Digital Playground goes format war neutral
By Darren Murph 
posted December 22nd 2007 3:21AM
posted December 22nd 2007 3:21AM
Here at Engadget HD, we aren't ones to cover the adult film industry with any semblance of regularity, but when Digital Playground announces that it will indeed be going format neutral, it's hard to ignore. If you'll recall, it looked as if both high-definition formats could be green-lit to carry porn, but in an "eleventh-hour move" by Digital Playground, it chose to back HD DVD exclusively instead. According to founder Joone, the original decision came down to cost, as he noted that putting a title out on Blu-ray was simply more expensive. Nevertheless, reports are claiming that the studio will begin shipping its famed Pirates film on BD early next year, and at least for now, it will be "releasing to both formats until there is a clear-cut winner."
Umm okay, I guess this is good for BD Camp. :)
Oh great... all we needed was HD pr0n... *rolls eyes*
Why you think hi def was born?
Porn, porn, porn!
The Clap, now in High Definition!
One by one bricks are falling , soon will fall Toshiba too :D
You should RTFA article more closely, otherwise go back to your little cave...
for all those people that make a living analizing and blogging; saying their own bullsh*t opinion, and the folks that said that sony made a bad decision using blu ray as the format for their playstation 3...dig this. they had a plan all along, they reduced the cost of the diodes by mass producing them, they got a blu ray player into millions of homes and will continue to do so...so no matter what your opinion is on how the ps3 is 'loosing' this console war...dig this, their winning elsewhere. the format they help create is winning, they may not be no.1. in any charts but they had a plan all along and their reaping the benefits... hate'em, love'em, you got to admit they made the right move using the cell and blu ray. first is digital playground...then...others will follow...
i wonder, if blu ray movies outsell hd dvd's they cost more to produce, if hd dvd sell less but they cost less to produce, i mean why isnt universal and viacom following the market trend and doing whats the most convenient to them? could it mean their actually making more money on hd dvd priced about the same as hd dvd but costing less to make?
If the PS3 'market' isn't an ideal 'handicraft' market (what with all those 20/30 something single males) then I don't know what is.
They're just going after the $'s of a couple of million obvious likely users.
It's not a big deal nor is it completely unexpected.
It's somewhat interesting they've gone neutral but porn will not decide this format war. Porn may have made a difference for VHS simply because VHS made it easy for the first time for people to watch porn in their own home and not some filthy porno theatre. And porn may have acted as an incubator for the video industry. These reasons are no longer true. Porn is freely available and major (non-porn) studio releases are appearing in HD. The mainstream has long embraced and taken over the home video market. I doubt it would make more than a marginal difference whether all of the porn was on one format or not.
Now, why Digital Playground have gone neutral may have something to do with numbers. There are simply more Blu Ray players and they sell more discs. It doesn't make much sense to deprive yourself of that potential profit even if discs (might) cost a few more cents to produce.
Wait...people still pay for porn?!
I haven't since 1998. First usenet, then came torrents. Ya baby ya.
Well this wont be a deciding factor but I guess its good for all the PS3 supporters since gamers most likely watch porn.
@ jango fett
Sony, managed to smuggle BR players into a couple million living rooms but IMO that did it in a very distasteful fashion. I dont think it was fair to convert or even in some cases force BR unto loyal gamers and leave them without games, which would be the primary reason most people bought the PS3.
People make the argument that a lot of people bought the PS3 for BR, which I call more fanboy shenanigans on, check this out... When BR incepted no one was camping out their local department stores or getting shot at nor robbed over BR players. Like the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, GAMERS camped out for the PS3, but just got a BR player that happens to play games, BAD form SONY!
When Highdefdigest released numbers for total BR players with the PS3 factored in there were under 200k in standalones sold in count of the nearly 3 million BR decks out there, which would mean that the PS3 literally makes up over 97% of the BR market.
If you were to do the math on software sales thats not too good of an attachment rate for its user base. Its funny how when HD DVD has a fire sale BR supporters say its "desperation" but fact is BR has had BOGOs countless times and given away players with TVs as well. I think the HD camp will make a good run in 08 especially by having more dedicated players on the market, but HD DVD needs to coordinate better software deals to really use that to their advantage.
I also think Warner is the real power player here and both sides should be fighting to win her over.
I still don't want to see porn in HD. The less detail the better.
Both formats do BOGO sales, both reduce prices to sell more. The fact remains that in spite of BOTH formats doing what they can, Blu-ray continues to come ahead.
Complaining about a business move that allows us to spend less to get what we want seems kind of silly.
If there is to be a format war then we should at least enjoy the price reductions and sales that it causes.
I only know of 1 BOGO sale for HD DVD and it was happening at the same time one of many Blu-Ray BOGO sales were going on. Just about every week there's another BOGO for Blu-Ray. Pretty bad if you have to keep doing that to keep your numbers up.
This latest article from Video Business Magazine from yesterday is the real truth. But you have to check out the comments, that's the best, the Blu-Ray fanboys are going Psycho CRAZY. That ranting and raving, WOW.
http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6515097.html
Digital playgroudn is only releasing very few select titles on blu-ray... because of the high cost of production. It is good that they are releasing a "gateway" porn on blu-ray disc... this could be a gateway for some people to get into the realm, as there are about 40 titles available on hd dvd... and if they had a ps3 and they want some more good porn, they could possibly get an hd dvd player to compliment their ps3s... pirates is a good starter porn and i recomend it to anyone on dvd, hd dvd, or now blu-ray disc... oh by the way... the hd dvd comes in a nice box with a dvd version in it too...
i know the higher priced, extra money is well spent for the combo HD-dvd/DVD disc. THis allows me to bring my porn combo disc over to my friends house and watch it on their DVD player. So me and my friends and their families can all enjoy watching this movie - either on DVD or HD-DVD. Not everyone has HD player, although I don't understand why considering it can be had for under a $99 for the Toshie A2. Oh well, enjoy the porn in hidef with your family and friends in either standard or hi-definition.
The boo=ray version is limited in use - you need a blu-ray player as it wont work on DVD player.