In our last episode, we experimented with some HDV footage, converted into various formats including WMV HD, P2 and H.264, all with favorable results. The main point of this exercise, in advance of proposing any HD or HDV projects, was to educate myself about the various flavors of HD and HDV, within the confines and limitations of my current setup and gear.
The next day i received a sample WMV HD file from my client. I assume the file was made by a previous production group, however given the range of oddly conceived medical video devices, it could have been the original format, but this is not likely.
I actually found i could import the WMV HD file into Sorenson Squeeze and output just about anything else. The goal in this exercise was standard def FLV. This worked fine and various bit rates produced expected results.
The next test will be to play H.264/MPEG-4 via the latest Flash Player.
Interesting, aside from the Adobe site, Hulu and a few obscure personal blog type sites, there is not a lot of Flash HD content on the internets, leading me to believe worldwide adoption will be slower than the usual Flash update. Bandwidth and computer power among the masses could be the impetus for a slow vs fast rollout and adoption of HD Flash.
But HD Flash is an exciting development, especially since the reigning champ of online HD, Quicktime, is still not in wide use, at least among my clients. This is a shame, but that's life. We actually had one customer tell us they could not download the podcasts which are part of the online service they subscribe to, because their hospital's IT department does not allow the use of Quicktime.
Incidentally, check out Hulu.com - you can watch old tv shows, some new tv shows, clips of late night shows and selected movies (mostly starring Patrick Swayze and the Rock) for free. I can now get my nightly fix of all time favorite show EMERGENCY!
Mike
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