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 advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that professio ...
of engineers, technologists, and executives working in the media and entertainment industry. As an internationally recognized
standards organization
A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization (SDO), or standards setting organization (SSO) is an organization whose primary function is developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpr ...
, 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
Digital cinema refers to adoption of digital technology within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to be sh ...
,
audio recording
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording t ...
, 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, 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
SMPTE timecode ( or ) is a set of cooperating standards to label individual frames of video or film with a timecode. The system is defined by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers in the SMPTE 12M specification. SMPTE revised ...
and the
serial digital interface) (SDI)
*
SMPTE color bars
*
Test card
A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off).
Used since the ea ...
patterns and other diagnostic tools
*The
Material Exchange Format
Material Exchange Format (MXF) is a container format for professional digital video and audio media defined by a set of SMPTE standards. A typical example of its use is for delivering advertisements to TV stations and tapeless archiving of broadc ...
(MXF)
*
SMPTE 2110
SMPTE 2110 is a suite of standards from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) that describes how to send digital media over an IP network.
SMPTE 2110 is intended to be used within broadcast production and distribution fac ...
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 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
The broadcasts of ''Summer'' and ''Winter Olympic Games'' produced by ''NBC Sports'' are shown on the various platforms of NBCUniversal in the United States, including the NBC broadcast network, NBC Sports app, NBCOlympics.com, Peacock, Spanish l ...
, LLC
* Andy Beale,
BT Sport
BT Sport is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe and BT Group, they first launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former International Bro ...
* Lynn D. Claudy,
National Association of Broadcasters
* 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 (2016)
* Oscar B. "O.B." Hanson (2015)
*
George Lucas (2014)
*
John Logie Baird (2014)
*
Philo Taylor Farnsworth
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. He made many crucial contributions to the early development of all-electronic television. He is best known for his 1927 invention of t ...
(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
George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the 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
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 ...
(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
Douglas Hunt Trumbull (; April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022) was an American film director and innovative visual effects supervisor. He pioneered methods in special effects and created scenes for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Close Encounters ...
(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 (2001)
*
Edwin E. Catmall (1996)
*
Ray Dolby (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 (1947)
*
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 ...
(1940)
*
Herbert Kalmus (1938)
*
Edward W. Kellogg (1937)
*
Kenneth Mees
Charles Edward Kenneth Mees FRS (26 May 1882 – 15 August 1960) was a British scientist and photographic researcher.
Early life and education
Mees was born in Wellingborough, England, the son of a Wesleyan minister.
He attended the Univ ...
(1936)
David Sarnoff Gold Medal
*
Chuck Pagano (2013)
*James M. DeFilippis (2012)
*
Bernard J. Lechner (1996)
*Stanley N. Baron (1991)
*
William F. Schreiber (1990)
*
Adrian Ettlinger (1976)
*
Joseph A. Flaherty, Jr. (1974)
*
Peter C. Goldmark (1969)
*
W. R. G. Baker (1959)
*
Albert Rose (1958)
*
Charles Ginsburg (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
Andrew Laszlo A.S.C. hu, László András (January 12, 1926 – October 7, 2011) was a Hungarian-American cinematographer best known for his work on the cult film classic '' The Warriors''. He earned Emmy nominations for '' The Man Without a C ...
(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
The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) is an international nonprofit organization developing technical standards for digital terrestrial television and data broadcasting. ATSC's 120-plus member organizations represent the broadcast, ...
(ATSC)
*
Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)
*
Joint Photographic Experts Group
The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) is the joint committee between ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 and ITU-T Study Group 16 that created and maintains the JPEG, JPEG 2000, JPEG XR, JPEG XT, JPEG XS, JPEG XL, and related digital image standards. I ...
(JPEG)
*
ITU Radiocommunication Sector (formerly known as the CCIR)
*
ITU Telecommunication Sector (formerly known as the CCITT)
*
Digital Video Broadcasting
*
BBC Research Department
BBC Research & Development is the technical research department of the BBC.
Function
It has responsibility for researching and developing advanced and emerging media technologies for the benefit of the corporation, and wider UK and European ...
*
European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
See also
*
List of film topics (Extensive alphabetical listing)
*
Glossary of video terms
*
Digital Picture Exchange
Digital Picture Exchange (DPX) is a common file format for digital intermediate and visual effects work and is a SMPTE standard (ST 268-1:2014). The file format is most commonly used to represent the density of each colour channel of a scanned n ...
*
General Exchange Format (GXF)
*
Media dispatch protocol SMPTE 2032 parts 1, 2 and 3
*
Video tape recorder
A video tape recorder (VTR) is a tape recorder designed to record and playback video and audio material from magnetic tape. The early VTRs were open-reel devices that record on individual reels of 2-inch-wide (5.08 cm) tape. They were u ...
(VTR) standards defined by SMPTE
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