Pornographers and BBC producers stick by HD DVD

The BBC has declared its intention to continue supporting HD DVD, despite Warner’s decision to release content exclusively for Blu-ray.

Like HBO and New Line, the BBC is a Warner Brothers partner; however, unlike HBO and New Line, it has not gone format exclusive. In a response to a question from website TV Shows on DVD, BBC home video said it: "will evaluate the marketplace before committing to one format."

One reason for the decision is the success of Planet Earth on HD DVD, which sold more copies on Toshiba’s format than Sony’s. The BBC currently plans to release four new high-definitions products for both formats.

Adult film studio, Digital Playground has also refused to go Blu-ray exclusive. Although the studio anticipates a Blu-ray victory, it still views HD DVD as a viable format.

A statement released by Digital Playground said: "We are currently producing both HD DVD and Blu-ray. HD DVD is still a viable market for us and we’re selling a lot of units. There are over a million players out there, so it may be perceived as ‘dead’ in the long term, but on an immediate basis, it’s still a viable market.

"We will continue to grow our Blu-ray business as well, and for us, it’s going to be a smooth transition if we have to go from one to the other. For the time being, we will continue to release our movies on HD DVD. We have a good, solid customer (HD DVD) base that is buying a healthy quantity, so until that number starts coming down, we will continue supporting it."

Vivid Entertainment Group echoes Digital Playground’s stance. Speaking to DailyTech, Steven Hirsch, co-chairman of Vivid Entertainment said:

"Currently Blu-ray is very expensive to encode and replicate. It probably won’t be embraced by the adult industry until the price is lowered. We will continue to consider [Blu-ray Disc] for some of our blockbuster titles and also continue to produce in HD DVD."