Post Magazine, December 2005

High Def Outlook:
Feel the Love for HD

STRENGTHS: "HD's greatest strengths are its resolution and convenience. You're shooting very high resolution, particularly at 1080/24p. Mastering in HD results in an HD master that's compatible with HD broadcast formats and it's downward-compatible with all SD formats. It's high-res enough to allow filmmakers to record their HD masters out to film and then project it on a 50-inch plasma or 50-foot theater screen. The flexibility to create other HD, SD and film versions from a HD master results in great time and monetary savings."

WEAKNESSES: "The biggest weakness is that HD is often misunderstood. Folks who haven't worked with it before jump into it thinking it will be much like the SD video they've been shooting for years. But every HD format has its own subtle differences, such as the way data is recorded and which format certain HD decks are capable of playing back. If you are still on a learning curve, there are many 'gotchas' that can burn you and result in missed deadlines and additional expenses. Another weakness is the need for fast throughput. Our clients expect realtime color correction and effects, and today's hardware is just getting there."

OPPORTUNITIES: "The greatest opportunity is the ability to work in a cinema-grade format very efficiently using electronic acquisition and post production, and then show your work projected on a large screen. Software such as Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects enable filmmakers to work at an affordable, high-quality HD level that just wasn't do-able a few years ago."

THREATS: "This business is going HD. If people wait to adopt this format, they'll find themselves at a competitive disadvantage against those who are now mastering the learning curve and developing the skills necessary to produce HD professionally and cost effectively. Another threat is that clients have enjoyed falling rates, from about $500 per hour down to $150 per hour or less for SD work. It's a tough sell to get them back up to those higher hourly rates associated with HD work… particularly since customers are moving toward lower budgets and higher expectations."

OUTLOOK FOR 2006: "As much as I'm bullish on HD, I'd have to say that HD is not progressing as quickly as everybody thought it would. This is largely owing to the slow adoption of HDTV sets by consumers. It will ultimately take off, but probably not in 2006."