PORN TO DECIDE DVD BATTLE?

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Reports from Las Vegas indicate that the war between the competing Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats may be decided by the adult film industry.

While the technology industry has been showing off its latest developments at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the gambling capital this last week, the adult industry also came together in the city for the 2007 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE).

While those attending the CES continue to debate which of the two new DVD formats will become the standard, some believe that it won’t be the film studios that will decide the victor, but the adult film industry.

U.S. porn producers are credited with ensuring that VHS won the video format war against Betamax in the eighties by choosing to put their product on VHS – even though Betamax is generally agreed to have been a superior standard. It’s been often quoted – although not entirely verified – that the adult entertainment business is worth around $10 billion annually in the United States.

Now, in what seems to be history repeating itself indications are that the adult film industry is siding with the HD-DVD format, although Blu-Ray may offer higher definition images.

According to tgdaily.com, porn producers say that Blu-Ray is more expensive to duplicate than its competitor, plus there are more HD DVD players already in the marketplace; the Xbox 360 games console will play the HD DVD format.

There’s also talk that Sony, which is one of the two creators of the Blu-Ray format is asking its duplication facilities to not copy adult films, which has understandably irked the industry.

The Blu-Ray format is supported by studios such as Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney, MGM, Paramount and Warner. Apple has also announced support for Blu-ray. The HD-DVD camp includes New Line, Universal and Microsoft. Interestingly, Paramount and Warner are producing content for both formats.

The result is that consumers have been left in the middle of the tussle – and unsure of which standard they should be investing in. Some companies have even started producing players that will play both formats.

With the studios unwilling to agree on one format, it seems that everyone may end up losing – both the entertainment industry (consumers may stay away from both technologies until the war had ended) and the consumers themselves (who may end up with dud players).

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