Blu Tide Continues to Turn: Porn Studios Ready to Abandon HD-DVD?

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

HD-DVD's uphill battle seems to get steeper and steeper as the news stacks up.

Wow, not too long ago, the HD-DVD proponents were declaring that porn would turn the tide against Blu-ray, arguing that porn helped VHS get over on Betamax. Given how the sales trends have gone (i.e., Blu-ray outselling HD-DVD every week in 2007), that has not happened. Even though a lot has been written about Sony not accepting Blu-ray duplicating jobs for porn titles, porn titles have already gone out on Blu-ray, so some other duplicating houses are accepting the porn jobs.

Well, now it turns out that porn studios are seeing the market shifts and might be ready to abandon HD-DVD. Apparently, the talk at the AVN porn convention (which overlaps CES) centered on studios abandoning HD-DVD. Digital Playground, purportedly the leading HD porn distributor, is apparently set to drop HD-DVD by the end of the year.

http://www.i4u.com/article14003.html

Other not-so-favorable signs for HD-DVD have also cropped up.

Aside from the persistent rumors about Universal and Paramount, Warner has already taken a subtle but significant step back in its HD-DVD support. While they have not dropped previously announced titles (a la Paramount), they have begun to stagger the HD-DVD releases while retaining concurrent release dates for the DVD and Blu-ray versions. For example, I Am Legend is due out on DVD and Blu-ray on March 18, while the HD-DVD version will not come out until "early April." Also, Twister: Special Edition comes out May 6 on DVD and Blu-ray, while the HD-DVD version hits stores three weeks later on May 27.

Also, a Home Media article refers to a preliminary tabulation of last week's Nielson sales data. Again, not a good sign for HD-DVD. Apparently, last week's sales figures show HD-DVD with only a 15% market share of HD discs. This is significant because 1) last week was the first full sales week after Warner's announcement; and 2) this is the biggest one-week sales lead that Blu-ray has had.

If this holds up in the final tabulation, then it's safe to say that the Warner announcement has already reverberated down to the retail level, in effect stopping HD-DVD sales cold. If consumers have already stopped purchasing HD-DVDs, then it won't take long before retailers begin phasing out their HD-DVD sections (if they haven't already). At that point, it won't matter what Toshiba, Paramount, and Universal decide on HD-DVD, the retailers and consumers will have already made the decision for them.

I am going to leak something here, but I can. I have strong word within the BDA itself that a certain very large big box store will be going blu as well. The deal is not inked yet, but I hear after the Warner announcement, negotiations got quite a bit more positive.

[GMichael]

I am going to leak something here, but I can. I have strong word within the BDA itself that a certain very large big box store will be going blu as well. The deal is not inked yet, but I hear after the Warner announcement, negotiations got quite a bit more positive.

I'm betting on Wally world. I haven't seen a single HD-DVD player in their store since the big $99 blow out.

[L.J.]

I'm betting on Wally world. I haven't seen a single HD-DVD player in their store since the big $99 blow out.

I'm thinking Best Buy. The 2 near me has gone from 50/50 to 70/30 shelf space in favor of Bluray.