United Kingdom

The UK Section holds monthly evening meetings, where we get together to socialise and discuss topics impacting our industry. Take a look at the meetings listed below, sign up and come along! Priority is given to SMPTE members, but newcomers are very welcome. At every event, there will be an interesting technically-oriented presentation, plenty of time to network with industry peers, and ample refreshments courtesy of our sponsors and supporters.

Next Meeting

SMPTE UK – back together again after lockdown! So…what’s been going on in our industry over the past 18 months?

Date: Wednesday 22^nd September. Doors open at 18:15. Panel starts at 19:00. Event ends at 21:30..

Location: First floor bar, The Crown and Two Chairmen, 31-32 Dean Street, London, W1D 3SB

Join us for an informative and opinionated panel discussion with lots of opportunity for audience Q&A and debate! Bring your questions for our expert panel:

• Chris Johns, Chief Engineer, Sky
• Bruce Devlin, Mr MXF
• Carys Hughes, Design Engineer, Sky
• Andy Quested, Chair ITU-R Working Party 6C
• Andy Beale, Head of Engineering and Innovation, BT Sport

We’ll be looking at a range of topics including:

• How did the industry adapt to Covid, and what of all this will we retain as we come out of lockdown?
• Who needs standards when you can do everything with Open Source, a cloud platform and a credit card?
• Where are we upto with Next Generation Audio and Object-based media?
• Connectivity - did fibre households have a better lockdown than ADSL ones?
• What’s been happening with UHD and HDR?
• Everybody’s been talking about Cloud – but who’s using it for real in production and distribution?

Ample refreshments will be provided, courtesy of our event sponsors pixitmedia.

Attendance is free of charge. 

October Meeting

SMPTE UK visits BBC Research & Development

Date: Tuesday 19^th October. Doors open at 17:45. Presentations start at 18:30. Event ends at 20:45.

Location: BBC Research & Development South Lab, The Lighthouse, White City Place, 201 Wood Lane, London, W12 7TQ. Directions here: Contact Us - BBC R&D

BBC engineers have been at the forefront of developments in broadcast technology since the founding of public service broadcasting in the UK.

We’re thrilled to be invited by our friends at BBC Research & Development to visit their South Lab. Come with us and see first-hand the innovative work the BBC is doing, including:

• Euro 2020 UHD production, encoding and streaming
• Empowering the next generation of makers
• Decentralised digital economy and the public-service Internet
• Protecting trusted media
• Cloud sustainability
• Introducing the BBC graduates

Ample refreshments will be provided

Attendance is free of charge

SMPTE is a members’ organisation - we gather together for community, to educate one another, and to set standards, and we'd really like you to play a part.

Become a SMPTE member and receive these benefits:

• Meeting others working in our industries - through section meetings
• Receiving 10 copies of Motion Imaging Journal a year
  - full of the latest techniques and news from SMPTE sections around the world (instructions)
• Regular SMPTE Webinars
• Access our archive - Look back over SMPTE's work over the past 102 years
• Attending events, conferences and courses at discounted rates
  – you can easily save your subscription and it can be offset against tax
• Discounts on conference papers, proceedings and Standards in the SMPTE Digital Library
• Preferential booking for our meetings 
• Take part in standards work ensuring interoperability and directing the way our industries move
• Be an active member of the world’s largest Members society dedicated to those working with the moving image, its audio and metadata on any platform.

At only $165 – about £125 tax deductible - you get so much and an opportunity
to enhance your career putting you in touch with others working across the creative
and video industries of the UK and around the world.

(Student members free then just $15 about £11 a year and recent Graduates get a discount on full membership!) 

We look forward to welcoming you at our next meeting.

We really want to hear your ideas and suggestions as we build up SMPTE UK. Feel free to get in touch if you have topics for talks you think people would be interested to hear; or a venue we could use for one of our evening meetings. We're always on the hunt for a new broadcast or media facility to tour!

Add your name to our mailing list — scroll down to "Local sections" then tick "United Kingdom" or contact us.

Meet the UK Board of Managers

John Ellerton, BT Media & Broadcast (Chair)

Prinyar Boon, PHABRIX Ltd

Carys Hughes, Sky UK

Polly Hickling, Solent University

Paul Gardiner, Sony

Andy Rayner, Nevion

Phil Tudor, BBC

Marina Kalkanis, M2A Media (Governor)

Mark Harrison, DPP (Governor)

Legal Information

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