the dire state of video magazines

26 replies [Last post]
johnd
Offline
Joined: Mar 8 2009

Recently I was stuck in Cardiff airport for 4 hours longer than I needed to be. To pass the time I read the latest versions of T3 and Camcorder Buyer magazine. If I were thinking of buying a camcorder I would certainly steer clear of these publications and save your money.
Both publications give the impression that the reviewer is not familiar with camcorders beyond a rudimentary ‘punter’ level.
T3 are probably the least culpable in that they are aimed at a fairly facile market – people obsessed with gadgetry as an interest in itself.
Camcorder Buyer magazine has managed to alienate the enthusiast market, it has virtually no articles except, rather against type, an article from the IAC. As for the reviews that make up the remainder of the magazine, heaven help you if you are looking for a serious camcorder because only one camcorder costing over £1,000.00 is reviewed. Don’t get your hopes up if you are looking for a camcorder with mic or headphone sockets because this magazine won’t tell you this sort of information either. Instead there is a bizarre reviewing system that gives equal weighting to ‘features’, ‘performance’ and ‘ease of use’. This reminds me of a camcorder club competition I was at where there was an audience vote; I caught a glimpse of the notes being made by the chap in front of me. He had created a system which awarded marks out of ten under the headings of ‘focus’, ‘exposure’ and ‘editing’. He hadn’t thought about abstract qualities such as content or whether the film was actually entertaining. As a result it was very easy to spot the film he had voted for when the audience vote was totalled up; when a well shot, well exposed and well edited bore-fest got one vote.
It is depressing to note that this is the only camcorder magazine readily available at most newsagents.
If I had to recommend a general video magazine, I would recommend joining the IAC and getting the Film and Video Maker Magazine. If you are looking for reviews then check out the cnet.co.uk or the simplydv.co.uk sites which give infinitely better reviews than those in Camcorder Buyer magazine. And they are free.
John

I have amended the above a bit when I remembered that the camcorder buying magazine was called 'Camcorder Buyer'!

Maxwell
Offline
Joined: Jan 13 2007

Well Johnd, why not write to the magazine editor and tell him how you feel.
The trouble in todays world, amateur or semi professionals once they have a camcorder they think on the money they could make. By doing weddings and other subjects. There is nothing wrong with that. But years back we bought our equipment and just played around and the magazines were geared on learning the craft and anything new. Today we dont need to learn as we have computers with software what will enhance most things.

tilski
tilski's picture
Offline
Joined: Sep 5 2000

Hi

I too was scaling the shelves for a good video mag to read last weekend. Nothing!!!!!

I subscribe to TV Bay which is a good mag and sort of bridges the gap but still nothing close to what CV used to offer.

What's to become of us.... What is to become of us?

tom hardwick
Offline
Joined: Apr 8 1999

There's the IOV magazine Focus, the IAC magazine Film and Video Maker (I write a technical article [Positive Image] for that one) and DVUser mag - put out by Nigel Cooper.

Worth getting Calumet's focus as well, and JVC will happily send you Highway. That little lot should keep you going.

tom.

tilski
tilski's picture
Offline
Joined: Sep 5 2000

Hi Tom

Yes I get most of those delivered to work but I was in WH Smith's and couldn't put my hand on anything video wise I felt worth the read. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

What's to become of us.... What is to become of us?

Maxwell
Offline
Joined: Jan 13 2007

Tom it is all well and good to advertise the brand of magazines which you are connected with, but why are they not in the shop?. Surely there would be a small market for them?.

tom hardwick
Offline
Joined: Apr 8 1999

I think you've hit on the right adjective Maxwell: 'small'. Even CV couldn't make it work - supplying mags to the shops that they hoped would find buyers. The mags that are on subscription are paid for up-front, so don't depend on advertising to survive, and generally are able to say what they like about various products and services.

tom.

johnd
Offline
Joined: Mar 8 2009

I do take Maxwell's point on board, I would be inclined to write to suggest tweaks but my suggestions for Camcorder Buyer would essentially be a total revamp as the magazine doesn't work on any level.
I appreciate producing a camcorder magazine is a balancing act; any editing software tutorial is almost certain to alienate the other 80% of readers who use other software, but Film and Video maker seem to hit the mark quite well from a camcorder club member stance.
I suppose it also doesn't help that now is not the best time to bring out a new title onto a depressed market.
John

Maxwell
Offline
Joined: Jan 13 2007

I do not wish to harp on about the state of video magazines. I do remember at one time when there were cine-clubs before video. we had a healthy magazine format called "Movie Maker". The main market was those clubs and we all bought them. But when video magazines came out that formula dropped out for some unknown reason.
The only solution i can come up with, i think it is a case of not how to make videos but more what to buy and i think that was the decline plus bad writing by people who were clueless.

H and M Video
Offline
Joined: Jun 5 1999
Maxwell wrote:
Well Johnd, why not write to the magazine editor and tell him how you feel.

Did write to a well known video magazine complaining about its content etc. Got a reply agreeing with what I said but not to mention any part of his reply as he said he would probably get the sack! Proved correct as poor sales closed it.

Harry

PC Specialist 3Gz Dual Core, Premiere CS3, Encore CS3, After Effects CS3, Matrox RT.X2, Panasonic HD HS-300, Z1E & PMW-EX3 Cams.
 
Now with a PC Specialist Quad Core i7-3770, 16GB RAM, 180GB SSD, GeForce GTX560 Ti Graphics Card, Blu-Ray & DVD R/W Burners and can't wait to set it up. Now up and running.  What a difference in Blu-Ray footage.

Maxwell
Offline
Joined: Jan 13 2007

Thank you Harry for that information. Here you go we got so much talent on this forum. We could start a "Dragons Den" scheme. Find out who can write and start our own magazine.

Rob James
Offline
Joined: Jun 26 2001

Maxwell, I think the answer to this conundrum is contained in your last post. It is precisely because forums like this exist that people stopped buying magazines. In short, the specialist end of the market is now better catered for on-line than it ever was in print. Much the same applies in Pro-Audio. The remaining mags cling on by the skin of their teeth, mostly controlled circulation, and because advertisers want to see them in facility houses. I write extensively for one of these and suspect it will probably survive, at least for a while, because it has global reach and considerable credibility.

Rob The picture is only there to keep the sound in sync

Maxwell
Offline
Joined: Jan 13 2007

Rob, I'm all for magazines as they make a good reference at some stages in our research. Like forums. I do have a Apple Mac magazine every month.
The only thing that worries me at times is the price. That is one section which could be addressed. As many people cant afford to pay those prices.
That is why i see many youngsters standing in "Smiths" and read them.
But please lets not get into a debate over cost. I'm all for keeping you in a job and what we have on the bookshelf's are well written and well presented.

Rob James
Offline
Joined: Jun 26 2001

I'm also in favour but then I'm getting older. I suspect the reason we don't see a decent video magazine on the newsagent's shelves is that the majority of the 'qualified' audience, I.e. those who are likely to spend some money on the kit advertised inside, use the web as their primary source of information and would be unlikely to purchase a magazine on spec. The mag(s) I write for are available on subscription but by far the majority of copies go to 'qualified' readers for free. The production and distribution cost is covered by advertising. I would love to see them back on the newsagents shelves, but I doubt the market is there to support them.

Rob The picture is only there to keep the sound in sync

Maxwell
Offline
Joined: Jan 13 2007

Thanks Rob. At least we have one thing in common?. The word getting older.

RayL
Offline
Joined: Mar 31 1999

An interesting development is the 'highly specialised' magazine produced specifically for WH Smith. The one that caught my eye was on audio mastering. Most people are probably not even aware of this vital stage in the production of music CDs, but there in Smith's rack was this 132 page magazine (including a DVD of examples and tuition) produced by MusicTech Focus and devoted entirely to the topic. OK, the price is £8.99 but the contributors are real practitioners and the hardware and software covered appear to have been selected for their use by professionals rather than just items from firms that were advertising.

Maybe there will be a similar publications on video shooting and video editing in the future?

Ray L

steve
Offline
Joined: Apr 8 1999
Maxwell wrote:
Thanks Rob. At least we have one thing in common?. The word getting older.

Saw a publication yesterday in Smiths called something like: 'Computing For Seniors', so at least those who aren't online yet can get there before its too late!

Steve

Rob James
Offline
Joined: Jun 26 2001

I've been online since the early 80's/. It's mostly the whole mobile thing and 'Web 2' that is beginning to lose me.

Rob The picture is only there to keep the sound in sync

Alan Roberts
Alan Roberts's picture
Offline
Joined: May 3 1999

Agreed. I can't get the hang of this need to be on-line all the time. When I go out, I specifically want to be away from it all, that's the purpose of going out as far as I'm concerned.

Get my test cards document, and cards for 625, 525, 720 and 1080. Thanks to Gavin Gration for hosting them.
Camera settings documents are held by Daniel Browning and at the EBU
My book, 'Circles of Confusion' is available here.
Also EBU Tech.3335 tells how to test cameras, and R.118 tells how to use the results.

castman
Offline
Joined: Mar 10 2009
Maxwell wrote:
Well Johnd, why not write to the magazine editor and tell him how you feel.

I actually wrote to the editor of Camcorder buyer and pointed out that his was the only 'over the counter' readily available magazine but it is far too focused on buying your first sub-£700 camera and little else, how are people supposed to advance their new found hobby? The last issue I saw was extremely low level novice - even for me, and I'm no expert. It took me al of 5 mins to read something of interest - I think that was an advert!

Surprisingly, or maybe not, I didn't get much of a reply, a stereotype letter that basically said something along the lines of "Camcorder buyer thanks you for you input which is valuable to us......" that was about a year ago, I see no changes which is a tremendous shame because that mag is currently in the driving seat and could be a great mag - maybe we should be writing to the shareholders, not the 'sit back and enjoy it while it lasts' editors

johnd
Offline
Joined: Mar 8 2009

I've got to confess that since I started this thread I no longer see Camcorder Buyer on the shelves of my local WH Smith and had assumed the title had folded,
John

Maxwell
Offline
Joined: Jan 13 2007

Sorry to say they have folded and concentrated on other more profitable ventures like "Still Photography".
With the internet people can access video information much faster and store what they want.

castman
Offline
Joined: Mar 10 2009
Maxwell wrote:
Sorry to say they have folded and concentrated on other more profitable ventures like "Still Photography".
With the internet people can access video information much faster and store what they want.

No it hasn't, I was in WH Smiths today and there it was. I think it only comes out bi-monthly

paulears
paulears's picture
Offline
Joined: Jul 8 2008

I'm not sure if the problem is that these mags are looking for people about to buy their first camera, who buy every mag they can see in May, buy the camera in June, and never buy the mag again. It's a bit like the car mags like auto trader - you only buy them for up to date info. I have been reading an audio magazine - Sound on Sound - for years, and it's pretty deep, but does cater for beginners. They started a sister mag called Performing Musician. Full of beginner content. I subscribed for a year, but hardly read it. All far too basic and to a degree wrong - they'd had to oversimplify everything to the state where it was the kind of thing that sounded great but just scratched the surface. These consumer mags are the same. Gadget hungry and weak on technical content.

castman
Offline
Joined: Mar 10 2009

@paulears: ...and that's another problem when you have a magazine that is entitle BUYER it implies via it's title that it is only intended to be purchased/read at a time when you are thinking about buying something.

Personally I think this kind of 'marketing' for a magazine is potentially fatal. Surely you want your magazine to have a following, indeed by offering a subscription, you are saying "I want you to continue buying this magazine", but alas the editors are not following through.

The issue of Camcorder buyer I flicked through yesterday contained very little information that would help someone progress beyond their camcorder manual! It even had several pages of group tests of DSLR cameras - I was going to say 'still' cameras, but appreciate that these do have video capability - but never the less is Camcorder Buyer the right place to test these cameras? I think that questionable when comparing their usual editorial and features. They also had various mentions of connectivity and media types which was also in one of their mags a year or so ago, OK I'll let them off with that one given it is primarily intended for first timers, but please, if you are going to have a magazine for any subject, allow it's readership to progress!

Ben Longden
Offline
Joined: Jun 10 2009

Thats where us Aussies have the leading edge...
A mate of mine used to edit one of the video mags here, and it was heading off into the "new toy to buy" direction, leaving us blokes by the roadside
So he started his own for those wanting to improve their craft.

australasiancamcorder.info

Ben

Maxwell
Offline
Joined: Jan 13 2007

Well you do surprise me. I have looked and nothing. I will check again.