WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — July 26, 2018 — SMPTE^®, the organization whose standards work has supported a more than a century of advances in entertainment technology and whose membership spans the globe, today announced the program lineup for the daylong SMPTE 2018 Symposium, “Driving the Entertainment Revolution: Autonomous Cars, Machine Intelligence, & Mixed Reality.” The Oct. 22 event will take place at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in downtown Los Angeles leading into the SMPTE 2018 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition (SMPTE 2018).

“To some degree, SMPTE has been laying a lot of the groundwork for this topic over the past few years of the Symposium. Topics have ranged from improved picture, improved sound, and the future of storytelling, all the way to artificial intelligence and machine learning last year,” said SMPTE 2018 Symposium Chair Michael Zink, vice president of technology at Warner Bros. “This year really takes all of those pieces and puts them together in order to create this ultimate immersive experience, examining current market trends and highlighting significant in-car technology and entertainment advances, including the latest developments in autonomous driving, glass and display technologies, as well as connectivity.”

The morning session titled “How Today’s Tech Advances Will Drive Future Opportunity” will explore how recent advancements in multiple technologies — autonomous cars, machine intelligence, and mixed reality — have positioned the mobility sector for significant transformation. This first session will provide an overview of the current market, predictions for developments in the next few years, and insights into potential opportunities for media and entertainment companies to develop new experiences for the mobile environment.

Intel Automated Driving Group Senior Vice President Douglas Davis will present the keynote, titled “Safety Today for the Autonomous Tomorrow.” He will focus on the potential of autonomous vehicles to save lives by reducing or eliminating human error on the roads. He also will discuss how consumers’ embrace of such vehicles will give rise to a massive new passenger economy and, in turn, drive change across a variety of industries.

Following the keynote, the session titled “How Innovative Content Applications Will Fuel In-Car Entertainment” will likewise examine opportunities arising from consumer adoption of autonomous vehicles. Panelists will discuss how the concept of in-car entertainment will be redefined when passengers have far more time to consume entertainment content on the go. This Symposium session will highlight innovative ideas for content applications — from screen extensions to mixed reality — specifically designed for this new environment. Using real-life examples, it will provide a glimpse into what the in-car entertainment experiences of the future will bring.

The afternoon program will feature a session titled “How Cutting-Edge Tech Will Power Future Consumer Experiences.” This session will highlight some of the most exciting developments enabling new entertainment experiences. Speakers will share their knowledge about the latest innovations in glass and display technologies, improvements in communication and electronics, advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics, and implementations of cutting-edge biometric sensors — all of which will be used to develop the best consumer experiences of the future.

“This year’s Symposium will provide attendees with a fresh and uniquely rich perspective on the future of entertainment experiences,” said SMPTE Education Vice President Richard Welsh, CEO of Sundog Media Toolkit. “We will be covering one of the most exciting and quickly evolving areas of the media and entertainment industry, which will undoubtedly be a huge area for growth in media. We are privileged to be joined by some of the industry’s foremost experts, who will give us their insight into this fascinating and important emerging market segment!”

The Symposium is a favorite element of the SMPTE Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition, the world’s premier forum for the exploration of media and entertainment technology. Symposium registration is included with select SMPTE 2018 conference packages, either as an add-on or as a stand-alone registration. Early-bird rates for conference registration packages expire after Aug. 4.

At the 2018 NAB Show, SMPTE recorded a podcast in which Zink spoke about the Symposium. The podcast may be streamed here: https://soundcloud.com/smpteconnect/podcast-michael-zink-vice-president-of-technology-at-warner-bros/s-rI8z8. Further details and registration about the Symposium are available at smpte2018.org/symposium.html. Complete information about SMPTE 2018 is available at smpte2018.org.

Further information about SMPTE is available at smpte­.org.

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About SMPTE^®

For more than a century, the people of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, or 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, SMPTE 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 currently in force today. SMPTE Time Code™ and the ubiquitous SMPTE Color Bars™ are just two examples of SMPTE’s notable work. As it enters its second century, SMPTE 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 is a global professional association of technologists and creatives who drive the quality and evolution of motion imaging. Its membership today includes more than 7,000 members: motion-imaging executives, creatives, technologists, researchers, and students who volunteer their time and expertise to SMPTE’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. Information on joining SMPTE is available at smpte.org/join.

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Photo Caption: Michael Zink, SMPTE 2018 Symposium Chair