Birney Dayton, the new chairman of Miranda, the co-founder of NVision of Nevada City, and a former VP of engineering at Grass Valley Group John Hartwell, SMPTEsf manager Roy Trumbull, SMPTEsf chairman
Our morning meeting at Napa Valley College on Saturday, 27 April, will be hosted by Napa's SMPTE-SF Student Chapter 11, whose members were so helpful with our last San Francisco national winter television conference. Gary Vann, Coordinator, NVC Telecommunications Technology
1. John Hartwell, SMPTE-SF manager and veteran of the "video wars" of the past three decades, will open the program with a review of the history of broadcast technology, milestones that are essential to understanding today's—and tomorrow's—developments. You can't see where you're going if you don't know where you've been.
2. That takes us up to the present, where Roy Trumbull, SMPTE-SF chairman and industry guru, will give us the most realistic assessment of the current state of TV broadcasting and its near-term prognosis—for some, it ain't pretty—that you may ever hear. Roy is going to tell us exactly how naked the emperor really is. You probably won't hear this kind of candor about today's state of broadcasting and DTV anywhere else—at least not in public, and certainly not from most industry pundits, the FCC, or politicians!
3. Birney Dayton, the new chairman of Miranda, the co-founder of NVision of Nevada City, and a former VP of engineering at Grass Valley Group, is going to take us into the future, that is, where TV broadcasting and video will be in ten years and more. In a conversation with John Hartwell almost a decade ago, Birney outlined what he thought would be the state of the art by now. John reports Birney was almost 100 percent accurate in his predictions! Birney's crystal ball has always been very good. It'll pay you to learn about his vision of the next ten years.
Students, mid-life job-seekers, and people anywhere in their careers will benefit from these insights, in part to help them avoid making the mistake of someone seeking long-term employment in the buggy-whip business in 1900. After the brief formal presentations, we'll have an informal panel of our speakers to answer audience questions and comments.
4. "NAB Wrap-Up": A part of the panel discussion, this will be especially useful for those who weren't able to get to Las Vegas this year. Even if you did attend the NAB Convention, you will want to hear other perspectives. Besides the panel, the audience will include many well-informed people who keep their fingers on the pulse of this business who will share their insights about technical trends and products they saw at the show.
5. Tours of the Napa Valley College Telecommunications Training Facilities: Director Gary Vann and his students will show us around their facilities and explain their outstanding teaching program. Be sure to bring your high school- and college-age offspring and their friends. Now in its 30th year, the Napa program offers one of the most successful training courses in the nation for television maintenance and operation engineers. Napa's well-equipped facilities include analog and digital SDTV and HDTV, one of the reasons their students are able to move from the classroom directly into employment in the industry. For years, Napa has enjoyed an almost 100-percent job-placement rate.
6. Lunch (no-host) at a nearby Napa restaurant, TBA
7. Tour of the Napa Area: (no-host) visits to local wineries
See you at Napa College on Saturday morning!
If you haven't already, please email us if you think you can attend, and let us know how many might be in your group. Thanks! smpte.napa@data4u.com
Roy Trumbull, SF Section Chair rhtrumbull@earthlink.net
See the 3 maps below. Signs will be posted at the campus and building entrances.
Directions to Napa Valley College
From the East Bay take 80 north through Vallejo. Look for the Solano County Fairgrounds on your left and Marine World. Take the Marine World Parkway west over the freeway toward Marine World. (May be Columbus Pkwy on some maps.) Continue past the Marine World turnoff until you reach Sonoma Blvd (Hwy 29) and make a right (north).
When you get past the American Canyon exit the road will split with a branch going to the left (Hwy 12). Keep going straight ahead on the Napa-Vallejo Hwy (221). You’ll pass a park on your left and beyond it, also on the left, is Napa College. Follow the signs for the college. If you get to Imola Av., you’ve gone to far.
On campus there will be signs directing you. Head toward the parking lot at the north end of the campus. We’ll either be in 921 or 901. We’ll have some people out in the parking lot.
From Marin County
If you take 101 N and make a right on 37, don’t take any of the shortcuts along the way unless you know them really well. It’s easy to get lost. Just stick it out on 37 until you get to Sonoma Blvd.
Maps
AAA maps are the best. Online maps should be taken with a grain of salt.