"Transcoding will play a bigger role, " said Mr Erensen, referring to the potentially real-time transfer of one format to another.

BBC: NEWS | Technology | Battle over the digital living room

One new device, which Cisco calls the "Media Experience Engine, " lives in a company's data center and translates video data from one format to another so that it can be displayed on anything from a smart phone to a telepresence screen.

FORBES: Enterprise

We all know that 1080i has the higher resolution, so why bother offering another format like 720p?

ENGADGET: The Clicker -- Why are there 18 standards for HDTV?