In a move that could have a major impact on the outcome of the next-gen DVD format war that pits Sony’s Blu-ray against Toshiba’s HD-DVD technology, Digital Playground co-founder and director Joone told XBIZ that licensed Blu-ray replicators won’t process discs containing adult content.
Joone initially came out in support of Blu-ray and began authoring titles on the format in early 2006, but ran into a snag when the handful of Blu-ray replication houses told him they won’t handle adult movies because Sony would yank their Blu-ray license.
Digital Playground’s DVD library contains close to 200 titles shot with high-definition cameras – the largest hi-def library in the adult industry.
Contrary to reports over the past few days saying the adult industry has collectively “chosen” one format over the other, Joone said this just simply isn’t so, and that Sony has forced adult into embracing HD-DVD.
“I started contacting [replicators] and they told me ‘Sorry, we can’t do adult, or Sony will cancel our Blu-ray license,’” Joone told XBIZ from the AEE floor.
Joone’s most recent attempt to replicate titles on Blu-ray came less than a month ago, only to be rebuffed. Joone contacted replicators in the U.S., Canada, England and Germany and was each time rejected.
“Now I’m being asked, ‘What happened? You came out for Blu-ray but now you’ve released movies only on HD-DVD,’” Joone said. “So I tell them ‘Sony made me support HD-DVD. I had no choice in the matter.’”
Joone harkened back to Sony’s infamous refusal to deal with adult content when its Betamax videocassette format was locked in a bitter rivalry with VHS. Some technology experts said Beta’s demise was the result of Sony’s unwillingness to embrace the adult entertainment industry.
“I see history repeating itself in this situation,” Joone said. “It’s similar to what happened in the 1980s with Betamax. Sony is in a war, but it just went to the battlefield with a lot less ammunition than its competitor.”
As to who issued the directive to refuse Blu-ray adult DVD replication, Joone pointed his finger squarely at Sony executives.
“This [edict] is directly from Sony,” Joone said. “Each one of the replicators I contacted told me, ‘Sony does not support adult material.’ They did the same thing with PSP, too. I started looking into putting content onto UMD [Universal Media Disc, the PSP’s format], which Sony has the exclusive patent for, and it was the same exact story.”
A call to Sony’s press office seeking comment was not immediately returned.
“Now I want to make it clear: Sony says it has adult on PSP but that’s like no penetration; it’s very soft, almost R-rated stuff,” Joone continued. “That’s not adult. Adult is triple-X movies, and that, [Sony] will not have on any of its formats.”
While Sony might have a commercial hit with the new Playstation 3 gaming console, which includes a Blu-ray DVD player, Joone cited Sony’s dwindling position in the electronics market partially because it insists on using proprietary technology that is incompatible with other brands. He believes the company has staked its financial future on the success of the PS3 – a desperate circumstance for the company to be in.
Ultimately, Joone said, it will come down to what format has the most content, because the quality of the picture is identical across both platforms.
“I always thought [standard definition] DVDs were an intermediate platform,” Joone said. “As a filmmaker, you always want the best quality medium out there. Over the past three and a half years, we’ve been shooting, mastering and editing in hi-def. Consumers are buying bigger and bigger TVs, and honestly, the quality of a standard DVD suffers and falls apart when shown on progressively larger screens.”
Most adult studios have taken a wait-and-see approach with regards to the newest format battle. Digital Playground and Wicked Pictures are the two biggest names to have released movies on HD-DVD.
“Most of the adult industry is going to see if there is a market for hi-def,” Joone said. “You see companies here at AEE that have been around for years and have huge libraries, which are all in standard def. These companies are going to have to change their methods. They’re going to have to create a hi-def library. It’s almost like starting a whole new business. That’s why we started shooting in hi-def years ago, so we could have a library that could be taken over to the next format.”
In response to Joone’s allegations, a member of the Blu-ray disc alliance refutes his claims that Sony has prohibited adult content on its new format.
“There is not a prohibition against adult content,” Marty Gordon, Vice Chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association U.S. Promotions Committee, told ARS Technica. “The BDA is an open organization that welcomes the participation of all companies interested in using and supporting the format, including those that represent the full spectrum of genres in the content industry. Blu-ray’s superior capacity has attracted support from virtually every major Hollywood studio and gives content providers the best possible platform for delivering their content in high definition. We look forward to working any content providers interested in providing their audience with best possible high definition home entertainment experience.”
