SMPTE celebrates one hundred years as a reference

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) celebrates its centenary with various commemorative events.

The SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers), a society of engineers dedicated to the standardization of processes within film, television and radio whose objective is to improve interoperability and guarantee standardization between different systems and equipment, celebrates its centenary this year.

With more than 6,000 members, it is one of the reference entities both in the United States and around the world at a technical and scientific level in the audiovisual industry. This organization has served as a guiding point for the entire industry for a century in establishing patterns and standards.

Founded in 1916 in Washington as SMPE (Society of Motion Picture Engineers) by Paul Brockett, Herbert Miles, Donald J. Bell, Paul H. Cromelin, C.A. Willatt, Francis B. Cannock, W. Burton Westcott, E. Kendall Gillett, J.P. Lyons and especially by the inventor C. Francis Jenkins, one of the pioneers in cinema and in the development of television, in charge of the first television broadcast in history in 1928.

Since then, it has published more than 800 standards and protocols, playing a decisive role in the development and dissemination of television and telecommunications in the United States, achieving in turn a powerful impact on the audiovisual market globally.

During the 1950s, its important role in the expansion of television led the old SMPE to add a “T” to its acronym, from that moment on it became known by its name SMPTE.

Among the different contributions to the industry are the creation of the characteristic SMPTE bar pattern, the most widespread in countries that have NTSC as a television standard.

With the development of video and the subsequent appearance of digital formats, apart from its important achievements in film and television, it has continued to develop standards for UHD and 4 and 8K as well as for high-tech broadcasts in HDR (High Dynamic Range) and HFR (High Frame Rate).

Commemorative events

Last Friday the 22nd, the events commemorating the founding of the SMPTE began. In honor of Founders' Day, CEO Barbara Lange rang the Nasdaq closing bell in the middle of Time Square while centennial-related images were projected on the famous giant screens.

Next August 10 will mark exactly one hundred years since the foundation and the society will dedicate a special issue to this anniversary in its monthly magazine (SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal). Additionally, the SMPTE annual conference, taking place in Hollywood from October 24-28, will feature an exhibit of the inventions of C. Francis Jenkins at the Wayne County Historical Museum. The conference will close with a gala in the Ray Dolby Ballroom.

Samuel Vázquez Vicente