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Home: Video University Forums: HDV:
HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients?

mazzystar
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Feb 24, 2006, 8:32 PM

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HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients?	Can't Post

I knew it. It was bound to happen. I booked my first HDV wedding. Prior to the booking, when I initially met the bride, I saw her using a dinky HDV handycam (I forgot the model), I knew that I had to offer nothing less than HDV to them.

In the contarct I signes, I'm delivering standard def dvds as well as hdv media ouput - WHEN AVAILABLE.

I'd like to hear from you guys - what are you delivering?

Thanks all

____
blog

KevinShaw
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Feb 27, 2006, 3:52 AM

Post #2 of 12 (2309 views)
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Re: [mazzystar] HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients? [In reply to]	Can't Post

The most useful things to deliver today are (1) widescreen SD DVDs, and (2) an AVI file in Windows Media format at 720p resolution on a standard DVD-R disc. The first item should work in almost any DVD player with any SD or HD TV, and will look fine on both. The second item will play in millions of currently installed computers and can also be played on HDTVs using something like the Avel Linkplayer2, which your customers can buy for a modest $249. So your bride could, for example, take the HD version to work and show it to her friends on her computer there during a break, then take it home and drop it in an Avel to watch it on her HDTV. The only thing the HD version will lack is pretty DVD-style menus, but the video itself will look fine.

mazzystar
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Feb 27, 2006, 8:12 PM

Post #3 of 12 (2271 views)
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Re: [kwshaw1] HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients? [In reply to]	Can't Post

thanks. next time I sign up one of these, I'll make these output media (including a copy on hdv tape) explicit.

____
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Brackish
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Mar 2, 2006, 12:24 PM

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Post deleted by Brackish [In reply to]

szerangue
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Mar 3, 2006, 7:43 PM

Post #5 of 12 (2166 views)
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Re: [kwshaw1] HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients? [In reply to]	Can't Post

There are few gotchas on your reply
Miracle Pictures
"If it's a good picture, it's a Miracle!"

"Life Productions, coming out of the dark, into the light"
4EVER GROUP AFFILIATE

HiDef Vid
Novice

Mar 4, 2006, 1:25 PM

Post #6 of 12 (2142 views)
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Re: [mazzystar] HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I'm thinking of going totally HiDef for event stuff and offering HD masters with SD dvds now. Marketing that they can have an HD copy (when they want ) for an additional fee. What do you guys think about this?
I reject your reality, and substitute my own.

KevinShaw
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Mar 6, 2006, 6:32 PM

Post #7 of 12 (2081 views)
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Re: [Brackish] HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

I have read where a videog in Silicon Valley made about 200 HD DVDs for clients using Windows Media Video 9. Beings the clients were in Silicon Valley, the videog had assumed they'd have the fastest home computers so that there'd be no problems. As it turned out, almost none of the WM9 DVDs would play properly and it caused a lot of trouble for the videog. Not positive, but I think they all had to be re-made as SD. What bit rate are you using to make your Windows Media HD DVDs? Around 7000 to 9000? I've tried and my own machine won't play that high a bit rate. The audio is okay but the video portion stutters/freezes.

If they made 200 HD discs and almost no one could play them, my first guess would be that they used 1080p resolution instead of 720p. If that wasn't the case I'd be interested to hear more about what happened, because 720p should work on some reasonable percentage of common home computers. And there should have been SD copies delivered as well anyway, so "remaking" for SD shouldn't ever be a requirement.

For my experiments with HD output I prefer ~1-2 Mbps for web-based content and 5-7 Mbps for disc-based. Guess I should start doing more testing with customers to see what works on the computers they own.

KevinShaw
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Mar 6, 2006, 6:37 PM

Post #8 of 12 (2080 views)
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Re: [szerangue] HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

There are few gotchas on your reply

Care to elaborate? My mind-reading abilities are a little weak today.

szerangue
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Mar 6, 2006, 10:40 PM

Post #9 of 12 (2068 views)
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Re: [kwshaw1] HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

KW, sorry for the not being able to read my mind thing... Here are my thoughts on your comments: Delivering the .avi will not necessarily play on millions of currently installed computers. To playback HDV requires a pretty good video card and a somewhat powerful computer, otherwise the playback skips and stalls. The AveLinkplayer is a pretty good device, I have one, it plays DVDs and my high def video clips on my HDTV pretty nicely. But its really not ready for primetime. You have to boot the machine a lot just like a PC, the component out connection is loose and you have to fiddle with it to get good quality color and picture, and there is no service or tech support to speak of. Basically that was the gotchas I was talking about. I would hesitate to sell that product to a bride unless they wanted an HD output of their wedding and they understood the pitfalls.
Miracle Pictures
"If it's a good picture, it's a Miracle!"

"Life Productions, coming out of the dark, into the light"
4EVER GROUP AFFILIATE

KevinShaw
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Mar 7, 2006, 3:52 AM

Post #10 of 12 (2047 views)
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Re: [szerangue] HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Those are good points, and I agree some caution is prudent in telling people what to expect from current HD delivery options. But I stand by my statement that the best solutions for now are widescreen SD DVDs and Windows Media HD at 720p resolution on DVD-R discs. Nothing else offers better compatibility or functionality for now, in spite of the playback limitations.

szerangue
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Mar 7, 2006, 8:40 AM

Post #11 of 12 (2032 views)
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Re: [kwshaw1] HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I agree to that the widescreen SD DVDs are really second to none when encoded from HDV. I just don't think that Windows Media HD is ready yet, hopefully something with HD delivery will appear soon. But I see your point.
Miracle Pictures
"If it's a good picture, it's a Miracle!"

"Life Productions, coming out of the dark, into the light"
4EVER GROUP AFFILIATE

KevinShaw
Veteran

Mar 18, 2006, 3:12 AM

Post #12 of 12 (1859 views)
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Re: [szerangue] HDV weddings, what are you delivering to clients? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

I agree to that the widescreen SD DVDs are really second to none when encoded from HDV. I just don't think that Windows Media HD is ready yet, hopefully something with HD delivery will appear soon.

Windows Media is easily the most practical HD delivery codec for the foreseeable future. At suitable resolution and bandwidth it can be used for playback on many recent computers, the Avel-type HD players, blue-laser DVD players, the Xbox 360, and via the internet. Like it or not, nothing else is in a position to be so widely usable, except maybe M2T files which require a lot more bandwidth.