The recipients of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) 66th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards were honoured at a ceremony at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week. Launched in 1948, the Emmy Awards are designed to honour development and innovation in broadcast technology and recognise companies, organisations and individuals for breakthroughs in technology that have a significant effect on television engineering.
The big players all saw their technology celebrated: Apple, Roku, Microsoft, Sony and Tivo were all recognised in the category of Television Enhancement Devices. Netflix, which has been commanding news headlines of late and will reportedly launch in Australia on 31 March, was twice honoured at the Emmys ceremony at the Bellagio last Thursday. The company was awarded for Non-Live Large Scale Online Video Systems as well as Pioneering Development of 2nd Screen Navigable Mosaic for Direct Programmer Offerings to Consumers via the Internet alongside HBO.
Robert P Seidel, committee chairman, vice president of CBS Engineering and Advanced Technology and chairman, Engineering Achievement Committee, NATAS said the committee was “pleased to honour these technology companies and individuals whose innovation and vision have materially affected the way the audience views television and have set the standard for technological excellence in the industry.”
Smaller companies also took home awards. Nevion received an award in recognition of its role in the standardisation and productisation of JPEG 2000 (J2K) interoperability, a high quality image compression technology that is used by broadcasters for the transport of professional video over IP networks.
“I am incredibly proud to have had the privilege to receive this Technical and Engineering Emmy Award on behalf of the Nevion engineering team,” commented Nevion chief product and development officer Janne T. Morstøl. “It was so exciting being honoured at a ceremony that was also recognising the likes of Apple, HBO, Microsoft, Twitter, Netflix, Roku, Sony, Tivo and many other leading lights in the industry.”
