It is crisp, sharp, panoramic, high-resolution, and it enhances one's sense of experience: View a High-Definition (HD) video production and you will be won over. Although it is at the level of a screening-room experience, it is perfect for your next general session. Industry insiders predict that HD will be the prevalent technology in the meetings industry in the next two years.

It is increasingly challenging to get and keep attendees' attention. That's where utilizing HD video production and display technologies can help. An audience will be captivated with high-quality, eye-catching multimedia. HD display technologies provide the best quality video images possible today.

Although perfectly suited for all audiences, HD is particularly beneficial to medical and scientific meetings and symposiums. Remote surgeries produced in HD provide a much greater image quality than other technologies - therefore creating a greater overall impact. HD improves attendees' overall learning experience by helping them pay attention, notice details, and retain information.

Today's consumers are purchasing television sets and other viewing equipment that gives them high-resolution images on screen. They expect the same quality or better in their meetings, conferences, and other learning experiences.

What Exactly is HD?

HD is generally defined as any format other than normal NTSC video. (The National Television System Committee is responsible for setting television and video standards.) The improved resolution, clarity, and crispness of the image have made IMAG (a live image of what is happening at an event) and production in a HD format an attractive option for associations and meeting industry professionals to consider. HD video production clearly and cleanly delivers enhanced images for the meeting, show floor, and the training environment. One reason for the higher quality picture is that there are more pixels in the HD world. In other words, the picture is full of more information - in fact, two-and-a-half to six times as many pixels, depending on format. There are more vertical and horizontal lines, which translates to smaller pixels on screen.

It is important to realize that it takes time to develop your library of HD content and you need to plan ahead. To start moving in this direction, you can blend HD and NTSC content until you have enough material for an all HD presentation. With multiple formats available, it is vital that meeting planners make certain that media is produced with the appropriate resolution for their production. HD comes in a variety of formats. The two formats to remember are 720p (1280 x 720) and 1080i (1920 x 1080), which are the current standards in the struggle for uniformity between public broadcasters and the production community. There are about 30 other formats, but these are the two that have become the de facto standard.

With HD, Beta SP tapes will be a thing of the past. The digital presentation can be saved on a server where it can also be edited and enhanced. Although the initial expense of producing digitally may be more expensive, materials can be easily saved in a library and repurposed for future meetings.

Many display devices will already accept a HD signal; typically they are self-converting to the native display resolution of the device. Always confirm the compatibility of your display device.

Available hardware on the market include:

• CRT televisions
• LCD and plasma display panels
• LCD and DLP projection.

Surprisingly enough, a significant amount of material is already being produced in HD. Many times commercials or advertising materials are shot in HD in order to preserve resolution for the many different uses of the media. Always ask if there is an HD master for a particular video; you may be surprised that it was originally mastered on HD. Entire events can now be in HD from camera to screen.

Closed circuit broadcasting for training has been a popular option for the last several years. It has been very successful in delivering a large message to smaller groups. This training broadcast is feasible for HD production. Most HD production is also produced with an NTSC down convert already planned for distribution, extending the usability of your event's video.

HD on Site: Top 10 Tips

1. Start planning early - HD content can take extra time to create and design into your event.
2. Budget accordingly - HD production costs for content and on-site display and capture tend to be more expensive.
3. Mixing HD and standard definition content works - consider how and when to use HD source material, display devices, and/or capture equipment.
4. HD content makes for amazing widescreen backgrounds - hi-resolution graphics switchers (i.e., Montage and Spyder) can create 4:3 window PIPs over HD backgrounds for standard definition content. 5. Know your HD format - 1080i and 720p are the current de facto standards. Shoot all HD material in 29.97 Frames Per Second.
6. Know your equipment - videotape formats: HDD5, DVCPro HD, HDCam, HDCam SR, etc; native resolution of projectors, plasmas, LCDs, etc.; screen sizes and ratios.
7. Consider the 16:9 format for the future - record in 16:9 (not 4:3) so material is in the correct aspect ratio for future use.
8. Think about your event space - recognize that your projection throw distance (screen width x lens size) will be greater with a 16:9 format screen. Screen viewing distance can be calculated the same way for both 4:3 and 16:9 screens.
9. Choose your vendors wisely.
10. Work in partnership with your AV vendor.

° Andrea Doyle is Convene's senior writer. Convene's Innovative Meetings series is sponsored by Presentation Services and Audiovisual Headquarters, www.avhq.com.