HD for FREE: Stage6.com

As a digital film/ video freelancer, I am all to familiar with the prevalent genre of 'low budget' production.

I guess I shouldn't complain. All of the innovation in digital film making, and the only reason I have a career is because of the never ending search for higher quality images at a lower cost. I'm now able to fit an entire high definition production into the smallest of Japanese business hotel rooms.






In fact, I may never have been given the opportunity to visit Japan had I not accepted a certain 'low budget' music video deal.

Anyways, in this realm of 'low budget' digital film, the web is usually the finished products destination/ grave. And the lowest of the low is a site like You Tube. From a business/ producer side, I understand the appeal of the your content possibility going 'viral'. But the video nerd/ cinematographer side is pained to see someones hard work banished to a noisy, pixelated 320 x 240 Flash video.

However, I was recently turned on to a site called Stage6.com which is powered by DivX. It's completely free and allows you to upload high definition content, once it's been converted to DivX format. The work flow is a bitch to figure out in terms of exporting and converting, but once you figure out the proper settings, it's pretty amazing. The compression is still visible, but it's leaps and bounds above anything You Tube or Google video can do. I mean, You Tube is great for that video of your friend getting hit in the nuts or your mom's cat doing something kooky. But with the rapid proliferation of professional, prosumer, and consumer HD cameras available, Stage6 is an awesome outlet.

Speaking of 'turned on', I um... stumbled across a ton of (NSFW) Japanese Idol videos. The site is also brimming with anime and Japanese PVs. It seems that fellow otaku have already heavily embraced the site.

Ironically, as I'm preparing to post this entry Stage6.com seems to be down...

"We're unable to service your request."

"Please retry your request in a few minutes."

— The Stage6 Team

Hah. Awesome...

Even non functioning, I still prefer it over You Tube!

The JAM in Japan crew has created a channel to host footage we shoot during our trip. Check it out: Here