Hudl Myth Busting: DVD Burning, the Silver Package, and Pricing

Posted March 01, 2010 by Matt Mueller
Under  • Business  • Partners

One of the most frustrating things for us is when people have the wrong information about Hudl. We’re not certain where some of these “myths” come from.

Sometimes people catch the tail end of a demo at a clinic. Sometimes bad information is spread by our competitors. Occasionally, it’s a miscommunication from us. Everyone deserves a better understanding of Hudl - current partners should understand its full potential and prospective ones should not be misled.

We do this by exposing everything about Hudl:

• We let people try it risk-free for 30 days.
• We are the only video editing solution that publicly displays our pricing.
• We have a public features page where you can read for yourself what Hudl is all about.
• We help everyone get the help, support and training they need. It’s all publicly available.

Despite all that, there are still misconceptions. This is the first in a series of posts in which we bust the top Hudl myths:

Myth 1: I can’t directly burn DVDs from Hudl and highlight DVDs cost $25.

This much is true: you’ll burn fewer DVDs with Hudl - but you can still burn as many as you want for free. Hudl helps you handle sharing video to your players and coaches, sending video to recruiters, and exchanging film with opponents all online without burning a single DVD.

Hudl has integrated DVD burning which allows you to create DVDs from any video you have in Hudl. We offer to take the highlight burden completely off your shoulders by allowing athletes to buy DVDs from us. But coaches can still use Hudl to burn their players’ highlight reels for free. If you haven’t checked out how easy it is to download game film or highlights from Hudl and burn them to a DVD, check out our tutorials.

Myth 2: The Silver package won’t meet my needs as a video editing system.

Hudl does a lot of really cool things, but above all it’s a video editing system. The silver package includes everything you’ll need in a video editing system and more.

All of Hudl’s core features are in the Silver package:

• Capture video from any camera or DVD
• Intercut (“checkerboard”) multiple angles of video
• Share your video with all of your players and coaches
• Rip and burn DVDs automatically
• Make interactive tendency reports
• Exchange video online
• Create and share highlights
• Phone and email support from Hudl’s world-class team

Hudl’s Silver package is actually powerful enough to meet the needs of some of our college clients. Hundreds of high school teams across the nation use Silver too. As we improve our video editing solution, we make those features available to partners. That means the Silver package will become even better over time.

Myth 3: Hudl will be more expensive over 3-5 years than other video editing systems.

One of the common points of confusion about Hudl is a false belief that even though our subscription is cheaper in year one, it will be be more expensive in the long run.

If you compare the total costs, this simply isn’t true. It’s hard to be specific because our competitors change their costs depending on how many seats of their software you want to buy. But they rarely mention the annual fees you’ll have to pay for support, online access, extra seats, and upgrades. We’ve talked to hundreds of coaches who paid up-front and are now stranded with out-of-date, unusable software.

Our competition almost always leaves these kinds of fees (sometimes they’re greater than the cost of Hudl itself!) out of their cost comparison.

Hudl’s pricing is so easy and straightforward that we openly list Hudl’s prices on our website. Our competition implies those prices will be going up in a few years. Myth. We actually made the gold package more affordable this year. It’s the most cost effective solution.

And, if you think about it, we have to earn your business every year. If you grow dissatisfied with our competition after a year…tough. But if Hudl doesn’t fit your organization, you can walk away with your dignity and some change in your pocket.

Myth 4: Hudl won’t be around in a year or two.

Of all of these myths we hear, this is the one we consider the most serious. It’s no longer just a shot at our product. It’s a shot at us personally and every one of our partners who has chosen to work with us. We laugh it off.

Our determination combined with advice from our professional partners and accomplished, well-connected advisors and investors has helped us develop a sound business model, two amazing products and partners that rave about us. Hudl is the fastest growing video editing solution and we are going to be around for a very long time.