"HD indie production" panel at NATPE 2002

Panelists shared their personal experiences with producing various genres of HD programming, from docs to long-form drama, for domestic and international productions.

The moderator was Bill Kurtis, anchor-executive producer, "Investigative Reports" and anchor, "American Justice" on A&E.

Industry experts who maded up the panel were Randall Dark, founder, president and CEO, HD Vision; Justin Albert, VP, production, Animal Planet; Paul Kafno, managing director, HD Thames; Tom Lynch, writer-creator-producer, Tom Lynch Co.

DTV Pioneers in the Lone Star State

by Jim Barry

Deep in the Heart of Texas, a pair of DTV Pioneers is blazing the trail for the future of digital high-definition television. Randall Dark, founder and president of HD Vision has been a producer and evangelist for HDTV for a decade, while Mark Cuban, co-founder of Broadcast.com, current owner of the Dallas Mavericks and president of HDNet, is making his mark in DTV just as he did in Internet Media. HDNet is broadcasting all highdefinition content 16 hours a day, seven days a week on channel 199 of DirecTV satellite systems.

DTV Guide recently asked both men their impressions of the digital transition.

DTV Guide: What is your impression of how the digital transition is progressing? And what is needed to speed things up?

Mark Cuban: I'm glad it's been so slow, otherwise there never would have been such a great opportunity. It's amazing to me how stupid some of the big movie studios are, fighting over lame copy protection schemes, and pre-empting themselves from hundreds of millions of dollars in sales of DVHS tapes and the associated rentals.

What's worse, they have intimidated CE manufacturers to the point they have pulled DVHS units from the United States, and bastardized the products they have released sc the products put the interests of the studio over (those of) the consumer. Had this not happened, HD would have been here lonc ago. Consumers would have ignored DVD when it hit the scene hard 2-3 years ago due to HD's amazing picture quality.Then instead of spending money on DVD players to go with those HD ready TVs they would be spending money on DVHS players and the tuners/receivers to get the most from their sets. It's just one more example of how the music and film industries do their best to turn off their customers.

But then again, it's more opportunity for me. can tell you this, the content that HDNet produces, will not have ANY copy protection on it.When we ship a DVHS tape it will be the old-fashioned, all American way, with the understanding that consumers can be trusted.

DTV Guide: What other inhibiting issues do you see aside from copy protection?

Mark Cuban: Beyond the copy protection nonsense, next on the "What were they thinking?" list is our government. It's amazing tc me how the government doesn't practice what it preaches. There are billions of dollars at stake when spectrum is returned, yet the government makes no effort to move things along. I'm not even talking about passing laws to require movement or inclusion of tuners. Why is our government not broadcasting C-Span in HD? Why aren't the pool feeds from government news conferences broadcast in HD? Why isn't everything that is being captured by our government being captured in HD? Anyone with the need, can easily down-convert, but it would show everyone that HD is the direction we are going. It would push hardware prices down, and people would see the benefit more clearly. Why is the government not using the DTV transition as part of the negotiations over the network coverage issue? It could easily tell the networks, you can go to 40,50,60 percent, as soon as you give back spectrum for your O&Os, or start broadcasting exclusively in HD. You want something from us, you give something we need -- basic business 101. These are the issues that have stunted HD growth, more than anything.

Randall Dark: Mark has been great in helping the rollout of high- definition with HDNet. Also, two things have happened that I think pretty much guarantee the success of high-definition- the wide use of the 24p HD camera, and the rapidly dropping price of all digital video equipment.

DTV Guide: What is the significance of 24p cameras?

Randall Dark, It changes the cost structure for the independent filmmaker. With HD you don't have to change film as often and tape is less expensive than film.You can finish what would be normally a 12- day shoot in 10 days and that saves a lot of money. But it's not just the savings;the quality is there too, so you can get that"film look."George Lucas is using it for Star Wars now and he doesn't have the same budget considerations the small independent filmmaker has but he uses the best tool to tell his story. Eventually all the visual storytellers will migrate to HD.

DTV Guide: And the lower priced digital production equipment?

Randall Dark:The cost structure of all digital production gear has come down dramatically. We're now into the fifth- or sixth- generation of HD equipment, which costs about one-tenth of what it did a few years back. In the early days we had no digital edit suites, a HD camera cost $350, 000, a lens$200,000, HD VTR $350,000, and $42,000 for a HD Monitor. Now you can get a camera,VTR and monitor for under $100,000.

DTV Guide: So there are lots of folks joining you in HD Production?

Randall Dark: A few years back we had one of the only HD production trucks in the country. Now Mark has trucks, the networks have trucks, Paul Allen (ASCN) in Oregon has a truck -- things are really moving ahead. But to keep the momentum going the money has to be there for everyone and it is. It's getting more economical to use HD, plus, you get spectacularly better picture and sound quality. It can be a big positive for broadcasters who have been losing market share.When they start doing local news in HD their share will increase.

DTV Guide: Randall, what sparked you to start HD Vision?

Randall Dark: I had been working in high-definition production since 1986 in Canada and in New York. I thought I could present the unbelievable advantages that HD has to offer better than the folks I was working for. So in 1992,1 started HD Vision. For a few years we had the only multi-camera HD truck in the country and we've had lots of"firsts" in HD production and broadcast since then.

DTV Guide: Mark, what sparked you to start HDNet?

Mark Cuban: I love to shop for tech. It was very obvious that the price points for DTVs had fallen so that anyone shopping for a big screen had an easy decision to buy an HD-ready set. When I talked to retail sales reps they said the only reason they weren't selling HD receivers to go with the TVs was lack of content.

Second, we were able to do a deal with DirecTV so we were in a position that if someone saw HDNet at a sports bar, in a store or at a friends, they just had to buy DirecTV with an HD-enabled receiver, and within a couple days they were ready.This immediacy of purchase was critical.

Third was realizing that all the important components were following a PC price curve -- as volumes went up, features improved and prices came down. wanted to be in a position to grow with the market before it became too obvious to everyone what was happening.

Fourth, with the exception of CBS, the rest of the market was saying HD was too expensive and not going to catch on.This meant that I would have some time to prepare and go after the market. Add to this that the government was pushing HD and there were 200 stations that were up, or close to up, after spending millions to get there. I thought the push for HD would only grow.

Finally, I found myself watching anything in HD that I could. I watched the 199 loop from DirecTV more times than I care to admit.

As I researched HD, I found the same experiences with others. I saw that I could grow viewership at a dramatic rate because as the market grew, people would find our channel, as opposed to TV today where networks struggle to get noticed. My guess is that we will have this edge for the next 3 to 5 years! When you put all this together, it was an easy decision.

DTV Guide: Aside from your ownership of the Dallas Mavericks, why sports?

Mark Cuban: We chose sports because it was the most compelling and differentiated content, from the aspect ratio to the resolution. Watching hockey and basketball, and then lacrosse, was a mind blowing experience. You can't take your eyes off it.This allows us not only to create great content for people to enjoy, but also great content for in-store demos, for those smart enough to use HDNet for that purpose. Just as important, it gives HDNet more experience at producing and broadcasting HD sporting events than anyone else in the US.

DTV Guide: Mark, do you view DTV as television or as on entirely new medium?

Mark Cuban: Bits are bits.The more you can send, the more you can do. Every bit is important in improving the experience, whether it's for picture quality, interactivity, data or sound. All together, they create the unique experience that, when combined with pricing comparable to analog, will drive people to HDTV.

from DTV Guide

Crisper, Clearer, Cheaper?

The price point and image quality of HD help make a compelling argument for shooting in this format.

by Christine Burnish


RANDALL P. DARK
President/CEO
HD Vision
www.hdvision.com
Dallas

STRENGTHS The world has changed dramatically with the events of 9-11. Historically, in times of conflict the entertainment industry has always been important for the pure distraction it gives to people. But the communications business also dispenses information, and I believe HD will lead to greater compassion and understanding through its sense of being there. Why don't we understand each other? Because we don't know, see or feel people and events that are different from us. HD could give us a better understanding of the planet.

In terms of production, right now HD is as user-friendly as it can possibly be, and it's very cost effective. The low cost of HD stock relative to film enabled me to keep recording for over 35 minutes nonstop waiting for a bear to come down a tree and toward its mother when I was shooting Wyoming Wild. Had that been film, it would have cost a fortune for that one moment. If you're doing nature programs, trying to get a CEO to relax or capturing that warm and fuzzy shot of kids you can keep the camera rolling and not have to worry about it. With professional actors you never lose momentum by changing film mags. 24p HD cameras and the economies they offer compared to shooting film will be a boon worldwide to independent imagemakers. The first dollar in and the first dollar out is the hardest for independent imagemakers to get. But with HD, the upfront cost drops dramatically. [HD Vision offers concept to completion HD services as well as camera rentals and an HD stock library at HD Vision.]

WEAKNESSES What used to be the weakest part of the chain -- display devices in theatrical and home environments -- has now become one of HD's strengths. The images are spectacular on the third- or fourth-generation TVs, and you should see HD projected on a 40-foot screen! The price points are down dramatically on home display devices: They're very close to the best standard definition TVs on the market. But there's a lack of understanding of where we are today with this technology. There's misinformation, a lack of information and blatantly wrong information out there. I still get calls asking when will we decide on a broadcast standard, which was done in 1998. We need to sit down and revisit where we are. Although nonlinear HD editing is already available, there still aren't enough HD edit suites for producers to go to.

OPPORTUNITIES There are millions and millions of storytelling opportunities for HD. Every documentary ever done in 4-by-3 NTSC or film looks and feels totally different in HD. Side-by-side, it's a whole different experience, so the opportunities to go out and re-tell these stories is endless. And HD's cost factor means that stories, which have never been told because there was no financing for them, now have the chance to be made.

THREATS When should existing plants jump into the marketplace? It's a difficult time for broadcasters and facilities: redoing their plants, the overhead, amortizing equipment. When will manufacturers switch over completely? When will broadcasters switch for fear of losing market share? When will imagemakers switch for fear of losing clients?

Randall P. Dark

"The biggest tip I can give anybody is go try it! It's an enlightening experience. Even if you don't prefer HD to Super 16 or Digital Betacam, you can talk about it; trying HD gets rid of the fear factor. The community does a disservice with the 'which is better: HD or film?' argument. HD isn't better than film but different. It's a different art form.

"HD gives you multipurpose images. For some clients we're shooting HD and using the HD for HDTV broadcasts or large-screen presentations; for others we are converting the HD to NTSC for broadcast, downconverting to VHS and DVD for mass distribution and producing print images.

"HD is very personal. Producers and directors who have tried it, used it and had success with it, end up using it over and over. People who haven't used it yet have a tendency to dig in their heels and find reasons not to want to try it."

excerpt from Post

Developing a market

by David English

If you've thought about moving to high definition video but aren't sure there's enough work out there to justify the move, look no further than Randall Dark, president and CEO or Dallas-based HD Vision.

One of HD Vision's most recent projects is an HD recruitment video for Texas A&M University. Dark used Sony HDC-700A cameras with Canon 9-to-1 and 18-t0-1 lenses. One version of the video is shown to prospective students, and another is shown to parents and faculty. "The university ripped out a video wall and created a high-definition theater with a JVC rear-screen projector," he explains. "The video debuted to 60 other university representatives from around the United States, and the response was stunning."

HD Vision created a similar recruitment video, this time for Baylor University. "We created the world's first touring e-cinema showcase," says Dark. "We had DLP projectors playing back the video in high definition on something like a 40-foot screen." For the showings, the university rented high-profile venues, such as opera centers, across the nation. Dark sees these projects as the beginning of a trend. "Universities and corporations are looking at this new technology as a really exciting way to get their messages across."

Dark is especially excited about the prospects for 24P HD video, which is designed to be a source for both 24-frames-per-second film and 30-fields-per-second video. Although the overall quality is comparable to that of 35 mm film, 24P costs significantly less. "The advent of high definition," Dark says, "has made it much more cost-effective to do an inexpensive feature, You can get actors to work inexpensively. The director can use his aunt's money. But film is really expensive. Not only as raw stock, but you also have to develop it, process it and transfer it before you can edit it."

Though Dark praises the versatility of 24P, his company tends to use 10801 cam eras. "The only reason I would use 24P is if the end result was a film for theatrical distribution." He says that a lot of producers prefer the look of 24-frame video, even when it's destined for television. "It duplicates the look of film because you lose the artifacts of motion strobing."

Should other video producers consider moving to HD? "You're doing a disservice to your client if you don't," Dark explains. "If you're creating content with any sort of shelf life, or any sort of evergreen capabilities, you have to shoo wide-screen, you have to shoot digital and you have to shoot high-resolution. That's where the world is going. We've gone from cave drawings to high definition."

from AV Video Multimedia Producer

Finding the art in HDTV

by Karen Anderson Prikios

When HDTV first hit the stage, there was talk of $400,000 cameras and $300,000 tape decks--enough to make program producers say, "Nice but too expensive."

Now the cost of HDTV production gear has fallen to the $70,000 level, and there's talk out of Hollywood that the producers of prime time pilots are shooting them in HDTV because it's cheaper than shooting in film.

What a difference five years can make. HD productions are beginning to become attractive. More important, consumers waiting for an attractive mix of price and programming before purchasing an HDTV set may find that the increase in HD productions (and, in turn, HD broadcasts) provides the necessary impetus to invest big bucks in a big set.

...

The key driver to HD production, however, will be cost savings.

"Forget artistic integrity and being a storyteller with film or HD," says Randall Paris Dark, president of HD Vision, an HD production facility based in Irving, Texas. "For me, it's always been about follow the dollar. And if you do an apples-to-apples comparison of shooting with 24p HD vs. film, no one can dispute that it's much cheaper to use HD than 35mm."

Dark says it's less expensive for a number of reasons, including film-stock processing and transferring. "You can get actors to work at rate, you can get people to donate things, but the hard dollar is in the stock," he says. "When you look at shooting HD, 40 minutes is $76, and, in our world, that's pretty much free."

When it comes to the cost of equipment, it's a simple example of supply and demand, according to Seidel. "We've been doing [HDTV productions] for two-plus years, and, each year, there is a reduction in the cost of doing this," he says. "When you have equipment readily available, the cost per unit goes down. The cost of HD recorders and the HDCAM cameras continue in a downward pricing trend. With competitive pricing, people are choosing to do HD as the norm."

While HDTV still meets resistance from the major networks, primarily because of related costs of HD post-production and the challenge of putting new apples on the cart, there are signs that the technology may be sufficiently mature to be attractive.

"Until now, shooting HD would never be considered because it was expensive and, to be quite honest, the equipment has been user-hostile," says Dark. "And there hadn't been enough bells and whistles on the post side so that color-correcting DVE could be purchased at an affordable price point. But my feeling from talking to people is that everyone is revisiting HD. And because it's no longer dominated by Sony, the price points are dropping dramatically."

excerpt from Broadcasting & Cable

NATPE embraces HDTV

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

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