Few people have high definition television sets right now, but with a good push by the US Federal Communications Commission they should be flooding into homes in the second half of this decade. The current crop of consumer level video cameras uses the DV format, which is standard definition TV. A common thought would be that HD video cameras at the consumer level wouldn't appear until the next decade. However, that is not the case. At this year's National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas vendors unveiled plans which could start to bring HD video cameras and video editing to the consumer level in as little as two years.

Most people know that the current popular DV format started out as something for documentary filmmakers, and corporate, government, and event videographers. Over time the price dropped to where consumers could afford the cameras. Now the DV video cameras are cheap and have almost forced the old Hi-8 and VHS-C video cameras off the market. Consumer adoption was helped by the fact you could easily import the video from your camcorder to your computer via an IEEE 1394/Firewire port. Of course DV was a step up in image resolution of about 25% from the previous s-video plus the benefits of moving to a digital format. Sony, JVC, Canon, and Sharp want to do the same thing again from standard definition DV format to high definition format HDV. HDV will use the 720p (progressive) and 1080i (interlaced) standards giving a 50% or greater resolution over DV. However, using an updated version of MPEG-2 compression even at 1080i the recording/playback data rate will be the same as DV, 25 megabits per second. That enables them to be able to use the same tape cassettes as the DV format.

Sony will have their cameras start to come out early next year. They are expected to be $3,000 and higher, but JVC already has a 720p camera trying to make an effort into the high end consumer/low end professional market with a single chip HD camera. Things could happen to get HDV cameras below $2,000 faster than it was for DV cameras. It is probable that the first HDV cameras below $2,000 will hit the market 2-3 years from now. Then after that there should be a gradual decline in prices to under $1,000 were it is be affordable to a wide variety of consumers.

You should not have a problem getting it into your computer for editing since you import HDV video via IEEE 1394/Firewire like you do with DV video.

Up to now for HD you had to have a very expensive plug-in card to do real or near real time video editing on your computer. However at NAB vendors showed updated versions of their professional video editing software that could do HD video editing in real time without specialized cards. Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, Sony Pictures Digital, Ulead Systems, Pinnacle Systems, Avid Technology, Canopus, Miranda Technology, and Sobey Digital Technology have already stated that HDV editing will be supported in their professional and prosumer video editing software. Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5, Apple Final Cut Pro HD, Sony's Vegas 5 and Ulead's MediaStudio Pro 7 already support HDV within the current product or via a currently available plug-in. Ulead's Public Relations Manager for the Americas, Sharna Brockett, stated that Ulead's plans are to incorporate the ability to do HDV editing in their VideoStudio consumer video editing software when the price of the HDV cameras come down to where consumers will be buying them. Their experience with HDV in MediaStudio Pro 7 will help them implement this. It is probable that other consumer video editing software manufacturers will eventually do as Ulead plans to do.

Now that you have high definition video, how will you be able to distribute it to your friends and family? Currently you can do so by producing a DVD, but use the Microsoft Windows Media 9 High Definition Codec instead of the standard MPEG-2 Codec. You can only play them in a computer where Windows Media 9 is installed, but DVD players will be coming out that can read the disks. Already some commercial DVD movies come with both a standard DVD in standard definition and an additional DVD with the Windows Media 9 High Definition version of the same movie. A similar system using a high definition MPEG-4 codec is being worked on. The upcoming Blue-Ray and HD DVD standards are designed to distribute video in high definition, but the recorders being affordable for consumers is probably greater than three years away.

When the consumer starts shooting video in Hi Def they will start to see some changes. With a higher resolution image the amount of detail picked up will be higher. The good news is you will get clearer and more vivid images. However, the bad news is also you will get clearer and more vivid images. The reason is you will pick up greater beauty, but also a larger amount of imperfections on your subjects. This includes wrinkles and skin blemishes on human skin. This is why when NBC's Tonight show started to broadcast in high definition a lot of Hollywood stars refused to be on the show. They were afraid that imperfections in their looks which had been covered by the lower resolution image of standard definition analog television and the tried and true makeup techniques associated with it would suddenly be revealed, killing their careers. So just like the professionals did on the Tonight Show, consumers should make adjustments to lighting and what type of makeup is used on their subjects.

The coming of HDV will eventually mean high definition video cameras and editing for consumers, and it will come sooner than most people expect. Microsoft has a solution for consumer high definition video distribution now and others are coming. With this you will get better video, but at the same time you may have to adjust your methods and techniques. In the future when we all gather round that 60" plasma screen what we see will look a lot more like what we actually saw while filming it.

Timothy Everingham is CEO of Timothy Everingham Consulting in Azusa, California. He is Vice Chair of the Los Angeles Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH and on the Management Information Systems Program Advisory Board of California State University, Fullerton. In addition, he is the Vice President of the Windows Media Users' Group of Los Angeles. He is also part-time press in the areas of high technology, computers, video, audio, and entertainment/media and has had articles published throughout the United States and Canada plus Australia, England, & Japan. He is a member of TUGNET. Further information can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~teveringham