In a recent interview, the director of consumer electronics at Samsung UK, Andy Griffiths, has put a 5 year sell by date on the high definition disc format. That's not even as long as the PS3's anticipated shelf life and puts a gloomy outlook on the budding format.

"I think it [Blu-ray] has 5 years left, I certainly wouldn't give it 10," Griffiths said. Wait, are we sure this wasn't a Toshiba exec in disguise?

It seems particularly odd because Samsung sells its own Blu-ray players and no matter what the truth of it, it doesn't strike me as a great business practise to tell your customers and potential customers that their Blu-ray players will look like even bigger paperweights in under ten years.

On the upside, 2008 is going to be a good year for the format, Griffiths reckons, citing rental services like LoveFilm which have adopted the disc format and are offering a clear path for Blu-ray adoption.

Presumably, downloads are going to step in to fill Blu-ray's HD shoes in the end. Although there's clear indication that this indeed the way things are going, I have a suspicion it may take more than five years for the UK, BT and the various ISPs to sort out the mess they've gotten themselves into.

(via Pocket-Lint)

Related posts: Firefly heading to Blu-ray, woot | Mummy 3 better on Blu-ray than at cinema says director. It couldn't get any worse.

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