The Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) has announced that Dr. Keiichi Kubota, head of Science and Technology Research Laboratories at NHK, Japan’s public broadcasting company, will join a distinguished panel of industry leaders to discuss the 10 to 15 year trajectories of acquisition, local post production, and infrastructure technologies at the SMPTE Forum on Emerging Media Technologies, an executive-level symposium to be held by the Society 13-15 May in Geneva and produced in collaboration with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Dr. Kubota will take part in The Forum panel More Than Clouds On The Horizon, where industry thought leaders will discuss their visions for content production and delivery against the backdrop of pervasive and rapidly evolving media and entertainment industry drivers, including IT-based production and cloud deployments. A SMPTE Fellow, Dr. Kubota has spent more than 30 years at NHK and more than half of the time period at its Science and Technology Research Laboratories working in the areas of satellite transmission systems and signal processing for HDTV. In that time, he has overseen research activities into digital coding of HDTV, the launch of NHK’s digital satellite broadcasting service, and the nationwide rollout of its terrestrial digital broadcasting services. “NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories is one of the most forward-looking research institutions in the world and we are delighted that Dr. Kubota will bring that future-focused perspective to attendees at The Forum,” said David Wood of the EBU and the chair of the symposium’s programme committee. Other executive presenters at The SMPTE Forum include those from ATSC, BSkyB, Cisco, EBU, Ericsson, Fraunhofer IIS, Grass Valley, IBM, MPEG, Radio Bremen, Radio Television Hong Kong, Screen Digest, Singapore Broadcasting Company, Sony, the Sports Video Group, Technicolor, Warner Bros., and zeebox. The SMPTE Forum on Emerging Media technologies is the only symposium to bring together leading motion-imaging technologists, researchers, scientists, practitioners, manufacturers, and strategic thinkers. Over the course of two days, it will provide a science-based, noncommercial opportunity for executives and other senior leaders from the broadcast, broadband, and cinema industries to discuss the most important and innovative research taking place over the next 10 to 15 years, with a particular focus on technologies likely to come to market within the next three years. www.smpteforum.org
SMPTE Forum to feature NHK head
Dr. Keiichi Kubota, head of Science and Technology Research Laboratories at NHK, Japan’s public broadcasting company, will join a distinguished panel of industry leaders at the SMPTE Forum on Emerging Media Technologies.