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16th Annual HPA Tech Retreat™ February 16-19
Industry Leaders Gather at Event in Palm Springs Area
HOLLYWOOD—February 2, 2010—The Hollywood Post Alliance will host its 16th Annual HPA Tech Retreat, February 16-19, at Rancho Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage, California. A premiere event in the broadcast and post production industries, the 4-Day HPA Tech Retreat offers a unique opportunity to review the latest in cinema, broadcast and related technologies, and to gain insights into the industry’s future from its leading innovators, thinkers and analysts.
The Retreat has also become a superb, one-of-a-kind networking forum; a place where professionals meet and engage with colleagues in a relaxed and mutually supportive environment, free from sales pressures and marketing hype. Each year, the event draws professionals from around the globe, including top executives and researchers from Hollywood studios, broadcast networks, manufacturers, artists, and even the military.
“The Tech Retreat delivers an unparalleled experience in providing information crucial to the continued growth and prosperity of our industry,” states HPA president Leon Silverman. “People who attend this event invariably come away enriched with a wealth of ideas that they can put to immediate, practical use on behalf of themselves and their businesses. It is not to be missed!”
The HPA has once again assembled an incredible roster of speakers, panelists and presenters. They include director Pierre de Lespinois (Alien Planet), Michael Bergeron, Strategic Technical Liaison, Panasonic Broadcast; Hugo Gaggioni, Chief Technology Officer, Broadcast and Production Systems Division, Sony Electronics; Martin Banks, Director of the Visual Space Perception Laboratory at the University of California Berkeley; and the legendary Mo Henry whose name appears in the credits of over 300 films.
Highlights of the event will include a half-day seminar by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, which recently approved standards for mobile digital TV and program loudness, and a half-day seminar by SMPTE Gold Medal Winner Charles Poynton on high-dynamic-range imaging, which could make pictures more life-like than HDTV.
A supersession on 3D in the home will feature (among many others) the European Broadcasting Union’s head of emerging media, David Wood, who has called for a health warning on 3D TV programming.
CableLabs Chief Technology Officer Ralph Brown will join TV network executives and others discussing program distribution from the internet and disk vending machines to mobile broadcasts, cable, satellite, live cinema, and immersive media. Netscape’s fifth employee Tom Paquin will discuss online games.
Attendees will also learn how classic animation features are being restored at Disney. Germany’s Frauhhofer Institute will provide an overview of their latest developments in projection and production.
This year’s Tech Retreat Welcome Dinner will include a “roast” of Mark Schubin. Schubin, who has served chair of the Retreat program since 1997, is a multiple Emmy Award winner and SMPTE Fellow who has been working in and writing about the television industry for more than four decades. It promises to be a memorable event.
As in the past, each day will begin with a Breakfast Roundtable where anything goes. This year the roundtables will tackle subjects ranging from asset management to visual fatigue.
The Demo Room will feature the latest technological innovations from more than 50 leading manufacturers. Previous years have featured the introductions of such technologies as Dolby’s surround sound headphones and Panasonic’s Varicam and Sony’s HDCAM SR.
A special post-Retreat feature will be a presentation entitled “The Joy of Wire” by Steve Lampen, Multimedia Technology Manager at Belden.
Registration and a complete program are available on the HPA’s website at www.hpaonline.com. For additional assistance, please contact the Hollywood Post Alliance office at 213-614-0860.
The Tech Retreat is sponsored by the Hollywood Post Alliance, serving the professional community of businesses and individuals who provide expertise, support, tools and the infrastructure for the creation and finishing of motion pictures, television, commercials, digital media and other dynamic media content.
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