I have discovered a site named: http://www.thewindowchannel.com.
Has anyone in the forum submitted any footage to them?
Are they reputable?
I would appreciate any information that your members may have about this organization.
Thanks.
Claude

I've submitted a few things shot on my FX1, but none of them got accepted. I'm still trying though. Very polite folk... they take a week or two to get back to me usually.

-Steve

Steven, was the stuff you submitted good stuff? What I mean is...did you submit thinking "yeah, this is worthy"?

I'm asking because I was thinking of submitting, but I don't want to waste my time (or valuable tape stock) to find out their only accepting 1 out of 100 submissions. If it's a good chance I'll give it a shot, but otherwise it's a lot of work without any way of knowing if they'll accept.

If someone is already on-location I guess it ain't a big deal to shoot 15 minutes (3 clips) for them. But, still...it's up to them and it's not a good bet since they're probably getting 1000 submissions a week.

Also, how was your audio? Did you shotgun or use the on-camera? Was it consistant? Did you submit the stills they asked for?

Yeah, any feedback would be great.

I'm going to a couple of pretty beautiful places this summer and plan to take my FX1 with me. I'd love to try and shoot some material to submit.

Steven, was the stuff you submitted good stuff? What I mean is...did you submit thinking "yeah, this is worthy"?

I wasn't entirely sure what they were looking for (they want nice scenic landsapes), so some of my stuff wasn't suited for their application, even if they were interesting photographs. I didn't try to shoot garbage, but it wasn't stuff that screamed "best photo/video ever!" either. I'm not going to submit again until I'm confident I've got a winner - I don't want to end up on a "ignore this amateur" list.

If someone is already on-location I guess it ain't a big deal to shoot 15 minutes (3 clips) for them.

This has been my philosophy on the subject. For me I figure I have nothing to lose by shooting stuff.

Also, how was your audio? Did you shotgun or use the on-camera? Was it consistant? Did you submit the stills they asked for?

Audio is a problem for most of this outdoor stuff. There's no point in shooting a scene where nothing is moving, so that usually entails wind and everything accompanying it. I used the on camera mic with the levels adjusted manually, often shielded by whatever I've got at the time. I submitted stills, and never got to the point of submitting video - so I don't know what format they want (I would think *.m2t on DVD-R based on their website).

-Steve

Thanks for the info. It looks like a nice little add-on to any shooting that you already got. But, to go out to specifically shoot for them is a gamble. It could be costly if you add the tapes, time to shoot and time to capture the clips. Then you have to get stills to them and wait.

All told it's actual work without knowing you'll get paid. But, if you have a great shot sitting right there in front of you while shooting a paying gig it makes sense to shoot it for submission.

I actually shot a couple pieces for it on a recent shoot, but the audio had random people making noise. It wasn't solid for 5 minutes straight. That's the most difficult part - getting 5 minutes of consistant audio. Everyone we go now people are making noise. You can usually get a minute no problem, but 5 minutes of natural sound is a lot!

5 minutes of natural sound is a lot!

Aye - that's a major problem I've had. It's not something you can do without having to tell friends to shut up. I think the important way to look at it is that you're shooting stock footage. If they like it and buy it, great. Otherwise... meh. This is a hobby for me, so any chance I get to shoot stuff, practice with the camera etc. is great.

-Steve

My thought would also be to not watch the counter and stop the tape right at five minutes. Who knows if one little thing happened in the shot at 2:47 that makes the clip worthless.

When I shot my material I'll probably run each shot for about 10 minutes.

Yeah - I ususally shoot 7-10 minutes in case of either a drop-out, some bad sound or something else ruining the shot.

-Steve

You can edit the audio. If you are shooting a river stream. All you would need is one minute of clear audio.

5 minutes of natural sound is a lot!

I never realized how hard it was to get 5 continuous minutes of natural sound and video until I actually tried going out specifically to shoot a couple things to submit to Window Channel :

Had a great sunset shot out on the beach with practically no one around, and just as the sun dips below the horizon, this beachwalker lady comes up out of nowhere, sees me shooting with the Z1 on sticks - GUESS where she decides to walk by.

Next outing I'm shooting a Japanese Temple scene in the early morning, (had to wait a while for the leaf-blowing guy to stop). And just as I'm at the 4 minute mark of perfect natural sound and video.... A helicopter comes by. Does it fly past? Noooooo. It circles the temple and LANDS BEHIND IT.

Waited for the engine noise to die down, and started rolling tape again... Leaf Blower Guy comes back.

No wonder I'm losing my hair....

I hear you (pun intended!)..

While taking a drive in the country up in New Hampshire and Maine a couple weeks ago I tried shooting some stuff. Well, no one is around...it's totally isolated from the city. I'm shooting off into an gulf next to the ocean...beautiful shot. It's all nat sound..the wind, birds etc. At like 4:50 on my tape a stupid PLANE goes overhead! It's probably at 20,000 feet, but of course we can still hear it perfectly on the headphones.

Man has dominated the planet so much we can't even get away in the most remote parts of the US! It sucks!

They only pay $150 for HDV material but $300 for other material?? what's up with that? It's either good enough or not good enough IMHO. Do they price according to how the footage is captured or submitted?

I know what you're saying. But, if I were them I'd probably do the same thing. It's a fact that the expensive HD cameras produce a better image and they probably want to give incentive to them to shoot footage. I'd like the extra money, but I do understand they're trying to create the ultimate "window" experience...and the HDV format is good enough. However, the other HD cameras are definately better quality and worth the extra money. They have more expenses than HDV users do...

They only pay $150 for HDV material but $300 for other material?? what's up with that? It's either good enough or not good enough IMHO. Do they price according to how the footage is captured or submitted?
To me the fact that they're willing to accept HDV footage at all tells me that it's good enough.

Good point!

They only pay $150 for HDV material but $300 for other material?? what's up with that?

The HDV cameras are cheaper than any other camera that produces 60i content. They are more portable, shoot on less expensive media, and in general would not require more than one person to use. They also shoot in a more more compressed format, and thus are of more limited use to the company.

That said, these kinds of shots are exactly what HDV does best (within it's own format). Locked down scenery is easy on the compressor, allowing the maximum amount of the data rate to account for motion etc. etc. Pretty cool.

-Steve

Thank you all for your inputs on my query.
I have noticed a cityscape (SF) footage with street noises on the Window Channel web site.
I guess the appropriateness of the audio is left to TWC.
Is a seagull call not allowed in a cityscape nor a dog bark at the beach?
How was the question of copyright handled?

Our web site http://www.plasmawindow.com sells DVDs and HD-DVDs with a similar concept.

The Plasmavironments DVD features waterfalls and ocean scenes. We're releasing a cityscape DVD later this year.

I like the idea of a submission program for Sony HDV users and that may be something we pursue. Two of our DVD-ROMs are in WMV 720P HD format and our upcoming Cityscape DVD will be in WMV 1080i format.

Chris,

You need to investigate the AVel Linkplayer2 which plays WM9 files. No PC required.

http://shop.iodata.com/shopping/products.php?cat=HNP&sc=AVEL&pId=AVLP2%2FDVDLA

and a review ...

http://hdsource.highlydef.com/2004/12/review-avel-linkplayer-2-part-1.html

Thanks Steven,

We'll have to test our HD-DVD in this player to see how it performs with our menu system.

-C

*BUMP*

I was wondering if anyone had followed this up? I have made a few submissions to the Window Channel, and gotten so far as to having one of them accepted. I have sent the raw *.m2t file on a DVD-ROM and expect it to arrive within a week or so. After everything goes through I'll give a report of my experience... I was wondering if anyone has had positive experiences with them so far?

-Steve

They also bought one of my submissions, and I sent it on DVD-R on may 2:nd, to arrive a week later. At this point I don't care about the money really, I just want to see if they are for real. As weeks go by with no payment, I start to wonder. I've reminded them once, and they've insisted that I'll get the money soon, but nothing happened. They are always polite and nice, so I'll give them another week or two before I count them off.

I would like this to work because I really like the business idea. If things dont work with TWC, I'm planning to do it myself here in Stockholm, but just with tourist type of material from around the area.

An idea that just popped up in my mind was if we all together could start a HDV material stock and compile different types HD DVDs that we sell, where each photographer gets his share. We create a web site where we submit our material, people can view it in low-res, pick the segments they like, and recieve it on DVD-R. It already works pretty well for still images, there are a lot of those sites. Would it work for us? Or better: is there already such a site?

I would not send any dvd's or tapes without being paid first. (At least 50% now... 50% upon delivery)---Everyone uses Paypal... including big companies.

There really are no copyright issues in this type of content...

So theoretically these people could be compiling a huge library of HI_DEF stuff from us... for free.


But I do hope they are legit and a good company...
But I don't want to wait weeks for a check to come in.

Bjorn mentioned to me that he did get paid eventually. I'll let him fill in as much detail as interests him, but they still haven't gotten back to me. It's a real shame if I'll have to nag them to get paid... but I might shoot some more stuff for them anyway - it is a fun hobby.

-Steve

Yes I got paid eventually.

I get the impression that these are good solid guys, but they lack the attention I require to make future business with them. I had to nag them twice, but on the other hand thats not uncommon when getting paid from a business, at least not here in Sweden. Shooting the segments was fun, although I've never been into the "tourist" type of shots they are after.

If there are enough people who are interested in shooting "Window segments" we could create a web site where we offer our shots. In that way we can reach many more potential buyers, and they'll pay on our terms. I happen to be a web designer/programmer, and if there's any interest I can set things up for us. I don't know if it could be in joint venture with dvinfo.net.

And it's not that hard to do what TWC is doing, really. Just assemble some really good segments on a DVD-R in wmv9, get a Avel Linkplayer and the widescreen TV-set of the customer's choice, and there you have it. Finding customers is another thing though.

Gentlemen -

In the second week of July, plasmawindow.com will begin accepting submissions of HDV 1080i-30/60 footage for two upcoming HD-DVD projects.

Plasma Window will pay $250 per 5 minute shot. We're looking for up to 20 or 30 shots. (Beautiful beaches, cityscapes etc...)

More details will be released on www.plasmawindow.com in the coming weeks. (And on this DVinfo post/board)

dvd@plasmawindow.com

I'd stay away from the Window Channel

I got paid this week. They have always been courteous, and responded to my inqueries rapidly. I will continue to do business with them based upon personal experience and success.

Brent - I don't know if you've submitted to them before or not, but if you haven't, your post above strikes me as dangerously close to fear mongering. By all accounts I've received so far they are legit.

-Steve

I would say if you got paid, that pretty much says that the system works and that the only requirement is a lot of talent getting the right shot.

That's great news.