How much would you pay for a special DVD in High Definition?

[TheForce]

The video is of a special nature such as an event you attended, or a special souvineer, anything that is especially meaningful to you, personally.

It is available in standard SD DVD but also available in Blu Ray Disc because it was shot and edited to Blu Ray specifications- 1080 x 1920.

Considering that the blank media and processing is considerably more expensive than a standard DVD-R, what would you be willing to pay over and above the DVD price point to have the full quality version. Consider that this is a one shot deal and if you decide later on you wish you had the Blu Ray version it would no longer be available.

Consider the SD DVD version has a base price of $20 per half hour of event program. For example a 90 minute program would cost you $60. This is a typical price in the industry right now. Obviously this is minimal to no editing and would be a special editing charge if you wanted that service but this is more about the DVD costs than editing- just so we're clear on the purpose of this poll. The poll only covers options for a 30 minute or less event. I understand that a 90 minute SD DVD may not be affordable at a $225 cost for BluRay so the longer programs would liklely not be a linear increase in price. Let's just poll the $20 DVD for now.

 

[diogen]

I can not imagine an 90min event which video version I'd value around $60 (for a non-edited MPEG-2 SD version).
Even less so a BD version for over $100...

Diogen.

 

[TheForce]

diogen- Well, if you're not in the business you probably have little imagination.

I'll start with weddings. Full mass 90 minutes and a cut down of the reception at 90 minutes on two DVD's, Then we have the dual This is your life picture compilation that is 20 minutes long.

Currently a company in Las Vegas is selling a 50% return on a 90 minute DVD that is real time event video of a person's helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon for $60.

There is plenty of business out there for SD DVD now. There is no way anyone can compare this with the $35 DVD BD of a movie as the genre I'm talking about is a special event that is personal to you.

What surprises me is I had to explain it.

Here's another- Parents who buy dance recital videos when their kid is only in it for 3 minutes along with 30 other kids on a stage and the recital is 2hr30min long. SD DVD avg price is $45 and the sales is typical 40-60% of the total population of the recital.

I'm not interested in the statistics of those who can't fathom buying a DVD. I'm only interested in the value one who does buy BD DVD's would pay for an HD version of a special event.

 

[diogen]

In most of those cases - if it is raw unedited footage - I'd rent a camcorder and do it myself.
Yes, I don't have enough imagination...

Diogen.

 

[Van]

I would be willing to go $30 - $35 for each segment for bragging rights but I would also have to base it on seeing how well the pq quality is of the videographers equipment and wether or not he can produce a steady picture.

 

[Ilya]

Don, it's almost impossible to put a single price tag. It all depends on how important the video recording is to me.
If, say, it's a wedding of some friend or relative that I attended, I wouldn't pay $45 for the HD version. A $20 DVD would suffice.
On the other hand, if this was, say, a wedding of my daughter, I would easily pay a $100 to have it in HD...

 

[TheForce]

On the other hand, if this was, say, a wedding of my daughter, I would easily pay a $100 to have it in HD...

Yes, that's the market I'm looking at in this survey.

As for diogen "renting a camcorder to do it themselves" ... I've seen this attitude a bunch! Especially with the Dance recitals. It goes like this- We open the event for parents to videotape as they wish. We get 15-20 parents in an audience of 500 who "suffer" through the event peeping at their kid on stage through a shaky viewfinder from the audience. Parents behind them complain of the distraction. They shoot just the bits where they can see their kid on stage, it is a shaky and lousy framed shot and out of focus. The kid sees it and is pissed off at the parent because their friend has a purchased video of the whole event. Then a week later all, I mean ALL those parents with camcorders are buying the professional video anyway. What parents forget with the recital video is it is watched more by the kids than the parents.

Another interesting point is the cost differential. Note that in a long form video the cost in time to render a video at 1080 x 1920 vs, a 480 x 720 is roughly 15 times. If done right the editing should be the same time. The blank media would cost increase about $20-$25 each. If there is no value added for the producer, it won't be done. If there is no value for the consumer it won't be bought.

I know of one company locally who shoots and edits weddings. They are a pretty top production house. 5 Z1U camcorders with 3 on steadycams rigs. The editing is about a 5 man day process. In SD they start at $3000 for the base package and in HD start at over double that price.

 

[mike123abc]

If you have the editing software it is no big deal to do HD, just takes up more disk space. Just let it do the compression overnight. I use Adobe Premier and it is no different if doing HD or SD, can just output to DVD or BD (or flash for web).

It just takes the cash for the better cameras, an up to date computer and of course BD recorder and BD blanks.

As far as those that say just shoot it yourself, yes it is realistic to do it, but you need to have someone that knows what they are doing, has a tripod, has scoped out the areas in advance for shots, angles, etc. But, a pro will probably do much better since they are used to doing this and they do not have to think about camera shots, plus they know what works and what pleases most customers from experience.

 

[diogen]

As for diogen "renting a camcorder to do it themselves" ... I've seen this attitude a bunch!

There are two ways to remember an event: in still pictures and videos.
I never did still pictures, I believe you need an "artsy" eye, imagination to do it right. Don't have that.

I did videos twice, both time graduation, the last time some 5 years ago, no hidef cameras...
Actually, last time two of us were shouting the video (two cameras). Later mixed in with some stills,
added soundtrack and run through ProShow Producer - it took half a Saturday to do it - the resulting
video was given to the school: they made copies for everybody else who wanted.

In one case "pros" were doing a video, too. I'd have to be paid to watch it.
I'm sure it has nothing to do with the work you do, Don...

Diogen.

 

[8bitbytes]

I'd pay the the SD cost plus the difference in the media cost .

 

[TheForce]

I'd pay the the SD cost plus the difference in the media cost .

Yeah, this is what I'm hearing from many people. The real cost of HD is not worth the present day cost to do it when SD 4:3 and WS is what so many people are used to seeing.

I just signed a deal with the citiy's best dance company to do a multi camera shoot of a 4 act play (about 100 minutes) in June. I've done this for the past 12 years.
When I first offered DVD over VHS about 9 years ago, no one wanted it. Then the cost was $5 more than the VHS. Today, I'll do a special order VHS copy from a DVD and there are a few people who still pay a dub cost on top of the DVD.
MY prices are competitive and I have to pay the Union for rights plus I have to pay for video resale rights so this is something few people understand about doing Professional video of theater.
The difference in Media cost was my basis in the poll. No real big secret to people like us who know about such stuff, but the problem is the cost of production too. In my research, I have discovered that even a quad core 3 Ghz with 4G ram and super fast raid drives will not permit you to edit in real time. It just doesn't play smoothly and the rendering time is considerably longer. For example this project will require about 4 hours of rendering time for SD DVD. On a computer that is not a $6000 Quad core but same as the one for SD DVD which is pretty fast the rendering is about 80 hours and to edit it the raw HD footage needs to be proxied in Gearshift so it will play properly. That process adds another 24 hours of rendering time. figure an additional 4 days of rendering before I can deliver so this is a problem not to mention the cost of time where the fastest computer I have will be tied up for that period.
What it boils down to as shown in the poll most would buy the HD version if the producer pays for the cost of making it and the customer buys the media. LOL! That is a formula for bankruptcy. Would you go to a restaurant and say, I'll pay for the Filet Mignon steak from the butcher but you cook it and serve it to me for free, otherwise just give me a hamburger. If this is the market, which it appears to be, I'll be making a pass on HD offering this year.
What is needed before HD can be sold is lower cost media when long form is necessary as well as much faster production time while not drastically increasing the price.
Presently, the HD camcorders available for consumer and even industrial are here. What is still lacking is a low cost way to make the distribution media and edit it as consumers expect.

 

[8bitbytes]

...but the problem is the cost of production too. In my research, I have discovered that even a quad core 3 Ghz with 4G ram and super fast raid drives will not permit you to edit in real time. It just doesn't play smoothly and the rendering time is considerably longer. For example this project will require about 4 hours of rendering time for SD DVD. On a computer that is not a $6000 Quad core but same as the one for SD DVD which is pretty fast the rendering is about 80 hours and to edit it the raw HD footage needs to be proxied in Gearshift so it will play properly. That process adds another 24 hours of rendering time. figure an additional 4 days of rendering before I can deliver so this is a problem not to mention the cost of time where the fastest computer I have will be tied up for that period...

This is true. I can see that now that you pointed it out when I conveniently ignored it earlier.

It's going to be tough to figure out where the right price point is, especially when most people are not familiar with the greatly extended rendering time and are happy with dvd. Sony is going to have to flood the planet with Blu before anyone will consider $100 for something they usually pay $20 for and in reality, will $100 be enough on your end?

 

[Hemi 6.1]

If A Standard DVD cost $20 , I'd pay $22 for an HD version!. $25 Max!

 

[diogen]

My completely non-professional view on the matter (I assume the footage is there and only workflow is the issue):
- using 720p
- using SL DVD (should be good for up to 100 min of footage)
If not too many filters are used (sharpening, color correction/matching, etc.) it should not take more than 10 times
the footage length on a $1000 PC excluding storage (ballpark figure from using Canopus ProCoder a couple times).

If done in AVCHD, "Can be played on PS3" should be the marketting slogan...

Diogen.

 

[Madtown HD Junkie]

Don, it's almost impossible to put a single price tag. It all depends on how important the video recording is to me.
If, say, it's a wedding of some friend or relative that I attended, I wouldn't pay $45 for the HD version. A $20 DVD would suffice.
On the other hand, if this was, say, a wedding of my daughter, I would easily pay a $100 to have it in HD...

that is an excellent point.

 

[mike123abc]

I have to agree with you Don just do the DVD. If something for myself personally I would do in HD. But, since you are doing for other people that would not want to pay for it, why bother.

 

[navychop]

I'm with Ilya.

For my wedding, I'd pay considerably more than $75 for a Blu-ray. Same for my son's college graduation coming up May 18th. Same for the birth of a grandchild (judiciously edited). Same for certain one-time life events such as certain awards ceremonies and swearing ins (swearings in?).

It depends upon how special. Certainly, if I wanted a DVD of the event, and a Blu-ray was available for $45, I'd pay it. Now, for a sorta mass market production, such as a production of River Dance that I attended, I'd pay at least $55, maybe $75. But then, that sort of recording would likely continue to be available for years, and would be much longer than 30 minutes.

Sadly, the market this year is small and would not likely pay. Maybe in another year or two. Best to be in on that curve early in the game, but not too early.

 

[Cegarrett]

I think some of the problem is there aren't a lot of people that have HDDVD or BR players. They're definitely not as widely available as regular DVD players.

 

[Poke]

Yeah I like my DVD's right now but I plan on going to Blu-Ray this summer or later in the year when more models hit the market..

 

[nonrev]

Yes for special event, you only live once.