For anyone interested in high definition porn, or any HD for that matter, there is one curious question. Out of all of the various HD formats, which will win the battle as the accepted format for hidef porn? Will it be HD-DVD, Blu-ray, or maybe WMV-HD? As consumers, we must know, because we need to know what hardware player to buy, or if we need to buy one at all.

Now some of you may not be familiar with all of the HD formats I just mentioned. In the HD community at large, most people pit HD-DVD against Blu-ray. Both formats come to you through the efforts of two distinct groups. The group supporting HD-DVD is lead by Toshiba, the one supporting Blu-ray is led by Sony.

Both formats have seen players start arriving this summer. Prices are $400 and up, and that’s just for a player that will play either HD-DVD or Blu-ray, but not both. Microsoft has announced an external HD DVD drive coming for the Xbox 360, while the new Sony PS3 will play Blu-ray out of the box. Interestingly enough, Samsung has decided to ride the line despite opposition and plans to release a dual-mode player which will support both HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

Your average Blu-ray disc will probably store slightly more data or video, but that doesn’t seem to be a big deal to anyone. A single layer HD-DVD will store 15GB, while a single layer Blu-ray will store 25GB. Double layer versions will also be common and will obviously store double the amounts I just gave.

So that’s HD DVD and Blu-ray, but what’s this WMV-HD thing? WMV-HD is Windows Media Video High Definition. Really, it’s just video encoded with the Windows Media 9 video codec at HD quality. Some porn offerings have actually made it to market in WMV-HD, delivered on a regular DVD. In fact, there was even a high production value porn offered in WMV-HD somewhat recently. Since WMV-HD is a regular file format easily delivered over a web site, WMV-HD porn can also be found on the internet. In that case, you don’t need anything fancy, just your PC.

So who will win? If you do a little search on the net, you’d be surprised how many people care about what HD format is winning in the porn industry. People seem to think it will indicate the greater trend for HD as a whole. I mean, even sites like Gamespot of all places are writing about HD porn formats. Their story mentions Blu-ray, but elsewhere on Engadget you’ll find a story reporting the first sale of HD DVD porn in Japan. But in an age where bandwidth is cheap and everything is on the web, it only seems reasonable to suspect that WMV-HD (or similar formats such as Quicktime) will be the winner.

My recommendation? Get your high definition porn over the internet for now. If HD-DVD or Blu-ray start to gain acceptance in porn, then spring for the dual-mode players I mentioned earlier (when they become affordable of course). How will you know when it’s time? Check back here for news, and be sure to visit your local porn retailer and ask if and when they expect to stock high definition videos.

Find more articles like this: on Technorati