I’ve been having fun lately watching current discussions about media and how it will make its way to customers as all content goes digital.

Consider this:

What if we could deliver high-definition video to any screen in a customer’s home? I don’t just mean that transcoding content so that it could display to all of those different devices. I mean that the content actually follows the customer, seamlessly, from one viewing device to another.

This capability is possible today. In fact, it’s already being done on a limited trial basis in various markets around the world. Soon enough, it will become the standard for delivery, making the relationship between the customer, the content, and the network over which it’s delivered much more intimate and sticky.

Of course, one of the biggest obstacles that we face is an old friend: transcoding.

A recent report estimates more than 60 different (that is, incompatible) display devices out there on which people will want to watch movies; these range from a host of TVs to desktop computers, projectors, laptops, PDAs, cell phones, and (of course) a few out there that I haven’t even thought of yet.

That number translates into a content management nightmare. Since each device requires content encoded proprietarily (if that’s a word), we face a few uncomfortable questions.

When do we transcode? For example, suppose that a customer with a Palm device wants to watch the digital release of a new movie. She clicks the link to download it to her Palm Pilot, and magic happens — but behind the scenes, a lot of chaos makes that magic. So, when does a content provider transcode the movie content into the format the Palm requires?

Can we do it on-demand, or do it in advance and have a Palm-ready version sitting there waiting for someone to ask for it?

If we do it on-demand, where do we do it? Speaking literally, where do we put the conversion equipment, and who actually performs the process? Is that a content owner’s responsibility, or the service provider’s?

If we do it in advance, and have 60 some-odd copies of the movie sitting out in the cloud, where do we put them? Do we stick them at the edge of the network, or do we stick them deep in the network on some megaserver somewhere? What will the impact on the network be if this comes to fruition?

There’s an old saying in the world of technology: “The best thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.” The saying clearly applies here. So: keep an eye on this space as we enter a period of discussion about some common standards for media encoding that are device-independent.

Will it be MP4? Some kind of Flash? Nobody knows yet. Stay tuned….