Happy 46th Birthday U-Matic!

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Happy 46th Birthday U-Matic!

Color VideoplayerFrom the Winter 1970 Sony® Dealer Newsletter: “Exciting the world!… Sony Demonstrates Color Video Videoplayer” says the headline. “The Color Videoplayer is considered the next home entertainment product that will win wide acceptance.” Well of course they were a bit wrong about that, as it was not what came to be known as the U-matic cassette player but the smaller and cheaper Betamax and its rival’s VHS players that became ubiquitous in peoples homes. But the U-matic VTR saw many professional applications (such as replacing news film with videotape) and the machines persisted in advertising agency offices well into the early 2000’s.

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Thorpe To Be Honored by ATAS

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Thorpe To Be Honored by ATAS

thorpeLaurence J. Thorpe is this year’s recipient of the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors a living individual whose on-going contributions have significantly affected the state of television technology and engineering.

Larry Thorpe is a renowned industry expert in the field of video acquisition and is generally considered to be one of the leaders of HDTV development.

He has held the position of the head of HDTV market development at Sony Electronics as well as Senior Fellow at Canon U.S.A.

A Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), he has published numerous papers on camera technology and the topic of HDTV while serving as an advisor to the Advanced Television Systems Committee, the Federal Communications Commission and SMPTE. A graduate of the College of Technology in Dublin, he began his career with the BBC in London.

For complete details on the 66th Primetime Emmy® Engineering Awards click here.

Laurence J. Thorpe is this year’s recipient of the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors a living individual whose on-going contributions have significantly affected the state of television technology and engineering

Larry Thorpe is a renowned industry expert in the field of video acquisition and is generally considered to be one of the leaders of HDTV development.

He has held the position of the head of HDTV market development at Sony Electronics as well as Senior Fellow at Canon U.S.A.

A Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), he has published numerous papers on camera technology and the topic of HDTV while serving as an advisor to the Advanced Television Systems Committee, the Federal Communications Commission and SMPTE.  A graduate of the College of Technology in Dublin, he began his career with the BBC in London.

 

– See more at: http://www.emmys.com/news/awards-news/smpte-among-66th-engineering-emmy-honorees#sthash.TKq64jbP.dpuf

Sony Googles TVs

Sony Googles TVs

Sony has announced four new TVs plus a Blu-ray player with built-in Google TV. The models will come with built-in Wi-Fi and a RF QWERTY keypad remote.

The models will be able to download content from the Android Market early in 2011. Sony also says that the Intel® Atom® powered models will “also feature Dual View, allowing users to watch television while tweeting about what they’re watching, checking their fantasy football scores, or finding related content on the web.”

(Engadget has a hands-on review.)

The Sony models join the previously announced Logitech “Revue” Google TV box.

IFA: 3D Adds Depth to TV Landscape

IFA: 3D Adds Depth to TV Landscape

Chris Nuttall of the Financial Times filed this report from the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. Nuttall said that the rumored Toshiba eyeglass-less 3D TV was not demoed. The report also had a list of what Nuttall considered to be the “best gadgets” at the show, including Apple’s “Apple TV”.

Graeme Wearden of The Guardian also highlighted Panasonic and Sony’s 3D announcements including a 3D projector by Sony. Panasonic announced a 3D IPTV service that would allow stereo movies to be downloaded to it’s TVs and Blu-ray players.

And for a more pessimistic view, see Harry McCracken’s blog post.