An Op-Ed on TechDirt speculates that Sony's refusal to allow Blu-ray to be used for pr0n will ultimately doom the format. tgdaily notes that the adult industry embraces new technology earlier than most industries and that adult films on VHS ultimately drove Betamax out of the market. Is pr0n really that powerful?

I'd say it certainly seems so given what's happened in the past. Sex does indeed sell.

Apparently it's already begun, too. The interweb has failed to find me a page documenting this info, but on G4 TV's special on the A.E.E (Adult Entertainment Expo) they mentioned that the new format of choice seemed to be HD-DVD.

Well, I don't buy the billion-dollar revenue claims for the adult entertainment industry, as they usually are poorly sourced and some take into account the revenues from websites and digitally distributed videos along the traditional distribution methods (mags and videos). However, their decision to hold on to HD VD will certainly have some weight, as their decision will also be the same of most medium and small publishers of non x-rated content who can't afford to spend part of their profits in a most expensive media.

I also wouldn't go comparing the role of adult movies in the current situation with VHS vs BetaMax. Things have changed a lot since then, particularly the effect of the internet.

While I admit the internet has certainly changed things around a bit, people still rent and buy movies. Netflix is a perfect example of the internet meeting good old fashioned analog movie rental half way.

Basically I mean to say that while the internet does offer new kinds of media formats that a good amount of people are using (i.e. streaming media, downloads, etc...), there are still plenty of people who watch movies on good "old-fashioned" DVDs.

I did not know that Sony had done that... Blu-ray is sooo dead.

Was pr0n really going to save Blu-ray anyway? As far I see it wasn't going to catch on from the start.

As far as I'm concerned, I'll be perfectly happy to have Blu-Ray disappear.

Oh hell yes. You can thank the porn industry for VHS, fast and secure credit card processing over the internet, the multi-angle button on your DVD remote, and many more. I'm completely serious.

To begin with I thought Blu-Ray was going to be the future of optical disc.

The Blu-Rays were guaranteed success with the adult industry. Blu Ray = Blu Movies.

Seems now it's destined to join the great media maker in the sky with Beta and UMD as formats that died on their ass. (Didn't Sony have something to do with both of them?)

Quote from the BBC web site covering the CES and the Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) "It's no coincidence that the consumer electronics and porn industries converged on Las Vegas at the same time. Innovations like VHS, camcorders, webcasting and video MP3 players have all been driven by the adult entertainment business."

Here's the link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4598080.stm

The reason why the internet is still on today, you can thank the porn industry. Did some legal research many, many years ago. The #1 money making machine on the internet is porn. To hell with e-commerce.

All hail MobyP0rn. Er...

Which means that the department of defense must be sponsored by Vivid Interactive. Hmm.

Aside from high price (which is always present with new technologies), and lack of porn, in what ways are blu-ray flawed?

It's not a rhetorical question, I honestly don't know much about the technology. I see 25GB disk and think, "wow". Of course that might be irrelevant given that current dual layer DVD's are rarely saturated with a single movie or program.

It was certainly a very very stupid idea by Sony. Restraining ones own customers is always a bad idea and NEVER works (see copy protection, DVD regions, etc etc)

This certainly puts Blu-Ray way back in my book. Not because of the lacking pr0n movies, but because of the simple fact that the company tries to control and limit the usage of their media format.

In mid-2006 I was reading about a proposed multi-platform player that would read CD, DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. I don't think anything came of it.

You'd think people would wake up to the fact that obstructive and restrictive software/hardware invariably gets abandoned in favour of more user-friendly alternatives. Look at Firefox and Linux.

Isn't that the "Total HD" format Warner is pushing?

I'm not sure. It doesn't say what it is.

A little different; Warner's Total HD is a disc that can play in both blu-ray and HD-DVD players. You were talking about a player that could play both blu-ray and HD-DVD discs.

Oh i misread that, well I think that player is already out, or at least made it to CES, a Pionner player if i'm correct.

Right now those new disk formats seem futuristic, but after a couple of years they will feel normal and out-there. I don’t see any sane reason for content restrictions. When it comes to this cinematic genre, the question really is what will you be able to see in HD that you can’t already see in SD? Some important detail?

I'm sure HD is better quality, but I'm happy seeing my TV/movies on a normal television. I don't need to spend thousands on a good HDTV just to watch movies or television.

you don't have to spend thousands to get an HD set, I bought a Sony 27" (the smallest flat tube Sony makes with HD) at least 3 years ago that was about 700. Believe me when you watch channels in HD it's like night and day, it's totally worth it.

But I'm sure that's a lower end one and if I compare a low end HDTV at $700 with a low end regular TV at under $100... it's still a considerable increase in price. For me, that's definitely not worth the money.

uh no, it is not a low HDTV... they no longer make it but here's the TV... http://www.amazon.com/Sony-KV-27HS420-Trinitron-WEGA-HD-Ready/dp/B0002S9G0K