WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) will be honored with the Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences during the 75th Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards Oct. 18 in Los Angeles.

The award recognizes NAB’s centennial anniversary as the voice of America’s broadcasters. The association has played a part in major technological and engineering milestones throughout television history, including: the development of the digital television standard; the development of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard and supporting the ongoing NextGen TV transition; stereo audio for analog television; UHF channel allocation; and the inclusion of V-chips in television sets.

NAB was also part of the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) collaborative effort that developed audio level normalization for television commercials, which received a Primetime Emmy Engineering Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 2014.

"For a century, NAB has played a leading role in the development of cutting-edge advancements that have helped the television industry capture stunning pictures and sounds, unlock innovative programming and captivate countless viewers across the globe," said NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt. "We are honored to accept this Emmy award on behalf of the numerous innovators at work over the past hundred years, and we are excited about the new technologies being rolled out that will enhance viewer experiences and help broadcasters better serve their audiences."

The Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award is given to an agency, company or institution whose contributions over time have significantly impacted television technology and engineering. Past recipients include the American Society of Cinematographers, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, NASA, Arri, Dolby, Avid, Sony, Grass Valley and Evertz.

More information is available on the NAB website.

LOS ANGELES—The Television Academy has announced the recipients of the 74th Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards honoring an individual, company or organization for developments in broadcast technology.

The awards will be given out at the awards ceremony on Weds, Sept. 28, 2022, which will be hosted by Kirsten Vangsness, who starred for 15 seasons on the critically acclaimed CBS drama Criminal Minds and is starring in the upcoming 16th season of the series for Paramount+. 

"Innovation is a vital part of television production; and the talented engineers, scientists and technologists we have recognized are essential to the growth of our industry," said Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of the Television Academy. "These pioneering companies and visionaries have leveraged the power of technology to elevate television and storytelling in fundamental ways."

"Earlier this year the Academy formed the Science & Technology Peer Group representing members who are involved in the strategy and development of technologies that enable or advance the storytelling process for the television industry," added Committee chair John Leverence. "Under the leadership of the new peer group's governors and co-chairs Wendy Aylsworth and Barry Zegel, this year's newly constituted Engineering Emmy Awards Committee honors a wide range of innovative solutions to once seemingly intractable technical problems."

This year’s awards recipients for the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award and the Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award are: 

• The Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors a living individual whose ongoing contributions have significantly affected the state of television technology and engineering, will be given to Dr. Paul E. Debevec. Paul Debevec is awarded the 2022 Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award for his groundbreaking work in high dynamic range imaging, image-based lighting and photogrammetry, essential techniques used in computer graphics for VFX and Virtual Production. Debevec's pioneering work makes it possible to record and reproduce the light of real scenes to illuminate virtual scenes and vice versa. High dynamic range imagery is a mainstay of computer graphics and combined with image-based lighting, has enabled realistic integration of existing live-action lighting in computer-rendered images. These tools and concepts are now a standard within the VFX industry for rendering. The concepts and the innovative use of LED lighting Paul pioneered with the Light Stage have further laid the groundwork for the use of LED lighting in virtual production, which has seen a rapid growth as a tool for lighting actors on virtual stages.
• The Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award, which honors an agency, company or institution whose contributions over time have significantly impacted television technology and engineering, will be given to ARRI. ARRI is awarded The Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award for its more than a century of designing and manufacturing camera and lighting systems as well as systemic technological solutions and service networks for a worldwide complex of film, broadcast and media industries. Industry professionals have long relied on the stability and versatility of ARRI equipment in a portfolio that includes digital cameras, lenses, camera accessories, archive technologies, lamp heads and lighting accessories. Along with offering exclusive technologies, ARRI Rental's services and equipment provide camera, lighting and grip packages to professional productions here and abroad. ARRI cameras have connected the creativity and technology that have made filmed entertainment the premier medium of our time. Dedicated to maintaining its place in the forefront of the development of future technologies for the capture of moving images, ARRI has been at it for 100+ years ... and counting, the Academy said. 

In addition the Academy announced seven Engineering Emmys, which are presented to an individual, company or organization for developments in engineering that are either so extensive an improvement on existing methods or so innovative in nature that they materially affect the production, recording, transmission or reception of television:

• Mark Hills and Marc Bakos for the Cleanfeed remote audio review/recording system. Cleanfeed is a high-fidelity "conference call" software as a service with a focus on audio production. It enables collaboration with audio-quality equivalent to all participants being together in the same studio and with low latencies for smooth interaction between talent. Cleanfeed's innovative technology has advanced workflows in the industry, including being accessible to at-home engineers and talent who use a straightforward link in their web browser to enable full-scale TV and film post-production. For more information, please visit cleanfeed.net.
• disguise Systems Ltd. for the disguise platform. The disguise platform is an advancement in image processing that incorporates elements of video playback and real-time technology to improve interaction between computer graphic elements, digital images and environments, physical actors, props, and practical sets. The combination of the disguise platform with LED walls and camera tracking enables real lighting information on actors (and real objects), support for reflective and refractive props, more natural shot lineups, and a production environment where creative decisions can be made quickly and with improved collaboration. Utilizing real-time 3D visualization-based software and robust hardware, the tools in the disguise platform seamlessly integrate and direct an array of technologies including camera tracking and real-time content engines that incorporate analog physical space into a virtual digital world. For more information, please visit disguise.one.
• Light & Magic for the StageCraft virtual production tool suite. ILM StageCraft is an end-to-end virtual production tool suite that bridges the gap between practical physical production methodologies and traditional digital post-production visual effects by providing the ability to design, scout and light environments in advance of the shoot and then capture that vision in camera during principal photography. StageCraft brings together a real-time engine, a real-time renderer, high-quality color management, physical camera equipment, LED displays, motion-capture technologies, synchronization methodologies and tailored on-set user interfaces to digitally create the illusion of 3D backgrounds for live-action sets. For more information, please visit ilm.com.
• Geoffrey Crawshaw and William Brinkley for the Leostream remote access software. Leostream's remote access and desktop connection management software enables news and entertainment organizations to create security-conscious remote production environments that are sustainable, performant and cost-effective. Its ability to mix and manage on-premises and cloud-based hosting platforms and support for multiple high-performance display protocols ensures the productivity of editors and production engineers, while simplifying IT. The ability to manage disparate technologies from a single management and access platform is a uniquely Leostream construct that enables organizations to advance the state of the art of their entire hosted desktop environment with an eye on integrating new technologies as they come to market. For more information, please visit leostream.com.
• Shure Incorporated for the Axient Digital wireless audio system. The Shure Axient Digital Wireless System equips audio production teams with the wireless capabilities necessary to deliver transparent, true, artifact-free audio for television and television broadcasts with the highest-performance RF (radio frequency), exceptional audio quality, command and control, and hardware scalability necessary to tell stories seamlessly on the most demanding sets in the world. For more information, please visit shure.com.
• Sohonet for the ClearView Pivot remote collaboration tool. Sohonet's ClearView Pivot is a real-time remote collaboration tool with the flexibility to connect creative users at the click of a button, allowing the user to stream color and frame-accurate footage in 4K HDR, 12-bit color depth and 4:4:4 chroma sampling in real time with ultra-low latency. From a single web interface (and without having to set up new firewall configurations for each usage), ClearView is able to efficiently connect numerous participants for multi-point review sessions. For more information, please visit sohonet.com.
• Stype Cajic, Andrija Cajic, Daniel Kruselj and Ivica Antolkovic for the stYpe suite of optical/camera tracking tools. The stYpe suite of optical/tracking tools includes the first bolt-on mechanical tracking kit for camera cranes (StypeKit) that was used to retrofit existing cranes and transform them to virtual production cranes (complete with lens data delivered to an ethernet interface), resulting in the simplification of setup procedures and implementation of lens calibration procedures that eliminated graphics drift and, with the introduction of auto-aiming functionality, made VR shots smoother. Additionally, its optical-camera tracking system (RedSpy) produces a point cloud marker system used to calculate the position of the camera, which, in conjunction with StypeKit's crane tracking, satisfies the most demanding needs of live productions. For more information, please visit stype.tv.

LOS ANGELES—The Television Academy has announced the 73rd Engineering Emmy Awards, with awards going to Netflix’s Reed Hastings, Dolby Labs and eight others. 

The awards will be given out on Thursday, Oct. 21, at the JW Marriott Hotel, Los Angeles, at L.A. LIVE.

"Engineers, scientists and technologists are a vital part of our industry and are key to the continuing evolution of television," said Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of the Television Academy. "These extraordinary pioneers and groundbreaking companies we are honoring have advanced the medium and elevate storytelling to a worldwide audience."

"It has been a challenging year for the television production community; but despite the pandemic, production has come back and with it a host of new technologies that are being used to help the storytelling process," said Committee Chair John Leverence. "This year a wide range of technologies are being recognized. They run the gamut from high-end, computer-generated special effects to lighting enhancements; audio tools; script-note technology; and systems that help maintain distancing protocols."

The list of awards includes: 

• The Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Reed Hastings. This award honors a living individual whose ongoing contributions have significantly affected the state of television technology and engineering.
• The Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award will be given to Dolby Laboratories. This award honors an agency, company or institution whose contributions over time have substantially impacted television technology and engineering.

This year, eight Engineering Emmys were awarded. They are presented to an individual, company or organization for engineering developments that considerably improve existing methods or innovations that materially affect the transmission, recording or reception of television. The eight awards are: 

• Recipient: Arnold Global Illumination Rendering System - Marcos Fajardo, Alan King, Thiago Ize. Arnold is a photo-realistic, stochastic, ray-tracing renderer widely used by visual effects and animation studios around the world. 
• Recipient: ARRI SkyPanel - ARRI. The ARRI SkyPanel is a family of ultra-bright LED soft lights. 
• Recipient: CEDAR Studio - CEDAR Audio Ltd. CEDAR Studio was developed specifically to meet the needs of audio professionals in the field of film and television post-production. Originally comprising four processes, it has grown to provide a wide range of tools for cleaning and restoring audio. 
• Recipient: Golaem Crowd - Golaem. Golaem Crowd helps artists to populate television shows, films and game cinematics in minutes by procedurally animating thousands of characters with advanced behaviors in real-time and with complete artistic control. 
• Recipient: Massive - Stephen Regelous. Massive is a pioneering software package that first gave artists the ability to simulate crowds using an artificial intelligence-based approach. 
• Recipient: Scriptation - Steve Vitolo, Felipe A. Mendez P., Franco Zuccar. Scriptation automates the tedious process of transferring handwritten notes, annotations and verbal comments to a script and redistributing to all departments. 
• Recipient: Teradek Bolt 4K - Nicolaas Verheem, Marius van der Watt, Dennis Scheftner, Zvi Reznic. Teradek Bolt 4K is a zero-delay, wireless video transmission system for on-set monitoring, offering high-quality wireless video integrated into the workflow.
• Recipient: V-Ray - Chaos. Chaos' V-Ray is a physically based rendering and adaptive ray tracing solution used to create photo-realistic visual effects in episodic production since 2003. 

More on the awards and award winners can be found here. 

The 73rd Engineering Emmy Awards are overseen by Committee Chair John Leverence and committee members Wendy Aylsworth; Stuart Bass, ACE; Bob Bronow, CAS; Jeff Calderon; Jim DeFilippis; Greg Gewickey; David Ginsberg; Frank Morrone, CAS; David Plakos; Jeffrey Riedmiller; Michael Ruscio; Leon Silverman; Derek Spears; David Stump, ASC; Craig Weiss; and Barry Zegel.

LOS ANGELES—Recognizing work that is pushing the TV industry forward, especially in the midst of a pandemic, the Television Academy has announced its slate of recipients for the 72nd Engineering Emmy Awards.

The Engineering Emmys are presented to individuals, companies or organizations for their developments in engineering that improve upon existing methods or invent something that greatly impacts the production, recording, transmission or reception of TV.

Four of the winners are being specifically recognized for their work on developing and deploying engineering technology that has assisted with remote production during the pandemic. They include:

• Evercast, for its real-time collaboration platform that combines video conferencing, HD livestreaming and full-spectrum audio in a single web-based platform
• HP Inc., for its Z by HP and ZCentral Remote Boost that assist the remote creative processes for production teams around the world 
• Sohonet’s ClearView Flex is being recognized for its ability to enable real-time remote collaboration for creatives to use in pre-production, production, VFX and post-production 
• Teradici, for the Teradici Cloud Access Software, which establishes a secure remote access connection to Windows or Linux desktops hosted in the studio, a private data center or a public cloud to work from anywhere 

Seven other Engineering Emmys were awarded to the following recipients:

• Apple, for the Apple ProRes video codec for film and TV 
• Codex, for the Codex RAW Workflow high-speed data-migration processor 
• Dan Dugan, for gain sharing automatic microphone mixing 
• Epic Games, for the Unreal Engine real-time 3D graphics system 
• RE:Vision Effects, for introducing optical flow-based post-production video tools in the form of Twixtor, ReelSmart Motion Blur and RE:Flex 
• Sound Radix, for its Auto-Align Post platform that makes phase/time corrections of a moving multi-microphone recording 
• Bill Spitzak, Jonathan Egstad, Peter Crossley and Jerry Huxtable for the Nuke node-based compositing toolkit. 

The recipients will be honored with a live streamed ceremony on Emmys.com on Oct. 29 at 5 p.m. PT.

For more information, visit www.emmys.com. 

NOHO ART DISTRICT, CALIF.—No need to wait for the awards ceremony to find out who the Emmy goes to for the 68th Engineering Emmy Awards, as the Television Academy has announced its full slate of honorees and winners for the 2016 edition. With the goal of honoring development and innovation in broadcast technology, the Engineering Emmys have rewarded six recipients for this year’s awards, as well as a pair of special honors.

The first such special honor is the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award, which this year will go to John C. Malone, chairman of Liberty Media. Malone is being honored for his “lifetime commitment and immeasurable contributions to the advancement of cable television,” according to the TV Academy’s press release.

The TV Academy will also hand out the Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award to NHK’s Science & Technology Research Laboratories for their innovations that “have transformed the technical capabilities of broadcasters both in Japan and worldwide.”

As for the six official Engineering Emmy recipients, they are as followed: SyncOnSet; Ncam Technologies; Sony 2/3-inch 4K Imaging System; Saunders Electric; Zaxcom Inc.; and Group It For Me! Cloud-based software.

The award ceremony for the 68th Engineering Emmy Awards will take place on Oct. 26 at the Lowes Hollywood Hotel and be hosted by “Criminal Minds” star Kirsten Vangsness.