I commented on this very issue on the Last Blog in Cyberspace…http://www.myspace.com/tpmlastblog

NEWS ITEM: At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Time/Warner Corporation decided to release their future films on only one of the new DVD high definition formats, Blu-Ray. This was seen as a severe blow to the competing format, HD DVD.

And everybody yawned. Please raise your hands if you are currently spinning a DVD on a high-def player. Anyone? Anyone?

To the inventors, this is the moral equivalent of the first format war, VHS vs. Beta. Back in the old days, the first tape cassettes came in these two competing formats, with the superior quality Beta tape (and it was more compact) poised to become the victor.

So what happened?

A new industry emerged that settled the dispute once and for all. It was a monumental studio system that became an unstoppable force in determining that VHS would become the consumer standard in videotape, even though the picture wasn’t as good and the tape itself was bulkier.

That industry was pornography.

In the rush to get the product into the hands of those who “desired” it, the porn industry chose the VHS format simply because it was cheaper. Picture quality, schmicture quality, the rumpy pumpy providers wanted it cheap and fast. VHS was able to deliver on that promise.

So the reason the kiddies watched their favorite Disney movies over and over again on VHS is because horny boys led the way. Isn’t that always the case?

Back to the high definition DVD wars. Despite the profile on it, quite frankly neither format has set the world on fire. High end movie rooms across the country are probably embracing it, but these types of consumers are also embracing electronic ball washers (in their computerized golf bags). Most average consumers are satisfied with the level of picture they have been able to achieve with standard DVD.

And then there is the ‘X’ factor (grin).

The pornography industry simply isn’t embracing any format. Think about it. The reason they went with VHS was about cost. Retooling for HD will take costs in the opposite direction…up and upper. New, more expensive cameras, better lighting, expanded DVD processing costs and most of all, unflawed human beings to be perfect looking, while exposing their private function.

A pimple on a butt, for example, could be taken care of on a normal shoot with a little cover-up. In high definition, no make-up in the world can make that flaw less obvious. Suddenly the make-up people in the porn industry, mostly famous for their mascara applying abilities, now will have to become expensive body make-up professors. It ain’t gonna happen.

The future in pornography remains on the internet. On demand snippets, even full films brought into the living room in private, to be secretly downloaded onto an iPod, mobile phone or other portable digital device (mmmm, device). You don’t need an HD DVD investment to deliver that.

In conclusion, without the porn industry, the high definition DVD wars is just a shell game, and in the end will probably be limp, sales-wise.

Hank’s in a band! www.myspace.com/thetelepaths