SMPTE Opens Early Bird Registration for SMPTE 2015

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), a leader in motion-imaging standards and education for the communications, media, entertainment, and technology industries, today opened registration for the SMPTE 2015 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition (SMPTE 2015), with early bird rates available through August 15.

The event, which takes place 27-29 October in Hollywood, California, is the world's premier forum for the exploration of media and entertainment technology.

The signature SMPTE event will be preceded on Oct. 26 by the daylong SMPTE 2015 Symposium, which will focus on virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR).

"With contributions and participation by the motion-imaging industries' leading experts, engineers, and executives, SMPTE 2015 simply offers the best opportunity to understand what's happening in our field — and what's likely to happen next," said, Paul Chapman, SMPTE 2015 program committee chair and SMPTE governor for the Hollywood Region.

"The conference will deliver access to deep and objective technical content, feature sessions and events that foster engagement with the industry's technical innovators and business leaders, and provide participants an unparalleled environment in which to examine technology and trends with like-minded colleagues. Attendees will come for the technology; they will leave with insight."

SMPTE 2015 will set the stage for the 2016 celebration of the SMPTE centenary, with a dynamic and interactive environment inspired, in part, by new program committee members including digital intermediate (DI) finishing artist Katie Hinsen, founder of Blue Collar Post Collective (BCPC) and currently at Light Iron NY; Kellie McKeown, a turnaround consultant for engineering projects and organizations; and, serving as the SMPTE 2015 Symposium chair, Aaron Thibault, vice president of product development at Gearbox Software and adjunct faculty member in the department of computer science at Baylor University.

Sessions will feature experts from a more diverse array of markets and perspectives, and a new format will allow time dedicated for interactive discussions including presenters, other experts and thought leaders, and session attendees.

SMPTE 2015 includes three days of technical sessions, a high-tech exhibition hall, and special events including the annual Honors & Awards ceremony and the new SMPTE-HPA Student Film Festival, bringing unparalleled opportunities for professional development, relationship building, and "mind sharing."

Presenters and attendees will include world-renowned technology thought-leaders from motion picture studios, broadcast and distribution networks, the production and postproduction community, software companies, systems integrators, manufacturers, display technologies, distribution providers, over-the-top (OTT) providers, and others leading the evolving motion-imaging industry, as well as the informational technology (IT), Internet, gaming, and VR/AR space.

Sessions will touch on topics such as ultrahigh definition (UHD), including higher frame rate (HFR), high dynamic range (HDR), and wide color gamut (WCG) content; the cloud, service-oriented architecture (SOA), enterprise service bus (ESB), and the Framework for Interoperability of Media Services (FIMS) project; content distribution, OTT, and video on demand (VOD); cinema of the future; security; and IMF and file-based workflows.

The full-day Symposium preceding the conference will examine how VR and AR are changing the media and entertainment industry and give attendees the chance to engage in the pioneering discussion between the broadcast and cinema and the VR/AR space. Sessions will explore how the new age of content consumption is driving new ways of thinking and new ways of telling stories.

They will introduce attendees to sought-after content creators and technology leaders, opening the door to conversation and even future collaboration. A demo room will give participants a rare opportunity for a hands-on demonstration of cutting-edge VR and AR technology.

Current sponsors of this year's event include Blackmagic Design, IMAX, National Teleconsultants, SHOWMGR, and Sundog Media Toolkit, with NewBay Media as the onsite media partner. Further information about SMPTE 2015 and the 2015 Symposium, including a continually updated program schedule, is available at smpte2015.org.