SMPTE UPDATE /// Process & Partnerships /// Alan Lambshead on maintaining proactive standards work hough my new role as
the SMPTE standards vice president follows on my retirement from Evertz last year, the
responsibilities that come with the position are anything but light.
The increasing diversity of technology associated with motion-imaging demands that SMPTE standards address interoperability issues on a wider scale. While delving into these issues, SMPTE must balance competing pressures to reach a balance for standards creation.
On one hand, the Society must continue to employ rigorous, fully vetted, and open standards development processes. On the other hand, it must move those processes along fast enough that the resulting standards can be deployed during the useful life of the technology they address. I see these challenges as opportunities for the Society, and I’m happy to be playing a larger role in maintaining SMPTE’s proactive approach to problem-solving and standards creation. Indeed, responding to the broad impact of numerous and significant technical advances, SMPTE’s technical committees are doing a great deal of standards work right now. Ultra high definition
television (UHDTV), for example, has a footprint that extends across several technical areas, and we’re busy studying its implications in these areas. Looking at essence, we see high dynamic range (HDR) enabling creation of better pictures for television and cinema. In terms of infrastructure, we’re examining the move from traditional hard- wired facilities to information technology (IT)-based facility and the challenges that come with this shift.
As these technologies come to bear, we must address them with standards. In particular, the move to Internet protocol (IP)/IT infrastructure will require a standard as robust
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and longstanding as the Emmy award-winning HD-SDI standard released by SMPTE in 1992, and built upon in later years for the 3G-SDI standard released in 2005, and right now for the 6, 12, and 24 gig standards under development. Working toward this end,
SMPTE has co-sponsored the Joint Task Force on Professional Networked Streamed Media (JT- NM) along with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Video Services Forum (VSF). Together, we aim to help drive industry participation in development of a packet-based network infrastructure that supports the creation, storage, transfer, and streaming of professional media. This effort is critical if we are to avoid a hodge-podge of disparate approaches and practices that simply don’t work. SMPTE’s work with other
organizations is allowing the Society to be more agile and responsive to changing technologies and times. Though SMPTE boasts nearly 100 years of experience in standards development, and we have made some internal adjustments to streamline our work, we also value the benefits of strategic collaboration. Earlier this year we
announced the launch of the Joint Task Force on File Formats and Media Interoperability. We sponsor this joint task force along with the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers (IABM), American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), and Association of National Advertisers (ANA). Our goal is to create greater efficiencies and cost savings for exchange of file-based content. We will do so by engaging key players and stakeholders in improving the specification and exchange of professional media between organizations. The Society is also
TV Technology Europe I April 2014
IP/IT infrastructures will require a standard as robust as the HD-SDI standard.
Alan Lambshead, SMPTE Standards Vice President
continuing work begun last year with the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM). Together, we are working toward widespread industry adoption of Ad-ID and Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR) coding for all advertising and video content assets. At this point, the
professional media industry has no standardized, open method of directly associating content identifiers with the audiovisual content itself. Thus, a central focus of our collaboration is the creation of an optimal open- standard technical solution for the actual binding of Ad-ID and EIDR identifiers to video assets. As SMPTE extends its partnerships with other media industry organizations worldwide, it is also pursuing more inclusive standards creation. Historically, SMPTE membership has come largely from the United States and Canada. In recent years, our ranks have extended to represent a much broader international community; including the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and India, to name a few. To reinforce the growing
diversity of the Society, we hold our fall standards meetings in Europe, immediately following
the IBC show in Amsterdam. SMPTE is actually a founding IBC partner. Last year we brought a
quarterly meeting to Hong Kong. This year NHK and others will host a quarterly meeting in Japan.
Australia has hosted some
of our largest conferences and meetings, drawing an array of industry experts and exhibitors from around the world. Another enormous conference is in the works for 2015. By increasing the Society’s
presence on a global scale, we’re successfully increasing the input and involvement we get for standards that affect the motion imaging industry worldwide. Given all of these elements
of SMPTE’s standards work, it’s an exciting time to be taking on a new leadership role within the Society. I am sure the road ahead will be challenging, but I am looking forward to working with experts from many disciplines, to lay the foundation for the future of our industry. ///
Alan Lambshead is SMPTE’s Vice President of Standards.
Contacts:
www.smpte.org
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