I agree with Jason Preston. HD is not required.

Published on October 29, 2006

I saw Robert Scoble's new HD camera at the Podcast Expo a few weeks ago. It was nice, although I didn't notice which brand and model it was. Is an HD camera a requirement for Video Podcasting (or vlogging)?

Jason Preston, over at the Blog Business Summit, doesn't think it's required, and I agree with him. I've never used HD for Izzy Video. I don't own any HD equipment yet, not even a television (I can't justify spending that kind of money on something I'm constantly setting a goal to do less of).

The list of HD advantages that Jason mentions is all true. I also want to add that most HD footage I see online seems to have slightly better color than the DV equivalent. I'm guessing that the three CCD's in the newer cameras work with color better than the DV cameras.

That said, the main advantage of HD is increased resolution, and for web content right now, we just don't need that many pixels. My five minute Izzy Video installments at 640x480 are already 80megs or more. They already take too long to download. I know I could use one of the many available flash players, but I don't like how flash video looks. I prefer to wait for the download.

I'm sure at some point I'll upgrade to HD, maybe over the next couple years, but for the time being, DV is sufficient for my needs. As Jason Preston says:

Finally, and more importantly, I’m always convinced it’s more about the content than the quality.

And I agree.

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This article was last updated on October 29, 2006