Sony may be shooting itself in the face again. Say what you want about the adult-entermainment industry, they are early adopters of new technology with many customers. I never owned a Betamax player, but they were supposedly better quality than VHS, but Sony resisted allowing adult-entertainment firms to release Betamax tapes. Ironic, since porn is so much more main-stream in Japan.
“Philips BDP9000 Blu-Ray Disc Player” (Philips)
or
“Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player” (Toshiba)
The XXX Factor: Blu-ray or HD DVD? - WSJ.com Back in the days of videotape, adult-entertainment titles were credited with helping nudge the VHS standard into the lead over Betamax. With two formats now vying to rule the new generation of high-definition DVDs, the adult-entertainment industry's preference could give one camp an edge over the other.
But the competition between the two high-def formats -- known as Blu-ray and HD DVD -- is muddled by a number of factors, including accusations by adult-entertainment companies that the Blu-ray camp is discouraging DVD manufacturers from accepting their business because it doesn't want to be associated with adult content. That forces the adult-entertainment companies to go to the HD DVD camp. Blu-ray is backed by a consortium led by Sony Corp., while HD DVD is backed by a group led by Toshiba Corp....
Complicating the situation, some adult-entertainment companies say they are having trouble getting their movies made in the Blu-ray format. The controversy began to swirl after comments made earlier this month to a German magazine by Ali Davoudian, who goes by the name Joone, the co-founder of adult-entertainment company Digital Playground Inc. He told the magazine Blu-ray disc manufacturers told him they couldn't accept his business because Sony was against it. That, he said, forced him to manufacture his movies in HD DVD.Sony denies that, saying it doesn't tell manufacturers how to run their businesses. (Sony's own replicating unit, Sony DADC, doesn't accept adult content.) Nonetheless, Digital Playground charges that DVD replicators it has worked with in the past have Blu-ray equipment that sometimes is sitting idle, and yet they won't take its business.
I'm not interested in purchasing porn titles at this stage of my life, but I am intrigued by newer, better resolutions for films in general. We almost bought a HD machine last December, but decided to wait another year or so, and see what happens. Netflix has started to offer HD and/or Blu-ray discs for rental.
