Mike Curtis is knee deep in the test results and footage from the Texas HD Shootout. If you missed it, the Shootout was a comprehensive side by side comparative test(s) of the Sony HVR-Z1U, JVC GY-HD100U, Panasonic HVX200, Canon XL H1, Sony F350 XDCAM and the Panasonic Varicam. It was organized by HD For Indies/Mike Curtis, with the help of Adam Wilt and Chris Hurd.

There is a massive amount of footage and data from these tests. Mike intends to create DVDs or DVD sets for a nominal fee, and is soliciting feedback on exactly what people are interested in. So head on over to HD For Indies and leave Mr. Curtis some feedback if you haven’t already.

My personal opinions? The primary market is probably Independent Filmmakers (doh) so I see price as a major barrier. Somewhere starting in the area of $25-$50 per DVD seems reasonable and fair, particularly for a SD comparison DVD. Make the general comparison results available and affordable.

However, I believe that those making hard decisions about equipment will want non-MPEG encoded footage for comparison. A data DVD should be paramount. Including editable media on the data DVD would be a wonderful option, even if it came at a higher price point. That way filmmakers have the option of doing color correction tests in their workflow, seeing how specific cameras and codecs can be pushed, etc. A data DVD-R with high definition footage from a plethora of cameras would be worth much more to me than simple side by side comparisons that have been output to MPEG-2 DVD, simply because I can potentially learn more from it. And such a disc should be priced at a premium, at least relative to the SD DVD.

Another consideration…unauthorized copying. There are always going to be a small subset of customers that copy the discs and pass them around to friends. It’s not right or fair, but you can count on it happening. I believe that is a given, and to some extent there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. Price things too low and you aren’t getting paid for your time. Price things to high, and there is more incentive for unauthorized duplication. Somewhere in the middle is a happy medium where the majority of people realize it’s not worth their time to rip the discs, and feel they are getting excellent value for their dollar. Just a thought.

Once again, visit HD For Indies and leave Mike Curtis some feedback on this project. I believe that he’s sincerely interested in what you, the consumer, wants to know.