Dreamcummers was presented in a widescreen color presentation as shot by director Da Clit Master for High Def Home Entertainment/Playtime Pictures using the VC-1 codec in HD-DVD. It was not some near bootleg attempt at HD DVD either as it would only play on my HD DVD player, the enhanced resolution coming across in a bright 1080p. It is tough to compare Dreamcummers HD-WMV to this version since the earlier version would only play on my computer using Windows Media Player and this one worked on my large screen Sony but I immediately saw more detail to the image and made out some of the finer aspects I could not see on the smaller screen. This might not be the younger, blemish free cast in porn but it served to show the problem some will have with the format as the performers are given a lot less wiggle room in terms of their looks under the HD microscope, with my guess being that it looked about 20% sharper compared to the early version. It was another step forward in the evolution of HD porn though and the colors looked better on the big screen even if the edits and camera work wasn't always optimal. In general, the show looked good and I saw no compression artifacts or other flaws that were not present previously; some scenes again looking better than others. The audio was presented in a PCM (pulse code modulated) Dolby Digital + and this English stereo track was decent enough if you like generic couples music playing but there didn't seem to be any separation between the channels and the vocals were limited in each scene, often sounding as though dubbed in at a later date. There were attempts made to tailor the music to the individual scenes but most of it still sounded like generic porn music to me. I greatly prefer vocals in my porn so this once again served to bug me about the production though some of you have expressed differing opinions about the matter given the emails you have sent me.

Body of Review: High Def Home Entertainment was the first company in porn to attempt bringing some form of HD picture quality to the genre as their sole market niche. They have been doing this for a few years now, using the Microsoft WMV-HD format to do so while waiting for the more powerful HD formats to finally come out to the consumer market. While my reviews of their material had been somewhat less than glowing, much of that is based on the fact that all early adopters seem to falter when it comes to providing the kind of fuck for the buck more mainstream releases can offer, and the very best picture quality of a more mainstream porno will almost certainly prevail over the initial releases on a new format while the crew is still learning how to use the equipment. That said, the newest true HD-DVD release by HDHE (or High Def XXX), is Dreamcummers HD-DVD, a vignette release that tries to show a series of female fantasies in different settings. The cast was the best offered to date by the company and the production values, while far from what I hope to see in the future from them, were showing definite improvement. Here's a look at the scenes by cast and action, noting that a few condoms were used but they weren't overly obvious:

Scene One: Exotica, a busty brunette wearing red lingerie and black wings, was up first to tempt studly Tommy Gunn into doing bad things with her. Thankfully, that's exactly what fans of porn tend to look for in a porno, as the two posed during a tease sequence that led to them making out on a comfy easy chair. She blew him with some hand to gland action but it wasn't anything particularly good; appearing to be more of a teasing BJ than one designed to truly instill a sense of heat or chemistry, but I wouldn't have turned it down either. He then gave her some licking before the two started bumping uglies in a fairly heated fashion. I liked that she actively rode him, especially when sitting in his lap, and this aggressive style served to liven up the otherwise mundane scene that ended when he rubbed out a load to her face. If you like the sultry type of gal with curves, she'd be a good pick for you to enjoy.

Scene Two: Charmaine Starr, adding a little Asian influence to the show in her silken dress, attended to the needs of Kris Slater after he worked out in a kata with a katana. I was surprised the music wasn't as oriental sounding as it could have been but the couple spent some time getting to know each other, rubbing and playing with their bodies well enough to invoke a sense of chemistry between them. He went down on her first and while she didn't really seem to get into the action all that much, at least she didn't go over the top with the performance like so many of her peers do to (falsely) convince fans that she got off. She then blew him in a slow manner, seeming to savor the taste for the few moments she had his shaft in her mouth. They screwed vaginally like the others before them did, with him doing most of the work, eventually jerking off a load to her pussy and ass.

Scene Three: Sharon Wild, the blonde on the front DVD cover, was up next as she bathed in a large bathtub in a romantic setting during the day time. There were numerous rose petals scattered throughout the water and I was surprised that more use of the multitude of candles along the edges weren't used but I got the feeling that this was tried and didn't provide enough light for the director to work with. After some minimal tease footage, Alex Rox came up from the murky depths of the water and started kissing her mouth, which led to him tasting the rest of her body, concentrating on her pussy with all the soap suds clinging to it. She reciprocated with a decent blowjob although she looked into the camera too much but the air of authenticity the scene projected was actually kind of interesting. The vaginal sex was also pretty good here as she was another active participant when the two of them screwed. It ended after several positions with him beating off to a frothy pop shot.

Scene Four: Cherokee, the curvy brunette MILF so many guys adore for her muscular body and high pitched voice, was up next as she played the drums while Tyler Wood sparked up his bong. He got completely wasted and while purists would point out that she wasn't holding the sticks correctly, there was only one stick that really mattered how she handled; his penis. To see how she handled that one, you only needed to wait a moment because after her impromptu drum solo, she walked over to the couch (with some lame, loud rock style guitar twanging in the background) and the two began their sex scene. He playfully swatted her ass and she sucked his meat pipe like he was taking hits off the bong previously, although it was in slow motion. The reduction in heat was noticeable but she had some to spare given her enthusiasm and he went down on her briefly before they screwed. She thankfully put her muscular legs to work as she rode him and did some PTM before the pop shot finished it up some time later. She's done better in the past but the scene was decent enough to enjoy a few times.

Scene Five: Venus, a gal with long hair and wearing a sparkly (and revealing) dress with cape, saw Mark Davis in a smoky nightclub where the sparks flew between them so they hooked up in the dark alleyway outside. Her fishnet stockings looked good on her legs and fans of gals smoking will be pleased to know how much of that she did. The two engaged in some lengthy oral with one another and fans will be pleased that she did a fair amount of anal (and ATM) in addition to the usual vaginal sex. She seemed to be into having sex with him and he dominated her more than a little as he barked out barely heard orders telling her what to do. She actively participated in the entire scene and that elevated the action for me more than a little bit, though not all the background chatter appeared to come from him. In all, it was a nice way to close out the movie since they had some chemistry together and the heat was undeniable. I could've gone without watching him taste his own spew off her mouth at the end of the scene but that's one of his trademarked specialties from what I've seen.

Summary: Dreamcummers HD-DVD proved to be the best release by HDHE to date, with some solid performances and a lot of attention to detail in terms of making the fantasies work. It had some rough spots and the lack of any real extras (some would call the second version of the movie a killer extra but it was just a lower quality version of the same show, designed for playing on standard DVD players) were troublesome but after weighing the big picture, I figured the movie was worth a rating of Rent It since it was a double dip. The picture could have been higher in resolution and the scenarios offered could have placed the gals in better light but four out of five scenes worked for me and I think HDHE is on the right track. With some more polishing of those rough edges; they may become a much larger player in the field, most of the companies out there easing into the format so slowly that dust is gathering on their catalogs.