NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES—The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) is introducing a new category for the 75th Technology & Engineering Awards taking place Oct. 9 at the Prince George Ballroom in New York.

The category is “Excellence in Production Technology,” and the three nominees are “Christmas at Graceland,” “The Coronation of H.M. King Charles III” and “The Santa Clauses, Season 2.”

NATAS President and CEO Adam Sharp said: “This new category honors innovations that significantly enhanced the experience of broadcast viewers during the competition year. These nominees revolutionized the way television is produced, delivered, or broadcast. Together, they help set the standard for this exciting new track of recognition in the Tech Emmys.”

NATAS released these descriptions of the nominees:

‘Christmas at Graceland’
For the first time in its history, Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate presents a televised concert celebrating the holiday season. With this hallowed ground ready to open its gates for a special concert event, all this project needed was a production company with the right pedigree to bring the festivities and Done+Dusted was just the team for the job. Working with our partners at Authentic Brands, we produced a star-studded seasonal celebration with The King’s own granddaughter, Riley Keough, and featuring performances from top artists like John Legend, Alanis Morrisette, Kacey Musgraves and more, all broadcast from iconic locations around the estate, intercut with archival footage and testimonials from Elvis’s friends and family. Done+Dusted installed over 40 camera locations on the Graceland property, which spanned over a square mile with a 4-lane highway down the middle. They also utilized tools for cinematic acquisition with Sony F-5500 cameras capturing the show in 24p UHD while delivering a broadcast 1080i/59.94 signal to the network over both fiber and satellite-based uplink.

The Coronation of H.M. King Charles III, BBC / Neutral Wireless / University of Strathclyde / LiveU
After experiencing significant difficulties during the State funeral for H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, BBC News identified a requirement to provide connectivity for news teams for the Coronation of H.M. King Charles III. Wireless cameras were essential for their planned coverage, but the expected crowds would present a problem for bonded-cellular contributions—not just for themselves, but all broadcasters. BBC News and BBC R&D approached Neutral Wireless to deploy a large-scale private 5G standalone network to provide seamless coverage along part of the procession route, from outside Buckingham Palace along The Mall to Admiralty Arch, guaranteeing uplink connectivity for existing bonded-cellular devices without changing the day-to-day operations for the news teams. Initial viability testing was conducted in collaboration with LiveU at the University of Strathclyde's rural test site on the banks of Loch Lomond (Scotland), before on-site testing in London. The 7-cell network deployed provided over 1Gbps of uncontested uplink capacity using only 80 MHz spectrum. As the public networks became congested, bonded-cellular devices relied entirely on the private 5G network to go live-to-air. On Coronation Day itself, over 60 devices from 20 domestic and international media outlets used the private network to deliver live news contributions (video and radio) that could not have otherwise been broadcast. This is considered an innovative and efficient use of radio spectrum. Feedback from the broadcasters was overwhelmingly positive.”

‘The Santa Clauses, Season Two}
In the second season, the Calvin family is back in the North Pole as Scott Calvin continues his role as Santa Claus after retirement plans were thwarted when he failed to find a worthy successor in season one. Now that Scott and his family have successfully saved Christmas, Scott turns his focus towards training his son Cal to eventually take over the “family business” as Santa Claus. However, a bit of North Pole magic brings an unexpected challenge to Scott’s plan. ILM contributed successfully to the first season with StageCraft LED work. For Season 2, ILM StageCraft was used once again and ILM contributed post visual effects as well. The visual effects work on the project was overseen by Trevor Hazel, with a seamless partnership between ILM’s San Francisco office and SDFX. Together, the team ultimately delivered 333 shots of Christmas cheer for the series.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—TNDV founder Nic Dugger with production colleagues from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) livestreamed the 74th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards, April 16, during the 100th NAB Show in Las Vegas.

The livestream was produced and delivered from a state-of-the-art LED Volume virtual studio at the Vû Las Vegas. The virtual studio allowed real-time rendered, full-motion imagery to be displayed on the curved LED panels that engulf the set, TNDV said.

“The use of the LED Volume studio on this awards show produced a visually captivating and immersive virtual set experience for our honorees, guests and audience,” said Dugger. “For a show based around technology and ingenuity, it was fitting to be in a facility that allowed attendees and viewers alike to feel like they were immersed in a cutting-edge environment.”  

Coverage of the ceremony—the second time Dugger has sat in the director’s chair for the awards—required close cooperation with NATAS head of IT services Delroy Binger, who oversaw distribution of the livestream to global audiences, it said.

Since the 2022 NAB Show, Binger and Dugger have worked together on three Emmy Award show productions, including the Daytime Emmy Awards live broadcast in June, and two exclusively livestreamed productions: The News and Documentary Emmy Awards in October and the Children and Family Emmy Awards in December, it said. 

Dugger also worked closely with Lisa Armstrong, head of NATAS production and events. The pair previously collaborated on Emmy Awards shows when Dugger served as technical producer, including the virtual versions of the News and Documentary Emmy Awards and Sports Emmy Awards that were streamed live from Nashville during the pandemic, it said.

ARRI, Harmonic, MultiDyne and NEC were among the honorees recognized for their innovation and technology achievements during this year’s ceremony. MultiDyne and ARRI were honored for their development of a digital cinema camera-mounted video extender for live audiences; Harmonic, Comcast and Intel for pioneering the development and deployment of a virtualized cable modem; WSC, IBM, Comcast and Google for AI-ML curation of sports highlights; and Nobukazu Teranishi and NEC for the invention and development of the pinned photodiode now used in most image sensors.

More information is available on the company’s website.

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES—The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has announced the recipients of the 74th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards. The ceremony will take place in partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) as part of their media and technology convention in Las Vegas on Sunday April 16, 2023.

“The Technology & Engineering Emmy Award was the first Emmy Award issued in 1949 and it laid the groundwork for all the other Emmys to come,” said Adam Sharp, CEO and president, NATAS. “We are extremely happy about honoring these prestigious individuals and companies, again in partnership with NAB, where the intersection of innovation, technology and excitement in the future of television can be found.”

“This latest class of technology Emmy Award honorees are in keeping with the tradition, innovation and impact that these innovations have had over the last 74 years,” said .Joe Inzerillo, co-chair, NATAS Technology Achievement Committee. 

“The categories and companies receiving awards this year showcase the ongoing technological advancements in television'' said Dina Weisberger, co-chair, NATAS Technology Achievement Committee.

The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards are awarded to a living individual, a company, or a scientific or technical organization for developments and/or standardization involved in engineering technologies that either represent so extensive an improvement on existing methods or are so innovative in nature that they materially have affected television, NATAS said. 

A Committee of highly qualified engineers working in television considers technical developments in the industry and determines which, if any, merit an award.

The 2022 Technology & Engineering Emmy Award honorees are:

• Invention and Development of the Pinned Photodiode Now Used in Most Image Sensors. Winners: Nobukazu Teranishi and NEC
• Extraction of Granular Census Level Behavioral Data using ACR. Winners: Cognitive Networks, Enswers, Turner Media lab
• AI-ML curation of Sports Highlights. Winners: WSC, IBM, Comcast, and Google
• Digital Cinema Camera Mounted Video Extender for Live Audiences. Winners: MultiDyne and ARRI
• Pioneering Development and Deployment of Virtualized Cable Modem. Winners: Harmonic, Comcast, and Intel

 TV Pioneer Hall of Fame honorees: 

• Llewelyn Birchall Atkinson
• Jean Lazare Weiller
• Thomas Alva Edison
• Jan Szczepanik
• Constantin Dmitrievich Perskyi

NEW YORK—The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has announced the recipients of the 70th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for their work in 11 separate areas.

“We award the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award to these outstanding companies and individuals who are the ‘tool makers’ of the industry that have materially affected the television viewing experience,” said Robert Seidel, chairman of the NATAS Technology & Engineering Committee.

• NBCUniversal Company owned stations, Accelerated Media Technologies Inc. and Enterprise Electronic Corp. will be honored for pioneering development of mobile X-band radar trucks for television weather.

• Sounds in Sync, Syncho Arts and the Cargo Cult will be recognized for automated sound conformation.

• Unity Technologies and Epic Games Inc. will be present with the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for 3D engine software for the production of animation.

• Massive, Golaem, Basefount and Sidefx will be honored for their cost effective crowd simulation tools.

• Packetstorm will be recognized for its pioneering development of a packet impairment test generator for SMPTE ST 2022.

• NBC and Conus Communications (Hubbard Broadcasting) will receive an Emmy Award for development of a Ku-band satellite-based communication system for early satellite newsgathering.

• NASCAR Productions, PSSI Global Services and Big Ten Network will be honored for large-scale “at-home” production of live sports. NBC Sports will be recognized for large-scale distributed production for live sports.

• W3C, Microsoft, Comcast, Netflix and Google will receive an Emmy Award for standardization of HTML5, Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) and Media Source Extensions (MSE) for a full TV experience.

• Fujitsu, Qvidium, Net Insight, VideoFlow, DVEO, Artel, Haivision, Cobalt, Zixi, AVI West, Streambox and Dejero will be honored for pioneering a reliable transmission method for live contribution and distribution TV links.

• Peter Dillon, Al Brault, Hitachi, NEC, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba will be recognized for pioneering development of the single-chip color camera.

The recipients will be honored in Sunday, April 7, 2019, in Las Vegas during the 2019 NAB Show at the Wynn Encore Hotel.

More information is available on the NATAS website.

HOLLYWOOD, CA.—The Television Academy has announced the recipients of the 70th Engineering Emmy Awards honoring an individual, company or organization for developments in broadcast technology. Kirsten Vangsness, star of the CBS drama Criminal Minds, returns to host the awards for the third consecutive year on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the JW Marriott Hotel, Los Angeles, at L.A. LIVE.

The following is a list of awards to be presented:

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 goes to Wendy Aylsworth, CEO of CEO of Walden Pond and president of UltraViolet. Aylsworth spent more than two decades with Warner Bros. Studios, ultimately as their senior vice president, technology, corporate technical operations. Earlier in her career, at The Walt Disney Company she directed technology support for the feature animation division as well as software development for theme park attractions worldwide. Aylsworth is a past president of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and is a past chair of the Television Academy’s Engineering Emmy Awards committee. She currently serves as the CEO of media technology consulting firm Walden Pond and president of the UltraViolet streaming service.

The Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award, honoring an agency, company or institution whose contributions over time have substantially impacted television technology and engineering goes to Avid, a leading technology provider, empowering aspiring artists, creative professionals, production teams and media enterprises to create, manage and monetize television programs, films and other media.

Upon its founding 30 years ago, Avid broke new ground by reimagining and restructuring how television and film content was created with its revolutionary non-linear editor, which was the first to digitize video. Since then, Avid has grown its commitment to innovation by delivering products that accelerate the entire content ecosystem and connect people everywhere through media.

With millions of users and thousands of media companies worldwide relying on the company’s innovative technology and collaborative tools, Avid makes it possible for participants across media to tell stories and report news that entertains, informs and enlightens the world.

Engineering Emmys

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.

This year’s five Engineering Emmy recipients are:

Artemis Digital Director’s Viewfinder

Artemis Director’s Viewfinder is software for mobile devices that enables filmmakers to accurately pre-visualize shots with specific cameras and lenses before they are physically available. Replacing the traditional optical director’s viewfinder with intuitive digital tools, Artemis assists the user in creating storyboard images or videos, adding frame-lines, using virtual stand-ins, and experiment with color grading and so on. The sharing of images, notes and metadata gathered using Artemis enhances the communication between the different filmmaking disciplines, leading to increased creative control and production efficiency. Consequently, Artemis Director’s Viewfinder has become an industry standard tool.

cineSync Review and Approval

cineSync has revolutionized the way in which television shows can be pitched, produced and delivered by opening the doors to seamless international collaboration. cineSync users can remotely review and annotate on high-resolution, high-frame-rate video with other participants in any location. Collaborators view the exact same frame at the same time on a platform that delivers the high-level security features of watermarking, guest authentication and encryption that production studios today demand.

Codex Recording Platform and Capture Media

As television standards have evolved from standard definition recording to high definition, and now to high-dynamic range at 4K resolution and high frame rates, Codex’s technology for recording uncompressed RAW digital negatives allows digital storytellers to capture all the detail required for the highest quality final product. Codex has proven itself an essential industry game-changer.

Blue Mix-Fi Headphones

Blue Mix-Fi headphones enable users to produce mixes that translate accurately from headphone to near field monitors to the wall and beyond. The Mix-Fi design allows for independent pre-mixing on loud-mix stages and prevents ear fatigue by exposing details without the need to boost volume levels. Thanks to its unique performance and accuracy, Mix-Fi has been widely adopted by re-recording and production mixers, supervising sound editors, sound designers and music editors.

PRG GroundControl Followspot

PRG’s GroundControl Followspot System has made a major impact on safe working conditions. Working from the stage floor and via fiber optic cable, operators direct a high-output, automated luminaire. The followspot’s onboard HD camera, outfitted with optical zoom and night vision capacity, provides set designers and lighting directors efficiencies in overall rig weight, reduction in space usage (including “seat kills”) and increased flexibility for camera placements. Designers now have total creative freedom to put followspots in previously impractical places, avoid complex rigging and place operators on the floor. The PRG GroundControl Followspot System has become an essential lighting asset for the wide variety of studio and remote locations used by awards, reality and concert programs.

The Engineering Plaque honors achievements that exhibit a high level of engineering and are important to the progress of the industry. The Engineering Plaque is a positive recognition of engineering achievements on a different level of technology and overall industry importance than the Engineering Emmy. This year’s recipient is CATS Cam, a unique application of video technology that gives wildlife filmmakers an unparalleled ability to obtain footage from an animal’s point of view without disturbing its natural behavior. Capable of recording up to 36 hours of image and sound on a multisensory-controlled video camera with maximum 4K resolution, CATS Cam can be programmed to record in different lighting situations, including infrared for nocturnal shoots. CATS Cam has resulted in an extraordinary level of access and understanding of the natural world for scientists and viewing audiences alike.

The 70th Engineering Emmy Awards are overseen by Chair Barry Zegel and committee members Wendy Aylsworth, Stuart Bass, Bob Bronow, Jim DeFilippis, Greg Gewickey, Frank Morrone, Leon Silverman, David Stump and Craig Weiss.

NOHO ART DISTRICT, CALIF.—The Television Academy has announced that it is now accepting submissions for the 70th Engineering Emmy Awards, which honors an individual, company or organizations “that considerably improves existing methods or innovations that materially affect the transmission, production, recording or reception of television.

The 2018 Engineering Emmy Awards Entry Form can be downloaded from the Television Academy’s website at TelevisionAcademy.com/downloads. The deadline for entries is May 31, 2018.

Recipients of the Engineering Emmy, The Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award and the Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award will be selected by the Engineering Awards Committee comprised of highly qualified Academy members appointed from technically oriented Peer Groups. Winners will be presented with their Engineering Emmy at a ceremony on Oct. 24, 2018.

[Read: 69th Technology & Engineering Emmy Winners Revealed]

Previous Engineering Emmy Award winners include Canon, Dolby Laboratories, Disney, FUJI, Netflix, NASA, Sony Corporation and YouTube. 

LAS VEGAS—Over the years, the NAB Show has successfully adapted to the rapidly changing demands of the media and entertainment industry. This year is no different.

This means connecting with streamers, gamers, post professionals and, of course, broadcasters. But this year’s annual event has been reorganized to meet all of those needs with a new lineup of sessions, summits and exhibits that seemed unimaginable even a few years ago.

One theme that seems to permeate throughout the new programs is the way in which technology is being used to create better storytellers.

“Effectively using technology is critical to creating quality content,” said Chris Brown, executive vice president of conventions and business operations for NAB. “NAB Show offers inspiration, training and the very latest tools and technologies to help storytellers step up their game and advance their tradecraft.”

STREAMING SUMMIT

The NAB Show is responding to the increasing popularity of over the top platforms with the introduction of the Streaming Summit, a one-day conference that will focus from top to bottom on the culture and dynamics of the streaming media business. What was cutting edge and resourceful 12 months ago—be it ways of monetizing or streaming protocols—may be outmoded and outpaced come this April. The session will address topics like live linear workflows, transcoding, distribution, new business models and technology platforms.

What’s not up for debate: that regardless of the technology and monetization schemes behind the curtain, consumers expect a certain level of quality content and a certain level of quality delivery, Brown said. “As video streaming services continue to gain immense popularity, media and technology companies must evolve to meet the demand for quality content when and where consumers want it,” he said.

RECOGNIZING EXCELLENCE

NAB has also shuffled around one of the most popular events at the show—its TV, radio and technology luncheons—into two new major events. The first is a new NAB Achievement in Broadcasting Dinner; the second is a celebration called “NAB: We are Broadcasters” Celebration.

The changes were made to better highlight key awards and expose them to a broader NAB Show audience, Brown said, while still highlighting the work the broadcast industry does from a business, creative and community perspective.

Just as the individual broadcast and tech awards did in the past, the new Achievement in Broadcasting Dinner is designed to recognize those individuals and companies who are working to advance the industry through technology, public service and content. At that same dinner, two awards will be presented: the NAB Radio and Television Hall of Fame Award and NAB Engineering and Digital Leadership Award. Game show aficionados may want to brace themselves for this double-whammy award ceremony that will honor “Wheel of Fortune” and its hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White, as well as “JEOPARDY!” and its host Alex Trebek. All three have hosted their respective programs since the mid-80s, and between them have produced a combined 13,000 episodes.

This year’s NAB Digital Leadership Award will be awarded to Roger Keating, Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer for Hearst Television. The Television Engineering Achievement Award will be presented to Mark Aitken, vice president of Advanced Technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group and Clay Freinwald of Freinwald Technical Services will receive the 2018 Service to Broadcast Engineering Award.

The NAB’s “We Are Broadcasters” Celebration event will include the presentation of several familiar radio and TV awards, including the NAB Crystal Radio Awards and Television Chairman’s Award. Attendees will find them in “the good place” for the Television Chairman’s Award, which will be presented to TV and film actress Kristen Bell.

Those of us who want to hear firsthand what NAB President Gordon Smith has to say will need to re-route the Uber away from the Westgate over to the main stage in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. After that keynote presentation, the NAB Distinguished Service Award will be awarded to ABC co-anchor Robin Roberts.

The NAB is also partnering up with that famous little gold statue guy. This year, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) will present the Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards at NAB. Up to this point, these technical honors had been awarded at the annual CES show. “We couldn’t be more pleased that NATAS has chosen to recognize the industry’s most innovative companies and leading technology minds at NAB Show,” Brown said. “The awards are a natural fit for NAB Show. Many of the winners are regular attendees or among our exhibitor ranks.”

MORE THAN JUST EXHIBITS ON THE EXHIBIT FLOOR

A surprisingly number of new areas will spring up on the show floor this year too. At the Destination NXT Theater, an on-the-show-floor education program In the South Hall, attendees can listen to presentations on distribution, delivery and commerce. In one instance, that will mean getting inside the devoted, chaotic, demanding and progressive head of a sports fan.

One of the events in the Destination NXT Theater will be “The Super-Fan Journey,” which will take a real-life look at the ways that a sport fan flits from social media to video games to OTT to follow his teams. So how does a team or network provide a more targeted, streamlined journey from one hop to the other? The session, manned by staffers from the San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Vikings, will take a crack at answering the question.

Other new spots on the show floor will be the Podcasting Pavilion and the Immersive Storytelling Pavilion, which will look at the ongoing creation and commercialization of virtual, mixed and augmented immersive content. Convention organizers expanded podcasting’s presence at the show to help attendees “capitalize on the medium’s growing popularity and potential,” Brown said.

Away from the show floor, attendees will see five new conferences. In addition to the new Streaming Summit, the NAB is introducing the “Ad Innovations” conference that will look at everything from AI and big data to ad models and new platforms.

And fan engagement comes swinging around again in several new conferences. “Content Strategies for Podcasting” will look at the way podcasting can tap into rabid fan engagement and introduce new revenue streams. Likewise, the new eSports conference looks at this rapidly growing market and the ways in which streaming, media rights and fan engagement tools are helping shape it.

The NAB will also usher in three new networking opportunities, including several new Community Mixers, the new Braindate series of small group conversations, and (for those of us seriously tired of standing up eating a cold hot dog while leaning against a hallway wall) a new Draft House food and beverage area in the South Hall.

For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.