After a slow start out the gate, HD production is picking up steam in Canada.

"Demand across the board has increased dramatically over the last year," says Rob Sim, owner of Toronto-based video equipment rental house Sim Video.

While Sim says most of his HD customers typically work on dramatic series and feature films, this year, for the first time, a wider range of TV projects is shooting on the new format.

"We are getting a lot more documentaries and specialty channel shows, such as cooking and home improvement series, that want to shoot in high definition. Even commercials and corporate videos are going HD," he says.

Michael McEwen, head of Canadian Digital Television, an industry group charged with guiding the transition to digital TV, agrees that the production community has increasingly embraced HD.

In 2005, less than 7% of Canada's total production output was in HD, he notes, adding, "But that is changing. Most Canadian broadcasters are now asking for all their primetime TV shows in hi-def, and that is creating the environment where producers are realizing if they want to stay in the business, they have to start producing in HD."

Vancouver's Omni Film Productions is one prodco shooting its entire 2006 slate in HD.

"Most broadcasters are asking for shows in HD, but it's also our preference to shoot on HD," says company VP Brian Hamilton. "In some cases we have pitched broadcasters on why it is worth the extra cost to go HD."

Omni's HD programming ranges from scripted series (CTV's Alice, I Think and Robson Arms and the CBC mini Dragon Boys) to docs (Slammin' Iron: Rebuilding the World and Stuntdawgs) and lifestyle series (Namaste).

At this point in the game, Hamilton says there is no point shooting a series that isn't in HD.

"In a couple of years, viewers are going to demand high definition, so why not start now, as opposed to getting into season three and suddenly having to make the switch?" he queries.

Another key factor is that HD improves opportunities for international sales - foreign markets are hungry for HD material - and increases a program's shelf life.

"It gives us a competitive advantage," says Hamilton. "We have made international sales we might not have otherwise made because our show was in HD."

Canada's digital TV strategy has essentially been to follow the American rollout by two years or so. In the U.S., the FCC has mandated that broadcasters be completely switched over to digital by 2009, a target that McEwen expects the Americans will easily meet. In Canada, the CRTC has instead adopted a "wait-and-see" approach.

U.S. casters have built up their transmitter system so virtually all American broadcast outlets are sending out a digital signal, says Sim. And satellite and cable companies are offering a huge array of HD packages.

The Americans are also outpacing Canada in sales of HD sets. According to McEwen, 20% to 25% of Canadian households have an HD set, compared to about 40% of the American market.