Dilemma: your production company or studio needs to upgrade your video equipment, but you aren't sure how to do this without spending money you don't really have. What are the tactics you can use to make sure you don't break the bank? And how important is it, really, to make sure that you upgrade to HD performance?
Well, things may differ for your company depending on exactly what you work with, but if you're planning on competing or working with the big names, it's obviously important to observe the formats that are getting the most use and take the steps you can to keep up. A professional HD video camera might just be the beginning of the equipment that you seek out to help with this effort.
Writing for TV Technology, Iowa Public Television engineer Bill Hayes notes that conversion into a higher definition display may be increasingly necessary, but should always be tempered by acknowledgement of the ways that your content will be viewed.
"It is important to note that the higher resolution is not the only factor and in many cases, it may not even be the most important or critical from the point of the consumer," he writes. "The importance of resolution is directly related to viewing distance and saturating the retina of the viewer."
So evaluating the nature of your business, how long your programs will be on the air and what kind of HD video cameras you will need can be tricky, but essential. Once you know this for yourself, you can make every project more personal and more efficient in capturing an audience.