Though typically being something of an early adopter, I have stayed away from HD video disks to date, due to the format war that is going on right now, between the two “standards”: HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.

For those of us old enough to remember the original format war of VHS vs. Betamax, this is deja-vu all over again.  Like that conflict, one format has slightly better technical specifications, but the other is more industry friendly, and less expensive.  In the first format war, VHS eventually won out, even though Betamax was a superior format, with better run times on smaller tape catridges, with superior resolution.

In essence, the technical differences in HD formats (like most things) boils down to size… or at least capacity:  HD-DVD (dual layer) stores about 8 hours of HD video; Blu-Ray stores about 9.  Now, there are various tweaks being looked at, like triple or quad layer, but these would end up being Data functions, not Media for entertainment purposes.  Unless you wanted to put the entire Lord of the Rings movie trilogy (extended versions) on one Disk…

And, to date, HD-DVD players are less expensive, even though there are more manufacturers supporting Blu-Ray at this time.

But what is really going to tip the scales for HD-DVD is Porn (courtesy of Yahoo/Reuters):

James McQuivey, a principal analyst at technology research firm Forrester, said in the VHS-versus-Betamax war, porn provided a significant boost for the winning format.

He also noted the adult entertainment industry has often paved the way with new uses of technology — such as streaming video on the Internet — and said porn could help tip the scales in the current DVD format battle.

“If the porn industry wanted to break the logjam of HD-DVD and Blu-ray, it could,” McQuivey said. “If they said ‘We are going to go with HD-DVD’ you would see a few million homes immediately go out and buy HD-DVD players. They have that power.”

It is a potential weapon that one side, at least, has ignored. Instead, Blu-ray backer Sony Corp.(6758.T) blocked manufacturers from producing porn DVDs in that format — a move that some say has pushed adult film studios into the camp of HD-DVD camp led by Toshiba Corp. (6502.T)

So, for those of you still on the fence, start looking for HD-DVD players.  Blue-Ray will end up being an oddity in entertainment, only found on the Playstation 3. 

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