R/Kain Blaze and Dr. Tae on Smoking that SD Sh*t

So, like two battle-worn soldiers in a frozen fox hole, my homeboy, R/Kain Blaze, and yours truly were conversating on the Canon ZR800. This is a camera (actually the ZR series in general) that was the passionate object of my burning desire, just before my youngest son was conceived—well before the HD formats were released unto the unwashed masses.

So, like my daughter hovering dangerously among the family holiday party candy dishes and bakery platters, my desire vanished (like the illusion it ultimately is) years ago and, after some disappointing results with a Michael Massenburg camera that I really, really appreciate him loaning to me for a project in the works—the camera is of the JVC Everio line, my sights fell upon the Canon XH A1. The XH A1 is the camera of choice for a person independently and completely devoted to “filmmaking”—since this is simply not true for me (because of my hovering among too many sweet treats of audio, information tech and video), R/Kain Blaze talked me down to the more realistic Canon HG10—but even this is too expensive for me right about now.

Since I don’t have a religious experience with my burning desires, it often turns out that there is some wisdom inside all of that body heat. So it renders clear that the time has come for my ‘original’ desire for the Canon ZR800 to be satisfied. It is so not sexy to even care about the ZR800 right now but for my 2008 (and perhaps 2009) needs, the ZR800 is the way to go. Based on my free but extremely valuable consultation with Blaze, the ZR800 means:

• Making video for DVD format—this could be the “new” “third-world” format for many years to come. Since many “first-world” pretensions are ridiculous, the DV format (a.k.a the SD format) may be the real world format for street-level sales and marketing for quite some time. And, yes, there are inconveniences but storing a bunch of DV tapes saves on hard drive space and disc burning time (for the short- to mid-term).
• Making video for what’s left of the “open” Web—my instincts keep saying that this YouTube.com era of the Internet will be over very, very soon because the concerned upper classes won’t have it any other way…
• Making video under rough conditions—dropping a $700 camera down a hotel escalator in a foreign country hurts to the bone. Dropping a $200 camera stings by comparison.
• Making high quality audio—since the Canon ZR800 is supposedly compliant with the DV format, this means that this camera “…allows either 2 digital audio channels (usually stereo) at 16 bit resolution and 48 kHz sampling rate, or 4 digital audio channels at 12 bit resolution and 32 kHz sampling rate…” This may imply that I can avoid buying expensive little things like the Zoom H2 or something from Edirol. Using the ZR800 as an audio recorder of course means looking into shotgun microphones and wireless mics.
• Making video under ‘informal’ conditions—the Canon HG10 is small and cute but can make me tense (for the $700 price tag) while the Canon ZR800 is small and cute on physical and financial levels. As soon as the Canon HG10 makes me feel the same way, my bling-bling ego will be sure to let you know… Enter Dr. Tae in his “Is SD dead?” Dr. Tae is YouTube.com famous for his physics of skateboarding series. His view is quite simple and direct for a college professor: “I have no idea which direction the professional world is going because I only produce content for myself.” And one of the comments from Matt Walker to his article is interesting: “SD is most certainly not dead… To me, HD is a buzz word simply to the consumer. Most people who buy a HD camera at a big box store, don’t have enough memory/space to even edit in HD… Just remember, you’ll always find people working in formats you thought were dead. There are tons of people working in Super 8, and 8mm formats, and that was said to have died with the advent of video…”

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