The HD DVD/Blu-ray battle has moved into a new position now that the adult film industry has settled on HD DVD as the successor to the current DVD disc format. Even though top industry players announced last year that they plan to support the Blue-ray disc format, four adult titles were recently released in HD DVD format by Digital Playground, according to SG Knox. Other adult film companies are likely to follow suit, and Sony, the company that helped develop Blu-ray, played a big part in that decision.

The shift to the HD DVD camp came after the adult production company Digital Playground found that it couldn't find any Blu-ray disc manufacturers that would master its titles. The reason manufacturers are shying away from the genre is because Sony isn't excited about seeing adult titles in the Blu-ray format, and they fear that Sony will pull their manufacturing licenses.

Historically, the adult film industry has been a catalyst in the standardization of formats. After adult titles shifted heavily to the VHS video tape format, the better quality Betamax tapes disappeared from store shelves.

The move means that other Blu-ray supporters, including Apple Inc., will have to re-evaluate which drive standard to include in future computer products. Although Blu-ray does offer potentially better quality, it may not matter if other major players in the video industry decide to move over to the HD DVD camp with Digital Playground and its peers.

A final winner in the next generation DVD standard battle, however, has not yet been named. But with big-name adult entertainment companies endorsing HD DVD, the focus looks to be shifting away from Blu-ray.