Max 2K at the outset.

[Mark Thorpe]

Hi Guys,
Just wanted to share my thoughts on the way I plan to start my RED endeavor. I think its a classic case of having "eyes bigger than your belly" to think we are all gonna go out there and start shoting 4K projects. BUT having a camera which enables us to take that option is such an amazing thing.

Personally I believe that 'even' 1080P still has some way to go before it is seen as a viable commercial delivery platform in both the home entertainment and broadcast arenas. How long that will take to change is anyone's guess. Yes, I know manufacturing companies are building and showing 4K TV sets etc but it will be a warm day in Hell when 4K becomes a delivery format to the world. Most manufacturers like to show what they are capable of in the extreme but these extremes are basically as a way to gain market interest and potential investment.

So the argument is to shoot at 4K and convert to whatever format the client requires. That way at least you have a 4K stock which could serve you as a lucrative archive for the future. Nice plan but the investment to work in 4K would put this workflow out of range of most people, and you would have to have an avenue of income from that stock from day one to be able to continue filming. That is unless you have very deep (full) pockets.

So the workings of my salt water diluted brain lead me to believe that 1080P as becoming the next broadcast delivery goal. Now its always nice to stay at least one step ahead of the game so I will be shooting to a max of 2K for the foreseeable future, that is depending on commissions etc. I don't plan on becoming a production entity and will be endeavoring to make the cam pay for itself by renting the whole system out (with me as the operator) mixed with stock footage sales etc.

Just my plan, thought I'd share it.
Cheers,
Mark.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I think most broadcasters view 1080p as the next milestone. Most videophiles and HDTV market watchers are looking forward to the next round of 1080p TVs that support 72Hz or 120Hz (preferably) so that frame rates like 24fps can be shown without judder and varous pull-up/down techniques.

I will most likely shoot 2K with RED for most things. Seems to make the most logical sense from a workflow point of view. I will undoubtedly shoot 4K on occasion if I can get away with it. Although it will probably be late '07 before I get my hands on RED -- just based on what the common predictions of delivery timeframes and numbers of reservations seem to indicate. Given that, and I will wait until my RED One is ready to ship before I buy the new workstation[s] to work with it. Perhaps 4K isn't as far off as we might think? Within 2 to 3 years, I would imagine that 4K will be a lot more editor and archival friendly. As for deliverable formats, I think 1080p will be it for a while. BluRay has the bandwidth to go to 1080p60 (and 2K at 24fps for sure, maybe at 30/60) but won't have the capacity for full length features until they expand discs to more than 2 layers. 2K and even 4K can be a natural progression of the BluRay format as more layers are added, but to handle 4K, they would have to expand to new readers that have faster data rates via spinning the disc faster and/or multiple laser pickups. And a lot of that is already outlined in the BluRay roadmap from Sony... Right along with their 12-layer plans and other marketing hocus pocus.

[Emanuel A.]

Congrats Jeff on your #1110! I have the #111, so...maybe yours is a digital sister of mine. Or even filiated: daughter, son :D. Since the #1111 will be the other family's digital part... :)

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Congrats Jeff on your #1110! I have the #111, so...maybe yours is a digital sister of mine. Or even filiated: daughter, son :D. Since the #1111 will be the other family's digital part... :)

Thanks. :)

...I'm sure all our RED Ones will be related in some way. Hopefully the higher numbered ones will be a bit more mature. :D