gonzo
11-09-2006, 05:11 AM
THERE has been a lot of speculation about whether the global porn industry will have a big influence on which of Sony Blu-Ray or Toshiba HD-DVD win the next-generation DVD format war.
This speculation is based on the fact that the pornographic industry played a key role in determining the winner of the video tape format war between Betamax and VHS in the 80's.
VHS allowed multiple, competing, licensed manufacturers and this was the biggest factor why it won the format war in the 80's. The porn industry supported the VHS format since the Betamax was proprietary right of Sony Corporation.
Those speculating that the porn industry will have an impact on the next format have forgotten one little detail that has changed the world in the last ten years: the internet.
The porn industry is today one of the most lucrative money-making industries on the internet. The reasons are that content, in this case porn, is cheaper, more accessible and its distribution significantly easier via the world-wide-web.
Porn industry not fussy
The core business model has not changed for these companies in the last 20 years; they want to get their content out there and do it as economical as possible. The second important thing to consider is that every second home has access to a computer, and if not a home computer, it would be the office computer.
In the 80's a video tape player was the only medium that could get porn movies into homes. Today you can use just about anything with a colour screen - from a cellphone, computer to an iPod.
The porn industry's theory is in fact very good, but it is just speculation and if truth be told, I think it will just stay there. The porn industry does not care which of the two format?s win the war; they will supply what ever format the consumer wants.
However, Digital Playground - a prominent pornographic movie studio - has already given their support for Blu-Ray.
TV gaming and home entertainment
If this war is going to be decided at ground level, by us the consumers, it will come down to TV gaming and home entertainment. The market for these two industries have grown exponentially over the last years, with easy access to affordable high-end home theatres and increased processing power.
How many people do you know that don't have a surround sound system in their home? Take the Sony PlayStation - never in history have so many parents been hassled by their children to buy this most popular gaming console for Christmas.
It seems that normal surround sound and flat screen televisions are just not good enough anymore, we want better sound, better screen quality, more interactive features and the list goes on.
This is everything that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray promise to deliver. Hollywood studios are currently remaking their old DVD titles into these new high definition movies. Unfortunately we don't have the players to play these movies yet.
More detail and faster graphics
As with computer games, TV games need more detail and faster graphics. The only problem with this is that you also need space to store this new content. Both new formats have sufficient capacity with Blu-Ray even more than the HD-DVD, and this will most likely be one of the downfalls for the HD-DVD format.
It has been said that Sony will be using the upcoming long awaited PlayStation 3, with a built-in Blu-Ray player, as a Trojan horse to get a high definition movie player into as many as possible households.
This will happen as fast as the children can hassle the parents (or the husbands their wives).
The race is on, the format that can settle themselves in as many as possible households first will win this race. It will not matter if it is with a new home theatre or a gaming console. By the time this fight is over the porn industry will come back and just distribute on the format that has proven itself as the winner.
Fin24/Finweek (http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=4791)
This speculation is based on the fact that the pornographic industry played a key role in determining the winner of the video tape format war between Betamax and VHS in the 80's.
VHS allowed multiple, competing, licensed manufacturers and this was the biggest factor why it won the format war in the 80's. The porn industry supported the VHS format since the Betamax was proprietary right of Sony Corporation.
Those speculating that the porn industry will have an impact on the next format have forgotten one little detail that has changed the world in the last ten years: the internet.
The porn industry is today one of the most lucrative money-making industries on the internet. The reasons are that content, in this case porn, is cheaper, more accessible and its distribution significantly easier via the world-wide-web.
Porn industry not fussy
The core business model has not changed for these companies in the last 20 years; they want to get their content out there and do it as economical as possible. The second important thing to consider is that every second home has access to a computer, and if not a home computer, it would be the office computer.
In the 80's a video tape player was the only medium that could get porn movies into homes. Today you can use just about anything with a colour screen - from a cellphone, computer to an iPod.
The porn industry's theory is in fact very good, but it is just speculation and if truth be told, I think it will just stay there. The porn industry does not care which of the two format?s win the war; they will supply what ever format the consumer wants.
However, Digital Playground - a prominent pornographic movie studio - has already given their support for Blu-Ray.
TV gaming and home entertainment
If this war is going to be decided at ground level, by us the consumers, it will come down to TV gaming and home entertainment. The market for these two industries have grown exponentially over the last years, with easy access to affordable high-end home theatres and increased processing power.
How many people do you know that don't have a surround sound system in their home? Take the Sony PlayStation - never in history have so many parents been hassled by their children to buy this most popular gaming console for Christmas.
It seems that normal surround sound and flat screen televisions are just not good enough anymore, we want better sound, better screen quality, more interactive features and the list goes on.
This is everything that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray promise to deliver. Hollywood studios are currently remaking their old DVD titles into these new high definition movies. Unfortunately we don't have the players to play these movies yet.
More detail and faster graphics
As with computer games, TV games need more detail and faster graphics. The only problem with this is that you also need space to store this new content. Both new formats have sufficient capacity with Blu-Ray even more than the HD-DVD, and this will most likely be one of the downfalls for the HD-DVD format.
It has been said that Sony will be using the upcoming long awaited PlayStation 3, with a built-in Blu-Ray player, as a Trojan horse to get a high definition movie player into as many as possible households.
This will happen as fast as the children can hassle the parents (or the husbands their wives).
The race is on, the format that can settle themselves in as many as possible households first will win this race. It will not matter if it is with a new home theatre or a gaming console. By the time this fight is over the porn industry will come back and just distribute on the format that has proven itself as the winner.
Fin24/Finweek (http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=4791)