How solid is your budget?
We’ve also spoken to quite a few customers who have budgets to spend now and are concerned that those budgets may not be available in the future.
Making premature HD purchases in reaction to potential budget cuts may not serve you well in the long run, especially when the money could be better spent elsewhere in the company. If you are in this position, discuss your concerns with the gatekeepers of your budget. Propose not spending this year’s budget in full, thereby saving the company money in the short term and delaying your HD purchases until the equipment costs have come down.
In overall cost considerations, take into account the amount of time it takes your team to master the HD workflow (a positive in learning new information and negative in taking more time to complete the project), as well as the marketing value of having HD capabilities (a major positive, as many prospective customers perceive HD as a high-end level of production).
THE CASE FOR BUYING SD NOW
SD is common and the cost/value ratio is high.
DVD’s that we make from our own productions must be SD because there is not (yet) an encoding system for making Blu-Ray DVD’s that most of us can afford to purchase. This means that today for low volume duplication, HD programs must be scaled down to SD. We hope this will change soon!
In web delivery, compression is often more significant. While HD can be displayed on the web, common aspect ratios of online video are 640x480 or lower to expedite download and facilitate smooth playback. Online video platform companies such as Vimeo, Brightcove, Blip and Youtube are only now starting to offer HD streaming to customers, typically as a pay for service. In-house corporate intranets face the same speed / data volume issues.
Many HD cameras also have SD shooting capabilities. If you already have an HD camera, you may use the SD settings in the camera to speed the production process. You can shoot in HD for the NLE edit situations.
The argument for SD: Cost
Standard definition video prices are becoming market driven rather than technology driven. Many SD cameras shoot at 4:3 or 16:9 (widescreen), such as the Canon XL-2 or the Panasonic DVX-100B, while offering high quality images very sufficient for webcast, SD broadcast, or DVD.
Hands down, SD production equipment is less expensive and will continue to be an even better value until HD production equipment, distribution and viewing solutions (such as Blu-Ray players) come down in price and enjoy wider adoption.
The Datavideo SE-900 switcher or MS-900 mobile studio is an affordable and very productive answer for those not quite ready for HD. It has eight SD inputs configurable to use any of the SD formats DV, Composite, Component, S video or SDI. It has multi view output, a multiple input chromakey and it works with Datavideo’s Character generators and intercom/ tally light combinations. The Mobile Studio version is compact and very portable.
How does Datavideo fit in all of this?
Datavideo makes SD and HD switchers and related hardware. Our product development and marketing philosophy takes advantage of the forward movement of technology and decreasing production costs. Each new product is packed with the maximum value we can give, knowing what chips and components are in the marketplace and what’s coming. Our definition of value is more quality, more reliability and more features than you would expect for the price.
We manufacture our own products. Product designs are the result of collaboration between our engineers, marketing sales people and video producers from different countries and different market segments. A church producer needs different things from the NASA engineer who tracks astronaut training sessions, school children need something else and so do corporate producers and university producers. Every Datavideo product is optimized for user needs with the best blend of technology and features at an affordable price.
Copyright Datavideo Corporation -17 Jan, 2009
