ABOUT

Story

For more than a century, the people of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers® (SMPTE®, pronounced “simp-tee”) have sorted out the details of many significant advances in media and entertainment technology, from the introduction of “talkies” and color television to HD and UHD (4K, 8K) TV. Since its founding in 1916, the Society has received an Oscar® and multiple Emmy® Awards for its work in advancing moving-imagery engineering across the industry. SMPTE has developed thousands of standards, recommended practices, and engineering guidelines, more than 800 of which are in force today. SMPTE Time Code and the ubiquitous SMPTE Color Bars are just two examples of the Society’s notable work. Now in its second century, the Society is shaping the next-generation of standards and providing education for the industry to ensure interoperability as the industry evolves further into IT- and IP-based workflows.

SMPTE’s global membership today includes more than 7,000 members: motion-imaging executives, creatives, technologists, researchers, and students who volunteer their time and expertise to the Society’s standards development and educational initiatives. A partnership with the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) connects SMPTE and its membership with the businesses and individuals who support the creation and finishing of media content.

Founder's Message

The idea of forming the HK section came across me in 1994. At that time, there have been a lot of growth in the TV industry in HK. New stations like STAR, WHARF, CTN, TNT, NBC as well as many production houses were set up. The number of engineers and production people engaged in the TV field have grew substantially. I think it will be nice if there is a chance for these people to meet regularly so that they can share their experience and knownledge. Moreover, I hope to see our local experience being recognized by other countries as well. I believe setting up a SMPTE local section will be ideal to serve this purpose. So I wrote a letter to SMPTE's president Mr. Young. He quickly consented my thoughts. I began my work by petitioning the ideas of local members and got a enthusiastic response. A working committee was formed in early 1995 and election of managers was held in June. I must thank all the managers, especially Mr. S. C. Chan (secretary/treasurer), who have volunteered to devote their time to make the formation successful. In Nov 1995, the local section was officially formed and we had a inauguration reception with Mr. Young and over 60 members attended. Then every two months, we have held various functions like visiting CTN, Compression Technology seminar, Film Production seminar....etc. All these had good attendance and response from the members. The number of members has increased 30% since then.

I am pleased that the HK section is growing under the new board of management. I look forward to seeing more participation of the activities by the local members.

Mr. Michael Cheng

Mar 17, 1997