by Ken McGorry
NATPE, the traditional show for TV program syndication, has been expanding its reach over the years, adding lots of "pavilions" to its exhibit floor; including New Media and Animation Pavilions. This past January the show and its 20,000 attendees moved to Las Vegas's convention center and Post Magazine co-sponsored NATPE's first "post" pavilion. Called the "Post/DTV Pavilion," and co-sponsored with the ATV Forum (www.atvforum.org), Post Magazine had its first NATPE booth, as did about 14 other companies, Sony, Chyron, Cheetah International (for captioning) were among the manufacturers who joined post/production facility exhibitors,,
Except we spell DTV with an "H."
Post people have been creating in "digital" television long before the congressional mandate. It's HDTV that poses the real technical and artistic challenge to Post's readers, and there were numerous HD practitioners exhibiting. The Consumer Electronics Association has a presence and IBC touted its Nombre d'Or awards program. Bennet-Watt HD Productions showed a beautiful tour of Ireland (shot in DVCPro HD) and New York's ColossalVision boasted a staggering number of leads. SF Video exhibited, as did NYC-based high-end post providers SMA Realtime. Also from New York, The Image Group (whose story on the HD sitcom Welcome to New York appears on page 38) was doing brisk business, too.
The HD Theatre set up in the pavilion also drew crowds, as did the slate of panels and workshops that appeared on its stage. One, on post production issues relating to HD production, featured Conrad Denke of APS (in Seattle and LA) and Randall Dark of HD Vision in Irving, TX, as well as Tom Fletcher of Fletcher Chicago (which does rentals and sales of HD and film production gear). Rounding out the panel (which was moderated by moi), was Jerry Butler, senior director, DTV strategic services group, for PBS in DC. (He's all about enabling quality HD programming for public TV.)
"Probably the most important point is that HD online is a mature technology," Denke told the SRO crowd. "We are way beyond experimentation and it only requires a small amount of re-orientation on the part of producers or post supervisors to make it run smoothly."
"I believe there is too much at stake for production companies to stay as passive as they have been," says Dark, who has been an active HDTV producer for many years. "At this point in the evolution of HO equipment -- specifically, the 24p HD cameras -- the tools are now so prime-time, so user-friendly and, most importantly, so cost-effective that producers have no excuse not to consider HDTV a viable capture medium."
Dark echoed Denke and many more at the show, saying of the DTV/Post Pavilion,' "I thought it was a great idea and would be willing to participate again."
from Post
Wednesday, March 14, 2001
Monday, June 26, 2000
The road show
Demand for production mobile units for sports means equipping trucks that are bigger and better.
by Edmond M. Rosenthal
HD on wheels
Fully dedicated to HD production, post-production and mobile work since March 1992, Dallas-based HD Vision is handling mobile production for a mix of sports events, concerts and trade shows. Recent projects include the Final Four NCAA basketball telecasts for CBS and a Barry Manilow concert for Angotti Productions.
Pointing to the increased affordability of equipment, Randall Dark, HD Vision president and CEO, notes that, two years ago, an HD camera cost about $350,000. Now, one costs about $150,000. Similarly, VTRs for HD have dropped from $365,000 to about $70,000.
"The equipment has also gotten more user-friendly," he observes. "It's more portable and has more options. It's easier to get a variety of lenses." He expects overall HD production to increase dramatically in the fall.
except from Broadcasting & Cable
by Edmond M. Rosenthal
HD on wheels
Fully dedicated to HD production, post-production and mobile work since March 1992, Dallas-based HD Vision is handling mobile production for a mix of sports events, concerts and trade shows. Recent projects include the Final Four NCAA basketball telecasts for CBS and a Barry Manilow concert for Angotti Productions.
Pointing to the increased affordability of equipment, Randall Dark, HD Vision president and CEO, notes that, two years ago, an HD camera cost about $350,000. Now, one costs about $150,000. Similarly, VTRs for HD have dropped from $365,000 to about $70,000.
"The equipment has also gotten more user-friendly," he observes. "It's more portable and has more options. It's easier to get a variety of lenses." He expects overall HD production to increase dramatically in the fall.
except from Broadcasting & Cable
Thursday, May 18, 2000
IECF honors Dark as industry pioneer
Randall Dark is one of two leaders in the field of high-definition production who have been selected for major awards from the International Electronic Cinema Festival (IECF) in Portland, Oregon May 15-19.
Joe Flaherty, Ph.D. of CBS is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award and Randall Paris Dark of HD Vision was selected to receive the Pioneer Award. The Astrolabium Awards ceremony is May 19 at 11 a.m.
Randall Paris Dark, founder, president and CEO of HD Vision, was selected to receive the Pioneer Award. The Pioneer Award is granted for "contributions the individual has made to HDTV production and/or to the promotion of the IECF from a technical, creative, or business aspect."
Dark is an undisputed pioneer in the HDTV industry. He has over 300 high definition productions to his credit, in a career that began with "Chasing Rainbows," the world's first mini-series imaged in High Definition. As a writer, director, and producer he is able to offer an artist's point of view while demonstrating the technological advantages of high definition.
From January-April 2000 alone, programs he directed and produced have received one Silver and three Bronze Tellys, two Communicator Crystal Awards of Excellence, a Communicator Award of Distinction, an Aurora Gold Award, a Gold Summit Creative Award, an Aurora Platinum Best In Show Award and a Certificate of Merit from the Chicago International Television Festival.
In addition to his experience in high definition, Dark is a theatrical director/producer and published playwright, with memberships in the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and the Playwrights Union of Canada.
The International Electronic Cinema Festival, the oldest and most prestigious forum for recognizing outstanding achievements in digital television and digital cinema, is in the United States for the first time ever in Portland, Oregon. It has been held alternately in Montreux, Switzerland, and Chiba, Japan, since 1987.
read the full press release here
Joe Flaherty, Ph.D. of CBS is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award and Randall Paris Dark of HD Vision was selected to receive the Pioneer Award. The Astrolabium Awards ceremony is May 19 at 11 a.m.
Randall Paris Dark, founder, president and CEO of HD Vision, was selected to receive the Pioneer Award. The Pioneer Award is granted for "contributions the individual has made to HDTV production and/or to the promotion of the IECF from a technical, creative, or business aspect."
Dark is an undisputed pioneer in the HDTV industry. He has over 300 high definition productions to his credit, in a career that began with "Chasing Rainbows," the world's first mini-series imaged in High Definition. As a writer, director, and producer he is able to offer an artist's point of view while demonstrating the technological advantages of high definition.
From January-April 2000 alone, programs he directed and produced have received one Silver and three Bronze Tellys, two Communicator Crystal Awards of Excellence, a Communicator Award of Distinction, an Aurora Gold Award, a Gold Summit Creative Award, an Aurora Platinum Best In Show Award and a Certificate of Merit from the Chicago International Television Festival.
In addition to his experience in high definition, Dark is a theatrical director/producer and published playwright, with memberships in the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and the Playwrights Union of Canada.
The International Electronic Cinema Festival, the oldest and most prestigious forum for recognizing outstanding achievements in digital television and digital cinema, is in the United States for the first time ever in Portland, Oregon. It has been held alternately in Montreux, Switzerland, and Chiba, Japan, since 1987.
read the full press release here
Monday, December 20, 1999
New HD truck hits the road
Stations may rent unit; goal is to make HDTV production more affordable.
by Ken Kerschbaumer
There's a new HD production truck on the road, and it's for rent. First stop was North Carolina for an HD production of a college basketball tournament. Next, it's off to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show, Jan. 5-9.
The mobile truck is a joint venture of WRAL Digital, DTV Resources and HD VISION and is part of an effort to make HDTV production more affordable for HDTV Consortium member stations. Stations may book the truck for five-day periods, with the standard NATPE/HDTV Consortium configuration price including the truck, five Sony cameras and three Sony HDCAM VTRs. (Additional equipment is priced separately.).
"We're relying on volume, and I anticipate keeping the truck very busy," says Randall Paris Dark, president of HD VISION. "We're doing this for the consortium and are trying to have cost-effective programming. It's not like we built it so we could make lots of money. We just want to pay the bills."
The truck's first event, the Food Lion MVP Classic basketball tournament in Charlotte, N.C., Dec. 3-5, was produced and broadcast by WRAL-TV, Harris and Raycom Sports. It was carried on 10 DTV stations across the country (including WETA-TV Washington, which became the first PBS station ever to broadcast a college basketball game).
At press time, the truck was under contract for four events, and another dozen are in negotiation. While in Vegas, the truck will be used for the production of a daily newscast in high-definition, to be broadcast throughout the convention floor.
"We'll be doing the wraparounds with portable Sony HD cameras, and we're also putting together a studio," Dark says. "The biggest limitation to HD that everyone has been pointing to is having no programming. Having another HD truck creating cost-effective programming will add to the overall mix."
Dark says the cost to rent the truck is slightly higher than that for a 601 digital truck. "It's a great learning tool. Stations can rent a truck that has a post room and get their feet wet without paying too much extra. It's a great way to get your hands wet without purchasing anything."
The truck features an array of HD equipment including four Sony HDC-700 studio cameras and four Sony HDC-750 portable cameras, each outfitted with Canon lenses. It also has four Sony HDW-500 HDCAM VTRs, and can be outfitted with two additional HDCAM units and four Panasonic HD-D5 VTRs, if desired.
The production switcher is a Snell & Wilcox HD1024 1-1/2 ME version, with integrated still store, two DVEs, three keyers, three chromakeyers, three expanded border generators, seven color correctors and four positionable frame buffers. On-board graphics are handled by a Collage Clarity-HD graphics system and a Sony BVE-9 100 linear editing system can be used to create packages using the VTRs and Tascam DA98 recorders.
Audio signals are handled in a pair of Mackie Digital 8-Bus mixers providing 48 analog inputs, 48 digital inputs, and digital, analog, and eight-channel surround outputs. There also is on-board Dolby encoding and decoding equipment for both AC-3 and Dolby E.
In-band data broadcasting offered
SkyStream and General Instrument Corp. are working together on an integrated data broadcasting solution for digital cable applications to broadband cable operators worldwide. The system is designed to allow cable operators to deliver a variety of high-speed data programming and content, including ATVEF (Advanced Television Enhancement Forum) compliant, HTML-based. television content; large data file downloads; and cacheable Internet content to General Instrument's DVi-5000+ (DVB) and DCT-5000+ (ATSC/OpenCable) advanced interactive digital consumer set-top terminals.
In-band data broadcasting also enables cable operators to reserve the DOCSIS spectrum for increasingly bandwidth-hungry, point-to-point Internet data transactions. SkyStream's media routers will be integrated with General Instrument's digital cable headend system.
from Broadcasting & Cable
by Ken Kerschbaumer
There's a new HD production truck on the road, and it's for rent. First stop was North Carolina for an HD production of a college basketball tournament. Next, it's off to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show, Jan. 5-9.
The mobile truck is a joint venture of WRAL Digital, DTV Resources and HD VISION and is part of an effort to make HDTV production more affordable for HDTV Consortium member stations. Stations may book the truck for five-day periods, with the standard NATPE/HDTV Consortium configuration price including the truck, five Sony cameras and three Sony HDCAM VTRs. (Additional equipment is priced separately.).
"We're relying on volume, and I anticipate keeping the truck very busy," says Randall Paris Dark, president of HD VISION. "We're doing this for the consortium and are trying to have cost-effective programming. It's not like we built it so we could make lots of money. We just want to pay the bills."
The truck's first event, the Food Lion MVP Classic basketball tournament in Charlotte, N.C., Dec. 3-5, was produced and broadcast by WRAL-TV, Harris and Raycom Sports. It was carried on 10 DTV stations across the country (including WETA-TV Washington, which became the first PBS station ever to broadcast a college basketball game).
At press time, the truck was under contract for four events, and another dozen are in negotiation. While in Vegas, the truck will be used for the production of a daily newscast in high-definition, to be broadcast throughout the convention floor.
"We'll be doing the wraparounds with portable Sony HD cameras, and we're also putting together a studio," Dark says. "The biggest limitation to HD that everyone has been pointing to is having no programming. Having another HD truck creating cost-effective programming will add to the overall mix."
Dark says the cost to rent the truck is slightly higher than that for a 601 digital truck. "It's a great learning tool. Stations can rent a truck that has a post room and get their feet wet without paying too much extra. It's a great way to get your hands wet without purchasing anything."
The truck features an array of HD equipment including four Sony HDC-700 studio cameras and four Sony HDC-750 portable cameras, each outfitted with Canon lenses. It also has four Sony HDW-500 HDCAM VTRs, and can be outfitted with two additional HDCAM units and four Panasonic HD-D5 VTRs, if desired.
The production switcher is a Snell & Wilcox HD1024 1-1/2 ME version, with integrated still store, two DVEs, three keyers, three chromakeyers, three expanded border generators, seven color correctors and four positionable frame buffers. On-board graphics are handled by a Collage Clarity-HD graphics system and a Sony BVE-9 100 linear editing system can be used to create packages using the VTRs and Tascam DA98 recorders.
Audio signals are handled in a pair of Mackie Digital 8-Bus mixers providing 48 analog inputs, 48 digital inputs, and digital, analog, and eight-channel surround outputs. There also is on-board Dolby encoding and decoding equipment for both AC-3 and Dolby E.
In-band data broadcasting offered
SkyStream and General Instrument Corp. are working together on an integrated data broadcasting solution for digital cable applications to broadband cable operators worldwide. The system is designed to allow cable operators to deliver a variety of high-speed data programming and content, including ATVEF (Advanced Television Enhancement Forum) compliant, HTML-based. television content; large data file downloads; and cacheable Internet content to General Instrument's DVi-5000+ (DVB) and DCT-5000+ (ATSC/OpenCable) advanced interactive digital consumer set-top terminals.
In-band data broadcasting also enables cable operators to reserve the DOCSIS spectrum for increasingly bandwidth-hungry, point-to-point Internet data transactions. SkyStream's media routers will be integrated with General Instrument's digital cable headend system.
from Broadcasting & Cable
Tuesday, September 28, 1999
Digital Post-Production
The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) hosted its fifth Digital Television (DTV) Summit in Los Angeles, CA. Randall Dark was one of the panelists of industry experts who provided insight on DTV's impact on the post-production process and studio.
Questions addressed during "Digital Post-Production - Gearing Up for a New Medium" included how will the transition to digital change post-production? What equipment is needed and how will it impact the studio? What benefits will be realized in the production process? And who is already doing it?
The panel was moderated by Bob Goldrich, of Shoot Magazine. Other panelists were Tim Carroll, Dolby; Peter Heady, Tape House; and Tom Beauchamp, WRAL.
Questions addressed during "Digital Post-Production - Gearing Up for a New Medium" included how will the transition to digital change post-production? What equipment is needed and how will it impact the studio? What benefits will be realized in the production process? And who is already doing it?
The panel was moderated by Bob Goldrich, of Shoot Magazine. Other panelists were Tim Carroll, Dolby; Peter Heady, Tape House; and Tom Beauchamp, WRAL.
Friday, September 17, 1999
The Future Is Bright.
Randall Paris Dark discovered HDTV in Canada when he was called in on a production for the historic Canadian HDTV production of Chasing Rainbows--a miniseries aired over the CBC in standard NTSC. Dark quickly moved to New York City to take a post with HDTV pioneer, David Niles. The urge to strike out on his own led him to Irving, Texas where his HDTV production company has been headquarterd since its founding in 1992.
The interview with Randall is timely with its upbeat message for the coming selling season and provides you with the over-all conditions of the industry from Randall's 13 year perspective.
HDTV News: Good Morning Randall, can you tell our audience what is happening first with HD Visions, and then the industry.
The number one thing that's got me very excited is that the manufacturers are now making the cost of the equipment affordable. Now with a deal that we struck with WRAL, and CBC, HD Vision can roll out an affordable multi-camera (production vehicle). So the old adage, "It's too expensive to be done in high definition" is going the way of the Dodo bird. I think that's one of the biggest issues.
Another is that the manufacturers are now in competition with each other. Sony no longer has a lock on DTV and HD gear. All the other manufacturers are now putting out product that makes an end-to-end solution. What I mean by end-to-end is not just in production, but from concept to display. For the first time the nay-sayers are running out of nays to say!
That is true across the board from inexpensive playback devices to consumer televisions. The glitches in first and second generation technology are refined out with those issues being put to bed.
I don't know if we'll get into the Sinclair issue in this discussion, and those concerns where it would be easy to spot holes in the technology, but the greatest minds on this planet have been spending many years working on refining a system that is now a viable system, and it is now starting to be implemented . So we are in exciting days now.
It would seem that the nay-sayers actually have chosen to nay-say on things by simply saying that HDTV is not really part of the mix; that terrestrial television in particular is not really fitted for HDTV.
People that own typewriters were never convinced that the computer would take away their business. As the typewriter became more obsolete, people focused on how to generate revenue using this new device. I think that you have to look at the different things that the digital world brings us. It brings many. One of them is datacasting. One of them is High Definition One of them will be interactive entertainment. One of them will be passive entertainment. How you're going to position what you think the outcome of this evolution is going to be depends on your personal strategy as a business, on your vision of the future, and where you position your company.
Color I look at the different groups and how they are lobbying their position. It makes sense to me, and I think a lot of different business models will make sense in the very near future. One of them being high-resolution digital wide-screen images, period.
HDTV News: A broadcasting business has a problem making one size fit all at this juncture. But that's what it has been doing for 50 years. How do you see it reconciling to the gradations of possibilities available in digital?
We have to look at the nature of television. Only until DTV did larger TV meant worse TV. People would see a beautiful 27 inch Sony XBR. The picture was spectacular. Let's say it cost $900. They went and looked a $2700 projection TV. Comparatively speaking the picture was horrendous. Now there is a certain amount in society who will want the bigger picture, even at the loss of picture quality. I found that to be a fascinating phenomenon. How many other products are out there where the more money you spend the worse it looks! Yet it was a fairly successful niche business.
I'm one of the lucky ones. For 13 years I've had the opportunity to give extensive quality High-definition demonstrations--not just flowers and fish, but showing sports to the sports fans and nature to nature lovers. The response has always been overwhelmingly positive. Yes, they will pay more for it. Yes, they want it. Cost issues basically are governed by two things. Number one, how important television is in their lives, and two is what their revenue stream is like.
You can find people where television plays a very important role in their lives, enjoy a large screen image, and can afford season tickets to sporting events. I think they will invest in this technology. And people that are baby-boomers at their peak earning periods--that don't want to put everything in stocks. They are going to embrace this technology.
The roll-out this fall is going to catch everyone off-guard. Why? Because the chicken and egg problem is no longer there. I think that what CBS is doing, and ABC and Direct TV are doing is going to cause the nay-sayers to say, "Well, the technology works; the images are spectacular; there's programming there".
Finally the consumer will be able to decide if they really want it. No more engineers, no more people that have a vested interest in the advent of High-definition or the demise of High-definition. All of a sudden they're out of that loop. It's going to have the consumer saying, "I want this!".
You're one of the most experienced DTV people on the planet. You've been at demonstrations where the consumer has seen well-produced, well-executed demonstrations. You know what the consumer has said. That's why I'm very excited. We're involved with a lot of roll outs with manufacturers and different retail stores. We know what the consumer is about to see, and it is breathtaking. It is spectacular.
HDTV News: We certainly have suggested in our publications that the roll-out had to be equal to the product, and certainly we were concerned in this last year that the roll-out was unequal to the product.
You and I have had the benefit of seeing a lot of this in ideal situations. We know that it is compelling. It is finally the time for the consumer to get that same opportunity.
HDTV News: If you were a broadcast owner today with a group of 8 or 10 or 12 stations in various markets how would you be configuring your business for prospererity and growth in the 21st century?
The number one thing you have to believe in your heart is that technology never stands still. We will always want to improve our lifestyle. With that a given, and historically it is, you have to accept what business you will be in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, and where your company must be 15 years from now.
I think anyone that invests in 480p or 480i must quickly upgrade. It's about eyeballs. It's market share If you've got a news program that's 480i or 480p going head-to-head with a 1080i or 720p program, you're going to see your market share erode. You have to believe that the future of technology is bigger, better, sharper, and brighter.
It's been like that for everything we've been involved in. Why would television, one of the most important aspects of our lives, be frozen in time? Obviously it's not.
I'm looking at two things. First, I have to buy equipment that is expensive; amortize it over a very short period of time...but I also create products that hopefully will stand the test of time. Will I create that in a 4 by 3 low-resolution? Absolutely not!
HDTV News: Could you say that the investment one makes in their news department doesn't necessarily need that legacy quality?
The immediacy is so compelling with HD. For the last five years the high-definition demonstrations have been sporting events, music concerts, and so on. That has been compelling, but...Imagine CBS sending HDTV camera crews to the recent earthquake. You were able to sit home and watch a live broadcast like you are actually there. How revitied you would be.
How emotionally impacting it would be.Supposing I just bought a high-definition TV. I turn to the news on CBS and they are covering the earthquake in high-definition. ABC, the news I normally watch, is in low-definition. Which channel do you think I'll watch?
No-brainers to me. It's obvious. We're all about competitiveness. Let's look at the local level. It's very important for the local TV stations to be the first to do stereo; the first to have a helicopter; the first, the first, the first. Or the second... Being number one is another feather in the cap of a local television station--to be the first DTV broadcaster; to do the first DTV football game...
Look at Seattle. Seattle is an incredible test bed right now. It has two TV stations broadcasting news. As soon as WFAA and Dallas start doing news, and there are X number of TVs that are receiving, two things are going to happen. One, in high-definition you are going to have everyone watching your station. But the other thing interesting is that even though I can't afford an HDTV WFAA will tell me they're doing it in high-def and low-def.
They are a cutting edge company, obviously. They are ahead of the learning curve. I should watch them because they're on top of it all. At certain levels that's a very important ploy in the news departments. Who is up to date? Who is on top of things?
If I owned a TV Station, trust me, I'd be coming on in high-definition as fast as possible. I'd let everyone know in the Low-Def world and the High Def world. Look how up-to-date we are! You're not left behind by watching my news program. I think that's worth it's weight in gold.
HDTV News: Is there any chance of being first, and then being broke as a result of it?
A year ago, I would have said absolutely! It's a very high risk. It's very expensive. But if you look at what has happened to the cost of high-definition, and the competition that is out there now... Prior to a year and a half ago it was basically Sony. That was it. When I bought an HDC 500 camera it's a half a million dollar gig. These camcorders are a little bit more than REC 601 prices; edit suites are springing up everywhere, and there just a little bit more than NTSC.
There is more bang for your dollar. You are looking at TV stations that are mid-market that are investing in this equipment.
The other thing that we all have to realize: When was the last time you heard of a TV station going bankrupt? When was the last time you heard that a TV station was sold for less than a half a billion dollars? Now, I have a couple of friends, as you do too, that own TV stations. We all know what they are worth. We all know what they have been turning over. I think a TV station going bankrupt because of the cost of the equipment is...remember the first million dollar baseball players? Excuse me! They now make six million dollars! Anyone go broke?
I think we have to be prudent in our business decisions. We have to wait for the time to be right. As a businessman right now, I've been able to stay in business when the equipment was expensive. It's easier for me with the equipment more affordable and there are more choices out there.
HDTV News: You're in the business of making pictures. Some of the people will say, "Well, you know, we can afford this all right, and we think we should pay for it, and we can pay for it by using ancillary data." Have you been in any discussions with people who have had serious concepts and thoughts about how that is going to occur, and whether that is a real choice to be made, or simply one that is unaffordable?
What people have expressed the biggest interest in, is pure High-definition. Everyone sees that as the home-run technology. There is going to be a convergence of technology, granted, but for the most part, people are looking at a passive experience in their home entertainment center.
HDTV News: Again there is a contingency being born out of the enthusiasm for the world-wide web that says, 'you know, we're not so sure that passive is the future.'
Yes, and I think that there is an element of society that can justify a very coherent and successful business plan where you are making the home display a very interactive environment. I don't dispute that. We work with Microsoft. I have a very good handle on what I think that sort of program is going to be like,, My company anticipates developing those sort of programs...however...there is a great segment of our society that spends a lot of time on the computer, a lot of time working at their desktops during a business day, and when they go home, the last thing on the planet they want to do is have even a passively interactive experience.
I think that television, the way it's structured right now, is about mass market appeal. That's what justifies being able to pay ER 13 million dollars to have high-end programming. I think that those sort of experiences are very passively done.
I'm a sports fanatic. I love sports. There is no way I am going to watch a super bowl with me wanting to pick the cameras. That's not the experience you want, because there is so much excitement in the game, and so much intrigue, you're not going to miss a play because you can't figure out if you want to look at the cheerleader or the guy running a touchdown.
Those tests were done in the late 70's, for goodness sake, and they failed miserably, because the people that thought up these programs were techno-geeks--not sports fans. There's an element of auxiliary data at your finger tips that's going to be very important. I think that on a high resolution screen, for me to have access to information about my favorite golfer, or my favorite baseball player, and get stats on command is a very important aspect of it, but it's what I call a very passive interactive part of the viewing experience...but it still requires a big screen, high resolution image to get the willing suspension of disbelief to kick in, or that feeling of "better than being there".
480p and 480i doesn't give you that. That's what we all strive for. If I can't be at the Super Bowl, my goodness, I want the next best thing. Period. What will I pay for that? How will I want to involve myself? Again, ABC, in their wisdom, is going to prove this point to the world, that if I can't be there in person, I want my HDTV, because that's the next best thing.
I think that if you look at it historically, it's true. I give you three choices right now. I'll let you go to the game for free, I'll let you watch TV for free, I'll let you listen to the radio for free. What's your number one choice? Obviously, I just gave you the order. Now I'm going to redo that. I'll let you go for free, I'll let you watch it in high-definition for free, I'll let you watch in low-definition for free, and radio. What's your first, second, third choices?
These are no-brainers. These are givens. If anyone disputes that they obviously don't understand the sports fan. Period.
from HDTV Magazine
The interview with Randall is timely with its upbeat message for the coming selling season and provides you with the over-all conditions of the industry from Randall's 13 year perspective.
HDTV News: Good Morning Randall, can you tell our audience what is happening first with HD Visions, and then the industry.
The number one thing that's got me very excited is that the manufacturers are now making the cost of the equipment affordable. Now with a deal that we struck with WRAL, and CBC, HD Vision can roll out an affordable multi-camera (production vehicle). So the old adage, "It's too expensive to be done in high definition" is going the way of the Dodo bird. I think that's one of the biggest issues.
Another is that the manufacturers are now in competition with each other. Sony no longer has a lock on DTV and HD gear. All the other manufacturers are now putting out product that makes an end-to-end solution. What I mean by end-to-end is not just in production, but from concept to display. For the first time the nay-sayers are running out of nays to say!
That is true across the board from inexpensive playback devices to consumer televisions. The glitches in first and second generation technology are refined out with those issues being put to bed.
I don't know if we'll get into the Sinclair issue in this discussion, and those concerns where it would be easy to spot holes in the technology, but the greatest minds on this planet have been spending many years working on refining a system that is now a viable system, and it is now starting to be implemented . So we are in exciting days now.
It would seem that the nay-sayers actually have chosen to nay-say on things by simply saying that HDTV is not really part of the mix; that terrestrial television in particular is not really fitted for HDTV.
People that own typewriters were never convinced that the computer would take away their business. As the typewriter became more obsolete, people focused on how to generate revenue using this new device. I think that you have to look at the different things that the digital world brings us. It brings many. One of them is datacasting. One of them is High Definition One of them will be interactive entertainment. One of them will be passive entertainment. How you're going to position what you think the outcome of this evolution is going to be depends on your personal strategy as a business, on your vision of the future, and where you position your company.
Color I look at the different groups and how they are lobbying their position. It makes sense to me, and I think a lot of different business models will make sense in the very near future. One of them being high-resolution digital wide-screen images, period.
HDTV News: A broadcasting business has a problem making one size fit all at this juncture. But that's what it has been doing for 50 years. How do you see it reconciling to the gradations of possibilities available in digital?
We have to look at the nature of television. Only until DTV did larger TV meant worse TV. People would see a beautiful 27 inch Sony XBR. The picture was spectacular. Let's say it cost $900. They went and looked a $2700 projection TV. Comparatively speaking the picture was horrendous. Now there is a certain amount in society who will want the bigger picture, even at the loss of picture quality. I found that to be a fascinating phenomenon. How many other products are out there where the more money you spend the worse it looks! Yet it was a fairly successful niche business.
I'm one of the lucky ones. For 13 years I've had the opportunity to give extensive quality High-definition demonstrations--not just flowers and fish, but showing sports to the sports fans and nature to nature lovers. The response has always been overwhelmingly positive. Yes, they will pay more for it. Yes, they want it. Cost issues basically are governed by two things. Number one, how important television is in their lives, and two is what their revenue stream is like.
You can find people where television plays a very important role in their lives, enjoy a large screen image, and can afford season tickets to sporting events. I think they will invest in this technology. And people that are baby-boomers at their peak earning periods--that don't want to put everything in stocks. They are going to embrace this technology.
The roll-out this fall is going to catch everyone off-guard. Why? Because the chicken and egg problem is no longer there. I think that what CBS is doing, and ABC and Direct TV are doing is going to cause the nay-sayers to say, "Well, the technology works; the images are spectacular; there's programming there".
Finally the consumer will be able to decide if they really want it. No more engineers, no more people that have a vested interest in the advent of High-definition or the demise of High-definition. All of a sudden they're out of that loop. It's going to have the consumer saying, "I want this!".
You're one of the most experienced DTV people on the planet. You've been at demonstrations where the consumer has seen well-produced, well-executed demonstrations. You know what the consumer has said. That's why I'm very excited. We're involved with a lot of roll outs with manufacturers and different retail stores. We know what the consumer is about to see, and it is breathtaking. It is spectacular.
HDTV News: We certainly have suggested in our publications that the roll-out had to be equal to the product, and certainly we were concerned in this last year that the roll-out was unequal to the product.
You and I have had the benefit of seeing a lot of this in ideal situations. We know that it is compelling. It is finally the time for the consumer to get that same opportunity.
HDTV News: If you were a broadcast owner today with a group of 8 or 10 or 12 stations in various markets how would you be configuring your business for prospererity and growth in the 21st century?
The number one thing you have to believe in your heart is that technology never stands still. We will always want to improve our lifestyle. With that a given, and historically it is, you have to accept what business you will be in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, and where your company must be 15 years from now.
I think anyone that invests in 480p or 480i must quickly upgrade. It's about eyeballs. It's market share If you've got a news program that's 480i or 480p going head-to-head with a 1080i or 720p program, you're going to see your market share erode. You have to believe that the future of technology is bigger, better, sharper, and brighter.
It's been like that for everything we've been involved in. Why would television, one of the most important aspects of our lives, be frozen in time? Obviously it's not.
I'm looking at two things. First, I have to buy equipment that is expensive; amortize it over a very short period of time...but I also create products that hopefully will stand the test of time. Will I create that in a 4 by 3 low-resolution? Absolutely not!
HDTV News: Could you say that the investment one makes in their news department doesn't necessarily need that legacy quality?
The immediacy is so compelling with HD. For the last five years the high-definition demonstrations have been sporting events, music concerts, and so on. That has been compelling, but...Imagine CBS sending HDTV camera crews to the recent earthquake. You were able to sit home and watch a live broadcast like you are actually there. How revitied you would be.
How emotionally impacting it would be.Supposing I just bought a high-definition TV. I turn to the news on CBS and they are covering the earthquake in high-definition. ABC, the news I normally watch, is in low-definition. Which channel do you think I'll watch?
No-brainers to me. It's obvious. We're all about competitiveness. Let's look at the local level. It's very important for the local TV stations to be the first to do stereo; the first to have a helicopter; the first, the first, the first. Or the second... Being number one is another feather in the cap of a local television station--to be the first DTV broadcaster; to do the first DTV football game...
Look at Seattle. Seattle is an incredible test bed right now. It has two TV stations broadcasting news. As soon as WFAA and Dallas start doing news, and there are X number of TVs that are receiving, two things are going to happen. One, in high-definition you are going to have everyone watching your station. But the other thing interesting is that even though I can't afford an HDTV WFAA will tell me they're doing it in high-def and low-def.
They are a cutting edge company, obviously. They are ahead of the learning curve. I should watch them because they're on top of it all. At certain levels that's a very important ploy in the news departments. Who is up to date? Who is on top of things?
If I owned a TV Station, trust me, I'd be coming on in high-definition as fast as possible. I'd let everyone know in the Low-Def world and the High Def world. Look how up-to-date we are! You're not left behind by watching my news program. I think that's worth it's weight in gold.
HDTV News: Is there any chance of being first, and then being broke as a result of it?
A year ago, I would have said absolutely! It's a very high risk. It's very expensive. But if you look at what has happened to the cost of high-definition, and the competition that is out there now... Prior to a year and a half ago it was basically Sony. That was it. When I bought an HDC 500 camera it's a half a million dollar gig. These camcorders are a little bit more than REC 601 prices; edit suites are springing up everywhere, and there just a little bit more than NTSC.
There is more bang for your dollar. You are looking at TV stations that are mid-market that are investing in this equipment.
The other thing that we all have to realize: When was the last time you heard of a TV station going bankrupt? When was the last time you heard that a TV station was sold for less than a half a billion dollars? Now, I have a couple of friends, as you do too, that own TV stations. We all know what they are worth. We all know what they have been turning over. I think a TV station going bankrupt because of the cost of the equipment is...remember the first million dollar baseball players? Excuse me! They now make six million dollars! Anyone go broke?
I think we have to be prudent in our business decisions. We have to wait for the time to be right. As a businessman right now, I've been able to stay in business when the equipment was expensive. It's easier for me with the equipment more affordable and there are more choices out there.
HDTV News: You're in the business of making pictures. Some of the people will say, "Well, you know, we can afford this all right, and we think we should pay for it, and we can pay for it by using ancillary data." Have you been in any discussions with people who have had serious concepts and thoughts about how that is going to occur, and whether that is a real choice to be made, or simply one that is unaffordable?
What people have expressed the biggest interest in, is pure High-definition. Everyone sees that as the home-run technology. There is going to be a convergence of technology, granted, but for the most part, people are looking at a passive experience in their home entertainment center.
HDTV News: Again there is a contingency being born out of the enthusiasm for the world-wide web that says, 'you know, we're not so sure that passive is the future.'
Yes, and I think that there is an element of society that can justify a very coherent and successful business plan where you are making the home display a very interactive environment. I don't dispute that. We work with Microsoft. I have a very good handle on what I think that sort of program is going to be like,, My company anticipates developing those sort of programs...however...there is a great segment of our society that spends a lot of time on the computer, a lot of time working at their desktops during a business day, and when they go home, the last thing on the planet they want to do is have even a passively interactive experience.
I think that television, the way it's structured right now, is about mass market appeal. That's what justifies being able to pay ER 13 million dollars to have high-end programming. I think that those sort of experiences are very passively done.
I'm a sports fanatic. I love sports. There is no way I am going to watch a super bowl with me wanting to pick the cameras. That's not the experience you want, because there is so much excitement in the game, and so much intrigue, you're not going to miss a play because you can't figure out if you want to look at the cheerleader or the guy running a touchdown.
Those tests were done in the late 70's, for goodness sake, and they failed miserably, because the people that thought up these programs were techno-geeks--not sports fans. There's an element of auxiliary data at your finger tips that's going to be very important. I think that on a high resolution screen, for me to have access to information about my favorite golfer, or my favorite baseball player, and get stats on command is a very important aspect of it, but it's what I call a very passive interactive part of the viewing experience...but it still requires a big screen, high resolution image to get the willing suspension of disbelief to kick in, or that feeling of "better than being there".
480p and 480i doesn't give you that. That's what we all strive for. If I can't be at the Super Bowl, my goodness, I want the next best thing. Period. What will I pay for that? How will I want to involve myself? Again, ABC, in their wisdom, is going to prove this point to the world, that if I can't be there in person, I want my HDTV, because that's the next best thing.
I think that if you look at it historically, it's true. I give you three choices right now. I'll let you go to the game for free, I'll let you watch TV for free, I'll let you listen to the radio for free. What's your number one choice? Obviously, I just gave you the order. Now I'm going to redo that. I'll let you go for free, I'll let you watch it in high-definition for free, I'll let you watch in low-definition for free, and radio. What's your first, second, third choices?
These are no-brainers. These are givens. If anyone disputes that they obviously don't understand the sports fan. Period.
from HDTV Magazine
Sunday, April 25, 1999
HDTV: Who needs the FCC?
While the country waits for a new broadcasting standard, producers of nonbroadcast video are putting HDTV technology to use.
By Susan Maier
In September 1992, NBC's WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., transmitted the one-hour news program News 4 at 5 simultaneously in high-definition television and NTSC, becoming the first television station in the country to send HDTV signals over the airwaves. "With advanced digital high-definition television," said Allan Horlick, WRC-TV's general manager, "viewers will experience unmatched picture quality and superior sound resolution."
At the time, enthusiasm for HDTV was running high worldwide. Europe and Japan had introduced limited satellite transmission of high-definition signals; in the United States, HDTV was making well-publicized appearances at trade shows, and headlines were touting it as the "TV of tomorrow." Prodded by industry, the Federal Communications Commission had set up a high-powered cross-industry panel, the Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service (ACATS), to evaluate proposed HDTV transmission systems and recommend one as the next American broadcasting standard. By the turn of the century, analysts predicted, HDTV would have replaced NTSC in production studios, television stations, cable companies and homes throughout the United States, generating tens of thousands of new jobs and tens of billions of dollars in equipment sales and other revenue.
"If I were to rate interest in HDTV on a scale of one to 10, I'd say that the peak was in 1989, when it hit a seven or eight," says Gordon Bricker, a former executive with RCA who has studied and consulted on HDTV. " By the early 1990s, it had fallen to a two or three. Now it's not much more than a one." Enthusiasm has declined in large part, observers say, because of the uncertainty and confusion that have surrounded the development of the standard. When ACATS submitted its recommendation to the FCC in November 1995, three years after the expected delivery date, it endorsed a system that has been dubbed ATV (for advanced television), in which HDTV's role is at best unclear.
But does the future of American high-definition production depend entirely on what the FCC decides to do? Many in the industry don't think so. In fact, a small community of producers has been producing high-definition video, which has gained toeholds in a number of market niches. "There are all sorts of business opportunities for HD," says Randall Dark, founder of HD Vision, a high-definition production company in Irving, Texas. "The industry is not going to live or die by the FCC decision. Unfortunately, the people who may suffer are consumers, who may end up with 500 low-resolution channels."
THE STANDARD
If the FCC approves the ACATS recommendation, as it is expected to do within six months, U.S. terrestrial broadcasting will begin a transition from the analog NTSC system that has been in place for almost 50 years to a digital system in which broadcasters will be able to transmit not only HDTV but also multiple channels of standard-definition television (SDTV) and a range of data services. "Digitizing of the signal and signal compression have been substantially advanced in the past two or three years in the process of the world's trying to get HDTV," says Bricker. "In the meantime, the emphasis has shifted from HDTV to a digital format that does lots of things that people hadn't planned on. . . . Not all broadcasters are interested in HDTV. But they'd like to put four signals into the same channel space that they're now using for one channel."
After the FCC approves the proposal, Bricker says, it will have to go through a process of reallocating channel space-a reconsideration of which frequencies will go to which cities and regions. The FCC's plan until recently was to give the broadcasters the channel space they will need to broadcast HDTV and NTSC signals simultaneously during a transition period. Some years later-at one time, people were saying as soon as seven years later-the station would have to give up its old analog frequency, Bricker says. "But people realized that the U.S. probably is not going to convert to HDTV in seven years. Now about 15 years is being proposed. And Senator Bob Dole and others have gotten on the bandwagon of saying that the government should auction off all of these channels. Broadcasters aren't prepared to pay for their frequencies; they've never had to do that."
So it has become a waiting game, says Laurence Thorpe, vice president of acquisition and storage systems at Sony, the company that invented high-definition television. "There's a hiatus in the industry as everyone waits to see how the issue will unfold." HDTV can be transmitted by cable and satellite broadcasters without going through the FCC, he notes, but "will they use the format? Everyone's waiting to see who will go first.
"If the big broadcasters choose to transmit SDTV or data services rather than HDTV in their new digital frequencies, the reasoning goes, the chance for a mass market for HDTV hardware and software will be lost. With little or no programming on the air, consumers will have no reason to buy high-definition receivers. With no receivers in consumers' homes, producers will have no reason to create new programming. And without these markets, the makers of HD equipment will not be able to reach the economies of scale they need to lower prices to more affordable levels. In this scenario, HDTV will either fade away entirely or become a novelty for electronics enthusiasts and a few rich corporations.
In the words of Dale Cripps, publisher of the on-line newsletter HDTV Today and a longtime advocate of the medium, "If the politicians don't finally act like a good gateway instead of a cement wall, HDTV probably won't happen on any major scale in the U.S. On an industrial scale, however, it's already happening."
THE PRODUCERS
Despite the lack of a broadcasting standard, high-definition video has made advances in a number of areas. Hospitals and medical schools are taping surgical procedures in high definition for training and education applications. A number of corporations are using HD to create more visually exciting public presentations for use in trade-show booths, at stockholders' meetings and elsewhere. And a large number of companies are exploring entertainment businesses that can be built on the high-quality images that HD delivers. "NTSC video is the newsprint comparison to the slick, glossy magazine," says Cripps. "HDTV is slick. If I were a corporate executive today, I'd never consider putting my best foot forward on anything but HDTV."
Many types of productions are now being done in high definition, says Randall Dark of HD Vision. "We've produced and directed a motion ride for an HD theater, documentaries for NHK [a Japanese broadcaster], music programs for PBS, product launches for Chrysler and Buick. We've taped major sports events, such as the Super Bowl and the NBA All-Star game; the play Victor, Victoria on Broadway; and President Clinton's speech in San Francisco for the United Nations' 50th anniversary, which was down-converted live for world broadcast. The new Denver airport has an HD theater that is playing two pieces commissioned by [the cable company] TCI that HD Vision directed and produced. . . . We've even worked on HD productions of operations for doctors. In fact, we just finished post on a brain-tumor operation."
Three facilities in the United States are currently producing high-definition programming on a full-time basis: Rebo Studio and Captain New York/Magic Window Group, both in New York City, and HD Vision. Barry Rebo, founder of Rebo Studio, and David Niles, founder of Captain New York, have each been doing video production for broadcast and nonbroadcast applications for more than 20 years and HD production since the early 1980s, when Sony brought the first HDTV equipment to this country. "I got into HD because I fell in love with the picture quality," Rebo says. "I bought the first system that was available."
Dark's company is a more recent entry into the field. "I started HD Vision three years ago, though I started working in HD about nine years ago," he says. "I was involved in a project called Chasing Rainbows, a 14-hour miniseries shot in Canada." He then worked for a company that produced HD programs before deciding to set up his own shop. "I went out and paid cash for my equipment so I could open a company and move it in any direction the technology went," he says. "We've gone from two cameras and five decks to 13 cameras, 15 decks, two mobile-production trucks, analog and digital post-production, graphics and an HD stock-footage library."
A number of independent video producers have started working in high definition over the past few years, many of them in the corporate-communications area. "There was a point when the corporate-communications work was a significant part of our business plan," says Rebo, "but that fell off in the early 1990s because the production equipment was so heavy and expensive that people didn't want to take it out. When the equipment became lighter and less expensive, it could be taken out to the factories and so forth, and people started using it." Fred Margulies, an independent producer and director in New York City, agrees that lower prices and less bulky equipment have made all the difference. "For the past 20 years, I've been in corporate video," he says. "Most of my work has been in traditional linear videotape for corporate clients. . . . Now, my business is about 60 percent traditional video and 40 percent HD."
The turning point for independent producers came last year, when JVC released its $65,000 KH-100U high-definition video camera and $9,000 W-VHS recording and playback deck. "The KH-100U is . . . exactly the same as a Betacam in terms of weight and the lenses you put on it," says Margulies, who demonstrated the product for JVC at NAB '95. "And it has a self-contained CPU. Prior to that, [field-production] HD cameras needed a separate control unit, which was about the size and weight of a telephone booth. The recorder you needed was another phone booth. The combined cost for field production was about $7,000 a day. Now you can get the price down to as low as $1,500 a day for the equipment package. "
The JVC deck plays back VHS and S-VHS videotape in addition to the W-VHS cassettes. "The format was developed initially for the Japanese market," says Dave Walton, communications marketing manager of JVC Professional Products. "It was JVC's desire to sell it to specialized markets in the U.S. in order to generate revenue, but also to build the market and create interest in HDTV.
"It's hard to get people to look at standards that are different from the ones they're used to," Walton says. "People pay more attention to the almighty dollar than to the almighty picture. But I think times are changing. We'll see a lot more users for HD in the near future. . . . For now, HD is being used in event theaters, corporate presentations with large-screen projection and so on."
Price and equipment size are not the only factors that have held back HD production, says David Niles. "Misinformation about what HDTV is and what it does" is also to blame. Corey Carbonara, director of the New Video Technologies Project at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, has defined true HDTV as having five times the visual detail, 10 times the color information and more than twice the horizontal and vertical resolution of NTSC television. Moreover, the picture is substantially brighter, the aspect ratio is more than a third larger and the sound quality is equivalent to that of compact discs.
"We realized early that HD is not really television," Niles says. "That's like comparing a big stereo system to a telephone. We can certainly make TV with HDTV, but when it's not converted back to television, HDTV has an emotional impact that no other medium has."
Randall Dark agrees. "Video, film and HD are good for different things," he says. "Film is poetic. It doesn't give you the sense of being there. HD puts you right there. It's a whole different venue."
THE CLIENTS
For corporate clients who "want to knock the socks off the viewer, nothing beats HD," says Margulies. "For clients who want to show the cutting edge of technology, nothing beats HD. Now, compared with a year ago, it is within the budget range of most corporate clients to produce high-quality HD programs." Much of the interest in HD in the United States these days comes from telecommunications companies that "want to do something high-tech," Barry Rebo says, and from the makers of high-end consumer products. "It's the Audis and BMWs in the lead in using HD," he says, "not the Hyundais."
Dark says that "viewer impact" is the biggest difference he sees between standard television and HDTV. "It's watching people's visual response to this technology. People ooh and aah. . . They get visibly excited when HD is done right. If you have a 28-inch HD monitor and a 28-inch NTSC monitor, they'll look alike from a distance. The only way to see film, HD and NTSC is in their element. When I do a demo on my 16-foot screen, people are amazed."
Producing in high definition is not so different from producing in NTSC, Margulies says, but to shoot, edit and post it properly, you do have to understand viewers' reactions. The detail is so rich and the picture so realistic that viewers' responses are much more immediate than they are to film or video. "You might make three fast cuts in a scene in video," says Margulies, "but you might have more impact staying on the shot in HD, because you can see more detail. You might not need the close-up in the cutaway. Take the example of videotaping a boxing match with NTSC and HD. The NTSC approach is to use four to five cameras with intercutting. With HD, one camera is all you'll need, because you can see more detail in the boxers' faces. The wide shot also gives you a better perspective on the scene. To conceive, shoot and edit projects in HD, you have to understand how to use it."
Despite the falling costs of producing HD and the emotional power of the medium, high-definition projects can be tough to sell to corporate clients. "When you're dealing with something that's different and more expensive, people are always looking for reasons to say no," says Margulies. "They have to be convinced that there's a payback for the extra dollars spent. Regular NTSC video is a no-brainer now. Everyone knows how it works, how much it will cost. HD is still new, so you have to have a trust relationship with the producer and the facility."
Just as important is convincing clients that if they're going to incur the higher cost of producing HD, they have to be prepared to pay the only slightly higher price of displaying it, Margulies says. "I've found that one of the most powerful uses of HD is in sales meetings," he says. "One component of that is the video roll-in-that is, the executives are on the stage, with a large screen behind them, and videos will be rolled in on cue. If they're in HD, they have so much more impact. In addition, sales meetings often use I-MAG [image magnification]-two or three cameras shoot the person at the podium, and the image is projected live on the screen. I-MAG in HD is incredible."
Most video projectors can project HD video; what's required is a technician who can choose the best projector for the application and set it up for the HD image. "When that doesn't happen," Margulies says, "all of the effort and money spent on producing the HD roll-ins will be wasted, because the image won't be shown at its full potential."
Delivering the product is still a sticky problem for everyone using HD. Wide-aspect HDTV display monitors are expensive, and will probably remain so until a broadcasting standard is approved. Video projectors and large screens are not appropriate for all locations-for point-of-sale displays and information kiosks, for example. For this reason, a lot of material shot in HD is being converted to other formats, including videotape, film and even QuickTime.
There are, of course, disadvantages to displaying converted HD footage on non-HDTV equipment: Some of the sharpest details and the wide aspect ratio of the original may be lost, for example. But there are also benefits, HD producers say. "When you transfer HD to video, it retains much of its richness," says Margulies. "The same applies to HD down-converted to NTSC. HD is as good as film in quality, but it's better because it's video, so you can immediately play it back."
Conversion also works the other way, Rebo says. "Not all elements of a corporate piece have to be in HD. We do up-conversion from NTSC videotape, and sometimes we shoot in Hi8 video or 8 mm film and transfer it to HD. So there is a role for archival material in HD productions. This is used in closed-circuit presentations for car companies-they have archives of commercials that they up-convert to HD and add HD footage of the new models."
THE FUTURE
The HD community in the United States is still small, and much of the work being done here is exported to the Europe and Japan. But, says Randall Dark, "I'm very excited about the growth of HD. In October 1995, we billed 16 different clients for HD projects; half of them were brand-new, and all but one were American."
Not everyone is as optimistic. "For the longest time we've been using 601 as the television-production standard, and the ability and quality of that signal is substantial," says John Pannaman, vice president of engineering at Quantel. "A huge amount of quality can be gained out of the current signal standard even as it exists today. To leapfrog that for a very expensive technology is something that people will really start to look at when they realize the cost of doing HDTV."
In the end, according to Michael R. Haley, a technical specialist at IBM, "the market will decide which types of information are the most economical [for the broadcasters] to transmit, and the ACATS system has the flexibility to permit that." In general, he agrees that HDTV won't take off until the big broadcasters embrace it. "There has to be content available before HDTV will see broad deployment in the U.S. I wouldn't necessarily expect it to be terrestrial rather than cable."
Haley and many others in video-related industries foresee HDTV arriving in the consumer market via specialty cable or satellite services, such as premium pay-per-view movie or sports channels. "We might even see HDTV used in a channel that pulls information off the Internet, which would require finer resolution to appreciate," Haley says.
Dale Cripps sees a similar scenario, in which HDTV will be pushed forward by two developments. "The Internet will open up to 45 megabytes; the cable companies will see to that," he says, "so we'll be able to receive full HDTV and capture to whatever your computer can do. And multimedia development will move up toward using HDTV in time. Multimedia is incredibly important to understanding the commerce of the future. Commerce is so internationalized that images and their presentation will become the international language. We're using all we need now at the VGA level, but if we're going to show images to larger bodies, we'll want HDTV's density."
Randall Dark says, "I got into high definition when I saw a monitor with HD on it and said, 'Hey, this is the future.' I love the technical stuff, and no matter what I say or the FCC says, it's evolution. We're going to have bigger, better pictures-whether it's called HDTV, ATV or something else."
Rebo's Field Guide
Plenty of books have been written in the past decade about the political, economic and technical aspects of high-definition television. Nothing, however, has been available for those interested in learning the techniques of producing in the medium.
Rebo Studio and Clay Gordon, a writer with 12 years of experience in the computer-graphics, interactive-media and video-production industries, intend to fill that gap with The Guide to HIgh Definition Video Production: Preparing for a Widescreen World. The book, written for the technical or the nontechnical reader, is available from Focal Press (800-366-2665.)
from HDTV Magazine
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