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The struggle for supremacy between Blu-ray and HD DVD could be less important than many people think, according to an insider at BenQ.
Royce Lye, UK Marketing Manager BenQ, said the way things are developing, the actual format for the discs will be far less important than people believe. “People are likely to download a lot of content from the internet anyway – or have it streamed.”
BenQ is part of a group that includes AU Optronics, the world’s second biggest manufacturer of panels for televisions and computer screens. “We have little direct stake in who wins the format wars – our main products are projectors, LCD screens and digital cameras, so it doesn’t matter if the format is Blu-ray or HD DVD – the screens will play both formats, as well as play any downloads or streams.
“HD DVDs, for example, are able to connect to the internet and it may be just a matter of time before the content owners allow more easy access to their films and other content and they are downloaded more often than bought in disc form.”
BenQ has some involvement in the storage business as well, and Lye said the way a lot of consumers might deal with the management of their content is through downloading and storage on a hard drive, possibly a central server.
