SMPTE Announces Annual Awards Recipients for 2017

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SMPTE , the organization whose standards work has supported a century of advances in entertainment technology, today revealed the outstanding individuals who will be recognized with 2017 awards as part of the SMPTE 2017 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition in Hollywood, California.

This year, the Annual SMPTE Awards Gala will take place on Thursday, Oct. 26, and will feature a red carpet, reception, and dinner in the Hollywood Ballroom of the Loews Hollywood Hotel. In addition, Fellows elevations will be conferred at the SMPTE 2017 Fellows Luncheon on Tuesday, Oct. 24.

Honorary Membership is the Societys highest accolade. It recognizes individuals who have performed distinguished service in the advancement of engineering in motion pictures, television, or in the allied arts and sciences. Honorary Members who have passed away are named to the SMPTE Honor Roll, which also posthumously recognizes individuals who were not awarded Honorary Membership during their lifetimes but whose contributions would have been sufficient to warrant such an honor.

Renville Ren H. McMann Jr. will be inducted into the Honor Roll in recognition of his award-winning leadership in the development of television and imaging technology. McMann held more than 36 patents for inventions that include the electronic video recorder, the electronic image enhancer, the color camera system, and the magnetic scan conversion techniques used by NASA to bring color television images from the moon to viewers around the world. He was the principal inventor for and a major participant in projects such as the development of the CBS Minicam Mark VI, the first handheld color TV camera. A tireless and curious engineer, McMann made many contributions to the advancement of color television signal processing and image gathering technology. Along with those contributions, his pioneering work in the field of high-definition television systems has garnered worldwide recognition.

The Progress Medal is the most prestigious SMPTE award, and it recognizes outstanding technical contributions to the progress of engineering phases of the motion picture, television, or motion-imaging industries.

SMPTE is presenting the 2017 Progress Medal to Paul E. Debevec in recognition of his achievements and ongoing work in pioneering techniques for illuminating computer-generated objects based on measurement of real-world illumination and their effective commercial application in numerous Hollywood films. Techniques from his research have been used to dramatic effect in films such as the The Matrix sequels, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, District 9, Avatar, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Life of Pi. Debevec is also a pioneer in high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging and co-author of the 2005 book High Dynamic Range Imaging: Acquisition, Display, and Image-Based Lighting, now in its second edition.

The Camera Origination and Imaging Medal recognizes significant technical achievements related to inventions or advances in imaging technology, including sensors, imaging processing electronics, and the overall embodiment and application of image capture devices. David S. Corley will receive the award for his five decades of continuous innovation in measurement and calibration tools for image acquisition, display, and color correction.

The David Sarnoff Medal recognizes outstanding contributions to the development of new techniques or equipment that have improved the engineering phases of television technology, including large-venue presentations. The award will be presented to Phillip Bennett in recognition of his significant contributions to the broadcast industry with his work in video effects, still stores, and digital standards conversion during the dawning of the digital video era. Over the years, Bennett has developed many groundbreaking products for broadcasters, including the very successful Ampex Digital Optics (ADO) digital video effects system and one of the very early digital disk recorders.

The Digital Processing Medal recognizes significant technical achievements related to the development of digital processing of content for cinema, television, games, or other related media. Michael A. Isnardi will receive the award for his contributions to the art of digital video delivery systems, including video encoding, re-encoding, and quality evaluation. Isnardis body of work includes one of the first advanced television systems proposals, encoder, compressed-domain watermarking the first real-time Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), Emmy Award-winning MPEG Compliance Bitstreams, compressed-domain bit rate reduction, salience-based compression, and JND evaluation of JPEG 2000 for digital cinema applications. His current work includes sub-Nyquist compressed sensing and skin-tone analysis algorithms.

The James A. Lindner Archival Technology Medal, sponsored by James A. Linder, recognizes significant technical advancements or contributions related to the invention or development of technology, techniques, workflows, or infrastructure for the long-term storage, archive, or preservation of media content essence. The 2017 award will be presented to James M. Reilly for his more than three decades of contributions to image preservation and sustainable preservation practices. In 1985, Reilly founded the Image Permanence Institute, a non-profit, university-based laboratory devoted to preservation research - the worlds largest independent laboratory with this specific scope. As its founder and director, Reilly studied the mechanisms of film deterioration and developed technology, techniques, and preservation strategies to lengthen its life in storage.

The Samuel L. Warner Memorial Medal, sponsored by Warner Bros., recognizes outstanding contributions in the design and development of new and improved methods and/or apparatus for motion picture sound,

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