Posted by David McCall on 05/16/06 19:11

"Steve Guidry" <steveguidryrem0veth1s@earthlink.ditnot> wrote in message
news:I7pag.3000$x4.988@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>
> I've been hearing the same ol' tired refrain about HD since 1991 or so.
> In
> fact, the first NAB I went to - - in 1985 - - featured an HD prototype
> transmission/reception setup.
>
> But when I talk to real engineers at real TV stations (in non-top ten
> markets) , they've _all_ told me that they plan to keep their analog
> gear
> for its full duty cycle. Sure, they've added a digital router layer to
> the
> plant, and they plan to add digital and even some HD stuff as the old gear
> breaks, and they plan to air the network's HD stuff (only because they
> have
> to do it) as it comes down the satellite, but if you think HD is soon to
> be
> everywhere, then boy are you deceived. I'd even go so far as to say that
> people who believe this line are just the kind of chumps that
> manufacturers
> LOVE to see coming down the trade show aisle.
>
> Make no mistake, real HD (as opposed to this HDV bastard child that's so
> popular right now) _IS_ closer to widespread use than it's ever been.
> But I'm not selling the farm until it I have to do so, OR until my
> customer base demands it. And, oh, by the way, Mr.. blackburst, when
> did
> you ever have a client tell you, "I'd do this project with you, AND
> spend
> an extra 50% for it if you _just_ had HD" ? Maybe yours are ready to
> do
> that, but I'm not holding my breath here in East Texas.
>
> I hope this doesn't come off as a personal attack, because I don't mean it
> that way. I just get damn tired of manufacturers who told me all too
> recently, "buy this, it's great" now acting like it's no longer worth a
> plugged nickel.
>
Yeah, I heard the same thing about chip cameras vs. tubes,
analog vs. digital, Phonograph records vs. CDs, Synthesizers
VS organs and pianos, Horseless carriages vs. those with horses.

They were all right on the day they said it, but they became wrong
much sooner than they ever imagined.

Of course there will still be people 10 years from now still using SD.
The question is; will those be the people you want to cater to?

You are perfectly free to snub your nose at HDV. It doesn't begin
to compare to the systems that cost 10 times as much. However
people that have jumped on that bandwagon can offer HDV for
less than you could even if you were using Betacam and tube cameras.

I have not jumped on that bandwagon either, but then I didn't even
buy a professional DV deck (DSR-45) until last year because I
didn't want to go there. Why would I want to compete with everybody
that had a DV camera and a personal computer? I wanted to go to
Digital Betacam, but unfortunately my clients didn't have a need for it.
They eventually needed DV though :-(

David

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