SMPTE Australia Conference & Exhibit – The Australia Section of the Society of Motion Picture and TV Engineers will hold their conference in Sydney July 14-17 on the theme “Persistence of Vision – Defining the Future.” The SMPTE is responsible for the critical tasks of standards development and education for the motion-imaging industry. Attendees will participate in a half-day seminar of the theory and principles of UHD as well as its technical elements and requirements. The impact of new and emerging UHD standards will be considered, and the way in which UHD will affect the broadcasting and cinema industries. Among the lectures will be one on a flexible multiplayer system using spectrum overlay technology to deliver mobile TV, hi-def TV (HDTV) and UHD TV simultaneously in a single RF channel. Such diverse topics as underwater 3D cinematography, cinematography drones, and specific cinematography attributes of TV drama production will be presented. Technical papers covering the full gamut from image structure and capture to transmission and display will be presented. Subjects include Internet protocol, the cloud, high dynamic range (HDR), UHD, enhanced transmission and delivery mechanisms, and high-efficiency video coding (HEVC).
SACD Is Staging a Comeback as a Computer Audio Option – Although SACD didn’t take the world by storm, it is now supported by many classical labels, and in Japan it never really went away. DSD has re-emerged as a format in the computer audio arena, and many manufactuers are extended DSD capability to many of their products. Hi-res download sites are featuring DSD as the next step beyond the higher sampling abilities of 192K/24-bit PCM. There is even live streaming now of concerts in “double-DSD” over the Internet. A number of SACD labels now offer downloads in DSD format, including 2L, Blue Coast Records (jazz), various symphony orchestra sites, PentaTone and Channel Classics. The first two and Native DSD even offer free samples so can find out of DSD is for you. The next step is to get one of the early Sony PS3 PlayStation consoles, before Sony dropped SACD playback from the device, and using software available online, rip (two-channel only) tracks from your SACD disc collection to ISO disc image files, when can then be split up into DSD tracks for playback thru the latest systems. This is not that simple a process. The latest Gramophone magazine has an article “How Sony’s PlayStation 3 could save your SACD collection.” (Frankly, I think 96K/24-bit is the most hi-res ever needed, but then I’m old…Ed.)
Gunther Schuller and James Horner Die – Schuller was a conductor, composer, and President of the New England Conservatory of Music, where he established the first full-accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory. He later instituted the Third Stream department. James Roy Horner was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator of film scores who did over 100 films, including Titanic, Avatar, and the Star Trek film The Wrath of Khan. He died in a private plane crash.