Kodak Claims 12th Emmy Award

NEW YORK, (October 17)--In ceremonies held yesterday, Kodak receivedan Emmy Award for the role it played in "the development of 24P video"standards. The award was presented by the National Academy ofTelevision Arts & Sciences (NATAS), which named LaserPacific MediaCorporation and Sony Electronics as co-recipients.

"In 1992, our scientists recognized that with the coming of digitaltelevision, 24 frames per second, progressive line scanning wouldprovide a vast improvement in the quality of film images displayed ontelevision screens," says Mark Gaul, worldwide television marketingmanager for Kodak's Entertainment Imaging division. "Audiences wouldfinally see images on television screens without artifacts and withmore of the subtleties captured on the original film negative that areso important to visual storytelling."

The 24P video standard also enables a substantial improvement in theefficiency of program transmission. Kodak scientists first discussedthe advantages of a 24P video standard in a technical paper publishedin 1992 by the Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and TelevisionEngineers (SMPTE). Kodak scientists strongly proposed the inclusion of24P in HDTV standards as well as the technical implementation to aSMPTE working group.

These standards have been widely adopted by the television industry,hardware manufacturers and postproduction facilities, and are usedthroughout the process from origination to transmission.

"We believe this is important because the vast majority of narrativecontent--including episodic dramas, situation comedies, telefilms andminiseries--seen in primetime on broadcast and cable channels isoriginated on film," Gaul says.

Kodak has been engaged in developing imaging technology since theearly days of the television industry. Bell Laboratories initiallycontacted Kodak in 1934 and asked for assistance in developing opticsthat would enable film to be displayed on "high-definition," 240-lineresolution black-and-white "radio-vision" screens. Kodak subsequentlydeveloped technology incorporated into film chains that enabledbroadcasters to air motion pictures during the late 1930s.

During the early 1950s, Kodak scientists developed the Kinescopesystem, which made it possible to broadcast live programs on the sameschedule in different time zones. The Kinescope film copies alsopreserved countless live programs for posterity.

During the 1970s, Kodak played a role in the development of flyingspot scanner technology incorporated into the modern telecinesintroduced by Rank-Cintel. The new telecines resulted in a significantimprovement in the quality of film content on television screens.During the 1980s, Kodak developed machine-readable Keykode technology,which made it substantially quicker and easier to conform film to videoedit decision lists. With Thomson Multimedia, Kodak co-developed thefirst CCD telecine, the Spirit DataCine, which resulted in anotherdramatic advance in image quality on TV screens. Kodak continues tomanufacture the analog imaging head that is an essential element of theSpirit's quality.

Upon accepting the award, Gaul noted that Kodak has received 12Emmys for scientific and technical achievements. "We are proud of ourconsistent ability to pioneer the development and implementation of newtechnologies for content creators, broadcasters, postproductionfacilities and others who bring those programs to the public," he said."We see this award as a challenge to continue to provide more andbetter tools that will enable the creative community to producetelevision programs for display with the full richness and detail soimportant to their stories."