The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (, rarely ), founded in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is a global

professional association A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that profession, and t ...

of engineers, technologists, and executives working in the media and entertainment industry. As an internationally recognized standards organization, SMPTE has published more than 800

technical standard A technical standard is an established norm or requirement for a repeatable technical task which is applied to a common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, ...

s and related documents for broadcast, filmmaking, digital cinema, audio recording, information technology (IT), and medical imaging. SMPTE also publishes the ''SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal'', provides networking opportunities for its members, produces

academic conference An academic conference or scientific conference (also congress, symposium, workshop, or meeting) is an event for researchers (not necessarily academics) to present and discuss their scholarly work. Together with academic or scientific journal ...

s and exhibitions, and performs other industry-related functions. SMPTE membership is open to any individual or organization with an interest in the subject matter. In the US, SMPTE is a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization.

History

The Motion Picture and Television Engineers was founded in 1913 by

Charles Francis Jenkins Charles Francis Jenkins (August 22, 1867 – June 6, 1934) was an American engineer who was a pioneer of early cinema and one of the inventors of television, though he used mechanical rather than electronic technologies. His businesses in ...

, who was the first president of the organization.

Educational and professional development activities

SMPTE's educational and professional development activities include technical presentations at regular meetings of its local Sections, annual and biennial conferences in the US and Australia and the ''SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal''. The society sponsors many awards, the oldest of which are the SMPTE Progress Medal, the Samuel Warner Memorial Medal, and the David Sarnoff Medal. SMPTE also has a number of Student Chapters and sponsors scholarships for college students in the motion imaging disciplines.

Standards

SMPTE standards documents are copyrighted and may be purchased from the SMPTE website, or other distributors of technical standards. Standards documents may be purchased by the general public. Significant standards promulgated by SMPTE include: *All film and television transmission formats and media, including digital. *Physical interfaces for transmission of television signals and related data (such as SMPTE time code and the serial digital interface) (SDI) *

SMPTE color bars SMPTE color bars are a television test pattern used where the NTSC video standard is utilized, including countries in North America. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) refers to the pattern as Engineering Guideline ...

* Test card patterns and other diagnostic tools *The Material Exchange Format (MXF) * SMPTE 2110

Film format

SMP(T)E'S first standard was to get everyone using 35-mm film width, four sprocket holes per frame, 1.37:1 picture ratio. Until then, there were competing film formats. With the standard, theaters could all run the same films.

Film frame rate

SMP(T)E's standard in 1927 was for speed at which sound film is shown, 24 frames per second.

3D television

SMPTE's taskforce on "3D to the home" produced a report on the issues and challenges and suggested minimum standards for the 3D home master that would be distributed after

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. Th ...

to the ingest points of distribution channels for 3D video content. A group within the standards committees has begun to work on the formal definition of the SMPTE 3D Home Master.

Digital cinema

In 1999, SMPTE established the DC28 technology committee, for the foundations of Digital Cinema.

Membership

SMPTE Fellows

* Terry Adams, NBC Olympics, LLC * Andy Beale, BT Sport * Lynn D. Claudy,

National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...

* Lawrence R. Kaplan, CEO of SDVI

Honors and awards program

The SMPTE presents awards to individuals for outstanding contributions in fields of the society.

Honorary membership and the honor roll

Recipients include: * Renville "Ren" H. McMann Jr. (2017) *

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post- New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability ...

(2016) * Oscar B. "O.B." Hanson (2015) *

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the '' Star Wars'' and '' Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as c ...

(2014) *

John Logie Baird John Logie Baird FRSE (; 13 August 188814 June 1946) was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer, and innovator who demonstrated the world's first live working television system on 26 January 1926. He went on to invent the first publicly dem ...

(2014) * Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1996) * Ray M. Dolby (1992) * Linwood G. Dunn (1984) * Herbert T. Kalmus (1958) *

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

(1955) * Vladimir K. Zworykin (1950) * Samuel L. Warner (1946) * George Eastman (1928) *

Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

(1928) * Louis Lumiere (1928) * C. Francis Jenkins (1926)

Progress Medal

The Progress Medal, instituted in 1935, is SMPTE's oldest and most prestigious medal, and is awarded annually for contributions to engineering aspects of the film and/or television industries. Recipients include: * Douglas Trumbull (2016) * Ioan Allen (2014) * David Wood (2012) *

Edwin Catmull Edwin Earl "Ed" Catmull (born March 31, 1945) is an American computer scientist who is the co-founder of Pixar and was the President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has been honored for his contributions to 3D computer graphics, including th ...

(2011) * Birney Dayton (2008) * Clyde D. Smith (2007) * Roderick Snell (2006) * S. Merrill Weiss (2005) * Dr. Kees Immink (2004) * Stanley N. Baron (2003) * William C. Miller (2002) *

Bernard J. Lechner Bernard J. Lechner (25 January 1932 – 11 April 2014) was an electronics engineer and formerly vice president, RCA Laboratories, where he worked for 30 years covering various aspects of television and information display technologies. Biogra ...

(2001) * Edwin E. Catmall (1996) *

Ray Dolby Ray Milton Dolby (; January 18, 1933 – September 12, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor of the noise reduction system known as Dolby NR. He helped develop the video tape recorder while at Ampex and was the founder of Dolby Labo ...

(1983) * Harold E. Edgerton (1959) *

Fred Waller Frederic Waller (1886 – May 18, 1954) was an American inventor and film pioneer. Career Waller is most known for his contributions to film special effects while working at Paramount Pictures, for his creation of the Waller Flexible Gunnery Tr ...

(1953) * Vladimir K. Zworykin (1950) *

John G. Frayne John G. Frayne (July 8, 1894 in Ireland – October 31, 1990 in Pasadena, California) was a physicist and sound engineer. Career Frayne received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Minnesota while working at the Bell Laboratories. ...

(1947) *

(1940) *

Herbert Kalmus Herbert Thomas Kalmus (November 9, 1881 – July 11, 1963) was an American scientist and engineer who played a significant role in developing color motion picture film. Kalmus was the co-founder and president of the Technicolor Motion Picture C ...

(1938) * Edward W. Kellogg (1937) * Kenneth Mees (1936)

David Sarnoff Gold Medal

Chuck Pagano Charles David Pagano (born October 2, 1960) is a former American football coach and player. Pagano spent six seasons in the National Football League (NFL) as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2012 to 2017. He also served as the defens ...

(2013) *James M. DeFilippis (2012) *

(1996) *Stanley N. Baron (1991) *

William F. Schreiber William F. Schreiber (1925–2009) was an American electrical engineer and professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).Adrian Ettlinger Adrian Ettlinger (January 26, 1925 – October 23, 2013) was an American electrical engineer and software developer and a pioneer in television and video technology. He has been described as a "visionary" and the "legendary" "engineering father" of ...

(1976) * Joseph A. Flaherty, Jr. (1974) * Peter C. Goldmark (1969) * W. R. G. Baker (1959) * Albert Rose (1958) *

Charles Ginsburg Charles Paulson Ginsburg (July 27, 1920 – April 9, 1992) was an American engineer and the leader of a research team at Ampex which developed one of the first practical videotape recorders. Biography Ginsburg was born on July 27, 1920 in San ...

(1957) *Robert E. Shelby (1956) * Arthur V. Loughren (1953) * Otto H. Schade (1951)

Eastman Kodak Gold Medal

The Eastman Kodak Gold Medal, instituted in 1967, recognizes outstanding contributions which lead to new or unique educational programs utilizing motion pictures, television, high-speed and instrumentation photography or other photography sciences. Recent recipients are * Andrew Laszlo (2006) * James MacKay (2005) *Dr. Roderick T. Ryan (2004) *George Spiro Dibie (2003) *Jean-Pierre Beauviala (2002)

Related organizations

Related organizations include * Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) *

Moving Picture Experts Group The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is an alliance of working groups established jointly by ISO and IEC that sets standards for media coding, including compression coding of audio, video, graphics, and genomic data; and transmission and f ...

(MPEG) * Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) * ITU Radiocommunication Sector (formerly known as the CCIR) * ITU Telecommunication Sector (formerly known as the CCITT) *

Digital Video Broadcasting Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) ...

* BBC Research Department *

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the C ...

(EBU)

References

Bibliography

* Charles S. Swartz (editor). ''Understanding Digital Cinema. A Professional Handbook''. Elsevier, 2005. {{Authority control 1916 establishments in the United States 3D imaging Broadcast engineering Economy of Westchester County, New York Film and video technology Organizations awarded an Academy Honorary Award Organizations based in New York (state) Science and technology in New York (state) Television terminology White Plains, New York