It was a temperate late autumn day and over two hundred persons attended the annual technical seminar titled “DTV and D-Cinema—the Final Frontier” held at UA Cinema in Tai Koo Shing on Hong Kong Island.
 
Mr. Al Barton, Vice President of Digital Cinema Technologies, Sony Pictures Entertainment, provided an update on the development of digital cinema technology and the relationship between high definition production and digital cinema convergence.  Mr. Shunichi Fujioka, Content Creation Products Marketing Division Manager, Sony Corporation of Hong Kong, continued to elaborate on the hardware that would contribute to content creation.  He stressed on the importance of hardware interchangeability and the common platforms that the industry aimed at achieving.  With the hardware for content production ready, the output device would be crucial to truly reproduce the high quality production, and this topic was covered Mr. Takashi Hayasaka, General Manager of Digital Cinema Business Department, Sony Corporation of Hong Kong, on the new development of 4K digital cinema projector technology.
 
After the information update on hardware, Dr. Man Nang Chong, founder and CEO of GDC Technology, shared with audience his experience in the business model of digital cinema multiplex, a new concept and multifunction venue that needed to sustain its comparatively large initial investment in the digital cinema projector and server set-up. 
 
After cinema entertainment, the subject turned to the delivery of high definition signals to home via digital television.  Mr. Peter Chu, Principal Engineer (Transmission Network) of Television Broadcasts (TVB), demonstrated live transmission of HD materials via TVB’s Temple Hill transmitter to Tai Koo Shing.  The demonstration successfully showed the high quality picture and sound that could be delivered by the new terrestrial digital television network.  In addition to terrestrial digital television broadcasting, IPTV was currently a hot topic in town.  Professor Xiaobu Luo, a consultant from the Management Case Centre of Beijing University, gave a talk on the business model of IPTV and its pros and cons.  He pointed out that the cost effectiveness was the most prominent factor in deciding whether a technology could be successful in a long run and concluded that IPTV as  a technology driven business had to take a customer-centric approach or it would be a failure.  Mr. Hiroshi Tango, founder and President of Frontiers, demonstrated the live transmission of HD over IP and highlighted the trend of HD over IP for the past two years.  There was an indication that HD over IP could be a very cost effective way for raw HD materials as well as programs delivery.
 
Finally, Mr. Victor Tsang, Principal of Shatin Nexus of the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE), delivered a short speech on the establishment of SMPTE student chapter in Hong Kong as well as the on-going cooperation between SMPTE and IVE.  The annual seminar came to a close and it was followed by the annual dinner gathering in which SMPTE members and guests continued to exchange views and share their experiences.