Not true. Any Blu-ray disc manufacturer that presses discs for Disney is forbidden to also press porn in the same facility. The reason there's any porn at all on Blu-ray is that Sony did an end-around with Taiwan to get around its deal with Disney:

Digital Journal,
Sony and Blu-ray Get Down and Dirty With Porn Biz in Japan

In North America, Sony lost the opportunity to make it big in the porn biz. One reason, believe it or not, is Disney; as one of the largest movie makers on the planet Disney has a policy of not working with companies who work with adult titles (likely a fundamental reason would be the PR nightmare if a porn movie was accidentally labelled as Bambi and shipped to kids across America). Sony chose to go with the family-friendly movies of Disney and not the lucrative porn business, so the company forbid its pressing facilities from stamping adult movies.

You read that, Joe Cain? "the company forbid its pressing facilities from stamping adult movies". But then why are there a few porn titles available in Blu-ray anyway, you may ask. From the same article:

But in Japan, Sony seems to be playing smarter. The company has reportedly found a way around the taboo issue; Japanese porn producers have started working with disc-pressing firms in Taiwan and Sony is selling to the Taiwanese companies.

Kiyotaka Konno, director of administration at Assist Corp., a Japanese company that authors and replicates DVDs for the adult industry in Japan, told PC World:

In Japan, there are some problems. Companies cannot press Blu-ray discs because they cannot touch adult-related contracts. 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.

By selling discs and support to the disc-pressing firms, Sony stays out of the direct connection to the porn industry while still reaping the profits. Someone at Sony was smart. Give him or her a raise.

Joe Cain: "porn IS available on Blu-Ray."

I never wrote that there was no porn available on Blu-ray; I said, "I despise the notion that Disney or anyone else forbids certain content from appearing on their format." Read more carefully, next time.

Joe Cain: Nielsen has been ranking HDM sales for some time already,

I should have said that the Disney buy-one-get-one-free ploy was tailored to swing the Nielsen HD sales ratings during its sweeps week.

Here's the comments by Brendan G Callahan:

That's wrong. I can tell you're gonna need some more homework.

1. There IS porn on Blu-ray available worldwide. More so than on HDDVD if you count Japanese porn.

2. Blu-ray is not Sony controlled; all 17 directors in the Blu-ray disc association get an equal vote. It was co-invented by many companies, and Panasonic has the most patents in the disc, not Sony.

3. As I said, Disney isn't blocking content. and...it's "low" of them to help ppl save money on hi-def films? *rolls eyes*.

4. HDDVD Technologically superior? HA! Blu-ray hold 20GB more per disc for practically the same price per disk, and Blu drives are 50% faster. Blu-ray also uses lossless PCM sound on most titles; HDDVD rarely does. Sound of perfect? more like Sound of Compression. More features my ass. BTW: Blu-ray does Picture-in-picture too. Terminator 3 will have it when it comes to blu-ray this December.

5. If it's unfinished specs you want; HDDVD is making a triple layer disc that won't work in current players.

Seriously dude, I don't know if you're a paid Toshiba schill or just a dunce, but how's about getting the facts straight before posting FUD.

Here are my responses (I exclude the porn comments already addressed above):

Brendan G Callahan: "Blu-ray is not Sony controlled"

Actually, until just recently all the Blu-ray disc stampers were owned by Sony subsidiaries.

Network World,
Japanese porn industry embraces Blu-ray Disc

Until now, only a handful of companies operated the stampers needed to copy thousands of Blu-ray Disc movies at a time. But the Japanese company handling most of the early Blu-ray Disc adult film releases in Japan says it has partnered with a Taiwanese company able to secure the necessary equipment from Sony.

So it's a bit disingenuous to say that Sony does not control Blu-ray. If Sony did not give its OK to the Taiwanese company to press porn then there would be no porn on Blu-ray at all. Sounds like control to me.

Brendan G Callahan: "As I said, Disney isn't blocking content"

Then you are the only person in the world who actually believes that. Give me one single link that says Disney doesn't care if porn is stamped at the same manufacturing facility as their movies. One link.

Brendan G Callahan: "Blu-ray hold 20GB more per disc for practically the same price per disk, and Blu drives are 50% faster. Blu-ray also uses lossless PCM sound on most titles; HDDVD rarely does. Sound of perfect? more like Sound of Compression. More features my ass. BTW: Blu-ray does Picture-in-picture too. Terminator 3 will have it when it comes to blu-ray this December."

20GB more space? For what? What movie can't play on HD DVD? It seems with all that extra space Blu-ray offers no features other than lossless sound which is fine if you are a dog but is an imperceptible difference to humans. Picture-in-picture is not available til December? Doesn't sound like a feature to me. What good is a future feature? If I went to a car dealer and he said the car I was buying had a 100 horse-power engine but would have 400 HP next December, what good would that do me now?

And besides, unless you have a PS3 your chances are zero (opposed to slim) that you will be able to utilize this PIP feature so why mention it? The PS3 is the only player that has the possibility of a firmware upgrade to even allow the picture-in-picture feature to play. All other players are obsolete. This is an example of Sony's contempt for its customers. So Blu-ray lover, bend over and take it.

And all your faster speed and more space adds up to nothing. Here are some features of HD that Sony can only dream about, read them and weep:

• All HD players have an ethernet port to allow for firmware updates and exclusive content.


• PIP - all players.


• There's no region code - you can play any movie made anywhere on any player.


• HD DVD does not have BD+ which effectively allows DRM to dictate how you use your media


• HD DVD was born complete - all the mandatory specs for profile 2 on Blu-ray are already here. Profile 1.1 players (coming out in December) will play all the features of Profile 2 except for Internet capabilities. Those stuck with Profile 1.0 machines are, to use the technical phrase, S.O.O.L.


• Digital Plus is mandatory for HD DVD players while optional for Blu-ray players


• Dolby TrueHD is mandatory only on HD DVD and optional on Blu-ray. This is compressed lossless but you, and I mean everybody, cannot hear the difference.


• For 3 bucks or less I get a DVD version of the film as well that I can play in my car, spare bedroom, bathroom, laptop.


• Firmware upgrades are easier.


• And it's unlikely you will see labels on HD Discs that say you'll need to upgrade your player to play them.

Brendan G Callahan: "HDDVD is making a triple layer disc that won't work in current players."

Please supply link to this allegation. I already know what the Blu-ray forums will say when Toshiba comes out with 51 GB: "Who needs all that space?"

Seriously Brendan Dude, I don't know if you're a paid Sony shill or just a dunce, but how's about getting the facts straight before posting FUD. Ha!

Joe Blu left this comment:

Transformers is the best movie ever? Ouch, there goes any credibility.

So tell me Joe, if I said it was a so-so movie you would have accepted my arguments of HD vs Blu-ray? I don't think so. Just so my readers don't think I am completely nuts, the only reason I said that the Transformers movie was the best film ever made, was because I know it drives Blu-rayers nuts. The Blu-ray forums were all ga-ga waiting for the movie to appear in high definition but when it was announced that the film would not appear in Blu-ray those users went ballistic and turned on the movie. Just like a little child that isn't allowed to play in a football game will suddenly turn and cry, "I don't like football anyway, wahhhhh!"

Transformers in HD DVD is awesome; obviously not the best film ever made but awesome nevertheless. My readers will recall that my choice for best film ever is Casablanca which I recently viewed in HD DVD and not available on Blu-ray.

Listen, fellas, there is no shame in owning a player that was sent out prematurely and hobbled as to features. It happens that I have an even number of Blu-ray and HD DVD discs although I get more enjoyment out of HD DVD. It does annoy me that Sony shot out of the barn before all the hardware was done right. If you only have a Blu-ray player it doesn't mean you can whine about HD DVD. You must admit to yourself that you are biased; if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

But less than informed I am not. Don't just tell me I'm wrong, give me links. Don't tell me about phantom future features, show me what they are now. And don't attack my opinions about movies, attack my statements with cogent arguments documented with links.


I bought Blu-ray films because they were not available on HD DVD and certainly not because Sony had the better technology. But I am under no delusion that it's a better player, it is not. If movies came out in both formats only idiots would pick Blu-ray because of the lack of bonus features. Let's all at least admit that.