Tektronix Takes DTV to the Masses


PIKESVILLE, MD.: Tektronix has embarked on a long-range series of road shows intended to bring the latest information available on such things as MPEG compression, file-based workflows, the CALM Act, digital video analysis, and more to video professionals across the United States and Canada.

Karl Kuhn is one of three Tektronix presenters who are touring the country to provide up-to-date information on digital television and audio. One of these events was held in this Baltimore suburb on Feb. 16, as was intended to reach technicians, engineers, and operators from Baltimore and Washington, D.C. markets, as well as a sizeable number of personnel from the government and military who have video involvement.

“I get great satisfaction in being able to help attendees along on their journey to a better understanding of the challenges in digital video,” said Karl Kuhn, Tektronix senior applications engineer, and presenter at the Pikesville session. “As we all know, things are getting more complex in this field, so we all need to make it a constant effort to stay up to date. “

The day-long session not only served a refresher course on digital video basics, but also included information on standards and specifications pertinent to today’s broadcast and production environment. In addition, the last hour of the seminar was devoted to evaluation and troubleshooting of video problems that might be seen in real-world content production.

“I love the fact that in this job I get to learn constantly and then share what I know with others,” said Kuhn.

Tektronix has been doing these traveling tutorial sessions since 2004, with the Baltimore presentation one of 50 planned for 2012. In addition to U.S. locations ranging from Burbank to Boston, the seminar is also being offered in a number of Canadian cities and provinces, including Vancouver, British Columbia and Ottawa, Quebec, and travels as far “west” as Oahu, Hawaii. In addition to these “Insight Seminars,” as Tektronix terms them, the company is also sponsoring “Content Clinics” in Charlotte, N.C., Washington, D.C. and New York, in which persons involved in video production can bring in samples of their product for a technical quality analysis.

Registered attendance at one of the Tektronix seminars also counts towards one credit in category “H” of the Society of Broadcast Engineers recertification program.

According to Kuhn, the seminars are usually co-sponsored by an area reseller of Tektronix. Communications Engineering Inc. (CEI), located in Lorton, Va. was co-sponsor of the Maryland event. Co-sponsors in other parts of the country include Snader and Associates, All Mobile, Video, Burst Communications, Advanced Broadcast Solutions, Preco, the Roscar Corp., and Joseph Electronics.

Registration for these educational events is free of charge and a lunch is included. For additional information on the seminar details and registration, visit tek.gcsevents.com/videoinsight/.

James E. O'Neal

James E. O’Neal has more than 50 years of experience in the broadcast arena, serving for nearly 37 years as a television broadcast engineer and, following his retirement from that field in 2005, moving into journalism as technology editor for TV Technology for almost the next decade. He continues to provide content for this publication, as well as sister publication Radio World, and others.  He authored the chapter on HF shortwave radio for the 11th Edition of the NAB Engineering Handbook, and serves as editor-in-chief of the IEEE’s Broadcast Technology publication, and as associate editor of the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal. He is a SMPTE Life Fellow, and a Life Member of the IEEE and the SBE.