Is there a conspiracy???

scotty_dvc80 wrote on 12/15/2003, 1:15 PM

Im a strange sort Im told because im always looking for a smoking gun.. Heres where i am at.. 16:9, HD, 24P are the new technologies.. Is this not correct??? Ok So sony has the 16:9 with the PDX10, JVC has their High Def, and Panny with there 24P.. In order to get all of these we gotta pay 25k for a higher end camera..

Ok so they just updated the DVx100 to the DVX100a. They left out 16:9 and HD.. Grrrrrrrr and of course the smaller cameras we are using these days that have some of these features are what seems purposefully excluding other features that seem easy to include.. Almost seems like these guys meet in cigar filled rooms to decide how not to step on each others toes on the lower end ie, PD150, DVX100 etc....

Is it possible that when we were listening to 8 tracks that they already had CD's and decided to sell all of us casette analog for 10 years until they made billions and then slowly spoon feed us the CD technology... Am I a kook or am I on to something here??? Rico Racketering laws come to mind with the camera delima I outlined.. im not blaming anyone for this I may be way off base or I may be right on.. We may never know.. Any engineers listening that have a hard time sleeping at night?? Maybe you can shed some light..

Just a thought.... anyone????

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riredale wrote on 12/16/2003, 10:22 AM

Regarding the 16:9 aspect ratio...

For many years, film was shown in a 4:3 aspect ratio. When TV adopted 4:3 after WW2 and began to clobber the movie theater business, Hollywood figured they would add features to draw the crowds back in. Things like stereo sound and wide aspect-ratio became popular. I remember as a kid seeing "How the West Was Won" in a special theater with three projectors delivering a super-wide movie. Problem was, about 10 minutes into the movie one of the films broke, and it took the theater about 20 minutes to get it fixed and everything synched up again.

The Japanese research lab NHK in the 1980's did many excellent studies on HDTV. One of the studies examined various aspect ratios. For a given area, the test subjects strongly preferred aspect ratios of 14:9 and 15:9 (5:3). These shapes fall in-between regular 4:3 and the new 16:9.

Dr. Kerns Powers of the Sarnoff Labs in Princeton NJ gave a paper around 1988 that proposed 16:9. Part of it was based on logic, but a very large part of it was that it just "sounded" good--after all, 16 was the square of 4, and 9 was the square of 3. There was another, even more powerful, motivation: Back then, NHK and Japan were miles ahead of the Americans and Europeans in developing HDTV, and the NHK system had already standardized on 5:3. The American (GE, Zenith) and European (Philips) companies forced 16:9 on the SMPTE committee because it was one more technical thing to put on the tracks in an effort to derail the NHK train. It succeeded in buying them time.

Julius_911 wrote on 12/16/2003, 12:59 PM

Same can be said for Intel.....you just know that in 2 months a newer, faster, better chip will be release....right after they exhaust and get their money's worth for the current chip.

It's a fast techno train always on the go...you can stand-by and watch or ...

BTW: So what is after DVD...HDDVD? (High definition DVD), or EHDDVD (extra-high definition DVD).. it has me beat.

jeremyk wrote on 12/16/2003, 2:49 PM

Hey Grazie,

I bet you were referring (way, way back there) to "The Machine Stops", by E.M. Forster, written in 1909. It seems amazingly prescient. It's on the web various places, including here:

http://brighton.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~prajlich/forster.html

(Edit: Another interesting old story is Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward", written in 1881. It's a cool socialistic techo-utopia.

http://eserver.org/fiction/bellamy/contents.html

Dang, wish it could actually work.)

While you guys are reading that, I'll just go back to my computer...

rextilleon wrote on 12/16/2003, 8:32 PM

God---a period piece on DV for under 30,000--now this I got to see. I think that Spot makes a good point--the real issue today and in the future will be who controls distribution. I am sorry to say that like the hardware business, things seem to be coalescing. I know a very famous documentarian who can't get funding for his latest film nor presell it to any outlet-----When I say famous---lets put it this way---peruse the Kodak 100 greatest cinematographers of the 20th Century poster--he is smack in the middle.

mark2929 wrote on 12/17/2003, 1:26 AM

I Reckon that soon there will be a lot of small independant film makers offering distributers really good deals if current trends continue.

But before that can happen a new format will appear. Perhaps HiDef TV. combined with all cinemas showing some advanced gloriousvision that will use advanced technology. Perhaps 3D WITH wraparound vision... Be out of the range of ordinary Film makers (The technology will be too expensive unless you are running studios). BUT Older Blockbusters will be upgraded.

Actually I hope this will happen. because I like the Hollywood dream. The Glamour and Glitz. And the best talent Drama schools ect will all continue.

HURRAH

Gives the small Film Maker something to aim for as well.

BrianStanding wrote on 12/17/2003, 7:45 AM

The bright light on the othewise grim distribution front is the rise of micro-cinema. With a DV deck, a stereo amplifier and an LCD projector, any coffee house, auditorium or ballroom can be a screening venue. These things are popping up all over the world, booking any films they can get on their schedule. I run one (Electric Eye Cinema) here in Madison devoted to documentary film. (If you're interested, our schedules are online at:
http://www.prolefeedstudios.com/events/electric_eye/eleceye.htm)

What's interesting is that independent filmmakers are now able to take their films on tour, by booking gigs at small microcinema venues around the country (or for, that matter, the world). It's a lot like a touring rock band -- only without so much equipment, other band members, roadies, etc. No groupies yet, either, as far as I know (damn!).

Not much help for the established documentarians out there, but great for up and comers. Sure beats rolling the dice (and the pricey entry fees) on the film festival circuit.

Check out www.microcinema.com for an idea of how far spread this phenomenon really is.