IP Democracy: HDTV for the Indymedia crowd (and pirates too?)

Thanks to Sony, the growing ranks of “citizen” video producers and startups planning to distribute their work will soon have a discount ticket into the world of high definition TV. On Tuesday, the consumer electronics giant introduced a lightweight (1.5 lbs without battery) HDTV camcorder expected to cost less than $1,700. That’s a pretty amazing figure when you consider it wasn’t too long ago that major broadcasters were complaining that the millions of dollars they had to spend on HDTV gear posed a threat to their business models.

Of course, HD quality can’t replace creative talent, which is scarce enough even in the mass media marketplace. But, then again, maybe there are scores of Scorceses out there, ready to pump up the business models of Akimbo, DaveTV, Brightcove, Open Media Network, TotalVid, Ourmedia, Torrentocracy and other net-based distributors with HD fare that will be embraced by the micro-masses these companies are targeting.

Though downloads of HD content on today’s broadband pipes would mean very long waits, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts was recently quoted as saying that, in the future, his company will use channel bonding technology to deliver up to 200 Mbps downstream, capacity he says will someday allow consumers to download a movie in just 45 seconds. Even if HD signals require 10x the capacity of standard definition, an 8 minute wait for an HD movie is probably just long enough to microwave some popcorn. How much Comcast would charge for that kind of capacity remains to be seen, of course. Perhaps we’ll see a tiered pricing model that would allow customers to keep their overall bill down in exchange for having to wait longer for their HD content to arrive.

We’ll soon get a prime-time taste of citizen-produced media, when Al Gore’s Current launches its cable service August 1. According to an email sent out by a Current staffer today, the network is “working hard on our programming schedule, which will include a mix of original programming produced by Current and viewer-created content (VC2) produced by you.”

But there may be another, less welcome, buyer group out there eager to get their hands on the new Sony HD camcorder—one that is anathema to the company’s studio arm and the rest of Hollywood. According to a post on the p2pnet.net web site entitled “New Sony ‘Pirate’ Camcorder,” “What could be better” [for pirates making illegal copies in a movie theater], than what Sony describes as a camcorder that “fits comfortably in your hand, while delivering high-definition picture quality and lighting detail.” Yet another reminder why studios and consumer electronics companies are often at odds and that this conflict seems to exist even within Sony’s sprawling corporate empire.

Posted by Mitch Shapiro on May 19, 2005 10:29 PM to IP Democracy