Making money with your HD-1/ HD10

[Chris Gordon]

It IS possible to make money with the HD-1/HD10.

I recently started a small business called Plasma Window
http://www.plasmawindow.com that provides High Definition
Plasma Art DVDs for flat screen HDTVs.

Our first DVD displays fine art on Plasma TVs. The disc includes two additional sample tracks shot with the HD-1. (A fireplace and waterfall "screensaver".)

Since taking our sales online with Google/eBay/Amazon etc... our results have been incredible! We offer a standard DVD and an HD-DVD. The HD-DVD sales have actually kept pace with the standard DVD sales! All images on the HD-DVD (except the fine art) were shot with the HD-1.

We use a proprietary menu program to make the HD-DVD display like a standard DVD.

To see sample screenshots visit:

http://www.plasmawindow.com/index5.html



All the best!

Chris Gordon

[Ben Buie]

That's an innovative way to use your HD10 for sure. The HD10 is especially good for close-ups like the artwork.

Are you using some sort of special technique to get the images, or just putting the HD10 on a steady tripod and framing it just right? I assume you are letting the camera run and not using stills for the static images like the artwork?

If you don't mind me asking, how many units have you sold thus far (ballpark)?

Anyway, good work!

Ben

[Chris Gordon]

Hi Ben...

The art was actually scanned at VERY high resolution by the company that we licensed it from. Each file was converted to 1280x720 HDTV.

The fireplace and waterfall scenes were shot with the HD-1 and converted to a WMV-HD file for playback. We've also shot several ocean, city and aquarium scenes with the HD-1 which will be released in our next DVD. The EE feature on the HD-1 didn't seem to be a problem for us on most shoots. (As you can see in the images.)

http://www.plasmawindow.com/images/fireplace.jpg
http://www.plasmawindow.com/images/waterfall.jpg


And while I can't release sales figures, we've done surprisingly well.... mostly by people seeking US out through the internet.

[Christopher C. Murphy]

Just got paid for my latest gig....used the HD10u.

I literally just walked in the door from a 3 days of shooting with the HD10u. The shoot was for a performance group that does plays all over the eastern seaboard.

Today's shoot was in Boston at the Mass Art College. I got a few questions from students, and told them about the camera. The footage I got the last couple of days is quite good. Of course, the "low light" issue sucks...and the non-so-manual aspects sucks too.

HOWEVER, I positioned myself where I needed to be lighting wise. Also, when I did interviews I made sure that it was near a window or other lit area.

Just a side note - when I mentioned that the video would be "HD" and be seen in "widescreen" the person in-charge started asking questions. It almost got to confusing for the person, so next time I'm going to say that it's "widescreen" and better quality than the average DV camera. The less you talk about "HDTV", "the future" or anything else that's confusing the better. We all know that stuff is good, but the average person says "I just want a video on VHS or DVD." You know what I mean? In 2 years almost everyone we deal with will get "it", but right now I'm running into almost no one that gets it when relating to just shooting "video". It kind of stinks because I'm marketing myself as "HD", so I have to dumb it down quite a bit after the inital "wow" looks great talk.

Hope this helps people trying to make $$$ with the HD10u.

Murph

[Ed Hill]

During the sales portion we just say that its going to be widescreen on the DVD or for broadcast. So far every client has been pleased with the HD letterbox look.

Selling HD is not any kind of problem at all. Keep it simple.
If the client wants 4:3 standard TV we can always rent a PD 150 or other camera.

Ed

[Chris Gordon]

Just checked out your highlydef.com site. Very nice. Are any of the SD videos you have online shot with the HD10 as well?

-Chris Gordon

[Ben Buie]

<<<-- Originally posted by Chris Gordon : Just checked out your highlydef.com site. Very nice. Are any of the SD videos you have online shot with the HD10 as well?

-Chris Gordon -->>>

The only SD video (the 30-second campaign ad) was shot on a PD-150 simply because of time constraints (didn't have time to get the HD10 from our normal rental source). We had to shoot, edit, and deliver it to the TV station in less than 24 hours.

We don't plan to shoot anything else SD unless we are absolutely forced to.

Ben