SMPTE POST NAB 2008 WRAP UP - A GREAT SUCCESS

- 75 members in attendance

SYDNEY, 10 June 2008 — At this year’s annual post-NAB wrap-up evening 75 SMPTE members and soon to be members made up an excited bunch at the Blue Elephant Restaurant in Crows Nest. The evening turned out to be as fun as it was informative with excellent food and more than a few laughs along the way.

The night’s proceedings began with an introduction by Sean Glasson from the John Barry Group. Sean also delivered the first of what was to be several debatable jokes, his first taxing the brains of all in attendance and conjuring up images of grey elephants in Denmark. More details can be had from Sean himself.

The organizing committee and especially Marc Van Agten and Geissa Alonso, did an excellent job of securing a good cross section of people from the industry representing most of the key players.

After Sean’s introduction, Spencer Preece from Sony Australia (www.sony.com.au) took the stage setting a very high standard of presentation for others to follow. Spencer gave us an overview of the Sony stand at this years’ NAB informing us that not only was it the biggest stand at the show but arguably the most expensive. The Sony team spent a full year and many millions of dollars creating a stand that at one point housed over 700 Sony employees from around the world.

Sony’s theme was HDNA and Sony United. Together with their non-Japanese CEO, Sony set about bringing all areas of the business together, mainly through innovation. We were told of Blu Ray drives in Playstation 3 consoles, a successful sales conference before the show and stand out installations such as ESPN which will be the first 1080 60p facility in the USA. SI is clearly a big part of Sony’s business and other recent successes in that field include a new HD Indy 500 utilising the first ever 360-degree rotating camera.

The Sony stand housed a plethora of new products including monitors, a quad split device, multi-core processor for farm rendering in post production, PDW700 full HD camcorder, EX3 camera, 5800 VTR in SRW format, IPELA video conferencing, F35 CCD block, SxS memory adapter for XD Cam HD422 camcorder and disc metadata updating via Smartphone from ENPS. Spencer also told us of Sony’s ¥22B investment in a new OLED factory and to ‘watch this space’ for 12mm thick screens hitting the market.

Following Spencer was Mike Seymour from FXPHD online consulting and training (www.fxphd.com). Mike told us of The Recording Studio that had been set up at the Wynn and then gave a fascinating and in-depth presentation on the real state-of-the-art technology he had observed at the show.

Mike particularly liked the Foundry’s stereo work, Red cameras, Realtime 2K Scratch and new compositors from Eyeon and Imagineering. Expanding on these Mike went into detail. 3D is very big in the USA he told us, mainly because of the growth in digital cinema. The Foundry, he discovered, are adjusting stereo in a meaningful way that creates a ‘non nauseous’ 3D effect. The stereoscopically impressive feat is sold as a plug-in and is also found in the Nuke desktop compositing system.

The Red Camera has been a hot item for a while but at this years’ show Mike reported on the crowds running to the Red booth and the ensuing queue that was constantly there for the duration of the show, seemingly for good reason. Red announced Scarlet, a new 3K camera for just US$3000 including 18 fps and in-built wifi, the new Epic 5K camera (100Mb/sec) for US$40,000 and their new ‘very cool’ Red Ray which plays 4K, 2K, 1080P, 720P and SD from Red Disc and Red Express and also plays native raw R3D files from compact flash.

Mike’s ‘A’ list of Autodesk, Avid and Apple failed to live up to their title this year with the main news being from the absent Apple that they were not going to sell their Pro Apps division.

Finishing his presentation and making it rather difficult for the next one to follow, Mike gave a few details on what it was like to go to a party at Hugh Heffner’s suite at The Palms. Word on the street was that you don’t have to be a playboy to get in but it helps.

Hot on Heff’s heels was Rob Myers from Panasonic (www.panasonic.com.au) who kicked off with the ‘state of solid state’ – a very big issue. Rob noted that even with attendance down by almost 20% and Monday’s traditional rush never eventuating, the show was very busy for Panasonic with the traffic through their booth up 15% from NAB 2007.

With Panasonic’s push on ‘NAB ’08 – solid state’ and the fact that the company had doubled the capacity of the P2 card every year since 2004 they had good reason to smile. Rob also told us of the 840 networks that have chosen to use P2, and that all major camera manufacturers are now pushing solid state formats. Fujifilm have also picked up P2 solid state which he saw as a great endorsement. Hitachi is releasing a P2 camera in August this year. Other manufacturers also promoting a solid-state solution include Grass Valley and Ikegami. JVC and Sony intend to release adapter packs for solid-state cards to fit on the back of their units. Red are using a compact flash card, Sony’s EX1 and EX3 are solid-state solutions too.

Panasonic have 15 current solid-state products with 6 new ones coming in October and a further 5 in planning. Whilst Panasonic still have a large tape range, there were no tape-based cameras on the stand.

Panasonic released a staggering amount of new product at NAB. There was news of 2 new P2 Varicams coming out, 2 new cameras at the Pro end of the market, a new BT-LH1760 monitor and the AV-HS400 switcher with a built-in multi view processor.

To cap things off, Rob reliably informed us that, contrary to popular belief, you can get good food in Las Vegas. He particularly liked the Okada Tepanyaki at the Wynn but was also impressed with the beer-basted chicken that, literally, had half a beer can sticking out of it.

Next up was John Walsh who spoke about SMPTE’s membership recruitment drive. There has been a good deal of work put in by John, Ward Hansford and John Maizels to boost membership over recent months. SMPTE is at pains to promote the message that it is more than ‘grey gentlemen in grey cardigans’. There have been consistently better section meetings and benefits and the membership fee is still only $135 per annum.

John also talked about the Media Industry Technologist Certification (MITC) national not-for-profit training initiative created and sponsored by our industry leaders and how this was having a great impact. Concluding his presentation John gave details of the special promotion instigated by SMPTE NY whereby two new members who join at the same time are then entitled to free journals. All in all, there is a big push on all things at SMPTE to run better, smoother and to give more value for money.

John Maizels then stepped up and followed on with the theme of recruitment. Giving details of the ‘member get member’ scheme and the points and prizes that can be won as a result. Now, with the current initiative, when a member joins they and their section will get points. This is a first for SMPTE and an important part of building the society and keeping it strong. John also gave us details of the ease the new online renewal process and its success.

With the important Section Elections coming up, John urged all present to vote. He also gave more of an insight into the Resurrecting Education Committee and its mission of getting ‘students into student sections’. With a lack of schools and institutions teaching broadcast, SMPTE is growing new talent for the society and the entire industry. The first MITC certification round is from 12-16 June 2008. This certification will be for Associate and Certified Levels of Associate for Television with the certification process open to all.

According to John, the MITC scheme will be formally launched in July this year around the time of ABE. Commenting on MITC John added, “This is the most exciting thing I have ever done in my career. To be tasked with turning the industry around, educating new talent and giving people something significant they can add to their names is an honour.”

Following John and returning to the NAB wrap up was Craig Stokes of Harris (www.harris.com). In typical Stokes style, Craig started by acknowledging the ‘nice sniping’ between manufacturers and asked that it continue. He then went on to give an enthusiastic overview of Harris at the show and their ‘One Company. One Resource’ theme and goal of bringing all their recent company acquisitions together.

This new era of interoperability stretched across Harris’ entire product range part of which included the D-Series and ADC automation systems now integrated with their Platinum router, Nexio server, IconMaster branding system, Centrio and Zandar multi-viewers. Harris Navigator/Pilot Commander control systems are now also integrated with their servers and transmitters. Continuing the theme, Harris have now integrated Final Cut Pro to Nexio servers, Newsroom systems and their Comperio DAM system which was also demonstrated as part of the ADC automation system.

Harris’ main products drivers were 3Gb based, leading the HD 1080p market including developments in multi-viewers, fibre product portfolio, compression and networking, Test and Measurement, News and Sports. All in all, Harris had 62 new products on their booth.

Craig concluded by giving examples of Harris improving production workflows and how its policy of change and innovation has made the company and its products much more future proof.

As the evening moved forward John Bowring from Lemac (www.lemac.com.au) took the stage with his much-anticipated video diary of the show. A particular and regular, favourite of the post SMPTE wrap up John didn’t disappoint. The video he professionally shot and produced concerned 3D at NAB. Illustrating new capabilities and discussing the new 3D movies that were on their way, John showed the latest products that are allowing filmmakers to shoot, post and view 3D.

Of note were products including the new 3D camera rig from P&S Technik with integrated beam splitter, the Iconix 2D 3CCD HD camera, the 3-ality rig where two Iconix cameras sit side-by-side and the new Fujinon lens for the Inconix camera. John also gave us an insight into the big business and multi-coloured world of 3D glasses.

Moving onto the Red phenomenon John managed to interview Jim Jennard who very much appeared to deliver on promises made two years ago. With the Red One having sold over 1700 units and the new Epic and Scarlet cameras setting altogether new benchmarks, John left more than impressed.

Red were not the only company making news with cameras though as John experienced the Sony F35 production camera with next generation image processing, the new 700 series camera and XD Cam EX1. Panasonic’s P2 ‘me too’ gave light to 8 new cameras and one consistent media and workflow. Panasonic also delivered their 3700 camera, 2700 PR Varicam and 170 P2 version camera. According to John, “Since last year’s show, Panasonic delivered on about 80% of my wish list.” A special mention was also made about the new AATON camera and Arri’s 416 Super 16 and D21 new digital camera.

John’s parting shot was some amazing imagery that you may have seen in the latest Schweppervescence TVC where the NHK 1 million fps camera was used. This ultra high speed colour camera was matched only by the ultra high sensitivity tube camera that can see in the dark.

The last and by no means least, presenter of the evening was our very own aspiring media mogul, Phil Sandberg (www.broadcastpapers.com). Using his own unique brand of dry wit, humour and overall industry knowledge, Phil led us into his view of NAB 2008.

Striking Phil the most at this year’s show was some of the technology that crossed industries such as versatile online graphics systems from Chyron that allowed quick and flexible web and behind the shoulder shots in news casts, but also had many uses in the publishing industry and software systems that meant companies like Fairfax were evolving into TV stations.

Phil also noted Melbourne’s Blackmagic Design as good quality cheap Aussie routing technology and Harris’ BXF standard compliance (BXF is now a SMPTE standard) as other notables from the show. Pushing the technology boundaries were the DVB group who demonstrated satellite delivered to handheld and the amazing Pixel Perfection multiple touchpoint screen on the VizRT booth.

To end his presentation and push his own boundaries, Phil gave us scantily clad details of the PR party he attended at Frank Sinatra’s previous Las Vegas abode. With a swimming pool in the lounge room and other rooms with no windows at all, it made our intrepid C+T editor wonder just what kind of parties were really had in ol’ blue eyes’ pad.

With a quick last comment from Sean Glasson and one last Tiger beer for the road the evening drew to a close. A thoroughly good fun evening was had by all.

Member of Australia Section receives FELLOW status in 2007

Ron Higgins announced as SMPTE Fellow

The Board of Governors of SMPTE has announced that Ron Higgins has been raised to grade of Fellow.
Ron is honoured for an extended career in Australia and overseas. As well as innovating within an Engineering domain, he has left a legacy of systems which continue to show long ranging commercial benefits.
At Northern Rivers TV in regional Australia, Ron was instrumental in taking the operation from a collection of small and disparate regional operations, to creation of a homogenous network based around a centrally located playout centre.
At Star TV in Hong Kong, Ron led a team which took MPEG-2 from theory to practise. Ron was one of the pioneers of using MPEG-2 for multi-channel delivery on a single platform, and he identified the need for, and managed the development of, many system components which have become standard commercial offerings in subsequent years. Under Ron's guidance, the platform delivered a succession of world firsts in broadcast engineering.
Ron is currently on assignment at BSkyB in London.

SMPTE FELLOWSHIPS FOR LIENG, MAIZELS

The Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) has created two new Fellows in Australia. They are John Maizels, current Chair of the Australia Section and Spencer Lieng from the ABC.

Spencer Lieng is honoured for his work on International Standards. Spencer has long been involved as an Australian representative with the ITU and Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union, helping to develop the Digital Standards being used in Australia and the Asia region. Australia has been transmitting digital television since January 1st 2001 and has been leading much of the PAL/50Hz world in Digital and High Definition transmissions.

John Maizels is honoured for his work within the SMPTE Australia Section and as Conference Chair at the Conferneces held every two years alongside the SMPTE Exhibition.
He is also honoured for his Broadcast Engineering work with IBM in their distance education project in the 1990's. He is also currently driving the SMPTE Certification process, an initiative to improve education and training in the Film, Radio and Television industry in Australia.

The official Award Ceremony for all new Fellows will be held in conjunction with the US Fall Conference in Los Angeles in October 2006.

Australia Section Tours of New FOXTEL Television Centre and Broadcast Centre

July 5th 2006 saw the SMPTE Australia Section form the first group tour to be held of the new FOXTEL campus at North Ryde in Sydney.

This state-of-the-art facility showcases the latest in digital broadcast technology, and some 60 SMPTE members and guests had their own guided tour of the workings accompanied by Head of Engineering (and SMPTE Fellow) Peter Smart, and FOXTEL senior management. The night was a must-see of the future of digital broadcast, and where broadcast entertainment technology is heading.

Thanks go to Marc Van Agten of Fujifilm for coordinating the invites and guest list for the evening, along with Pauline Smith.

If you have any suggestions for future Section Meeting events, please contact BRUCE WILLIAMSON at Atlab on Tel: (02) 9429 7301. Mobile: 0418 503 050.
Email Bruce on bruce_williamson@atlab.com.au

By the way, SMPTE Members were given advance notice about this event. If you're not already a member, ask about the benefits of becoming a SMPTE member.

ATFRS Graduation Night

Friday night 31st March was graduation time again at the Australia Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and SMPTE Australia Section was there once again with its Creative Technology Awards.

Over 50 students graduated this year, most of them with a Master of Arts (MA). This year for the first time, graduation was split over 2 nights, Friday for the Sponsors and their Awards to the students, and Saturday for the Graduation Ceremony itself. The Graduation ceremony has grown such that it is difficult to pack it all into one night, hence the decision this year to give the Sponsors their own event. Each of the Departments, Cinematography, Design etc. have their own Awards for their best student, sponsored by various organisations such as ACS for the Cinematography student, Apple and Avid for Editing students, Fox Studios for the Design student and so on.

For over 10 years, SMPTE Australia has been sponsoring a Creative Technology Award, with a cheque for $5,000 going to the lucky recipient. For the last 3 years, this has been increased to an Individual Award ($3,000) recognising the creative application of technology by an individual in a production and a Collaborative Award ($5,000) where two or more individuals have worked closely together in presenting the message in a production.

In presenting the Collaborative Award to Karmen Coker (Design), Daniel Thompson (Digital Media) and Carl Robertson, (Cinematography), for their production, “Bang Bang”, SMPTE Chair John Maizels applauded their creative efforts. “Bang Bang” was a mock Powerade commercial and used a motion rig to combine 2 different scale models and live action into one long seamless opening shot. The real creative bit was that it was pre-visualised in Maya and then exported to the motion rig. A new software tool had to be created for this, to ensure that what was imagined in Maya could actually be performed by the motion rig. It is intended that this tool be made freely available to anyone that wants to use it.
“Ten years ago,” said John Maizels, “we would not have dreamed that students at AFTRS would be developing the technology to use on their productions. This is an example of how AFTRS is changing to meet the demands of a new and exciting technological world.”

The judging of the finalists for this Award was so tight, the judges awarded a Special Commendation to the team responsible for “Drop Your Bundle”, an Internet interactive game designed to promote the team’s Documentary production “Maybe Mum’s not the Word”.
The game is designed to be “viral marketing” for the documentary which is about women’s choices to have children or not.

The Gen Y age group targeted by the documentary are very computer literate and Internet savvy. It is anticipated that interest in the game will spread by word of mouth and will encourage people to view the documentary. The object of the game is to drop babies from a flying stork to mothers waiting below. More points are scored for giving babies to those mothers that want them. The game can be played at http://www.maybemums.com/

“I have never dropped so many babies,” commented John Maizels to Sarah Royds, producer of the documentary.

The Individual Award went to Fergus Donald for his production “Emit”. This was an animated clock exploring a planet full of rubbish. Fergus generated the images as a collage of photographs and the mapped these onto spheres and polygons in 3D to easily produce his planet.
"I don’t think we have ever given an Award to anyone for creating a load of rubbish before,” commented John Maizels, “let alone a whole planet!”

SMPTE Australia Section congratulates the successful students and all who participated in the SMPTE Creative Award process. We close with the words of Malcolm Long, Director AFTRS to his students:

"Creative excellence is the central principle of AFTRS. We hope that you will take this commitment to creative excellence with you into your professional life.”

SMPTE LAYS A TRIVIAL EGG IN THE TOOLBOX

- February 2006 Section Meeting Report

Our February Section Meeting took the form of an open night for SMPTE members, offered by the “Industry Standard Toolbox”, a consortium of six leading broadcast industry equipment suppliers. They come together to exhibit their latest technology offerings, in a mini-trade show. The participating exhibitors were Avid, EVS, Miller, Codan Broadcast, Sony and Tandberg. Members and guests were able to view the latest equipment for HD shooting, camera support and lighting, editing, server operations, signal routing and processing, and digital encoding. Every bit as important and as valuable for attendees was the chance to meet the suppliers’ people who will be supporting these products in the marketplace and into our facilities. In return contribution, SMPTE brought along as audience a collection of many of the finest and high-achieving engineering and technical talent in our industry, to meet the suppliers, view the toys and consume the catered hospitality.

An eclectic contribution to an otherwise electric offering was an inspiring and quite moving presentation by guest speakers, cameraman Wade Fairley, and biologist/photographer Frederique Olivier, who spent 2005 in Antarctica for the BBC Natural History unit. Their assignment required working and living on frozen sea ice, and in temperatures down to -30 degrees, and shooting on 35mm, for worldwide HD television and theatrical release. Every bit as amazing as meeting these talented, dedicated and remarkably sane “extreme content creators” was being shown their scenic photos and video footage of the remote frozen world of the Antarctic, their housing in a freezing hut on the ice, and the crew at work filming outdoors.

Their presentation took us away to another world. They described filming in blizzard conditions in order to capture the Emperor Penguins' extraordinary winter breeding cycle and the species’ amazing adaptation to the world's harshest environment. They told of their respect for the penguins, and the relationship they developed with them. We saw pictures of the Emperor Penguins laying and incubating their eggs through the sunless Winter, and huddling in vast flocks to keep warm, and the newly hatched babies being cared for by their fathers and fed by their mothers, part of an ancient cycle of survival for their species. One hopes the penguins can keep existing this way in their remote world, in spite of the humans to the North, who contribute with their global warming (melting the penguins’ ice-cap habitats), global strategies, global trade, global clashes of civilizations, Global Television (only joking), global conversion to digital and HD, global broadcast industry restructuring, global adoption of new compression schemes, and various other innovations of no interest to penguins.

At the conclusion of Wade and Frederique’s presentation we returned to the warmth of the trade show as Phil Sandberg, editor of our Industry’s Content+Technology Magazine, and known penguin huddler, officiated over the Toolbox Trivia contest, to find “the Industry’s Biggest Tool”. First prize went to Gerry Brooks.

SMPTE Australia Section’s board is planning many more monthly events that will enrich members’ professional lives, and contribute value and service back to the industry.

SMPTE’s involvement with “Night on The Tools” was organised by board member Bruce Williamson, who is interested to receive further suggestions for future monthly Section Meetings on email: bruce_williamson@atlab.com.au, or by telephone: 02 9429 7301.

You can see pictures of Wade and Frederique’s expedition at http://www.miller.com.au/inthefield.cfm?sectid=50&subsec=5011&ID=105 www.emperorpenquins.blogspot.com and at http://www.icetrek.com/index.php?id=688

See the rogues in attendance below

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