Dave Horvath
12 Jan 2007 6:54
For those of you that remember the old format battle between Betamax and VHS and how it compares in many ways to the current format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray; it seems that history may be repeating itself even further. One facet of this is the fact that the adult film industry was not licensed for release on Betamax and can be attributed to a major reason why the format lost to VHS. According to There Joone, founder of Digital Playground and supplier of a multitude of HD adult films stated that none of the Blu-Ray supporters would press disks by his company based on its content. Being blacklisted by the disk manufacturers, and in a sense by Sony forced Joone to sign deals with HD-DVD producers.
Joone has stated that he wanted to provide content on Blu-Ray, but the Blu-Ray copying facilities in the United States refused to comply with his wishes. Joone also stated that the copying companies unanimously said that Sony had issued a warning to any company who produces pornographic material on a Blu-Ray disk would lose the Blu-Ray license.
According to the Blu-Ray Disc Association, there doesn't appear to be a problem with the content that Joone and Digital Playground hope to provide on Blu-Ray. Marty Gordon, vice chairman of Blu-Ray Disc Association US Promotions Committee stated "The BDA welcomes the participation of all companies interested in using and supporting the format, particularly those from the content industry. We look forward to working with any content providers interested in providing their audience with [the] best possible high definition home entertainment experience." The BDA officially welcomes the adult film industry, but it appears that possibly the adult film industry may not welcome the BDA.
Many other firms within the adult film industry have stated concerns of the cost to release on Blu-Ray and say that only companies with deep pockets will be able to produce with any kind of real return. For the money aspect alone, it appears that more and more in the industry are turning to HD-DVD.
With Forbes estimating that the adult film industry has accounted for some $14 billion since 2001, its no doubt that the market is large enough to make a significant impact on which format becomes the standard. While its doubtful that this decision will signal an end to the format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, it does put an interesting twist on whether or not Sony will learn from the Betamax mistake.
Source:
ARS Technica