DVDs are passe?

Bruce Patterson · August 24th, 2007, 09:26 AM

In my opinion, DVDs ARE out-dated from a delivery stand-point (i.e. from my point of view as a videographer), but unfortunately it's the medium that is the easiest for most clients to use and one that they think is still current. Also, if they want to share the video at all, especially to grandparents or other technically un-savvy family members, the DVD is the best method for them.

For me, I absolutely hate the way DVDs have to compressed everything so much and I've never been happy with how HDV footage and titles look on DVD. We offer pre-loaded iPhone, iPod, and AppleTV options for our clients as well as full-length film streaming online. It's been pretty successful so far, although AppleTV can be a little confusing for most clients. FWIW, we show our portfolio of work in our studio on an AppleTV.

I don't think DVD is dead to most consumers, though. It's taken a long time for most people to buy DVD players and they aren't all going to rush out and adopt the HD formats and buy a new player. I think things are in limbo until we get a realistic and easy way to deliver HD-DVDs or Blu-ray discs to the masses. AppleTV has been a good compromise for my clients since it's cheaper and is more versatile that an HD-DVD or Blu-ray player b/c they can stream all their media wirelessly. I'm working in HDV and the footage looks great on the AppleTV. If any of you are using Apple's pro-res setting to deal with your HD footage, then it looks even BETTER on the AppleTV than straight HDV footage.

Glen Elliott · August 25th, 2007, 09:24 AM

From what I gathered Jobs said that to lead into the news that .Mac subscribers will now be upgraded to 10 gigs. It was a reference to sharing videos on the web rather than burning DVDs and sending them to friends and family members. I agree with him on this point, however for our clientel the DVD is far from dead (even whether it be HD-DVD or BluRay).

I don't think I'd want the videography product being less "tangible" than it already is. The web, however, is a good addition to the tangible hardcopy delivered to the client.

Adam Hoggatt · August 25th, 2007, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Go to the electronics store in the U.S. and you will still find 19" tube televisions.

Actually, granted the size and weight, CRT TVs have exceptional picture quality that arguably rivals Plasma.

Chris M. Watson · August 25th, 2007, 03:03 PM

I think a few things need to happen first before physical media as a delivery medium goes the way of the Dodo. The first thing is a delivery system that makes sense. Tivo is already offering direct to TIVO movies where you just order the movie you want and it downloads locally. Apple iTV is another emerging solution and from what I've heard is very awesome as far as viewing HD content on a TV. The other is the option to burn a DVD from the content similar to how you can make your own music CDs from iTunes.

I welcome the day when all we have to do when we finish a wedding video is encode and beam the video to someone's Tivo or iTunes. Would make the whole authoring process a thing of the past.

Chris W

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glen Elliott

From what I gathered Jobs said that to lead into the news that .Mac subscribers will now be upgraded to 10 gigs. It was a reference to sharing videos on the web rather than burning DVDs and sending them to friends and family members. I agree with him on this point, however for our clientel the DVD is far from dead (even whether it be HD-DVD or BluRay).

I don't think I'd want the videography product being less "tangible" than it already is. The web, however, is a good addition to the tangible hardcopy delivered to the client.

Adam Hoggatt · August 25th, 2007, 05:00 PM

The problem is that tech manufacturers recognize that there is a profit to be made and those types of delivery will end up costing way more than is necessary. I personally don't want to have to pay for a subscription to TiVo or Apple TV just to get content that works better and is easier to manage on my computer (and that they don't allow space for). For a couple hundred bucks I could build a new PC with a Terabyte of HD space that can store hundreds and thousands of movies, TV shows and even HD movies that I can just click on to watch and not ever have to worry about compatibility issues or disk space, commercials or having to stick a disk in whenever I want to watch. The technology is there already but no big time mfgr is going to let the good of the consumer get in the way of profits so if you're not tech savvy you're out of luck.

August 25th, 2007, 09:24 AM	#17
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	From what I gathered Jobs said that to lead into the news that .Mac subscribers will now be upgraded to 10 gigs. It was a reference to sharing videos on the web rather than burning DVDs and sending them to friends and family members. I agree with him on this point, however for our clientel the DVD is far from dead (even whether it be HD-DVD or BluRay). I don't think I'd want the videography product being less "tangible" than it already is. The web, however, is a good addition to the tangible hardcopy delivered to the client. __________________ Glen Elliott Cord 3 Films

August 24th, 2007, 09:26 AM	#16
Bruce Patterson Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 115	In my opinion, DVDs ARE out-dated from a delivery stand-point (i.e. from my point of view as a videographer), but unfortunately it's the medium that is the easiest for most clients to use and one that they think is still current. Also, if they want to share the video at all, especially to grandparents or other technically un-savvy family members, the DVD is the best method for them. For me, I absolutely hate the way DVDs have to compressed everything so much and I've never been happy with how HDV footage and titles look on DVD. We offer pre-loaded iPhone, iPod, and AppleTV options for our clients as well as full-length film streaming online. It's been pretty successful so far, although AppleTV can be a little confusing for most clients. FWIW, we show our portfolio of work in our studio on an AppleTV. I don't think DVD is dead to most consumers, though. It's taken a long time for most people to buy DVD players and they aren't all going to rush out and adopt the HD formats and buy a new player. I think things are in limbo until we get a realistic and easy way to deliver HD-DVDs or Blu-ray discs to the masses. AppleTV has been a good compromise for my clients since it's cheaper and is more versatile that an HD-DVD or Blu-ray player b/c they can stream all their media wirelessly. I'm working in HDV and the footage looks great on the AppleTV. If any of you are using Apple's pro-res setting to deal with your HD footage, then it looks even BETTER on the AppleTV than straight HDV footage.

August 25th, 2007, 05:00 PM	#20
Adam Hoggatt Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Colorado Springs, CO Posts: 126	The problem is that tech manufacturers recognize that there is a profit to be made and those types of delivery will end up costing way more than is necessary. I personally don't want to have to pay for a subscription to TiVo or Apple TV just to get content that works better and is easier to manage on my computer (and that they don't allow space for). For a couple hundred bucks I could build a new PC with a Terabyte of HD space that can store hundreds and thousands of movies, TV shows and even HD movies that I can just click on to watch and not ever have to worry about compatibility issues or disk space, commercials or having to stick a disk in whenever I want to watch. The technology is there already but no big time mfgr is going to let the good of the consumer get in the way of profits so if you're not tech savvy you're out of luck.