Artificial Intelligence is not angling to steal jobs, according to Big Tech, which is galvanizing its forces to push back against that perception by forming a new consortium that addresses the effect of AI on the workforce. Called the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium, it will “assess AI’s impact on technology jobs and identify skills development pathways for the roles most likely to be affected by artificial intelligence,” according to Cisco, which leads the initiative. Accenture, Eightfold, Google, IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft and SAP are also participating. Continue reading Big Tech Launches Consortium to Address AI Impact on Jobs

As cryptocurrencies undergo explosive growth with little federal oversight, the Treasury Department is asking Congress for more power to regulate stablecoins due to their perceived danger of triggering a run on funds, according to a report by the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. Treasury is asking that those issuing stablecoins be subject to the same requirements under which banks and other traditional financial institutions operate, which would require the crypto’s brokers to maintain sufficient reserves to compensate customers who want to cash out quickly. Continue reading Regulators Press Congress to Develop Cryptocurrency Rules

Immersive audio standards are complete, said Sony Pictures Entertainment executive director of audio Brian Vessa, and now the task is to encourage widespread use. Immersive Audio Bitstream (IAB) is the interoperable system that allows one mix — the IAB DCP — to play back in multiple immersive sound systems in movie theaters. “For home entertainment, a single mix can be transcoded to multiple deliverables,” Vessa said. Most tentpole movies are already being mixed natively in immersive audio, he added. Continue reading HPA Tech Retreat: Immersive Audio Standards Ready For Use

ETC’s director of adaptive production Seth Levenson described the USC think tank’s array of projects under this umbrella, which include archiving, blockchain, and visual effects standards. The working group on archiving, co-chaired by Paramount Pictures senior vice president asset management Andrea Kalas, is developing best practices for cloud preservation. Levenson pointed to the white paper on “Guidelines for Digital Audio-Visual Assets in the Cloud,” which in part focused on fixity, or getting out the same assets that were uploaded. Continue reading HPA Tech Retreat: ETC Outlines Adaptive Production Projects

In a packed NAB 2019 Birds of a Feather session, ACES (Academy Color Encoding System) project chair Annie Chang led a meeting to bring attendees up to date on the volunteer group’s latest work. “ACES is a beast,” said Chang, urging attendees to share their feedback and get involved in the various committees. “We need to understand what people need to get it working.” She also mentioned that with SMPTE’s standardized ACES IMF format as an archival format, IMF and ACES are working together. Continue reading ACES: New Features, Governance, Timeline, Call to Action

A modern laptop contains 251 technical interoperability standards, said Erik Weaver, global director of M&E market development at Western Digital. He added that only 20 of them come from Microsoft. The proliferation of standards in a digital era — and the need for interoperability between them — was the topic of a NAB 2019 Birds of a Feather discussion including representatives from five different groups involved with creating and redefining relevant standards: ASC, ETC, MESA, MovieLabs and CineCert. Continue reading New Distribution, Preservation Standards for the Digital Age

The move to digital has created major challenges for content creators and owners. As part of the Birds of a Feather program at the NAB Show in Las Vegas next week, Erik Weaver of HGST and an all-star panel representing key industry working groups will discuss “Redefining Deliverable and Preservation Standards for Digital Times.” The panel is scheduled for Monday, April 8, 12:00-1:00 pm in N243. Guests will include Jesse Korosi of SIM Digital, Mary Yurkovic of MESA, Seth Levenson of The Entertainment Technology Center@USC, John Hurst of CineCert, and Craig Seidel of MovieLabs. Continue reading NAB Panel to Cover Digital Deliverable & Archive Standards

The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES), first introduced in late 2014, has made increasing inroads in the film industry. Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) Science and Technology Council managing director Andy Maltz said at least three of this year’s Academy Awards nominees in the Best Picture and Best VFX categories used ACES; SMPTE also has created seven standards related to the use of ACES. According to AMPAS’ ACES project chair Annie Chang, the group released ACES 1.1 this last year. Continue reading HPA Tech Retreat: Academy Color Encoding System Update

Netflix launched its Post Technology Alliance logo program last week, with plans to certify post-production products and systems from manufacturers and vendors that meet the streaming service’s technical and content delivery specs. “The Post Technology Alliance will build a more seamless experience from production through post-production,” said Chris Fetner, Netflix director of post partnerships and integrations, noting that certified vendors are “committed to better interoperability and faster innovation cycles.” Adobe, Avid, Blackmagic Design, Canon, Panasonic, RED Digital Cinema and Sony are among those with products already certified. Continue reading Netflix’s New Logo Program Will Certify Post Production Tools

At The Reel Thing conference in Hollywood, the Academy’s Science and Technology Council managing director Andy Maltz and Dr. Wolfgang Ruppel at Germany’s RheinMain University of Applied Sciences introduced the specifications of the Academy Digital Source Master, built on a suite of SMPTE standards. Maltz described the background that led to the Digital Source Master. “The Digital Dilemma published in 2007, identified open source software and digital file format standardization as key components to the solution,” he said. Continue reading The Reel Thing: Academy Debuts Digital Source Master Specs

ACES (the Academy Color Encoding System), which makes certain that the color decisions made early on in production are preserved through to the finished master, has evolved since it first launched in December 2014. At the HPA Tech Retreat, NBCUniversal vice president of creative technologies Annie Chang reported that, in 2015, 15 titles were done in ACES, compared to today’s 49+ titles. “We’ve seen the growth not just in feature and episodic, but in the gaming community and corporate clients like IKEA,” she added. Continue reading HPA 2018: Updates on ACES 1.0, The Evolution to ACESnext

IMF (Interoperable Master Format) came of age, and two hours at this week’s HPA Tech Retreat were devoted to progress made and reasons for its adoption. Led by NABA (North American Broadcasters Association) chair of the working group on file formats Clyde Smith, a senior vice president at Fox Network engineering and operations, the block of speakers covered the business benefits of IMF and how Hollywood, broadcast and OTT would benefit from adopting it. Other topics focused on integrating IMF into the production pipeline. Continue reading HPA 2018: Making the Case for IMF in Broadcast and Online

OTT video distribution startup OWNZONES Media Network claims it can transcode Interoperable Master Format (IMF) assets 40+ times faster than conventional methods via its Connect solution. “Using a parallel architecture with cloud transcoding, the company says OWNZONES Connect can process a film with a runtime of 2 hours and 40 minutes in just 6 minutes,” reports Variety. “In addition, the company has introduced a ‘pay-as-you-go’ model to let content owners distribute assets in the new SMPTE IMF format standard without any upfront investment.” Continue reading OWNZONES Demos its Cloud-Based IMF Transcoder at CES

Netflix has long collaborated with rivals, most notably on cloud computing open source projects. Now, it’s released “Meridian,” a 12-minute movie that acts as test footage to allow hardware manufacturers, codec developers and engineers to evaluate imagery. The company is also releasing open source tools to encourage the use of the Interoperable Master Format (IMF), developed as a standard by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers for exchanging master files between studios, distributors and services such as Netflix. Continue reading Netflix Debuts Open Source Tools for IMF and Image Testing

A team from Pixar talked about the massive amount of work the company puts into “localization” or “regionalization” of every film they make. “John Lasseter, from the early days, placed a high importance on creating content for international markets, without the disruptive experience of subtitles or language they don’t understand,” said Pixar executive Cynthia Lusk. “That’s been a priority for the studio since ‘Toy Story.’” Lusk said that they regard each movie as a snowflake, with a different approach from title to title. Continue reading HPA Tech Retreat: Pixar Team Talks Localization, ‘Inside Out’