14 DAY TRIAL // Japan is known for many things, as for example for being the most technologically advanced country in the world and an economic super-power, among other things, but also for its very prolific (and quite honestly, very weird) pornographic industry. And since the question at hand (no pun intended) nowadays in any filmed-entertainment industry is the choice of a next-generation DVD format, the Japanese companies involved in the XXX industry also had to go for one of the two competing formats and it seems that, for several reasons, they're favoring Sony's Blu-ray.
Thus, according to an article by Dan Nystedt and Martyn Williams for IDG News Service, it would seem that pornographers are keen on using Sony's discs, especially since the Japanese company has started to provide an increased level of technical support (albeit indirectly) for the adult entertainment industry in its home-country. This was a very big problem up until now (since Sony and its partner, Disney, had completely prohibited the Sony subsidiary in charge of DVD replication, Sony DADC, to copy adult films), but it would seem that the very inventive entrepreneurs from Japan have managed to find a solution to this issue.
"In Japan, there are some problems. Companies cannot press Blu-ray discs because they cannot touch adult-related contracts," said Kiyotaka Konno, director of administration at Assist Corp., a Japanese company that authors and replicates DVDs for the adult industry in Japan for the two reporters from IDG. "So we asked some makers in Taiwan to do the work, and then we import the discs back to Japan. The Taiwanese company was able to obtain a pressing machine from Sony and will start mass production in August."
Moreover, according to a statement by a Sony spokesperson, it would seem that the company is ready (and actually, quite willing) to provide support for any film makers, regardless of the type of movies they're shooting. Actually, this could lead to an impressive surge in the numbers of Blu-ray discs sold, since, as we all know it, pornographic movies are a very popular commodity around the world. Moreover, coupled with an increase in the sales of PS3 gaming consoles (which, as you might know, sport a built-in Blu-ray player), this move could lead to a very serious tipping of the balance in the already very hard-fought war between the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. After all, it's not the first time when the porn industry has decided the outcome in a format war, as pretty much the same thing happened in the famous Betamax-VHS conflict (which, incidentally, also involved Sony).
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