Porn industry swings both ways on blue-laser discs

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 2 Nov 2006 at 16:36

The pornography industry has often been recognised as a driver for technological developments, either creating new markets or new marketing techniques for the latest technology. For this reason, its position on the Blu-ray HD DVD stand-off is significant.

When it comes to the rival blue laser optical disc format that will succeed the DVD, however, it seems even the US porn industry is hedging its bets. This is according to sources within the Taiwan optical disc drive industry.

Producers of 'adult films' will adopt both, for the time being, reports DigiTimes, offering both HD DVD and Blu-ray drive (BD) movie titles.

According to the Taiwan technology website, US-based Vivid Entertainment, which is one of the world's largest producers of pornographic movies, will release both HD DVD and BD movie discs early next year.

According to the report, the estimated production costs for a BD adult movie are $50,000, which is much higher than the $10,000 for a DVD version. BD players will also be more expensive. The still undetermined factor, however, is the influence of the next-gen games consoles, specifically the BD drive that will ship with the PlayStation 3 and the HD DVD support, available as an external drive, for the Xbox 360.

What is not in doubt, according to the report, is the marketing potential they see for blue laser technology in general.