An ABC News report speculated today that adult movies will not have a major influence on the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war.
The article cited the growing popularity of VOD and internet porn, prohibitive replication costs, and lack of consumer demand as factors diluting the adult industry's influence in the battle for next-gen video technology.
ABC interviewed two adult-industry sources for the article: Wicked Pictures' Jackie Ramos and Hustler Video's Drew Rosenfeld.
"Financially, [hi-def] is a nightmare because we're not putting out millions of copies per title like the big Hollywood studios are," Rosenfeld told ABC. "We're dealing in the thousands — and then the low thousands — per movie, and so for us to make that kind of an investment right now, doesn't make sense."
The article downplayed Sony's alleged attempts to block porn from Blu-ray, despite widespread reports that corporate policies have made replication near-impossible for adult producers looking to use the format.
"We didn't rule out Blu-ray, it was just an issue of expense and what was readily available to us as," Ramos told ABC. "What happened time-wise was that the HD thing happened for us a lot easier and cheaper than Blu-ray."
While some adult filmmakers including Digital Playground's Joone continue to champion the superior quality of the HD video image, mainstream media analysts question the need for hi-def porn. "For the way that most people probably use porn, [standard] DVD is probably good enough," Russ Crupnick, vice president and senior industry analyst for the NPD Group, told ABC. "We're not talking about 'Star Wars' here, I don't think you need 1080p."
For the full ABC News story, click here.
