Also when you look at the statistics the numbers may be a little misleading. Back in the old days it was very common to give a color television set your first consideration for your living room but it was considered estravagent to buy a color television set for your bedroom. But was color television considered a failure because of lack of market share?

So I think today we have the same phenomenon I think that for the main television that is in the living room the HDTV has the majority of the market share of all new televisions sold. Simply put if someone is buying a television for the living room more people will choose an HDTV than any other kind of television. However televisions destined for the kitchen or the bedroom are probably going to be standard definition. So the so called failure of HDTV is simply due to the fact that most houses have more bedrooms than living rooms.

Also another thing to consider is the cost of high definition television. Right now it is possible to make the radical claim that HDTV saves money over standard defintion. This is because the FCC is requiring that more and more televisions have to include a free ATSC tuner that is capable of receiving free high definition signals over the air. Also major metropolitan areas broadcast free HDTV signals that require nothing more than a set of amplified rabbit ears to pick up even a weak digital signal which would be impossible to do with analog.

How about this:

Shoot in HDV, edit in DV, sell them the HDV source like photographers sell their negatives. Just tell them that there is no good editing/delivery path right now for HD, but they can at least have the tape for the future. Heck, you might even be able to sell them the HD re-edit later.

I've always thought that was nickel-and-dimeing the customers, but photographers got away with it for decades. At least, for HDV, there is an excuse in that there is no delivery format.

There is a delivery mechanism. A very good one. And it sells for only $250 - which considering they spent ten times that or more on the HDTV should not be a problem.

People keep saying that there is no delivery mechanism. Yet I use one all of the time. And so do my customers.

There are DVD players that can Play WMVHD. Very Few though on the market. JVC's ioData is about $350 though. You can buy one for the customer and build it in to the cost. With HDTV at 7% of the market I suspect only a VERY SMALL portion of that number have DVD player than can play WMVHD.

That is very interesting. The I-O-Data AVeL Linkplayer2 sells for $250 and the JVC version for $399. Yet the JVC was built along the same lines with I-O-Data's help. Very interesting.

JVC is distributing the updated ioData. It's a new version with DVI outs added which will mean people with Apple Cinema Displays and the like will be able to view WMVHD even if they don't have HDTV yet. Not sure if that means JVC is exclusive and ioData won't otherwise sell in USA (or other) market. JVC was showing the box at the Cine Equipment Expo in NYC a couple of months back.

BTW I also hear the new XBOX can play WMVHD also. Now that might get some serious market penetration and I wouldn't be surprised if the same kind of folks who buy HDTV might also buy an XBOX.

Of course non of this would fall into the $1000 wedding but it can open up an upscale market for HD weddings.

BTW I also hear the new XBOX can play WMVHD also. Now that might get some serious market penetration and I wouldn't be surprised if the same kind of folks who buy HDTV might also buy an XBOX.


Cool, if this is true I'm buying an xbox 360 (what a great excuse to buy a new gaming console :)

Cool, if this is true I'm buying an xbox 360 (what a great excuse to buy a new gaming console :)
when i'm not doing wedding videos, i work in the videogame industry (it's more like the other way around). i suggest you wait a bit (though you might be forced to due to product shortage). there's a heating issue with the power supply.

i suggest you wait a bit (though you might be forced to due to product shortage). there's a heating issue with the power supply.

A bit off topic but... this "product shortage" was carefully thought by their marketing team. It's human nature to want something that's in short supply and it's human nature to talk about it and write about it. The shortage may really be happening - but realize it's was created on purpose.

A bit off topic but... this "product shortage" was carefully thought by their marketing team. It's human nature to want something that's in short supply and it's human nature to talk about it and write about it. The shortage may really be happening - but realize it's was created on purpose.
some of it is thought out marketing, some of it is not. the ppc chips from ibm are in short supply (they were non-existent in may, where the demo software at e3 was actually being driven by two paired powermac g5's... oh the irony), and with 3 in each xbox 360 and the japanese release this week, it's a lot to produce in very little time. that said, microsoft need to ensure a successful launch by selling through their initial allotment.

sorry for veering off topic.