LOS ANGELES—Hollywood Blvd. is lined with the names of TV and film stars, but from Oct. 26-29 the stars that occupied the famous street were those who attended SMPTE 2015. Broadcast industry professionals were on hand to discuss many of the biggest trends in the industry, and TVT was on hand to gauge what caught attendees’ attention. Here are the top five trends from SMPTE 2015.

Immersive Audio
Also known as object audio, immersive audio is designed to put the listener into the middle of the action. Multiple panels were held on this emerging technology, but perhaps the big buzz about it was the ITU’s recent approval of object-audio broadcast standards, new standards designed to facilitate the production and exchange of advanced audio files. This allows immersive audio to be paired with UHDTV.

Enhanced TV
This is not your old version of “enhanced TV.” What was talked about at SMPTE deals with UHDTV, 4K, 8K and beyond, including factors like high dynamic range, high frame rate and wider color gamut. A number of panels discussed how it takes more than just more pixels or a higher frame rate to achieve a superior look.

IP Transition
A lot of experimenting and trials are still occurring in regards to the IP transition. Just prior to SMPTE 2015 getting underway, the Video Services Forum, whose membership overlaps with SMPTE’s, released its Technical Recommendation for Studio Video over IP; it is expected to go to a SMPTE committee for standardization. SMPTE 2015 talked about IP in detail during its two part panel “IP and Networking of the Media Facility.”

ATSC 3.0
Should it really come as any surprise? ATSC 3.0 seeks to dramatically change the broadcast industry as we know it, so anytime it is talked about it will draw a large number of eyes and ears. The final day of the conference provided an overview of the next-gen standard and its advantages over legendary TV delivery systems, as well as an update on its development status.

Virtual and Augmented Reality
Could this be the next content revolution? SMPTE certainly had a number of demonstrations of what virtual reality and augmented reality can do, including a VR short from the Reese Witherspoon movie ‘Wild,’ and apps from the designers in the department of Film & Digital Media at Baylor University. You can check out some of videos here.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.—As the industry readies itself for the move to IP, Pixel Power is focusing on this transition with its StreamMaster software playout platform. On display at SMPTE 2015, the StreamMaster is designed to work with both IP and SDI infrastructures.

StreamMaster

The StreamMaster system provides all the requirements of a channel playout device in a software package that runs on standard IT hardware, including multi-level 3D graphics, squeezebacks and hot starts, and secondary events. The software can run in a virtualized environment in a data center or can be hosted on a dedicated hardware with video I/O cards to fit into an SDI environment.

Pixel Power will also show its graphics and branding products at SMPTE 2015 at booth 316.

AMHERST, N.Y.—Right now 4K is the high watermark for the broadcast industry, but that isn’t stopping companies like ATTO from already preparing for the next step in the evolution, 8K video. The storage and network connectivity and infrastructure provider is in attendance at SMPTE 2015 to showcase its latest products that will be able to support 8K and more.

Celerity

The Celebrity Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters address the needs of 8K and 4K Ultra High-Def video post-production workflows, including capture, edit, content management and distribution with data transfers. The system features a quad channel card to deliver high bandwidth and low latency, and a MutliPath Director, which provides a redundant storage solution for workstation applications in digital video, audio and content-creation environments. Celerity can also combine with ATTO’s FibreConnect 1600 series fibre channel switches for SAN connectivity.

ATTO will also have its FastFrame Network Interface Cards on display at SMPTE. These cards provide I/O connectivity and lossless Ethernet support where guaranteed delivery rates are required. The new FastFrame 40GbE card combines near-line speed throughput with latency to support 4K and 8K video editing. The cards throughput and latency is enabled by Remote Direct Memory Access over Converged Ethernet, which uses zero copy data transfers to permit data movement between servers and storage.

A pair of Thunderbolt desklink devices—the ThunderLink and Thunderstream—are also on display. ThunderLink provides Thunderbolt to Fibre Channel, SAS or 10GbE connectivity, which provides access to 16Gb or 8Gb fibre channel SANs, storage devices, Ethernet networks and iSCSI storage. Thunderstream has added RAID technology, allowing professional and prosumer storage applications to protect critical data in case of drive failure.

The ExpressSAS 12Gb is the latest addition to the ExpressSAS line of host bust adapters. It provides fast storage connectivity for video and film production, with eight or 16 internal and external port configurations, allowing up to 1,200 MB/s per port to enhance the performance of streaming media applications.

ATTO can be found at booth 202 at SMPTE 2015, which is currently taking place in Los Angeles.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.—Macnica Americas and intoPIX have teamed up to provide a demonstration of a new FPGA to carry UHD 4K over IP in studio infrastructure, using Tico lightweight compression over RTP at SMPTE 2015.

The demonstration will feature an Altera FPGA development kit using an Altera HDMI 2.0 IP core with UHD 4K 60 fps input in 4:2:2, with intoPIX’s Tico IP cores doing the encoding and Macnica IP cores mapping over RTP and transport over 10GbE. As a result, a low latency with a minimum of nine pixel lines in total and a compression of up to 4:1 can be achieved.

The demonstration will occur at the Macnica Americas booth (SC7).

Macnica Americas is a design service and IP provider based in Tokyo. The Belgium-based intoPIX is a provider of image compression technology.

LEXINGTON, MASS.—Metaglue Corporation has unveiled a pair of updated versions for MXF and IMF technology at SMPTE 2015. Among the company’s new tech are the new Masterview V3.1 and MXFixer V3.3.

The Masterview V3.1 is an MXF player for a broadcast environment. It includes features like slate overview, multiple caption preview, metadata listing, loudness, waveform, and audio level meters. Some new features include on screen rendering of World Systems Teletext for multiple language character sets. The latest version also supports the Contour Design Shuttle Pro or Shuttle Xpress controllers.

Metaglue’s MXFixer V3.3 can be used for file creation, caption insertion, repair and analysis. It can also be used to insert .scc, .mcc and .stl captions directly into MXF files. In addition, the MXFixer can edit metadata, perform hex editing, and provide interpretation of MXF structure and standard and custom metadata. The enterprise version of the MXFixer includes the FixerScript language, which has built-in support multiple application specifications and allows users to write their own FixerScripts to test, process and modify MXF files.

These products are on display at Metaglue’s booth (403) at SMPTE 2015, which is currently underway in Los Angeles.

CAMARILLO, CALIF.—Video compression technology provider intoPIX is prepared to demonstrate the interoperability of its Tico lightweight compression system to transport UHD over next-generation UHDTV hybrid SDI/IP infrastructures at SMPTE 2015. The demonstration will feature technology from companies like Semtech, Xilinix, TV Logic and BES.

Semtech’s 12Gb/s UHD-SDI interface technology, including the GS12141 cable equalizer and the GS12181 cable driver, will be featured in the demonstration in conjunction with intoPIX’s Tico compression technology. The demo will also include FPGA IP cores that support Tico compression and SMPTE ST2022-6 encapsulation from Xilinix, a 55-inch 12Gb/s UHD-SDI UHDTV monitor by TV Logic, and a 12Gb/s UHD-SDI patch field from BES.

Features of the Tico system when applied to SDI and IP include light compression, bringing visually lossless quality up to 4:1; SDI encapsulation, which allows 12G-SDI signals to be mapped onto a single 3G-SDI stream using Tico with 4:1 compression; and RTP mapping, which can transport UHD over IP as an independent RTP stream without SDI encapsulation.

SMPTE 2015 is currently underway in Los Angeles. Attendees can learn more about intoPIX at booth 207.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.—DS Broadcast is using the floor of SMPTE 2015 to unveil its new encoder and transcoder systems, the BGE9000 and BGX2400. The BGE9000 is an encoder system that features 4K and Full-HD/HD encoding in real time, while the BGX2400 is a transcoder that utilizes a high quality up-conversion system.

BGE9000

The BGE9000 is designed with hybrid capabilities, receiving 4K Ultra HD signals from dedicated quad 3G-SDI port and outputs a compressed stream to two ASI ports or four Ether ports, while delivering high quality video using the HEVC codec. The system uses System-On-Chip technology.

The BGX2400 supports a variety of input container formats and video codecs, up-converts to 4K UHD video and then writes back to the specified output format. The transcoder uses a Self-Similarity based Super Resolution system. It also comes with HDMI 2.0 to test and check up-converted images.

Both the BGE9000 and BGX2400 are now available. SMPTE attendees can give them a look first hand at booth 210.

PRAGUE—Studio production automation and master control specialist Aveco has brought its ASTRA Studio 3 news production automation system to SMPTE 2015. This third-generation of the ASTRA system offers breaking news features that speed up time to air while also elevating production values.

ASTRA Studio 3

The ASTRA Studio 3 provides multi-studio production automation, allowing studios to combine major events and reassign projects to other studios if necessary while maintaining production settings. It also supports all types of playout configurations, including from the cloud, a box, or a rack. In addition, the ASTRA combines master control and news production into one system running on the same hardware and interfacing to both NRCS and traffic systems, simplifying a broadcast.

New features for the ASTRA Studio 3 include floating shots that assist in handling breaking news outside a planned rundown, and the ability to handle events across multiple stories. ASTRA Studio 3 MAM integration is also included to allow video search results to go to air instantly and integrate with multiple third-party MAMs. There is also a new Template Editor used to develop and modify story templates. Additional features include one-button release of CG control, an advanced mode for magazine and episodic studio recording, improved video search and local/remote preview capabilities.

Aveco will also show its Redwood Studio, a news studio-in-a-box system, and Redwood Play systems, which features advanced branding in integrated playout systems.

SMPTE 2015 is currently underway in Los Angeles. Attendees can find out more about Aveco’s offerings at its booth, 104.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.—Virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality: Everyone attending SMPTE 2015 on this exciting field is aware of these terms. But what exactly do they mean? What particular attributes distinguish them? What standards can developers and artists consult to ensure a positive result and an experience that doesn't result in a headache or nausea?

The frustrating, but possibly exciting, thing about the symposium is the fact that the technology is so young that nobody really has all the answers. Despite early attempts at VR in the 1990s and Google Glasses more recently, none of the distinguished speakers at this symposium believes we've seen more than a glimmer of the promise they see in this type of media's future.

Layla Mah
Layla Mah, lead architect for VR and advanced rendering at AMD, and the creator of the company's LiquidVR technology, used her keynote address to look at the question of when we might see that potential realized. She spelled out some milestones that would make her consider that the technology has arrived — a wearable device capable of one petaflop (a quadrillion floating point operations per second) untethered, in a form factor somewhere between a contact lens and a pair of regular glasses, among other equally ambitious goals — and said that this might be achievable but, "we have to improve more quickly than Moore's Law" suggested. "A straight line path and Moore's Law won't get us there in our lifetime." But to hear her tell it, people like Mah and companies like AMD are hard at work looking for ways to break out and innovate at a much faster rate.

She was followed by three more speakers, Jeffrey Wilkinson, creator of Smile Stimulating software; Andrew Dickerson, director of software development at Samsung Research America's Dallas office and Sajid Sadi, Tech Lead and Senior Director of Research, Think Tank Team. They discussed some of Samsung's efforts in developing tools for capturing and displaying this type of media.

The essential definitions for the three terms that are the subject of the symposium say that VR completely submerges the user in another world, totally disconnected from his or her actual surroundings; AR introduced virtual elements on top of the actual reality of the user's environment; and MR mixes the two. Sadi, who prefers MR, explained that his group is intent on giving users the tools to shoot their own material and to learn what approaches succeed and fail based on what people do with the technology.

"When 8mm film and cameras came out," he said, "there were quickly millions of hours of film." He hopes his group's beta project will be the 8mm of MR. "Our camera is still not there, but it's useable for some filming," he noted. "It's not just a research toy. We want to see how people shoot. What happens when you walk with the camera? What makes people get sick when they watch? Do you cut a lot or use long takes? Do you zoom in and out? Do you focus on a single point when the user can look anywhere? We're already learning a lot about all this."

Rick Johnson, chief software engineer, CastAR, USA, comes from the gaming world and he spoke primarily about his interest in AR, what he refers to as "wrapping a virtual world around real, physical objects." Johnson offered some "guiding principles" for what he sees as the successful AR experience: It should be fun, social and tangible.

"We want to create something that is seamless with the real world, that augments it in an entertaining way. Maybe I'm wearing the headset and I walk down the street and I see monsters coming out from behind buildings. Maybe I can spray paint [virtual] graffiti on the buildings that my friend can see when he walks down the same block."

Johnson prefers the concept of AR because its inclusion of the real environment, which, he says, "keeps my inner ear happy. With VR, it's more likely that what your eyes are seeing is going to be very different from what your body is feeling and then your inner ear is not always so happy."

But, he noted, "Expect AR development to always be 12 to 18 months behind VR. It's more complex. The virtual objects have to match the real conditions of whatever environment you're in. The lighting conditions have to match what's real. Tracking is much more complex."

But it's worth it, he sums up, because "in AR, I can reach over and pick up my drink. I can't do that in VR. And in AR, I'm not nauseous so my drink can even have alcohol in it!"

Pete Moss, whose self-chosen title VR Dude and Lead Engineer at Creative Content Studio of Unity Technologies, wrapped up the morning symposium with his thoughts. Moss, who joined the Seattle-based Unity technologies as a field engineer in the Simulation/Visualization division, after studying music, technology and art. Moss's time at Unity, which has specialized in creating game engines in the VR space, has helped him develop some strong ideas about the symposium's topic.

"We talk about VR as putting you in a world that may not have any relationship to this one," he said. "And AR anchors you to the real world and offers the idea of location-based simulation. But I think it will all blur in the future."

Moss also took time to stress what VR, AR and MR are not. "People who say, 'I tried it in the '90s' didn't really. Even now the experience is totally different." He likewise dismissed the introduction and subsequent fallout from Google Glass as irrelevant to the present discussion.

Finally, along those same lines, Moss declared, "Sorry Hollywood, but 360 video is not VR."

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.—Cheryl Boone Isaacs knows the world of “Mad Men.” She was introduced to the movie business in New York City in the 1960s.

“I had an older brother who started at United Artists in 1961 in New York,” she said. Boone would visit him at work as a teenager. “The alcohol in the office, the double martinis at lunch… and the smoking. It was ‘Mad Men.’ He would throw me in one of the screening rooms and tell me to be quiet. So I watched movies.”

Three decades or so later, Isaacs is in her third term as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is the first African American to hold the position and the third woman in its 88-year history to do so.

Barbara Lange and Cheryl Boone Isaacs
Isaacs keynoted the annual Women in Technology Luncheon held in conjunction with the SMPTE 2015 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. She was interviewed by Carolyn Giardina of “The Hollywood Reporter.” The luncheon has become a regular setting for women to discuss how they got into movie and TV business, and what they experience in the male-dominated industry.

Isaacs recalled her brother’s early influence, but she didn’t follow in his footsteps right away.

“He was so fabulous and so wonderful, and why would I think I could do what he did? I couldn’t do what he did,” she said. Instead, she became a stewardess out of college.

“People look at me quizzically when I say that… but I loved to travel, and I wasn’t much of a backpacker.”

In time, she decided to move to Los Angeles and find her way in the film business. Her brother told her, “I won’t help you,” she said. “He wasn’t being mean at all;” he wanted her to do it on her own.

“I knocked on doors, and someone took pity on me and hired me for a press junket for ‘Close Encounters,’ the 1977 Steven Spielberg blockbuster.

“That started my journey in ’77. I’ve earned my living in this business for 30 years, and that’s an accomplishment, I don’t care what you decide to do,” she said.

She said she was at Columbia for about a year; then went to Melvin Simon Productions, which produced “Love at First Bite,” and “The Stuntman,” nominated for an Oscar, but more notably, “Porky’s.”

“Then I went to Ladd Co. for a year. Alan Ladd, Jr. had run Fox, and was always a very big champion for women,” Isaacs said. “Then I went to Paramount Pictures. I’d met Sherry Lansing in the late ’80s, when I was at Mel Simon, because they had a distribution deal with Paramount. She’s been a major influence on how to be an executive. She was a great role model. Never for a minute did she give up her femininity.

“She was a great role model. So was Dawn Steel,” the late chairman of Columbia Studios from 1987 to 1991. Steel broke the glass ceiling as the first woman to head a major Hollywood movie studio.

“At Paramount, Lucie Salhany ran television. The head of corporate was a female. Buffy Shutt was head of theatrical marketing. Amy Pascal moved up, Staci Schneider, then different executives at Fox. “Then, it seems as if the door started closing.”

Now, the whole discussion is about diversity, she said, or “normalizing” in terms of fitting in.

“‘Normalizing.’ Shonda Rimes says ‘normalizing.’ What’s normal?’ I like that. It has to do with interpersonal relationships, and nothing else,” Isaacs said. “We all work in a pretty tight and small world, actually. The entertainment business is pretty small. When you’re on the set, in post… we’re pretty much hyper-focused on what we’ve got to get done. Sometimes, it takes a bit more effort to look outside your normal space… at those outside of your circle.”

Last year, she said, 300 new members joined the Academy. There were new member gatherings in New York, London and this year, Paris. Isaacs said she met a woman in Paris who worked with Roman Polanski 30 years ago, “and she was just getting into the Academy.”

“So there’s that, and cultivating new talent around the world,” she said. “Hollywood is the heart and soul of movie-making… but cinema is worldwide. It’s our job to educate young folks about our industry, and for the Academy, about the career paths that are available in the industry.”

Beyond director and producer, she said, there’s not as much awareness about other options — editing, sound, visual effects, etc. Isaacs said the Academy is reviewing their educational initiatives to devise the best strategy for bringing more diversity into the technology space.

Giardina mentioned that several films this year addressed women’s issues, including “He Named Me Malala,” and “Suffregette.” She asked if movies are an important conduit for taking women’s issues to the public.

“Yes, but you hear, ‘women filmmakers are not really about entertainment, it’s always Western Union. There’s always a message,’” Isaacs said. “You remember that silliness?

“I think the more we talk about it… the more you talk and the louder it becomes, then the more difficult it becomes to close the door that’s been opened. There are a number of films coming out, and I think Hollywood is getting the message that women actually exist, and some over the age of 30, 35,” she said.

People just like a good story, she said. “That’s why there is a film business.”

Further, Isaacs said that newer content delivery systems are fueling greater diversity across the business.

“Streaming and downloading and VOD and all of the different new platforms are going to allow different genres of film to flourish when for so long it had to be theatrical, and theatrical is always such an expensive venture,” she said. “If it’s not going to make any money, the studios are not going to make it.”

The discussion briefly turned to another issue of concern for the Academy—the “digital dilemma.”

“How do we preserve the next generation of content without film?” she said.

“The Academy has been involved in the issue of losing everything, of it dissipating.” Years ago in a meeting, an executive said, ‘Well, your DVDs are going to last about five years.’ No one in the room had any idea. So how are we going to preserve our art form? The Academy is involved in this conversation.”

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.—Held this evening, following the Opening Night Reception, the inaugural SMPTE-HPA Student Film Festival showcases submissions from the around the world, all demonstrating creative uses of technology in storytelling.

Both SMPTE and HPA (the Hollywood Post Alliance), explained Barbara Lange, executive director of SMPTE, "are committed to supporting this next generation of technologists."

Added Leon Silverman, president of the HPA, "The merging of creativity and technology, at the heart of the combination of SMPTE and HPA, is also driving the future of content creation. We want to encourage the next generation's vision and ability to tell stories in new and exciting ways."

The selected films are divided into one of three award categories: best creative use of technology to engage the audience in the story; best portrayal of entertainment technology in the film — documentary format; and best creative use of virtual reality in storytelling. A fourth award, for Best in Show, will be voted on by the festival attendees and awarded on this evening.

Open to full-time students enrolled in an accredited college, university or film school, the festival received entries from a range of students majoring in an area that emphasizes engineering, science, advanced technologies or fundamental theories associated with motion imaging, sound, metadata and workflows consistent with SMPTE's field of interest.

"We received submissions from all over the world, with the 12 official selections representing Canada, Hong Kong, U.K., Dubai, Australia and the U.S.," said Lange, who noted that the featured projects include dramas, documentaries, animation, a special effects short and virtual reality experience. "The high quality of the submissions made judging challenging for the jurors, especially given the wide diversity of content."

Other than the Best of Show award, submissions were evaluated by festival jurors including: Patrick Creadon, whose critically acclaimed documentaries have been ranked within the top 100 highest-grossing documentaries of all time; Dave Ginsberg, an editor and technology consultant who implements enabling technologies for post production and broadcast industry leaders; Peter Girardi, senior vice president of creative affairs at Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) and Blue Ribbon Content (BRC), the studio's short-form digital series production unit; Bobby Hewitt, cinematographer, editor and director of global ad campaigns and short films, as well as music videos for Mötley Crüe and Darius Rucker; Travis LaBella, a director of photography who earned the ASC Student Heritage Documentary Award for "Language of the Unheard" and who worked on "Telescope," one of the first films to go through a complete 4K Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) workflow.

The jury also included Patricia Keighley, senior vice president of IMAX Corp. and co-founder and managing director of IMAX POST/DKP Inc.; A. Dale "Bud" Mayo, president of Carmike's Alternative Programming and Distribution and, earlier, the chairman and CEO of Digital Cinema Destinations Corp., Cinedigm and Clearview Cinema Group; Evan Saxon, a leader in creating and implementing innovative marketing and distribution models in both the music and film industries — and for documentary films, in particular; Ted Schilowitz, founding member, first employee and product development team member at RED Digital Cinema and now "futurist" at 20th Century Fox and "cinemavangelist" at Barco; Richard Welsh, cofounder and CEO of Sundog Media Toolkit Ltd. and earlier, director of digital cinema at Dolby Laboratories and head of digital cinema operations at Technicolor; and Nick Dager, editor and publisher of the website Digital Cinema Report.

"The SMPTE-HPA Student Film Festival is a rich addition to our existing student engagement programs," said Lange. "The students' enthusiasm was contagious, and I look forward to this Festival growing into a major SMPTE-HPA event in the future."

The 12 films screening in the festival are:

Best Creative Use of Technology to Engage the Audience in the Story

"Soulmates" by Diego Manssur, Vancouver Film School, Canada

"Antler" by Lam Kam Ho, Hong Kong Design Institute, China

"Apex" by Mischa Kolbe, Vancouver Film School, Switzerland

"They Just Want to Sell" by Gueschem Degni, Vancouver Film School, Canada

"After Invasion" by Oleg Smykalov, Vancouver Film School, Canada

"Mind and Matter" by Nawa Kamate, City College of New York, USA

"Still Got It" by Roy O. Woodard, Los Angeles City College, USA

Best Portrayal of Entertainment Technology in the Film - Documentary Format

"Virtual Reality Cinema Project" by Anna Dining, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA

"Building for the Future: A City Tech Tale" by Jonathan Burcin, Nicholas J. Burt-Miller, Diana V. David, André Gabriel, Jean L. Garcia, Joseph Larsen, Jeffrey N. Lawrence, Anjali Rawat, Gregory A. Scott, NYC College of Technology/CUNY, USA

"Untucked" by Tait DeLorenzo, JMC Academy, Australia

"Girl and the Sea" by Aya Al Gergawy, American University of Sharjah, Dubai

Best Creative Use of Virtual Reality in Storytelling

"Phase Shift" by Louis Arrigoni, Southampton Solent University, UK

LOS ANGELES-The Flanders Scientific DM250 is a 24.5-inch, 10-bit OLED monitor builds upon FSI’s feature set and adds new capabilities such as cross conversion, zero delay processing mode, and real-time LUT update support allowing the monitor to be used with 3D LUT based on set grading applications such Pomfort’s LiveGrade. The DM250 also comes equipped with both clean loop through outputs and second screen monitor outputs allowing active LUTs and other onscreen information to be applied on an output to downstream devices.

DM250

The DM250 comes equipped with 3G/Dual Link/HD/SD-SDI, DVI-D and Display Port offering support for virtually any signal format including advanced 12-bit, 4:4:4 and XYZ signal formats.

These features along with FSI’s standard feature set including 18 onscreen scopes and meters, Blue Only Mode, Monochrome Mode, markers, safety areas, H/V delay, tally lights, time code display, audio disembedding, Artifact Free Pixel Zoom, adjustable exposure check, on-screen alarms, advanced pixel level measurement, and live side-by-side monitoring of two inputs make the Flanders Scientific DM250 a feature rich 24.5-inch OLED reference monitor. It will be on display in the company’s booth.

LOS ANGELES-Test & Measurement solutions provider Omnitek is showing the Ultra 4K Tool Box at the SMPTE 2015 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition. The Ultra was upgraded to support single-link 4K over 12G-SDI earlier this year and after successful evaluation has been shipping since June to a range of manufacturers from “glass-to-glass.”

Ultra 4K Tool Box

This 12G-SDI T&M solution features tools for physical layer and data analysis, plus generation and conversion of signals from SD to 4K. It provides a platform for manufacturers, broadcast networks and systems developers to build, test and commission UHD-TV products and infrastructure.

This feature-rich product also introduces jitter spectrum and histogram tools to ascertain source and spread of jitter on an incoming signal. A real-time 12G-SDI Eye diagram featuring automatic rise and fall-time measurement is also available to give a comprehensive physical layer analysis solution that’s tailored to the broadcast industry.

LOS ANGELES—As the industry progress more and more toward IP, EVS is ready to present its strategy for the IP-driven future at SMPTE 2015. The provider of live production systems will showcase its ‘IP4Live’ strategic approach, which brings the benefits of IP-based workflows to live production while preserving existing investments.

IP4Live supports interoperability through open standards like SMPTE 2022, as well as compression initiatives to enable flexible 4K/UHD transport over IP, employ off-the-shelf networking components, and leverage hybrid SDI/IP systems that optimize production technology resources for distributed and remote workflow options.

EVS will also highlight how IP extends to its XiP gateway technology for EVS XT and XS lines of production servers and the DYVI IT-based switcher that enables creative content production along with distributed architecture and enabling of remote production operations.

Attendees will learn how IP4Live can benefit EVS’ 12-channel media production servers, IPDirector live content management production software suite and C-Cast multimedia distribution platform. The multi-I/O server architecture can be used as both a recording platform for clips, playlist management, slow motion and highlights, and graphic tools and as the foundation of a studio production infrastructure.

SMPTE 2015 takes place Oct. 26-29 in Los Angeles. EVS will be located at booth 420.

DALLAS—Video and advertising system provider Imagine Communications is set to make its way to SMPTE 2015 to highlight its cloud-deployable integrated channel playout and transcoding technologies. The company also announced that representatives will be on hand to present a paper exploring challenges with UHD operations in SDI/IP environments.

One of the big products Imagine will display during the conference is the SelenioFlex File, a file-to-file media processing system for the evolving and expanding needs of media. Utilizing the Zenium workflow manager, SelenioFlex provides a catalog of technologies that can be dragged and dropped into a visual environment to streamline the production process. The product also supports a range of formats for post-production, archive and multiscreen distribution applications, including Apple ProRes, HEVC UHD Main 10 and Interoperable Master Format file-based transcoding to enable UHD on-demand workflows.

The Versio will also be present at the Imagine booth. This cloud-deployable integrated channel playout system enables the acceleration of the launch of new services from media companies, like specialty and pop-up channels, business continuity, reduction of infrastructure costs and virtualized master control.

Imagine’s Randy Conrod and Semtech’s Nigel Seth-Smith will co-present the paper “UHD in a Hybrid SDI/IP World” on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The paper focuses on the transition to next-generation technology, including UHD-1 services and will highlight how media professionals can overcome challenges associated with delivering UHD services.

Imagine, in association with Arista Networks, also plans to demonstrate the ability of its Magellan SDN Orchestrator to manage production-quality video switching in an SMPTE 202206 environment.

SMPTE 2015 takes place from Oct. 26-29 in Los Angeles. Imagine Communications will be located at booth 400.

LOS ANGELES—As part of the upcoming SMPTE 2015 conference in Los Angeles, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and Hollywood Post Alliance will host the SMPTE-HPA Student Film Festival. This one day festival, which will take place Tuesday, Oct. 27, recognizes the use and portrayal of technology in student films from all across the globe.

Here are the official selections:

Best Creative Use of Technology to Engage the Audience in the Story:

• ‘Soulmates’ – Diego Manssur; Vancouver Film School, Canada
• ‘Antler’ – Lam Kam Ho; Hong Kong Design Institute, China
• ‘Apex’ – Mischa Kolbe; Vancouver Film School, Switzerland
• ‘They Just Want to Sell’ – Gueschem Degni; Vancouver Film School, Canada
• ‘After Invasion’ – Oleg Smykalov; Vancouver Film School, Canada
• ‘Mind and Matter’ – Nawa Kamate; City College of New York, U.S.A.
• ‘Still Got It’ – Roy O. Woodard; Los Angeles City College, U.S.A.

Best Portrayal of Entertainment Technology in the Film – Documentary Format:

• ‘Virtual Reality Cinema Project’ – Anna Dining; Rochester Institute of Technology, U.S.A.
• ‘Building for the Future: A City Tech Tale’ – Jonathan Burcin, Nicholas J. Burt-Miller, Diana V. David, André Gabriel, Jean L. Garcia, Joseph Larsen, Jeffrey N. Lawrence, Anjali Rawat, Gregory A. Scott; NYC College of Technology/CUNY, U.S.A.
• ‘Untucked’ – Tait DeLorenzo; JMC Academy, Australia
• ‘Girl and the Sea’ – Aya Al Gergawy; American University of Sharjah, Dubai

Best Creative Use of Virtual Reality in Storytelling:

• ‘Phase Shift’ – Louis Arrigoni; Southampton Solent University, U.K.

SMPTE 2015 will take place from Oct. 26-29 in Los Angeles.

FAREHAM, ENGLAND—U.K.-based content archive and software management provider SGL will be hopping across the pond to attend SMPTE 2015 in Los Angeles, and they’re bringing a bunch of new software to showcase.

Among the technology that SGL is planning to display are services that offer integration and compatibility with Avid systems. The first is the Direct Connect, which allows Avid ISIS users to transfer high-res material quickly. SGL also provides support for Avid Web Services, allowing customers to employ Avid Integrated Archive at any time in the future without having to re-archive content.

SGL will also have a collaboration with Aspera and Data Expedition in regards to Cloud services that it will demonstrate at SMPTE. The new software enables broadcasters to transfer content to the cloud services of Amazon Web Service for additional means of storage and disaster recovery workflows.

New versions of both the FlashPack and FlashWeb are also set to be unveiled. A new entry-level of FlashPack, SGL’s content storage management system ‘in a box,’ provides all elements of an integrated Hierarchical Storage Management archive. The latest version of FlashWeb, meanwhile, includes enhanced search capabilities and simplified navigation to archive and restore material to any configured FlashNet disk or tape group.

Additionally, SGL will display an asset migration service, LTFS support, and a new SGL web service with enhanced API with support for REST.

SMPTE 2015 takes place from Oct. 26-29 in Los Angeles. SGL will be located at booth 214.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—With just a few weeks to go before the SMPTE 2015 Annual Technical Conference in Hollywood, Calif., SMPTE has announced a slate of sessions scheduled that will focus on OTT, cloud, and IP-based technologies. SMPTE has also set Ted Middleton, chief product officer for Verizon Digital Media Services, as the keynote speaker during the Industry Luncheon.

Ted Middleton

The conference will features 20 presentations across four sessions, which include “IP and Networking Foundations of the Media Facility,” “Working in the Cloud—Practical Applications,” “File Based Workflows: Scalable, Efficient, and Here to Stay,” and “OTT—The New Frontier or the Wild West?”

The “IP and Networking Foundations” session will be a two-parter and feature presentations from John Ellerton of BT Media and Broadcast, Pradeep Kathail from Cisco and Charles Meyer of Grass Valley, Al Kovalick of Media Systems Consulting, and Thomas Edward of Fox Networks Engineering and Operations. The session will take place Tuesday, Oct. 27.

On Oct. 28, the “OTT—The New Frontier or the Wild West?” session will take place. During this session Robert Sidel of CBS, and SMPTE president, will make a presentation on CBS All Access. Yassar F. Syed from Comcast and USC graduate student Arnav Mendiratta will present papers on virtualized segmented streams in OTT services and data analysis for monetization of OTT content respectively.

“Working in the Cloud” will be another two-part session on Oct. 29 and will have paper presentations from Usman Shakeel and Konstantin Wilms of Amazon Web Services, SMPTE Governor Richard Welsh from Sundog Media Toolkit, and Tom Ohanian of Cisco. Other presenters include Erik Weaver, project manager for ETC@USC; and Jim Duval, Telestream. Shakeel, Duval, Ohanian and Welsh will also take part in a panel discussion that will be chaired by Thomas Edwards.

Also on Oct. 29, the “File-Based Workflows” session will see presentations from Heiko Sparenberg of Fraunhofer IIS, Dalet’s Simon Adler and Bruce Devlin, and Henry Gu of Green International Consulting.

Middleton will give his keynote speech, “The TV Everywhere Frontier—Where Broadcasting Meets the Internet,” on Oct. 27 during the Industry Luncheon.

The SMPTE 2015 Annual Technical Conference will take place from Oct. 26-29 in Hollywood. For more information, visit www.smpte2015.org. 

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers have revealed the awards for individual industry members whose contributions will be recognized at the SMPTE 2015 Awards Ceremony.

Laurence Thorpe

Honorary Membership, the society’s highest accolade, recognizing individuals who have performed eminent service in the advancement of engineering, has been awarded to Laurence Thorpe, a key figure in the development, adoption and roll out of HDTV, and Irwin W. Young, who has advanced post-production technology and created or supported the development of critically acclaimed motion pictures and television. Oscar Byram Hanson (1894-1961) has also been named to the Honor Roll, a posthumous recognition of individuals who never received an Honorary Membership in their lifetime.

Here are the remaining recipients:

• Archival Technology Medal Award: James A. Lindner
• David Sarnoff Medal Award: Birney Dayton
• Digital Processing Medal Award: Stan Moote
• Kodak Educational Medal Award: David L. Long
• Samuel L. Warner Memorial Medal Award: Sripal Mehta and Harold Hallikainen
• Technicolor/Herbert T. Kalmus Medal Award: Wolfgang Lempp
• Workflow Systems Medal Award: Annie Chang
• 2015 SMPTE Journal Award: John Hudson and Edward Frlan
• Journal Certificates of Merit: Jürgen Burghardt, Jörg Houpert, and Timo Mayer for “Increased Value of Video Assets: New Technologies for the Automatic Transfer and Digital Preservation of Analog Video Cassettes” and Joachim Keinert, Michael Schöberl, Matthias Ziegler, Frederik Zilly, and Siegfried Foessel for “High-Dynamic Range Video Cameras Based on Single Shot Non-Regular Sampling”
• Presidential Proclamation Award: Charles H. Jablonski
• Excellence in Standards Award: Bruce Devlin and J. Patrick Waddell
• Citation for Outstanding Service to the Society: Charles R. Diehl. Brian F. Kobylarz, Dick Millais, and Herb Ohlandt 
• Student Paper Award: Jan Fröhlich, “Gamut Mapping for Digital Cinema”
• Louis F. Wolf Jr. Memorial Scholarship: Arnav Mendiratta

The SMPTE also announced that 15 new Fellows will be recognized during the event. The full list can be seen here.

The SMPTE 2015 Awards Ceremony will be held Oct. 29 in Los Angeles, in conjunction with the SMPTE 2015 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers has opened registration for the SMPTE 2015 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition and is offering early bird rates up to Aug. 15. SMPTE 2015 will take place Oct. 27-29 in Hollywood, Calif., and will present the latest in media and entertainment technology.

Brian Campanotti of Oracle, Michelle Munson of Aspera, Usman Shakeel and Bhavik Vyas of AWS, and Richard Welsh of Sundog Media Toolkit and SMPTE Governor present the Cloud Session at SMPTE 2014.

Celebrating its 99th year, SMPTE 2015 will feature sessions with time specifically allotted for interactive discussions, including presenters, experts and session attendees. Session topics will include Ultra HD, higher frame rate, high dynamic range, and wide color gamut, the cloud, service-oriented architecture, enterprise service bus, Framework for Interoperability of Media Services project, content distribution, OTT, video on demand, cinema of the future, security, and IMF and file-based workflows. Other events scheduled are the annual Honors & Awards ceremony, and the new SMPTE-HPA Student Film Festival.

On Oct. 26, a full-day symposium on virtual and augmented reality will precede the conference. The symposium will look into how the new age of content consumption is driving new ways of thinking and new ways of telling stories. Content creators and technology leaders will be on hand, as well as a demo room for a hands-on demonstration VR and AR technology.

To register for SMPTE 2015 or find out more information, visit www.smpte2015.org.