Message from the Editorial Vice-President
Peter J. Lude · SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal · 2005
For an engineer working in the Motion Imaging industries today, keeping current on new technologies can be an intimidating task.If your schedule is anything like mine, there is barely enough time to tackle day-to-day challenges, leaving meager opportunity to learn next-generation standards, techniques, or to study important scientific advancements.Despite this, nothing is more important to the progress of our industry (let alone our own careers), than maintaining a working knowledge of these new developments.Not too long ago, it seems that technologies for capturing cinematic images were very different than those found in broadcast television or in distributing content within a home.Those days of historical simplicity are over.Digitization of media has now closed that gap.Engineers in each of these areas must become knowledgeable about image compression algorithms, IP standards, digital image capture, and storage networks, among many other topics.And SMPTE is here to help!That's why the impassioned objective for this year's Fall Conference was to program the timeliest, most relevant and most influential topics facing the SMPTE engineering community.Starting with hundreds of ideas, over 75 important topics were selected for four days of conference program-organized (we hope!) to provide a logical sequence and avoid schedule conflicts.At this year's conference, you will see subjects ranging from advancements in nano-structure grain technology in film emulsion, to the latest in small format optics.Sessions will cover HDTV newsgathering, digital sound technologies, large-format sensors for digital cinema acquisition, content security techniques, and dozens more.Organizing such a program doesn't happen by itself.We are indebted to the extraordinary efforts of Program Chair Larry Thorpe of Canon USA, and to the Program Advisory committee consisting of Mark Schubin, Glen Pensinger, and Richard Carlson.This gang of volunteer experts started nearly a year ago by carefully considering which topics are most crucial to conference attendees.Next, leading figures in each area were tracked down, and recruited to chair the twelve half-day sessions.The call for papers resulted in dozens of intriguing submissions that were carefully reviewed, and additional papers were solicited to fill in the gaps.Finally, each session was choreographed by the chairperson to most effectively convey the complex material, in order to be easily digested by conference participants.As a membership organization, SMPTE relies heavily on input from attendees and members.While the program team has worked diligently on this conference, we know that there is always room for improvement.Please share your thoughts!Feedback from members will be crucial to making our next gathering even better.Ping me on