ABSTRACT
The future of ENG and EFP video production is solid state. In the previous edition of this text, that sentence read, “The future of video is digital.” Clearly, the digital future has arrived. Today, ENG and EFP are not only digital, but the industry is now moving rapidly toward a tapeless environment. Rather than acquire footage with cameras that record on videotape, there is considerable incentive to shoot directly onto solid-state devices that record the digital video and audio files onto microchips. To be sure, many shooters continue with digital tape formats, such as mini-DV or Digital Beta (DigiBeta). As of this writing, digital tape still offers unparalleled storage for the price. A mini-DV tape can hold one hour of good-quality footage (720
× 480 pixels, 29.97 fps) for under $5. Because the mini-DV format requires about one gigabyte (GB) of storage for each four to five minutes of video, that same hour of footage requires 12 to 15 GB of solid-state storage, which can cost more than $100 if stored on individual Flash drives, though the cost is lower if the storage is part of a large-capacity drive (e.g., a 250 GB external drive that costs about $250, or $1 per gig, as of this writing).
