HD vs. Standard

on Jul 09 in wedding video

Like most comparable wedding video companies in Northern Virginia, I have recently purchased HD cameras and all the necessary upgrades for producing beautiful HD wedding videos.  I am, however, still offering standard video packages for those who want it.

This leads to a lot of questions, and here are a few answers to the ones I get most often.

What is the difference?

Quite simply, High Definition(HD) means higher quality.  Technically speaking, HD is higher resolution. Standard Definition (SD) such as regular television or DVD is 720 x 480 pixel frame. HD varies but can support up to 1920 x 1080 pixel frame (FULL HD). This translates to not only a larger picture but also greater detail. Think higher thread count. Additionally, HD supports greater color depth (10 bit) versus SD (8 bit). That might not sound like a big difference, but when you do the math that translates to HD’s ability to display over 1 billion color variations as opposed to the 16.7 million variations by SD. That’s 64 times as many! What does all this mean to you? Prettier pictures that are more true to life and a better viewing experience.

Please note the two example videos below were compressed for the web and so neither is at it’s optimum playback – but you can see some of the basic differences from these examples.

This first video is in standard format:

This is HD:

Why would I choose standard?

Standard video on DVD is still great quality.  Many people do not have HD TVs or Blu-Ray players, and so cannot watch HD video at all or in it’s optimum viewing quality anyway.  Also, Blu-Ray players and systems generally still play standard DVDs so, even if you do upgrade in the future and choose standard, you will still be able to play your DVD for many years to come.  And, finally, HD costs more than standard.

Why is HD more expensive?

First of all, the camera equipment, as well as the hardware and software needed to edit, compress and master, are much more expensive.  It also costs a lot more to capture a wedding live.  The digital tapes used to capture a wedding cost about $60 and can be held onto forever. The P2 cards needed to hold enough footage from one camera for one wedding cost about $2000 and the footage needs to be transferred off the cards onto a computer or other storage device before using the camera again.  HD footage takes up a lot of hard drive space.  One single camera wedding, shot in HD, takes up approximately 200GBs, which is a lot to store over time.  HD also takes more time to work with during the editing process, as the files do not import, export, or compress at anywhere near the same rate as standard definition.

Why would I pay more for HD?

If you already have a HD TV and a Blu-Ray player you already know the answer to that.  If you are not there yet but think you might want to upgrade in the next few years, HD is something you should consider.  A video shot originally on HD can be down compressed to play on a standard DVD player, but video shot originally in standard format cannot be made into HD later.

If it was your wedding day, what would you do?

I would want my wedding video shot in HD.  I am a wedding videographer and so I would want the highest quality for my own wedding.  However, I have shot so many beautiful wedding videos on standard format that I still think look gorgeous when I put them on my TV, that I can say I wouldn’t be heartbroken if standard turned out to be the best option for my budget.