The HPA Tech Retreat hosts a popular demo room. At this year’s exhibition:

–Skymicro is exhibiting a real-time monitoring system for stereo 3D production. It was developed with, and available through, Technicolor’s Creative Bridge.

–TDVision is previewing a new feature for its 2D+ Delta 3D encoding system, which would offer 1080p 3D, per eye, for Blu-Ray or broadcast applications. The company’s Ethan Schur added that the technology would be backward compatible.

–MTI Film is previewing Control Dailies DA (digital acquisition), which provides direct integration with digital cinema cameras like Red, P2, D21 and Genesis in the dailies environment. Related, it is also previewing its Control Color color module for the dailies system.

–Xytech is showing the beta version of MediaPulse, its next gen workflow application. Planned new features include an automated file-based workflow. 

–DVS is previewing its Clipster hardware with new functions aimed at “DVP” creation.

HPA’s Tuesday afternoon broadcast panel began with a DTV transition update: 421 stations turned off analog TV last night, without any major issues. 220 stations had already turned off analog TV. 36% of the 1,796 licensed NTSC stations are now off the air.

The NAB’s Graham Jones was first up, reporting on plans for ATSC 2.0, a suite of next generation services for the fixed DTV receiver.

He said an industry poll resulted in the identification of 26 features that are currently under consideration.

Among them is 3D, which ranked 18^th as most desired feature (and ranked 6^th among CE manufacturers). Jones noted that the poll was taken last August, and he would expect that if taken today, 3D would be rank higher on the list.

“We are looking for input from the industry,” he emphasized.

Welcome to the 23rd annual “This is the year of HDTV,” quipped Mark Schubin as he opened Tuesday’s HPA Tech Retreat program.

He reported that HD set penetration in US household has reached 23.2%, up from 12.8% a year ago. He added that an estimated 1/3 of HDTV users don’t watch HD.

According to Nielsen, most U.S. HD viewing is sports, followed by political content, awards show and sitcoms. Schubin noted that drama was not in the top four.

He posed the question: “Is this the year of 3D TV?”

One of the morning speakers was industry vet Matt Peterson, who started Vertatique (vertatique.com) to share information and spur action to advance sustainability in the creation and use of computing, media, and e-devices.

He said: “As technologists, we have an obligation to think about the social implications of what we do.”

Having polled HPA attendees, he reported that about 1/3 had a green ICT initiative (but not all participated.)

Peterson said energy costs are driving 2-30% of facilities’ ICT budgets, and about 50% of ICT energy goes to heat removal.

He suggested green media production practices, such as: Digital deployment, stage and set practices, and location practices.

For more: http://vertatique.com/vertatiques-green-production-practices

Dubbed the “Pierce Silverman Show,” Jerry Pierce and Leon Silverman closed the HPA Tech Retreat Supersession with an interactive look at the future. They asked questions about the industry, as the audience held up red or green index cards to respond yes or no.

Among the questions/answers/findings:

–Will digital acquisition dominate filmmaking within five years? A lot said yes, but response was quite mixed.

–Will Blu-Ray replace DVD? Most said no.

–Hardly anyone said they currently use BD Live.

–Most believe that  in 10 years they will not be buying packaged media anymore.

–Do you want 3D sports? Most said yes.

–Do you want 3D at home? Most said yes

–Will the industry solve the piracy problem in 10 years? Most said no. A lot think the volume of piracy will go up.

Sony Pictures Technologies president Chris Cookson discussed industry trends and his company’s development of a production backbone, Tuesday at the HPA Tech Retreat.

Among his observations:

–“As the market fractionalizes, the number of participants in any channel will shrink. We have to find ways to tailor what we do in how we create content and how we get it to market.” 

–“Everything is going digital. What is missing is how things mesh with one another. We are very dependent on the physical labor of moving things around.”

–“We need to face the fact that the market for each project will probably be smaller. The number of projects that will be hugely successful is likely to decline in the face of expanding choices.” 

Cookson said the production backbone for the creation and distribution of content is being developed with IBM and Sony. The first film in production that is using the system is Roland Emmerich’s upcoming “2012.”

Said Cookson: “Most of the principal photography on ‘2012’ is finished. We are starting production on a second film using the system. We are very encouraged by the progress so far.”

As to the impact on the production team, he related: “They are not being asked to change the way they work. If you want to work with Avid, you work with Avid. It is our job to manage the data in such a way that the creative process is improved upon, rather than telling people to adapt.

“The vision is that five years from now … it will be an imperative to be in a more datacentric environment than we are in today, which is very labor intensive.”

He concluded: “It is critical to recognize trends and prepare the system.” 

The entertainment technology community made its annual trip to Palm Springs for the Hollywood Post Alliance Technology Retreat.

The event, held at the Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, began with the HPA Insight / Foresight Visions of the Future supersession. During the session, Steve Weinstein of MovieLabs outlined industry trends. Among his observations:

–Out of favor: Ad driven models, service businesses, betting on hits, mobile content, and search engines.

–Renewed Importance: Big ideas, team/track record, quick to revenue, and limited competition.

–“This is not just a recession, it is a revamping of the model.” Some companies have already prompted massive change, such as Skype and Amazon; or are poised to do so, such as Hulu and YouTube.

–What do trends mean for post? Fewer shows, loss of control, loss of audience, outsourcing, desktop tools.

Weinstein concluded that those who acknowledge the trends, realize there is opportunity. He suggested a focus on the future: Take a startup mentality, improve the technology, and increase services.