The WOW! Buzz

After our discussion last week about “MPEG4″, it occurred to me that the significance of that codec technology as it pertains to the consumer sector might be hazy to some.  Certainly, that technology has implications for “video distribution” companies like WOW!, because it allows additional services and additional channels over facilities that may have been otherwise limited by older technologies.  As I mentioned, WOW! is implementing MPEG 4 technologies as a basis for future offerings.  That’s a good thing.

MPEG 4 has found a place in consumer products as well.  While HD video camcorders have been out for a while now, on the consumer level most have been “DV tape cassette” or “optical drive” based, generating very large files of digital information.  Fine if you want to watch directly on your set, but large and unwieldy if you wanted to edit video on your computer.

The other problem is that most of these devices have had a significant mechanical component; i.e. a tape transport mechanism or a spinning hard disk.  These transport mechanisms have been required because, again, the amount of digital information associated with a HD recording is huge–multiple gigabytes of data for an hour’s worth of storage in MPEG 2 format.  While these complex devices are designed to be reliable in the short term, they do wear out with use.  It is as inevitable as rain in the Amazon.

Allow me to make a prediction.  I believe that consumer video recording devices will not have mechanical recording systems as part of their design in a few years.  The MPEG 4 codec (particularly the H.264 variant) now allows HD video information to be compressed and economically stored in solid state devices–memory chips, which are designed to download to a computer for processing.  As video becomes more a part of our digital lives, editing with inexpensive, capable “non-linear” video editors (iMovie, Final Cut Express, Windows Movie Maker, etc.–See a full listing here) is becoming increasingly common, even for novice videographers.

Certain manufacturers have already gone down this path.  At the entry level, Flip Video (a Cisco company) has designed some terrific video cameras in both standard def and HD that have no moving parts, and the simplicity of the design is reflected in the price.  A very capable 720p HD video cam comes in at a street price of $150 or less, and the mpeg 4 encoded video is fantastic!  Again, subscribing to this design philosophy means that you will have to download your video to your computer for use rather than rely on tapes or other media, but this is a great way to go for most people.

On the other end of the consumer spectrum, Canon and Nikon among others, have designed their newest DSLR still cameras to also take mpeg 4 HD video–some models able to capture 1080p at 30 frames/second–state of the art performance for consumer HD video.  (Point and shoot digital cameras have supported low definition video for years, but these systems are a different animal.)  While I have seen many “multifunction” designs in electronics fall flat on their face, this approach actually makes sense as the lens quality and CMOS sensor quality in these high end still cameras are the basic raw materials needed for great video.  These products offer high quality and great flexibility to any videographer, but be prepared to spend at least $1000 for an entry level digital still/video system, and most of the folks seriously involved in this space spend several thousand bucks.  Here are links to a couple of my favorites:

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 7D

Nikon D300S

I fully expect that single function video cameras will also gradually embrace the mpeg-4 standard, add the necessary processing capability, and lose the mechanical transport aspect of their design.  Various pro level systems have already done so, although with a pro system additional proprietary codecs are available as well.   Here is a link to my favorite pro system–the Red Digital Camera.  The price of entry?  A serious five figure sum, but we can dream, can’t we?  Until next time….