David Wheeler, Chair of the SMPTE15 Conference Committee has been burning midnight oil, leading a team which has created a compelling conference program.

“2015 promises to be our best SMPTE Conference program yet as it celebrates the beginning of the centenary year of SMPTE”, said Wheeler. Wheeler_David_crop_lo “Our theme ‘Persistence of Vision – Defining the Future’ is a deliberate play on words, speaking both to the biology that makes motion imaging possible and at the same time the devotion of SMPTE to the critical tasks of standards development and education for the industry in the past and the future”.

The future is already here.  Chris Fetner of Netflix has promised that his Keynote address will challenge the industry and SMPTE to embrace it – or else!   With Netflix disrupting the television market around the world you won’t want to miss this.

The program is jam-packed with technical papers covering the full gamut from image structure and image capture to transmission and display.  Along the way we have presentations on all the “top of mind” subjects including IP, cloud, HDR, UHD and a wide range of mechanisms for dealing with the increasing demands of the business (e.g. HEVC, enhanced transmission and delivery mechanisms, improved workflows, etc).

There’s a big focus on education this year, with a half day “UHD Essentials” seminar put together by the SMPTE Education team and delivered by Bruce Devlin from the UK.  We will also present an IEEE Broadcast Technical Society distinguished lecture by Pablo Angueira from Spain, explaining in detail a flexible multi-layer system that uses spectrum overlay technology in a single RF channel to simultaneously deliver multiple services (mobile TV, HDTV and UHDTV).

The Australian Cinematographers Society is leading and producing three sessions, looking at such diverse topics as underwater 3D cinematography, cinematography drones, and the specific cinematography attributes of TV Drama Production.

Be sure and check out the “Controversy Corner” session, an eclectic group of papers that challenge the current orthodoxy and encourage you see around corners to the uncertain future.

David Wheeler is very bullish about the program.  “This is a truly international conference with more than half of our presenters travelling from overseas to present to you.  It’s a once every two years opportunities to hear and meet the thought leaders from around the globe.  If you only attend one conference this year, you mustn’t miss SMPTE15”

The full (and always up-to-date) program listing is online through EDAS.