The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers has granted SMPTE Fellow membership status to eight industry leaders. This honor is conferred on individuals who have, through their proficiency and contributions to the industries, attained an outstanding rank among members of the Society.
New SMPTE Fellows will be inducted on Wednesday, Oct. 22, during the Fellows Luncheon, and further recognized on Thursday, Oct. 23, at the SMPTE Honors and Awards Ceremony. Both events will be held in conjunction with the SMPTE 2014 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition (SMPTE 2014) at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. The Fellows Luncheon will feature a keynote by SMPTE Fellow Darcy Antonellis, who serves as CEO at Vubiquity.
The 2014 SMPTE Fellows are:
Hanno Basse, chief technology officer (CTO) at 20th Century Fox Film Corp., oversees technology strategy and engineering, including home entertainment, theatrical distribution, and postproduction. He earlier spent more than 14 years at DirecTV, ultimately as senior VP of broadcast systems engineering, with accomplishments including the 2005 launch of the largest HD channel rollout to date and the 2009 implementation of DirecTV’s video-on-demand infrastructure, as well as significant contributions to DirecTV’s broadcast infrastructure and construction of its Los Angeles Broadcast Center. Basse began his career in 1991 as a scientist-engineer at the Institut für Rundfunktechnik GmbH (IRT) in Munich, Germany, and worked as a systems engineer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. He has been awarded 18 patents.
Thomas G. Edwards, VP of engineering and development at Fox Networks Engineering & Operations, works on advanced technology projects such as mobile digital television, 3D, and the Fox network satellite distribution system. Before joining Fox, he was senior manager of interconnection engineering at PBS, where he was responsible for the engineering planning of the PBS Next Generation Interconnection System. He was also involved in streaming media production and delivery at the Internet service provider DIGEX and the IP-over-satellite company Cidera. Edwards has contributed to the Report of the SMPTE Study Group on Media Production System Network Architecture, the Report of the SMPTE Task Force on 3D to the Home, and the National Association of Broadcasters Engineering Handbook. In addition to SMPTE, he is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Joseph J. Kane Jr. specializes in the sciences of electronic imaging and accurate reproduction of video signals on display devices, both of which are the focus of his company, Joe Kane Productions, founded in 1982. Kane has a long history of participating in standardization of the canvas on which electronic art is created and making it possible for a mass audience to be able to see that art as it was intended to be seen. He is currently working with higher-definition formats and the concept of a new video system based on the capability of current and future display technologies. Kane is also a manager of the SMPTE Hollywood Section.
John McCoskey is the SMPTE Eastern region governor and executive vice president and CTO at the Motion Picture Association of American (MPAA), where he is responsible for development and execution of MPAA’s global technology strategy. Previously McCoskey served as the first CTO at PBS, where he was responsible for all technology strategy, development, operations, and infrastructure serving more than 350 full-power public television stations. He earlier was vice president of product development at Comcast; CTO and co-founder at Brief Original Broadcasts; and senior vice president of technology and CTO at Discovery Communications. McCoskey is an inventor with more than 40 issued or pending U.S. utility patents related to technology and media.
Andrew Quested joined the BBC as a trainee engineer in 1978 and became a video editor working across the BBC’s output, including all episodes of the “Keeping Up Appearances” program. In his tenure as a BBC editor, Quested introduced nonlinear editing, as well as stereo and widescreen production; oversaw the introduction of end-to-end tapeless production; served as the technical lead on the BBC’s first HD channel; and lead HD pilot projects such as overseeing the workflow for the series “Planet Earth.” Quested currently chairs the Strategic Programme on Quality Control (QC) for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), authors the BBC technical standards for international exchange, and is part of the U.K.’s Digital Production Partnership (DPP), which is responsible for the AS-11 DPP Compliance and Certification Programme. Quested has chaired International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Rapporteur Groups for 3D, image dynamic range, IP contribution, and quality control. As a manager of the SMPTE U.K. Section, he focuses on career development and education of new graduates and the U.K.’s new apprenticeship schemes.
Vince Roberts is executive vice president of global operations and CTO at Disney/ABC Television Group. He was a founding employee of Disney Channel in 1983 and ultimately led development of server-based broadcast operations. He established Disney’s first international broadcast operation, Walt Disney Television Singapore, and oversaw the launches of more than 90 entertainment channels and/or channel feeds in more than 160 countries and 30 languages. Prior to joining Disney, Roberts was in videodisc research and development with MCA and JVC/EMI/GE, earning a patent for a specialized quality control process device. During his two years at Color Systems Technology Inc. as senior vice president of production, the company earned an Emmy® Award for technical achievement for the video coloring process. Roberts co-chaired the Federal Communications Commission’s Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee on Internet closed captioning and is currently chairman of both the Innovation Advisory Board for Imagine Communications (formerly Harris Broadcast) and the Executive Board of the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California. He was awarded the 2014 Broadcast and Cable Technology Leadership Award and currently has four patents pending. In addition to SMPTE, he is a member of IEEE, Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and serves on the board of directors for the North American Broadcasters Association and the Emma L. Bowen Foundation.
Jim Starzynski is the director and principal audio engineer at NBCUniversal Advanced Engineering, where he oversees audio technologies and practices for all NBCUniversal television properties, including the company’s two broadcast networks, 26 owned stations, and 18 cable channels. Starzynski chairs the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) technical subgroup S34-2 on next-generation audio systems and S6-3 on digital television loudness. He is also the chair for the Sports Video Group DTV Audio Group and serves on the board of directors for the home audio division of the Consumer Electronics Association. Starzynski has received four Emmy Awards for technical achievement for multiple broadcasts of the Olympic Games, and he was the 2011 recipient of the ATSC’s highest technical honor, the Bernard J. Lechner Outstanding Contributor Award.
Colin R. Wright began his career at the Australian Broadcasting Control Board, where he worked on the introduction of color and stereo sound, and ultimately spent 35 years in key engineering roles with Australia’s Seven Network. During that time, he contributed to the creation of a global HDTV standard, led construction of Seven’s Los Angeles news studio, and introduced innovative techniques for carrying two television programs, data, and multiple sound channels on a single low-powered international satellite link. Wright worked closely with Hitachi to introduce charge-coupled device cameras and enhanced camera links for sport and studio work; and with Sony and EVS prior to the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games to improve disk record/replay systems. His contributions to Australian requirements for digital video broadcasting adoption helped to enable testing of Seven’s mobile broadcasting capabilities during the 2000 Sydney Summer Games. Wright holds editing and chairman roles on various Australian committees addressing digital television transmission and reception; quality monitoring, hybrid broadcast broadband television, IPTV, interactivity, spectrum planning, analog shutdown/channel restack, and audio loudness control; and 3D and UHDTV.
