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HIGH DEFINITION UPDATE

High Definition Update – Paul Wheeler Interview

In July 2005, I wrote an E-Zine with the headline “High Definition When?” At the time we saw little demand for HDCAM equipment aside from some clients in the U.S. Seven months later, the situation has changed dramatically. We added two Sony HDW-F900 HDCAM camcorders (Sony’s top of the line HDCAM camera for television and/or cinema) to our stock in January 2006 because of growing demand and see this as the beginning of a trend. And we have just taken a booking for a multi-camera shoot in March with six HDW-F900s.

Interview With Paul Wheeler Soon Available on DVD

With this increase in demand, we recently hired Paul Wheeler BSC, a highly experienced film and digital cinematographer who wrote the book, “High Definition & 24P Cinematography”, to run some workshops for us. While he was here, I interviewed him. We are going to make available DVDs with an edit of the interview. If you’d like one, contact me at cal@procamtv.com.

BBC Drama and High Definition

One of my first questions to Paul was about the apparently sudden leap in demand for HDCAM. Paul’s response: “Five years ago the BBC was saying within two years everything they record will be on high definition. Three months ago they said everything we record in two years time will be on high definition so trying to predict what happens is very difficult. The BBC who wanted to move in that direction haven’t moved as fast as they wanted to. But that’s not a technical problem. That’s a problem with persuading producers that using a new technology is safe. And I think this year (2005), we’ve just begun to see the confidence in the system and I’m very hopeful that we’re now going to see a cascade effect. Where a couple of very expensive period dramas have been done on HD, they look exactly like very expensive period dramas. And that to me is a huge starting point that I was hopeful would have happened a couple of years ago.”

Sky TV and High Definition

Sky TV has also said they are on track with plans to launch HDTV in 2006. BSkyB’s Chief Operating Officer, Richard Freudenstein, said recently that the dramatic improvement in picture quality would help BSkyB achieve its target of ten million customers in 2010. “Innovation and technology leadership are at the core of the Sky brand,” he said. “By introducing HDTV, our ambition is to raise the bar again.” BSkyB expects that sales of “HD Ready” TV sets will accelerate as equipment prices continue to fall and the availability of HDTV programming grows.

Nonfiction and High Definition

Paul says the increased use of HD in documentary and factual programming has been stronger than in drama. “We have had more factual programmes made in HD than we have had fiction and I think the main drive there is this fact that you can sell it round the world. You can only really sell drama if you’ve made it in England to an English speaking nation but you can change the commentary of factual to any language very easily and I think there is more potential for international sales of documentary work or factual therefore those advantages of the transparency of moving from whatever you’ve shot it in to whatever you want to sell it in are an even bigger advantage.”

Sony HVR-Z1 (HDV) vs Digital Betacam

The most popular high definition camcorder is the Sony HVR-Z1. This is meant for low budget shoots and the camera has replaced the Sony DSR-PD170P. The main advantage is the Z1 has a wide screen chip so shoots true wide screen. The PD170P does have a wide screen setting but because it has a 4:3 chip this setting produces inferior images to the Z1. Most of our clients record in the DVCAM rather than the HDV setting when they use the Z1 and get excellent results.

In some articles I have seen the Z1 compared to the Sony DVW-790WSP camcorder with the conclusion the quality of the image is similar. According to Paul: “If you take the output straight out of the Z-1 and stick it in a decent monitor and do the same on the B-channel with a Digi-Beta and you flick between the two you’ll be fairly impressed. But there are other issues in why you choose a camera. One is the recording format and the Digi-Beta format is much more stable and robust than the M-Peg 2 compression used in the HDV process.” This, Paul says, is particularly a concern in post production, especially if you’re doing a “fair bit of post production.”

The other issues to consider are the lens and the actual robustness of the camera. The lens on a Digi-Beta is far more versatile and quicker to respond than the lens on a Z1 and if you are shooting in even slightly adverse conditions the 790 is made of far sterner stuff.

Paul’s view is to “think of (the Z1) as a replacement for your PD170 but don’t think of it as a replacement for the highly professional, very robust, very strong recording process of the Digi-Beta. It’s not.”

More on the Paul Wheeler Interview DVD

The DVD with an edit of the interview with Paul will include a discussion of the following:

Growing use of High Definition camcorders
Z1 vs Digital Betacam
Brief summary of the different camcorders: 730, 750 and F900
Progressive scan and interlaced recording
720 vs 1080
Setting the camera correctly for post production

Summary

High definition is definitely here. I have never seen a format take off so quickly. We experienced a marked increase in demand in January and interest and inquiries are growing. I recommend you learn as much as you can about the High Definition cameras available, the range of settings you can shoot in and what accessories are commonly needed. The July E-Zine covered much of this, the Paul Wheeler DVD covers more and the next E-Zine will cover commonly needed accessories.

Until then, happy shooting!

Cal Barton,
Procam Television

www.procamtv.com