SMPTE, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, is almost 100 years old and is grappling with the greatest and most profound changes in its long history. The forces behind these changes will be much to fore at its biannual exhibition and conference that kicks of in Sydney on 23 July.
For the first 40 years or so of its existence SMPTE’s members made it possible for people to go into cinemas and watch a movie. Then came television. People could sit in their living rooms and be entertained and informed by moving images on a small screen. Thus it was until about a decade ago. When the widespread availability of fixed and, later, mobile broadband networks and smart devices started to turn that whole world upside down.
It’s been two years since the last SMPTE event in Australia and even in that short time, much as changed. The theme for this year’s event is “Delivering the Personalised Content Experience”. As SMPTE explains, after a decade during which the technology and business models of delivering content to personal devices have matured “a second, equally important mantra, is emerging - ‘User Experience is King’.
SMTPE explains that this mantra not only refers to when and where content is consumed but to the actual experience associated with the event. “From the ease of browsing and selecting content, to the actual experience of content delivery (ie engrossing and pleasurable), to the opportunity of widely socialising opinions in relation to the content (via social networks).” SMPTE13 will be devoted to the challenges and opportunities thrown up by this new paradigm. Both are considerable, and highly significant.
IPTV technology specialist CombiTel will be exhibiting at SMTPE again (stand J31) showing some of the technologies that enable the personalised user experience: the latest solutions for IPTV, adaptive streaming and multi-screen content delivery, management and presentation.
CombiTel managing director, Eugene Razbash, said: “We’ll be showcasing our Omniscreen IP MATV product range and the latest products from one of our newer partners - Actus Digital, a company which delivers industry leading technology solutions for video content logging, tagging, monitoring, analysis and repurposing. Their easy-to-use web-based solutions are answering the broadcast media management needs of broadcasters government agencies; cable, satellite and IPTV providers; advertising, media agencies and content producers.”
In Australia the National Broadband Network will have a major impact on how consumers access video content in the future. So it’s fitting that the keynote presentation at the SMPTE 13 conference comes from NBN Co, the company charged with building and operating the network. NBN Co’s general manager, media, Landry Fevre, will talk on he Future Landscape of Media & Entertainment.
He’ll kick off over two days of presentations from over 60 presenters on topics ranging from ‘over the top’ content delivery, to technologies for audio and video networking, test and measurement techniques and the use of Big Data: another disruptive technology that’s having a major impact across many different industries.
Full details at www.smpte.com.au/Sydney/
