Anyone doing a "no disks" delivery yet?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Noa

Each page is 8.5" wide and 7" down so an open book measures 17" across and 7" down. On the right hand page is an embedded 7" LCD display which admittedly isn't that big but our guys here go up to 10" displays. Just remember being like a digital photo album you would tend to place it on your lap as you would when paging through a regular photo album so your eyes are only 15" away (unless you are very tall) from the screen so probably a 7" screen would be enough to see most detail.

Most images in photo albums are 10cm x 15cm prints (6x4) which also have a diagonal of 7" so it would be much the same as looking at a regular photo which people are quite happy to do.

I'm not sure how close (or far) one should view a 10" LCD from but some say it's the diagonal x 1.6 so on your lap a 9" screen is actually the correct size for viewing.

Chris

[Roger Gunkel]

There are a large number of Chinese suppliers offering these at the moment, from business cards to photo books with built in screen. As you say Chris, most supply blanks in bulk only, but there is a gradual take up in end suppliers from other countries including the UK, that will complete the work.

I have a couple running up quotes for me at the moment, although the biggest cost seems likely to be the cost of the printing and preparation, even for a generic bulk order. I am interested in seeing if the unit price can be brought down to a similar cost to other wedding luxuries such as acrylic prints and large wall canvases etc. If so, then I can see see the video photo album being something that will capture the imagination of Brides over the next few years. Options include up to 4Gb memory, and add on buttons for volume, forward/rewind and file selection. Screens at the moment go up to 10".

It would be something that would put those of us offering video and photo packages in an advantageous position, with a glossy leather bound photo book including a built in video screen.

Roger

[Noa Put]

It would be something that would put those of us offering video and photo packages in an advantageous position, with a glossy leather bound photo book including a built in video screen.

I have mentioned it before but I think a combo of photo and video is even a greater risk, if the build in screen would malfunction you would have to redo the entire album, so also have the photo's printed again. If you just would have a screen where you could slide in a photo on the front of the album if anything goes wrong you just replace it with a new album where you copy the film on and replace the photo but a entire photoalbum is another matter because you need to get it reprinted as well and that would be a costly matter.

[Chris Harding]

As far as I know you get "generic" units made for you. That's what Martin does in the UK. The front cover would simply say "Our Wedding" and any photos are not actually printed like a coffee table book but photos are inserted much the same as a generic photo album so in the event of a failure you could easily grab a new book, upload the video and slip in an existing photo on the inside page. The only printing is the initial cover design which stays the same. If a unit does go faulty I'm pretty sure your supplier would be able to just replace the screen and controls as the printing side is purely decorative and the screen/buttons are modular and integral with the electronics.

They must be pretty reliable as big name companies use them as video brochures ..if they failed miserably I'm sure they wouldn't be used.

They probably would be more attractive to the budget bride who wants good value for her money. The bride who has Daddy spring for a 6 man video team staring at $15K would no doubt consider it cheesy as her perceived value is the prestige of have a Hollywood style crew film her wedding.

I still like the idea so keep us posted on UK prices Roger. I will ask some of our local guys if they would do a generic one with reasonably small quantities at an affordable price.

Chris

[Roger Gunkel]

I agree with you Chris that screen replacement should be pretty straight forward but I would like to find out more about it. I'm also looking at the possibility of a generic video album with a removeable inner photobook.

This has also encouraged me to look at slimline mp4 players which might be able to be built into a hard covered album style case. As some of the players have hdmi output to plug into a tv for full hd viewing, it could be another flexible alternative delivery system.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

Hi Roger

My local guy seems quite reasonable and his quote is below :

Chris



Thank you for your enquiry. We would be very glad to work with you.

· Model VGC-070 Video Brochure 7inch TFT/LCD screen

· format A5, A4, 210x210mm

· 7” screen

· 2GB Memory

· 3 buttons (play/pause, volume (+), volume (-)

· 1200mA Li-Ion re-chargeable battery

· 4C custom offset custom print (matte or gloss)



50pcs @ AUD $56.00/pc Ex-GST

100pcs @ AUD$48.00/pc Ex-GST

*** Includes all shipping costs

[Nigel Barker]

The video album is great as a novelty gimmick or freebie but I would be really nervous about offering this as the main deliverable. There is just too much that could go wrong & leave the client with a dead grey piece of plastic. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if the hardware were made by Sony or Apple but do you really want to be in the hardware support business?

[Noa Put]

I think it's the same as supplying a cheap photoalbum where the pages might come loose over time vs a very expensive one that will last you a lifetime, then you might have to slide in a ipad in a cover or another expensive tablet from a established supplier to at least have some peace of mind during the warranty period but I doubt if you would find any clients that would pay for that.

[Roger Gunkel]

I think that whatever format you use for delivery, there is always the possibility of failure. Discs get scratched and they are left with a useless piece of ink filled plastic, usb drives and sd cards can fail, or even be disrupted by strong magnetic fields, online storage can go bust, servers might pack up etc. Video photo albums would be no exception, which is why it is always good to have a secondary backup.

The video album is just another alternative approach to supplying an attractive product.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

I would still supply DVD's to the bride as I normally do but as a primary backup and home theatre use. I think the video books have HUGE perceived value which would give you an edge over competitors and I feel the bride would tend to show it off more as it's much easier to look at ..grab the book and open it and view ...the concept is easy and gratifying plus it's fast to reach for and view compared to putting a DVD in the player, turning on the TV getting people seated etc etc ... this can be shown to a prospective bride one on one while the rest of the family do other things. "Hey, take a look at my wedding: not "Now everyone sit down while I dim the lights and show you my wedding" ... There is also a spin off with corporate clients who want a video brochure ..you shoot and supply the brochure in one turnkey operation

Chris

[Arthur Gannis]

I've been told that there is something called a media player. like a small box with a remote controller that into the box there s provision to plug a USB device/sd card slot etc., with movie files or photo JPG and the output goes via a HDMI to the telly. I was just browsing the net and the one that caught my attention was the WD media player that goes for like $100USD. I don't know if anyone tried these players and how is the picture quality on a 1080P screen.? If anyone has experience with these, I am curious. This way, if the video quality is truly HD I will look more into it to mentioning it to my clients and then can have their video on a removable memory.
Like this one :http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1270

[Zelle Olson]

I am reading about a lot of Videographers only offering USB drives, but how do you fit an hour wedding on a USB Drive?

[Dave Baker]

Arthur, I have had the old version of the WDTV media player for a few years, it's how I view all my HD video on the TV set. It connects by HDMI cable and image quality is top notch.

Mine has two USB slots, one at the back and one at the side. I keep an external hard drive behind the TV and I put my videos on it for viewing at leisure, sort of a video juke box. I use the other slot for plugging in a USB stick for occasional use, such as checking the odd video before final rendering.

Apart from the second USB slot being slightly inconveniently on the side, something I see they have changed on the new model, I can't fault it.

Dave

[Noa Put]

I have had a first gen WD mediaplayer, a tiny box that played about anything, only my current Samsung tv can do the same and more now when I just plugin a usb stick.

Zelle, you can easily fit one hour of HD material on a usb stick, just choose the appropriate bitrate depending on the size of the stick, since 32gb sticks are very cheap these days you can even copy a mp4 file in the highest quality possible.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Arthur

I also have a media player under the shelf where the TV sits. Mine also like Noa's has two USB inputs so you can zap in a USB drive and play music, movies etc etc. We also have a USB HDD next to it so your storage can be huge. For a bride it still is a bit of a hassle as you have to plug in the player to power and also plug in the HDMI but it plays virtually anything. Over here you can also get tons of generic players which are cheaper and fancier (including a fancy remote control) and are as little as $50.00

Like a USB thumbdrive they still cannot present a DVD/BD style of menu and mine only gives you a list of files to play BUT they do handle folder structures so you can have a movies folder, music folder etc etc.

I was also thinking at one stage to supply a media player plus a USB thumb drive to brides as part of the package but most have no issues with just a DVD set. As already mentioned I also wonder if brides need or use a menu? It would be nice to have a media player that could autorun a wedding video by just turning it on! I know mine needs a fair amount of navigation to actually get to the thumbdrive and find and play say, a wedding video. I think the less hassle you can provide the better so a bride can watch her wedding .... that's why I'm still looking a the video book as an "instant gratification" device ...she can pick it up and open it and it plays ..no fiddling with the TV channels, DVD player or media player. As Nigel has already suggested it's not by any means a replacement for media and the full wedding but simply as a front end solution with a shortened wedding that will not bore family and friends and then one's normal DVD/BD delivery as the primary backup so she has the entire wedding to watch herself. With this in mind I don't think that a media player could be considered as a primary delivery format either ...USB drives can fail, media players can fail but unless physically damaged DVD/BD are not likely to fail.

I want my brides to be able to watch their weddings instantly without any technical knowledge ... any disk system still requires a bit of TV and player skill so it's easy to say "I'll watch it later"

Chris