Blu-ray 'gone in five years', Samsung exec claims

"I think it [Blu-ray] has 5 years left, I certainly wouldn't give it 10", Andy Griffiths, Samsung UK’s director of consumer electronics, told website Pocket-lint.

Griffiths said that for the next few years, HD technology would boom -- and Blu-ray would be at the heart of it.

"It's going to be huge," he told Pocket-lint. "We are heavily back-ordered at the moment."

But Griffiths said he expected Blu-ray to be superseded in five to ten years. He did not comment on which technology would supersede it.

Griffiths also commented on the move towards high definition in the near future.

"In 2012 we will be in a true HD world. Everything from your television to your camcorder will be offering you pictures in high-definition, and we plan to offer you that HD world from all angles."

Samsung has already thrown its weight behind a HD technology. At the IFA trade show in Berlin this month, both Samsung and Sony demonstrated cutting-edge OLED screen televisions.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens use films of organic compounds to emit multi-coloured light. Because there is no need for a backlight, OLED screens are much thinner than LCDs and require less power to run.

Griffiths said that the technology is “ready to rock” but the screens would not be available commercially until manufacturing costs were reduced.

"We will launch the OLED technology when it's at a price that will be appealing to the consumer, unfortunately that's not yet.”

Griffiths said that the technology might become mainstream by 2010.

"It's gonna be big, but at the moment it's a great story, not commercial product."