Although it might seem like a quantum leap, it doesn't take calculus to find the link between Albert Einstein and the state of the stock footage world today. It is Einstein Year, after all (well, at least in the UK and Ireland). And without the Father of Relativity, there would be no computers and no televisions. By extension, there would be no Internet and no HD. And despite what some people secretly hope or believe, the future of stock footage is heading online and hi-definition.

Some of those familiar with the industry might say that the most pressing issue right now isn't the digital age, or even HD. They may say that it's old news because most major libraries began digitizing their footage as early as four years ago and they feel they've done what's necessary to meet the future. But in a way, the same concerns that people faced before the coming of digital imagery are even more urgent now. How to get people to see what's in the library, how to deliver it - and, most importantly - how to make it unique.

So the most obvious question at the moment is: Is the HD question really old news? Well, it can be argued that the real story hasn't even unfolded yet, or that it depends who you talk to. If your collection is covered in algae and not even catalogued, you have a different perspective than say, Corbis, who has over 30,000 hours of motion material and the wherewithal to determine when and what to transfer. So, how much have the majors really transferred to HD and are they committed to the format?

Rick Wysocki, VP at Corbis Motion speculates half of their collection is in HD. "Whatever is not, we transfer on demand. As people call in and need an HD master, we can do that. We do a lot of business in the entertainment sector, and all the tier-one television shows started posting in hi-def a couple of years ago."

Getty Images tells a similar story. "We started transferring to HD, as well as standard-def, at the end of 1999, and that was based on what we were seeing in the industry," says Kristl Date-Dopps, director, Global Film Marketing. She adds that they're also expanding their collection in another way. "Our acquisition goals are to acquire the highest quality images regardless of what the original production element is. But as we see more of our filmmakers become more comfortable shooting in HD, and the demand increases, we'll begin to accept more HD."

National Geographic is another interesting example because they're also a producer of original programming. "The meaning of advertising probably isn't changing, but the execution of it certainly is. So essentially you have various libraries trying to respond to all these new media. Our library is different than say a Corbis or a Getty in that we are deriving our content from previously created programming as well as partner libraries," notes Jocelyn Shearer, director of sales for the NG film library.

This means they have a vested interest in permanently switching over to hi-def, but they still face issues of upconverting existing material. "I think every archive is struggling with 'Do we go back to the film and re-transfer it to hi-def? Do we try to upgrade it? Or do we leave it and move forward?' But in the sense we have a production arm, we're certainly transferring to hi-def as a means of capture," says Shearer.

This brings up another point: If everything is going to be delivered for broadcast in HD, then why not shoot it all native? Why bother with film? Well, luckily we get to invoke Einstein again. The striking image leading off this report was in fact taken from one of the most exciting recent finds in the stock footage universe.

Last September, Getty Images received a collection of home movies from Dan Miller, son of Stephanie Asker. Stephanie is the daughter of Leo Mattersdorf, who was Einstein's tax accountant and a close friend, and the young girl in the picture. The footage dates from 1933-46, and totals almost three hours.

"Everyone remembers the famous shot of him sticking out his tongue, and it's on posters and T-shirts everywhere," says Molly Lohman, external communications specialist for Getty. "What is rare about this footage is not only does it capture this icon both in color and b/w film, but it also captures rare playful, family moments." It's also likely the only known color footage of Einstein.

Though shot on 16mm, Getty will work with the original film to get the best quality HD clip possible. The b/w footage is approximately three minutes, while the color is about four. The clips will be available online by early April, while the entire home footage collection will be available through the Archive Films deep file library.

If Paula Lumbard, founder of footagebank, has her way, however, future home movie will be discovered in hi-def. Though her background is in film opticals, Lumbar is all about high-definition.

"The advertising world is acclimating to it. I've seen a tremendous change in the three years I've been doing this - just in their world. The beauty of the format is when you finish in HD you can downconvert to anything." She adds that because commercials have a much shorter lifespan than a TV show, they never used to be worth doing in HD, but now they will because there are so many venues, including cinema and the net. "When we started we had to teach all of our clients about HD," says Lumbard. "Now it's rare they won't say 'let me see it'." Particularly valuable are hard-to-achieve aerial footage or location shots that can be seamlessly digitally composited.

Of course this doesn't mean everybody's non-HD libraries are instantly obselete. "There are cases where things are captured only in video," says Mike Epp, production services manager at Getty. "An example of that would be the Al Qaeda footage. We couldn't get a film camera into the training camps, but what was taken we added to the collection because it was footage no one else had ever seen."