'Selling' USB delivery to clients

[Peter Rush]

So for next season I'm thinking of delivering on USB drive as standard and having optical discs as a paid-for extra, but I'm struggling with how to sell this to couples.

For those of you delivering on USB ho do you go around explaining that they might not be able to gather around the TV to watch it unless they hook up a laptop via HDMI or some sort of Chromecast setup? As we know, that fact that a TV has a USB port means very little - my 5 year old Sharp has one but will only play JPG photos and audio files.

It seems a bit of a hard sell to me compared to simply inserting a disc. looking at the lovely menu and away you go!

[Roger Gunkel]

Hi Peter,

I've been delivering on USB for the last couple of years, with my basic package including one USB and two DVDs. I render MP4 files for the USB directly from the time line, with a maximum file length of 55 mins to keep within the 4Gb limit. I often make the files smaller, to coincide with appropriate points in the day, such as start of ceremony, speeches, first dance etc. Most modern tvs will play the files consecutively if they are numbered consecutively. I do find that most couples never bother with chapter points on the DVDs, preferring to fast forward if they want to bypass something. If you split the mp4s into suitable sections, they are really just as convenient as chapters.

I have delivered dozens of weddings on USB and have yet to find someone that can't play them. If you write them as a basic MP4 file rather than a packaged MP4 such as MT2S of some other AVCHD files, then you should find that they are playable on almost everything with a USB slot. I find that clients love the fact that they can view on tv, laptop, netbook, even their phone with a USB stick with phone connector. They are also more than happy that they can view in full HD.

Once the MP4 files are rendered, I set a new time line and drag the rendered files onto it in order to write the DVD. That seems to allow much faster writing of the DVD than I get from the original edit timeline.

I also had no problem introducing the USB delivery with a nice presentation case and selling the fact it is full HD, makes USB a no brainer. It's also helped by the fact that a rapidly increasing number of couples no longer have a DVD player, viewing their movies via download services.

Finally, when I visit couples to show them our work, or have videos and photos running at wedding shows, I can now take out one USB portable hard drive that contains dozens of wedding videos and thousands of photos from different weddings, a really convenient way of showing high quality copies of your work.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

Hi Guys

USB is so much easier and quicker but I wonder how brides will react to getting just a USB. I'm like Roger and give them DVD's and USB and sadly they always steer towards the DVD's. In fact I had one couple who complained bitterly that they never got their highlight video. I told then "it's on your USB" ...."Oh we haven't seen that yet" ...! They seem to like the addition of the USB but for some strange reason they always gravitate to the DVD's first.

Pete? bear in mind that although DVD's are a pain to make up. they still represent more value for money than a USB simply because of the packaging, printing and presentation. The bride feels she is getting her money's worth when you hand over 3 double DVD sets as opposed to a tiny USB drive.

I'm actually struggling to find decent blank DVD's already and they have already disappeared off my local supplier's shelf so I guess brides will have to suck it up and accept USBs

The selling part is going to be tough I think especially if your competition still offers DVD so I have adopted the "supply DVD's until they are no longer available" but also add in a USB

Maybe we could look at the packaging from a photographer POV and supply a pristine white A4 album with some prints in it and a USB in a neat cut out in the centre ?? That would lift the perceived value quite a bit!

[Danny O'Neill]

Most of our couples opt for USB or all USB delivery out of their 3 copies.

The way to sell it is "When was the last time you even had to leave your sofa to rent a movie?"

I have no idea why people still want a disk as blockbuster died years ago because we were all downloading our movie rentals. Why do they feel their wedding needs to be on a disk when everything else they watch is streamed.

Most TV's from the past 5-6 years will play movies from a USB stick. Make sure its in FAT32 (which doest mean a 4GB file size limit) but even my inlaws super cheap tescos telly will play anything you stick in the USB port.

Our TV plays exFAT formatted sticks but only after we did a firmware update. It's still 10 years away before we can use that format as the norm.

This year we've done away with disks as standard. They get a single USB stick and also a custom URL to play their films online. Disks are optional and extra. Ill let you know how it goes as its only just happened.

If you want to test the waters with your clients do what we did. They used to get 3 copies and they can be USB, DVD or Blu-Ray, they choose whatever combination they want. The most popular was all 3 USB followed by 1 of each.

[Noa Put]

I also put dvd on a option list since last year and give them the film in HD on a exfat formatted usb stick, the reason why I choose exfat is because I consider the usb stick as a carrier for the files and exfat will read on mac and pc, I leave it up to the client to copy the files to their laptop/tablet or mediaplayer or to a usb stick that is formatted in the right way so their tv can play it back.

I also give them a blu-ray as standard. Why the blu-ray? Because it's a extra backup when they ever would loose their digital files, you can just copy the m2ts files right of the disc and play them back with vlc mediaplayer or have it converted to a mp4 as the audiocodec for m2ts files is often not supported for playback on tv.

[Nigel Barker]

Why not just create Blu-ray disks with mp4 files rather than m2ts? The quality will be better for the same big rate as the compression is better for MPEG4 versus the MPEG2 of m2ts.

[Roger Gunkel]

The point of changing from DVD is that fewer and fewer people have or are using DVD players. Even less have Bluray, so that would be making delivery harder not easier. MP4 files can be written easily to USB and any file size limit is really not a problem.

Roger

[D.R. Gates]

I'm always about giving the clients more options instead of fewer. I typically give out 4 DVDs, 2 Blu-rays and one USB thumb drive in the base package. It's not just the couple who sees the product, but the family, who are of various ages and technical know-how. No one option is the right option.

[D.R. Gates]

Originally Posted by Roger Gunkel

The point of changing from DVD is that fewer and fewer people have or are using DVD players.

That's just nonsense.

[Colin Rowe]

It may well be nonsence in California, but it certainly isn't in the UK. Its just a natural progression.

[D.R. Gates]

People still have DVD players. They may not be using them as much to play discs and instead will use the streaming capabilities of the unit for their entertainment needs. But most people still have one hooked up to their TV. It's not going anywhere soon.

We seem to have is a few people who never liked authoring DVDs or designing the case cover art. They just want to transfer a video file to a USB drive and call it a day. The laziest way possible.

It's really not that hard putting a little bit of extra work to make sure the client has multiple ways to view their video across different devices.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

Why not just create Blu-ray disks with mp4 files rather than m2ts?

I"m using tmpgenc authoringworks to create my blu-ray's, not sure how to change that as according to the preferences the streamformat is mpeg4-avc which then seem to result in those m2ts files. The other option I can choose from is mpeg2 video.
Mediainfo says the files are a BDAV AVC format.

[Chris Harding]

I doubt whether people would physically discard their DVD players unless they were faulty but more often than not they still lie in the entertainment unit either connected or disconnected ..to be honest we haven't turned ours on in years so yes that's the trend. BluRay is even worse ... I think I found one bride last year that actually owned one ..most just don't buy them. Video Hire stores have all closed down now so unless you buy from the local store you don't use them. However there are STILL more DVD's available and BD are not found. The stores of obviously still selling DVD's otherwise they wouldn't have them on the shelf in such large numbers so people still have DVD players or they might watch on their computers for all we know. Every country is different but here, brides still expect DVD's on a conventional wedding shoot.

I guess you must supply whatever the bride asks for and if in doubt, over supply is probably better than under supply even if it doesn't get used.

[Roger Gunkel]

Originally Posted by D.R. Gates

People still have DVD players. They may not be using them as much to play discs and instead will use the streaming capabilities of the unit for their entertainment needs. But most people still have one hooked up to their TV. It's not going anywhere soon.

We seem to have is a few people who never liked authoring DVDs or designing the case cover art. They just want to transfer a video file to a USB drive and call it a day. The laziest way possible.

It's really not that hard putting a little bit of extra work to make sure the client has multiple ways to view their video across different devices.

I don't know what type of video work you do or what people use in th U.S. and I also don't agree with the suggestion that I am taking the lazy way out.

I have been filming wedding video professionally for 32 years and have been delivering on DVD since it first became practical. I visit every single client to show them my work before taking a booking and until about 3 years ago, every single potential client had a DVD player, although hardly any had Bluray players. Over the last 3 years, I have noticed a rapid decline in the number of potential clients with DVD players, and over the last year I would say that 50% had either no DVD player at all, or none wired into their TVs. In the last 3 weeks I have visited 11 potential new clients and only 3 had a DVD player. That has meant that I now have to show my work from USB drive and carry a portable USB hard drive with about 50 weddings on in addition to several DVDs. The upside is that they see a much higher resolution product which is important as I am seeing a rapidly increasing number of clients with 4K tvs.

I totally disagree with your opinion that you can just transfer a file to USB and call it a day, in fact I would rather just supply DVD if it was worthwhile and had the same quality as HD USB delivery. I have absolutely no problem with DVD authoring, I carry out the edit on the timeline In Magix Pro17, add chapter points which takes seconds, add my standard menu which is also just a couple of minutes work and render out the DVD straight from the timeline. I use my own artwork template for DVD face printing and sleeve which just involves changing the cover pictures, and date and name. Total time including printing for 3 copies about 15 minutes.

On the other hand, to ensure compatibility from my USB MP4 delivery, I make up usually 3 files from the timeline to keep each within the 4Gb limit, each of which has to be seperately rendered, then transferred to the USB. if I deliver 3 USBs, that takes longer than copying 3 DVDs. There is also a much higher cost to blank USB sticks than blank DVDs. Then there is the cost of suitable presentation packaging for the USBs which is approximately 20 times the cost of a printed DVD and case. My clients also get both DVD and USB in their delivery for the benefit of other family and friends.

Lazy I don't think so!

Roger

[D.R. Gates]

At a place I like to shop the most, Costco, they actually have 3 streaming-equipped Blu-ray players priced at $69, $79 and $89, and no straight DVD players. This is what I've been waiting to see. Affordable Blu-ray and no DVD players. Because Blu-ray is backwards compatible it's now redundant to sell DVD players by themselves.

I love how my videos look on Blu-ray. The quality that I shot with is the quality the couple sees. No compromises. Because I include Blu-ray no matter what, there have been a couple of clients who bought a Blu-ray player when they got their wedding video.