http://gear.ign.com/articles/756/756148p1.html p*rn Banned on Blu-ray? Sony denies, but this could mean trouble. by Gerry Block January 17, 2007 - There was no shortage of one-upmanship and taunting between the HD-DVD and Blu-ray camps last week at the annual CES convention, yet it may well be decided that the most telling drama between the formats was taking place at the same time, not in the tech-infested halls of the main convention center, but just next door at the Sands where the AVN tradeshow was going down. The AVNs are the CES and Oscars of the adult-entertainment industry, and in our mind proof that god loves geeks since the shows take place at the same time every year. Last year, prior to either next-gen format launch, many of the largest p*rn production houses had anointed Blu-ray as the favorite format, reciting the general bullet-point benefits of the technology over HD-DVD, such as its inclusion in the PS3 and greater storage capacity per-layer. A year later, however, Blu-ray owners hoping to kick back with some high-def vicarious voluptuousness will find themselves empty handed, in more ways than one. There is no p*rn available on Blu-ray at all. At the AVNs last week, Joone, founder of Digital Playgrounds, one of the industry's most forward thinking production houses, told German site Heise that despite both his and other outlets interest in releasing features on Blu-ray, Sony has pressured Blu-ray disc manufacturers not to produce any media for p*rnography, threatening revocation of licenses for failure to comply. As such the adult entertainment industry has been essentially blocked from supporting the format and as a result has turned to HD-DVD. The HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray battle is often compared to the VHS vs. Betamax battle of yore. In that case, the p*rnography industry massively supported the technologically inferior VHS format in favor of Beta, leading, in many people's minds, the VHS standard to become prolific and Beta to dwindle and disappear. Though the internet has become a massive new force in p*rn distribution, disc distribution is still a large portion of the $57-billion-a-year industry. If Sony has indeed decided to lock so large and popular medium of entertainment out of its format the consequences may well be severe. Update: Sony is now denying claims of a p*rn ban in Blu-ray. Speaking to Arstechnica, Marty Gordon, vice-chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association Promotions Committee, stated: "There is not a prohibition against adult content. The BDA welcomes the participation of all companies interested in using and supporting the format, particularly those from the content industry." Regardless of an official ban or not, lack of pr0n for one next-gen format or the other won't be good. It may be possible that the lower production costs of HD-DVD mastering and copying are what has pushed the adult entertainment industry towards HD-DVD. IGN has contacted Digital Playground for clarification and is awaiting reply.
One of the things I love about Nintendo is that they stay away from this new format b$ and mud slinging. I guess they have no reason to, but Im glad they've taken the classy/high road and not say anything "negative" about their competition.
Lmao. The Wii would easily win over the 360 and PS3. Wii technology with p*rn? Game over for the competition.
Would give a whole new meaning to the term.. "Wiimote" if people already have problems 'controlling themselves' and getting too 'into' the 'action' to the point of 'damaging furniture' with the Wii now... oh nvm.
I haven't heard good things about it. I think it is basically a Blu-ray player that can kind of play HD DVD movies. I don't think it will even have the HD DVD logo since it isn't up to spec (on the HD DVD side). It can't do iHD stuff very well, and I think there are other things it doesn't support that it should. I'd avoid it. Or get a HD DVD player and a Blu-ray player that together are cheaper (basically a PS3 and a ___ I guess). Or just wait until the "war" is over (probably the best thing).
The 360 player doesn't support some of the things all the HD DVD players support IIRC (some sound formats IIRC...maybe count_dough-ku can correct me or help me out here...not having HDMI kind of hurts too). Since it would cost $500-$600 and there are HD DVD players that might be superior, cheaper, or both when compared to that option, they might be the better choice. Of course, if he has a 360 already or if he would like to own one, then there would probably be little reason to get anything other than the 360 HD DVD drive. I was assuming he wasn't a gamer though. The PS3, on the other, is by far the cheapest Blu-ray player, and it even supports things that some of the other players don't (BD-J for example IIRC).
No way, I woudl be in...uh..nevermind... I don't get why Sony would ban p*rn on blu-ray...that is exactly what they did for beta and we all know what happened there...I call BS as they can't be that dumb, given how mainstream it is nowadays...but you never now...
HDMI is a big deal with me. I have a 1080p display. We already have the 360 (although it's not used much, especially since we got a Wii... it's sitting under a bed, at the moment.) I'm tempted to get one anyway, because the movies looks terrific, HDMI or not. Part of my problem is that these HD movie discs are more expensive than the DVDs I can upconvert. I'm waiting for the price of those to come down.
I think HD-DVD looks great on the 360. I've only bought a few HD-DVD's and agree on the price. I'll definitely get more as the price drops. I'm also hoping that they have an HDMI option for the 360 soon. I have seen the reports on a new 360 with HDMI support and that would be cool. I'm sure I could sell what I have now and upgrade but I also don't see why they couldn't come up with a cable that would work with the current version as well.
i just get the hd-dvds from netflix 3 dvds at a time for under 20 bucks a month. a lot easier for me since i doubt i would double-dip on a lot of these dvds since upconversion looks great too. a lot of movies which i would like to see on hd but do not want to shell out 25-40 bucks i just netflix.
