High-Def Video: Storage Thoughts

Continued from ‘NAB 2008: Tape’s Terminus Is Postponed But Still Inevitable‘…

What about the other half of my focus with this post; storage formats? HDV has historically been closely tied to miniDV format digital video tape, whereas AVCHD bitstreams store to hard drives, optical discs (both red and blue laser-based) and flash memory. My distaste for tape media is well documented; its only advantage (albeit a key one, therefore its prevalence) is its extremely low cost-per-bit. For an idea of where high-def video storage will evolve in the future, look at where standard-def video storage is going now. As alternative storage media costs trend downward, an increasing number of DV camcorders are discarding tape or, at minimum, supplementing it with embedded hard drives and miniature optical disc burners, along with removable flash memory card interfaces.

The same tape-fadeout transition will inevitably play out in the high-def ranks, again driven by relative cost-per-bit and total bill-of-materials-cost threshold crossings for various storage technologies. Companies like Focus Enhancements have long offered 1394-tethered external HDDs for camcorders; camera OEMS will eat into this aftermarket business over time as they integrate the HDD out of the chute. Even HDV pioneer JVC (who, to the best of my knowledge, has not yet unveiled an AVCHD-based camcorder) migrated from tape to HDD with last year’s Everio GZ-HD7 and GZ-HD3 follow-on. Of the three non-tape storage options, I expect flash memory to increasingly assert itself as the lion’s share leader as the high-def video market matures; although relative access performance is a moot point in this particular case, its power consumption and reliability advantages over HDDs and optical discs are unquestioned and, in this market, critical.

I’ll close this generally rosy forecast with a critical qualifier. One can’t ignore the incredible success, for example, of Pure Digital Technologies’ Flip Video series. On paper, they’re pretty unimpressive spec-wise, that is unless you focus on a few key parameters:

• They’re small and lightweight
• They contain built-in USB tethers, and
• They’re quite inexpensive

High quality high-def video is all well and good, but it’s nothing more than a nice-to-have for the YouTube masses. And, if it comes with an excessive price and/or complexity burden, it’ll be disregarded. There’s a reason why, as David Pogue points out in a recent review, Flip camcorders have captured an estimated 13% of the market in less than a year. Kudos go to Pure Digital Technologies’ architects for figuring out the ’secret sauce’, and to the company’s engineers for deftly implementing the vision.

Your thoughts, folks?

Followup: How appropriate: per two Dealnews posts that just popped up, Canon’s HV10 is available new for $549.99, with refurbished HV20s for only $40 more. And to think that just three years (and three months ago), I was patting myself on the back for snagging a used JVC GR-HD1US for $1,314…ahh, the good ol’ technology treadmill…