Is it worth producing your next corporate video in High Definition?

Daniel Craig in those swimming trunks; the Dark Knight in all its gothic splendor – even YouTube are doing it.  With High Definition, as the blurb goes, you’re not just at the movies; you’re in the movies.

But what exactly is High Definition (HD)? And should you be using it in your next Corporate video production? After all, if it’s good enough for Daniel Craig…

Well, it does exactly what it says on the tin – it gives you exceptionally clear, crisp pictures with vivid colours and up to four times more detail than standard definition. More and more programmes on television are now being made in HD and most new flat-screen televisions (LCD and plasma) are able to show them. But this content is shown usually via TV stations with a specially allocated HD channel. In order to create clearer and more defined pictures, the file size containing the programme needs to be much bigger. It’s the same when you send a photo via email – normally you send a small file, which the recipient views on screen. If they want to print it out, the file has to be much bigger – and sometimes if you send something that’s really huge, a few business internet connections and firewalls have trouble receiving the information.

And here is the techie bit. High Definition is  more than one format; HDV, XDCAM, HDCAM, DVCPRO HD and Varicam. And just to make sure you are good and confused, once filmed in HD, you can then change the broadcast format, with at least 4 variations. (1080i, 720p, different frame rates 24p, 50i).

Even with these disadvantages and confusion, there’s no doubt HD is the future of TV and video production. And it’s worth spending the money on HD for a far better looking finished product, despite higher production costs.

But if your finished video is for the web or intranet, many businesses may not have access to enough bandwidth on their connection to really see the benefit or struggle to play back anything at all. However it is possible for HD content to be ‘down converted’ to Standard Definition for play back on DVD or slower web connections.

So what is our advice for High Definition corporate video production? We at Tallboy have waited and watched to see what the market and technology was doing. We believe the time is now right and we are planning to move all our video production over to HD this year. The future of video production product has arrived. It’s time to embrace it!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 4:39 pm and is filed under Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.