This is how the format war was won in the Eighties. VHS ultimately reigned victorious over Betamax as the standard video-cassette format, aided largely by the adult film industry
Although Betamax was perceived to be of higher quality than VHS, due to the sheer amount of adult films distributed on VHS, the format won out in the end.
Sony’s Betamax may be consigned to the history books but the electronics giant is making a play for market dominance with the high-definition Blu-Ray DVD format in a family-friendly way by making exclusive distribution deals with several Hollywood studios.
However, since 2006 adult film companies such as Digital Playground have been producing their content on Blu-Ray but in small quantities due to Sony’s efforts to block pornographic material being distributed on its format.
In the US, HD DVD is the dominant disc format in the adult entertainment industry but at a recent adult film conference in Japan filmmakers allegedly spoke of Sony’s technical support to all players in the film industry no matter what area they specialised in.
Adding more support to the Blu-Ray camp, US retail giant Target last week said it would begin selling Sony’s BDP-S300 Blu-Ray player this October.
By Marie Boran
