SMPTE Announces Annual Awards Recipients for 2018 Annual SMPTE Awards Gala Highlights Innovative Leaders Advancing Technology in Media and Entertainment
LOS ANGELES and WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Aug. 8, 2018 - SMPTE , the organization whose standards work has supported more than a century of advances in entertainment technology and whose membership spans the globe, today revealed the exceptional individuals who will be recognized with 2018 awards as part of the SMPTE 2018 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition (SMPTE 2018) in Los Angeles.
This year, the Annual SMPTE Awards Gala will take place on Thursday, Oct. 25, and will feature a red carpet, reception, and dinner in the California Ballroom of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown Los Angeles. In addition, SMPTE Fellows elevations will be conferred at the SMPTE 2018 Fellows Luncheon on Tuesday, Oct. 23.
The awards and honors conferred by SMPTE each year are remarkable because they highlight men and women who have made tremendous contributions to the industry. At the same time, this is an opportunity to showcase the stories behind these industry-defining achievements and the people that brought them to fruition, said SMPTE President Matthew Goldman, senior vice president of technology at MediaKind. In recognizing an array of worthy award winners, the Annual SMPTE Awards Gala also offers a unique perspective on the human element of advances in media and entertainment technology.
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 the allied arts and sciences.
This year, SMPTE honors Charles A. Steinberg in recognition of his leadership role at both Ampex and Sony for more than 45 years, where he turned the technical visions of industry leaders into television realities. Steinberg participated in and led engineering/technology and business teams that brought many innovations to the broadcasting field. His efforts included 2-inch tape, 1-inch helical tape, Digital Betacam (commonly referred to as DigiBeta), and HDCAM (standardized as SMPTE 367M, also known as SMPTE D-11). Steinberg has received three Emmy awards - one for the introduction of HDTV, another for technical efforts at the XXVII Olympiad, and the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. He continues to support the industrys growth as a member of the board of directors to the Plug and Play Tech Center and as a co-founder of eyeIO.
The Progress Medal is the most prestigious SMPTE award, and it recognizes outstanding technical contributions to the progress of the engineering phases of the motion-picture, television, or motion-imaging industries.
SMPTE is presenting the 2018 Progress Medal to Craig Todd in recognition of more than four decades of innovation in the delivery of digital multichannel sound to the theater and the home, as well as significant contributions to high-dynamic-range (HDR) imagery and steadfast support of the standards process worldwide.
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. Robert Neuhauser will receive the award for his innovation and leadership in the development of and contributions to literature on imaging devices, particularly television camera tubes, for more than six decades.
The David Sarnoff Medal, sponsored by SRI International, 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 Hugo P. Gaggioni in recognition of his contributions to the development of high-definition television (HDTV), wide color gamut (WCG), high-dynamic-range (HDR), and the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) compression systems. Gaggioni has served as session chair of conferences throughout the world in the areas of HDTV and video compression systems. He was chair of the technical groups on SMPTE 260M and 292M standards and worked with manufacturers and broadcasters for the use of HDR techniques in ultra-high-definition (UHD)/HD production applications. Gaggioni continues to give numerous presentations and courses on signal processing and contemporary video technologies at events around the world sponsored by SMPTE, the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA), the IEEE, and the European Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP). He has earned a reputation as an excellent educator of new technologies.
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. Tim Borer will receive the award for his significant contributions in the areas of image processing, particularly motion-aware video frame-rate conversion and video compression algorithms, including techniques used in phase correlation-based frame interpolation. Borer led the video compression team that developed the Dirac Pro compression system that subsequently became the SMPTE VC-2 standard. Most recently, Borer led the development of the Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) HDR television system. He holds 20 patents in the field of digital video processing.
The James A. Lindner Archival Technology Medal, sponsored by James A. Lindner, 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 2018 award will be presented to Robert J. Heiber in recognition of his contributions to
