HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and Pornography

Since the advent of two competing factions in high-definition home video-HD-DVD and Blu-Ray-consumers have been left confused about what to buy and what the new standard will be. Many, remembering the days when Betamax and VHS were competing on shelves, have refused to buy either player until there is a clear winner. (After all, why buy a machine no one is producing content for in three years?) It has been, in short, a time of indecision as the formats take their first baby steps. Who will come out on top?

Well, a crucial and perhaps decisive blow has been stricken in the war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs, and the source may surprise you.

The pornography industry has voiced their support for HD-DVD.

The announcement was made at an adult entertainment industry conference in Las Vegas the same weekend-and same city-as the Consumer Electronics Association's big annual show, the International CES (Consumer Electronics Show).

The HD-DVD standard is cheaper and has a stronger market share, and has appeared more receptive to adult content. Blu-Ray Disc replication facilities have refused to grow involved with porn, perhaps due to pressure from backer Sony to stay clean. It may have proven a costly move. Veterans of the Betamax / VHS war know who won, but they may not realize that the reason VHS won was the porn industry's decision to lean that way. At the time, it was largely an economic motivation; VHS was cheaper, which meant small little rental stores would use it, which meant porn had a way into the American home. This time corporate standards may have come into the picture.

Porn is big business, to put it bluntly, a multibillion-(yes, billion)-dollar industry on par with any more 'legitimate' genre of home video. And while the prospect of high-definition video of sexual intercourse in crystal-clear resolution may be offputting (or perhaps not...), there's no denying the significance of this announcement. For all the jokes about adult entertainment, it is a well-run industry of resolute standards; its stringent health plan for its performers and smoothly run network of committed distributors proves great legitimacy in a seedy-sounding field.

While there are many sources of pornography, particularly in the Internet age, home video remains a popular medium. According to Adult Video Network, 2005 saw $4.28 billion in rentals and sales of porn on home video, with almost 13,600 titles released. None of this money, it appears, will be going to Blu-Ray.

One industry announcement will not kill Blu-Ray. But it is safe to say that its brightest days are behind it. If this significant market sector is not given an incentive to support the format, Blu-Ray may soon find its way alongside Betamax as a pop-culture footnote and/or joke. And when people are joking about technology and not pornography, that's a sign.