It was porn that decided the VHS – Betamax war. Adult content drove VCR adoption. It drives Video-On-Demand and internet downloading. And it could be porn that decides the hi-def DVD war. That “other” Vegas convention last week, The Adult Entertainment Expo, was featured in an interesting interview on CNBC. Vivid Entertainment Steven Hirsch Co-Chair says that, while Sony Blu-Ray is the better technology, Sony is not cooperating with the adult film industry. On putting out its first adult title on Blu-Ray, Hirsch said “It was difficult and (Sony) tried to block us.” Hirsch says porn may go to HD-DVD by default if there isn’t more cooperation from Sony. Does this sound familiar? It would be remarkable if the adult industry again decided a format war being staged by Sony. Could the same mistakes really happen again?


