How do you distribute your video?
 

It has been a while since I last visited dvinfo wedding/event pages. I took a year off from wedding video to focus upon other endeavors. Much has changed in a year's time. As I plan for next year one issue continues to puzzle me.

I perceive the DVD may be a fading format. While the DVD player may be around for some time to come it strikes me as it may be a poor archival format for wedding videos.

Would anyone care to offer opinions on how they currently deliver their videos and what method they are entertaining for the future?

Re: How do you distribute your video?
 

Every package still includes DVDs. It's not a fading format.....yet. We also offer Blu-ray but now include the HD file (H264) as well for them to download.

Re: How do you distribute your video?
 

We have 4 options now.

SD DVD

Blu-ray

HD download (H.264)

HD on flash media (H.264)


Ben

Re: How do you distribute your video?
 

Over here the only fading format seems to be BluRay

Virtually everyone has a digital flat screen TV and hooked up to it 99.9% of the time is a DVD Player..the few people that have a BD Player have it usually cos Sony was including a free player when you bought the TV!!!

I have not had a request for BD in the last 3 years....all brides want DVD only but I am going to now include the files in HD on a USB stick too!! Plenty of TV's now have a USB slot and will quite happily play MP4 files plus the bride can also play it on her computer which means your work to shown to friends who have a high chance of being potential brides (and clients) so it's a good idea for them to see your work in HD!!

Chris

Re: How do you distribute your video?
 

Here we are still delivering DVD but we are getting some interest in BR. BR is still a buzz word I dont know about you guys but here wedding video technology really lags behind mainly because women are doing the booking, mostly Moms women in general arent that keen on moving forward HD and all that espcially Moms. I would like to deliver via digital download but I like my chaptered DVDs I assume a digital download would be just the wedding file right?

Re: How do you distribute your video?
 

Very interesting replies thus far.

I am looking at a photo album of my wife's grand parents wedding, which occurred in Tsarist Russia, prior to 1917.

What can we produce today that can be appreciated in the next century?

Re: How do you distribute your video?
 

While I don't shoot wedding, I do shoot lots of business events (meetings, seminars, presentations, etc.) Everybody wants it on a DVD, but several still want an HD version too. For some time I've been including the HD version in WMV format with an autorun.inf file and ASX playlist on the root of the DVD. If they insert the disk into a DVD player, it of course plays the SD version. If they insert the disk into a Windows computer, it plays the HD version.

I've only had one request for a Blu-ray disk. Ever.

Just what we're doing now. You're not looking at the photo of your grandparents and marveling at the technical proficiency of the photographer or the resolution of the image. What captures you is the fact you're looking back in time at a young version of your grandparents.

If you're worried that you'll produce something that will be unplayable in 100 years - pish-posh. Imagine any format in the past 100 years and you can either find someone to convert to another format, or find a suitable player on eBay. That includes cassette, 8-track, Betamax, wax cylinders, wire, laserdisc, reel-to-reel, etc.

Re: How do you distribute your video?
 

Hi Randy

I actually did a "survey" on our local wedding forum where the brides talk to each other and the bottom line (amazing!!) was "I can't really tell the difference so I don't care" ....some said that hubby might like it on BD but was more interested in watching sport!! The general outcome was that they would seemingly not choose one videographer over the other simply because one offered BluRay!!!

The overall consensus with probably all women is that they don't even look at technical quality...they look at content, how pretty the bridesmaids were etc etc. With most, if you are in focus, the colour is accurate and the audio is clear, I really think they couldn't care less if it was shot with an analogue Handycam!!! Brides are not really technical creatures at all...I'll often comment to my wife about TV broadcasts with really wobbly handheld shots or poor exposure and she doesn't see them at all as she's following the story!!

Us guys do tend to go a bit overboard on the technical side!!!! Of course content is STILL king!!! Produce pristine HD video on a BD that has poor content and the bride just won't approve!!!

Chris

Re: How do you distribute your video?
 

I agree most brides cant tell, The reason I push HD (BR or other) is because new TVs are designed for HD so DV looks like crap on them. If they have an old tube set DV still looks great. I push at least one BR disc now in all our packages. but in the end your right steady footage, good sound, and most importantly getting the shot is king. Id love to be able to just give them a flash drive one day.