Two weeks ago I wrote a post called “HD-DVD And Blu Ray””DOA.” I recommended that you hold off in investing in either format based on the assumption that storing data on a disk is a paradigm that is rapidly coming to an end.
But, if you absolutely must buy one of the two you need to make sure the one you buy will be around for a while, so I’ll go ahead and tell you to purchase an HD-DVD player if you just can’t wait.
On what basis am I making this suggestion? Well, it’s really quite simple. Sony is the primary corporation backing the Blu Ray technology, and they have already stated quite clearly that they aren’t going to allow producers of pornography to use their disks. Yeah, you heard me right”¦no porn on Blu Ray.
Truthfully, I don’t think I’d even want to see a porn encoded in 1080p high definition. You’d see every razor burn and stretch mark the “actor” or “actress” had. But whichever technology, whether it be HD-DVD or Blu Ray, entices consumers with superior title choice will be the winner of the format wars, regardless of who has the best technology. If Blu Ray isn’t even going to offer porn then they’ve blown their load before the camera was ever switched on.
Lest you think I’m overreacting to this news, let me remind you of some not too distant facts. Sony also owned Betamax. Betamax was technologically superior to VHS. Sony would not allow film producers to record and sell pornography on the Betamax tapes.
And we all know how it turned out for Betamax.