The next time our clients work with us, chances are there will be something important missing — videotape!

DigiNovations began a major digital technology upgrade this week, as it started to swap out its fleet of HDV cameras with the latest new high-definition technology from Sony, the XDCAM EX1.  Many, many new improvements come with this format — full 1920x1080 resolution, dramatically improved audio fidelity, larger video pickup chips for improved low-light capability and improved depth-of-field.  But the most obvious new feature is the fact that these cameras don’t record on tape; they record their hi-def magic onto solid-state memory cards instead.

Executive Producer Michael Kolowich with one of the new XDCAM cameras“The tapeless workflow means we can be much more efficient with our post-production efforts,” said DigiNovations Executive Producer Michael Kolowich.  “Often we’ll come back from a two-day, two-camera shoot with 7 or 8 hours of footage, and it takes a whole day to digitize the footage.  Now, we can start the editing process in the car or on the airplane on the way in, and we can be editing within minutes of reaching the studio.”

A 16GB solid-state memory card stores 50 minutes of hi-def videoDigiNovations Director of Photography Bill Charette and Senior Editor Mike Chapman are working on designing all of the new workflow approaches that go with the new format.  “Among other things, we need to almost immediately transfer all our footage to our central storage facility,” said Kolowich, “because the memory cards are very expensive and we need to constantly reuse them.”

The move to the XDCAM high-definition format reflects DigiNovations’ commitment to stay on the leading edge of high-quality, low-cost video technology that keeps production affordable while keeping the bar on production values very high.