Markee Magazine, July 2004

HD Unmasked excerpt:
Is HD Post Tried and True or Are the Tools and Processes Still In Their Infancy?

"The hurdle in HD post isn't the hardware," notes video Editor Steve Panning who co-owns Chicago HD which offers HD and SD postproduction services. "The biggest variable is the people doing the post: Are you working with an editor who has HD experience? Is the post house able to take the HD ball and run with it? NTSC standards haven't changed for years; there are a lot of editors out there who have been doing great work on high-end SD equipment. But HD is a whole new ball game with a new set of rules."

While there are no real missing links in HD post technology today, the ability to integrate the pieces takes special know-how. "You'll never find everything you want [for HD post] in one box," Panning says. "So you have to find people who can bring the technology together for you."

Chicago HD has been doing HD post for three years editing and finishing independent films such as Bloom and The Climactic Death of Dark Ninja, commercials, and the monthly sports series, Nike Training Camp, broadcast on iN Demand PPV. Chicago HD's toolset includes Apple's Final Cut Pro 4.5 with uncompressed I/O plus HDCam, DVCProHD, D-5 and various SD decks. "We're still improving the processes and workflow; we're still learning," Panning reports.

A key piece of advice, borrowed from the SD world, is to involve the HD post house early in the project. "The mistake some people make," Panning says, "is to assume it's easy to do HD post on Final Cut, Avid, or whatever the case may be. They may not understand the complex steps, the many little details that are involved. Ultimately, they create a mess for themselves, come to us afterwards and say, 'Help! Can you fix this?' Of course our answer is 'Yes.'"