His name was Julijan Ochorowicz (though his first name was also spelled Julian or even Julien), and he was, among other things, a scientist, engineer, mathematician, inventor (credited with the first hands-free telephone), economist, linguist, Egyptologist, philosopher, poet, teacher, paranormal-phenomena investigator, and pioneer of experimental and clinical psychology. His first thesis was on the […] More
Why Television Research Began in 1877 (and Why No One Knows It) Recorded January 12, 2017 at the SMPTE Philadelphia Section meeting, QVC, West Chester, PA. Prior to 1877, there was no hint of a television camera — not even in science fiction or fantasy. In 1877, eight people, in five countries on both sides […] More
On Saturday night, 2017 January 7, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences bestowed Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards on Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (the IET), and Siemens for “The Concept of Opto-Electronic Transduction,” a fundamental principle of television cameras: the ability to convert variations in light intensity […] More
Recorded on November 4, 2016 as a National Opera Week event at All Mobile Video Chelsea Studios, 221 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001. Did you think television was introduced at the New York World’s Fair in 1939? The BBC telecast the opera Carmen in 1934, and the first television program with an original […] More
This is SMPTE’s centennial year. Did you know the society might not exist if not for Pittsburgh? The same might also be said for the whole motion-image industry! Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh, Westinghouse, PPG, and even Heinz played roles. Join multiple Emmy-award-winning SMPTE Life Fellow Mark Schubin as he provides a Pittsburgh-oriented illustrated […] More
Welcome back from Labor Day! It’s time to get back into the grind and to consider the Hollywood Professional Association’s upcoming technology event. The 2017 HPA Tech Retreat will take place February 20-24 at the Hyatt Regency Resort in Indian Wells, CA (Palm Springs area). Those of you not familiar with the event will […] More
This is a modified version of the original presentation given at the 2016 HPA Tech Retreat on February 18, 2016. High Dynamic Range (HDR) imagery offers the most bang for the bit in viewing tests. Equipment is available, and issues are being worked out. What happens in theaters and homes, however, is a different matter. […] More
This is a modified version of the original presentation given at the 2016 HPA Tech Retreat on February 17, 2016. What were some of the hot technologies of 2015? Could they have been books, film, and television? And might the greatest advance in television be something first written up in 1877? Correction: The Polaroid Snap […] More
With the Olympic Games opening in Brazil this week, it might be worth noting that the first to feature television cameras took place in Germany 80 years ago. But those weren’t the first sports events with television coverage. Baseball was televised in Japan in 1931; before that, tennis was captured by a video camera […] More
Today, July 24, 2016. as this image from page 13 of the July 25, 1916 issue of The Evening Star in Washington, D.C. indicates, is the 100th anniversary of the first meeting of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, the group that became SMPTE in 1950 when a T for television was added. The article noted that, […] More
