Format questions

G

ggrantly

Veteran
I would like to ask the resident braintrust...Barry, Jared, and board et al, what your views are regarding the future of DV or DVCAM formats in light of the emergent HDV equipment?
Do you think that HDV will push SD out of the market for event and industrial work? Or, will SD remain viable for many years to come do its stability, installed base, or other features that make it better than HDV? Please do bare your soul to a novice.
Thanks in advance.
 
Barry is gonna say SD will last forever and hes probally right, but HD is a mandate in the US at least and I give it another 5 years till everyone is watching it, even if thier TV's are still SD the signal will be HD. Im talking about US and Canada, obviously the rest of the world will take thier time to adapt. HDV, I think may be around for a while but they are a pain in the ass, DVCAM HD is a better format, but its a one company format which may be like the Beta vs. VHS war all over again.
 
HDV is a flawed format whose main saving grace is that it's cheap to record on. In some controlled circumstances it works amazingly well. In other circumstances it will bite you in the butt, and its teeth are sharp. Everyone else on the web may disagree with me, but I doubt HDV will have much penetration into high-level professional production. Might catch on with wedding/event shooters and small production companies who need to control every cost, and who want to shoot HD.

Contrary to what Jarred said, there is no mandate in the US for HD. There is a so-called "mandate" for digital broadcasting, but not for high-def; all a station has to do is broadcast SD digitally and it will meet the mandate. And the "deadline" for digital broadcasting keeps slipping and slipping and slipping...

I think SD's days are numbered. But I don't know how big that number is. Some people are making outlandishly ridiculous predictions, such as "DVDs will be obsolete in 12 months". I predict DVDs, standard-def, will be on the market for at least another five to 8 years, maybe 10. Keep in mind that HDTVs have been on the market for about 8 years now, and they've yet to penetrate more than 7% of US households.

HDTV adoption is driven primarily by the flat-screen LCD and plasma hang-on-the-wall crowd. People really want that, and they're willing to pay the bucks to get it. It just so happens that a lot of those flat-screens are also HDTV compatible, so more HDTVs are finding their way into consumer hands, but not so much due to the consumer "demanding" HDTV, but more that HDTV happened to be on the 2" thin screen they were going to buy anyway.

However, HDTV is addicting. Once the users get used to watching it, they'll want more of it.

HD may indeed supplant SD all around, although it's not a given. In high-level production (meaning, $30,000+ commercials, etc) it already has -- most of the big-budget stuff I've been involved in recently has been HD (VariCam and CineAlta). All of it 24p -- none of it 60i. 24P has arrived, that's for sure. HD24p is a very hot commodity.

But for reality TV, local production, things like that, SD is still way the dominant force. MPEG-IMX, DVCPRO, and DVCAM abound, and there's even still some BetaSP being shot. Every TV show I've been on has shot standard-def, we did a series of infomercials a few months ago in standard-def. For the next few years, standard-def will be the dominant production/delivery format for corporate, industrial, and local broadcasts. I think that of the thousands of television stations in the country, only about six are originating news programming in high-def -- the rest are all producing in standard-def, even though they're broadcasting digital and high-def signals (the hd being created from up-rezzing sd). Even the networks are doing that -- watch the next horse race (Belmont, I think?) The Kentucky Derby was shot 95% SD, with only the actual 2-minute race being shot in HD. The whole broadcast was in HD (with the SD being digitally up-rezzed). I thought the up-rezzed SD looked awful, but hey... it's what the networks are doing. Only a few shows are originated/broadcast in high-def.

As long as DVD remains the dominant distribution medium, quality SD origination is a reasonable choice. But once we have affordable high-def acquisition and editing equipment, it begins to make more and more sense to originate in high-def... I mean, why wouldn't you? Especially if you're developing content for future use -- stock footage, indie films, whatever. As long as you can make good-looking standard-def from it, originating in HD makes sense (presuming, of course, that your HD origination doesn't compromise the quality of your final SD product!)

SD is here for a while, in local production and in distribution. HD is gaining popularity in large-scale productions. HDV may or may not have a place there -- HDV is a consumer format designed around giving consumers the ability to shoot home movies on their home HDV camcorders and play them on their HDTVs, designed primarily around one uncompromising goal: it must record on a $4 tape, regardless of what that means for quality. HDV *will* be used by professionals, and cameras are being released that have some awfully professional features, but that doesn't make the format professional, because it's not. Whether HDV pushes SD out of the market for events or industrials depends on your clients. I still haven't had a single corporate/industrial client ask for HD, or care about HD. For some markets, HD is already becoming mandatory -- like trade show booths, there you've got to offer HD or you'll probably find yourself replaced soon. But whether HDV will fit the bill remains to be seen.

Lest this sound like HDV-bashing, I've already ordered an HD100. I will be an HDV user. It has its place, it has its purpose. Just keep in mind what it is, what it can do well, and what it doesn't do well, where it fails, and don't kid yourself: don't try to pretend it's something it's not, that's all I'm saying.
 
Slowly but surely, HD will suplant SD. How long it will take is really anybody's guess and will depend on the market segment you service. The transition to HD as the primary video delivery system to the home will probably take 10 years, give or take.

How ever, what I find exciting is the expansion of video delivery on the web and, now, to mobile devices like cell phones, PDAs and the coming Video iPod like devices. These technologies are so realatvely new that production workflows for them are far from being standardized. IMO, I think that the acceptance of these means of video delivery will lengthen the life of quality SD acquisition.

One thing that I think we will see in a very short time (5-10years) is a split between the video maker and the filmmaker. The HDTV standard, for the videomaker, is pretty well established as far as being a format standard and I do not see any change in that in the near future. However, the flavors, if you will, of the formats (like HDV) will grow and hopefully will get better and cheaper. For the filmmaker, IMO, I believe the future is represented by such products as the Panavision Genesis, the Arri D-20 and the Kinetta camera. I beileve the cost of large sensor raw data cameras like these will drop and will soon be common place in the independent filmmaking community.

I plan on keeping a close watch on the market segment that I am envolved in and will make adjustments to my gear accordingly. I don't think that my SD DV cameras will be boat anchors anytime soon, but the may be lovingly stored next to my Super8 and 16mm cams for that occasional special project where only they can give me the look I need.
 
I don't know about the rest of you but I'm gonna hold out for Super High Definition TV (SHDTV). I'm not buying into this low-res HD propaganda. Hopefully after that my kids will be able to watch Ultra High Definition TV (UHDTV) on their vacation trips to the moon.

See link: http://www.japancorp.net/Article.asp?Art_ID=8214

These questions as to whether HD will push SD out of the way are pointless. Of course they will, just like plastic LP's pushed wax records aside and the automobile made the horse and buggy obsolete (unless you're Amish). Technology is ever evolving. The real question to ask yourself is "What the hell am I gonna do with these mediums and how am I going to pay for it?"
 
10 INPUT [Sarcasm]
20 PRINT OH....so that's why MTV is telling the rappers to *Keep in on Wax*!! :evil:
30 REM
40 INPUT [End Sarcasm]
50 GOTO 10

RUN


~reservoir~
 
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