Now in its 27th year, the Napa Valley College Telecommunications Departmentoffers one of the most successful training programs in the nation for videomaintenance engineers. Their well-equipped training facilities includeanalog and digital SDTV and HDTV, one of the reasons their students areable to move from the classroom directly into employment in the industry.For years, Napa has enjoyed an almost 100% job placement rate. ProgramCoordinator Gary Vann and his students will take us on tours of the facility.
Some say the number of qualified technicians, nationwide, able to troubleshootincreasingly complex digital gear is continuing to decline, while the demandsfor competent diagnostic work are increasing. Others say, "More expertiseneeds to be built into the hardware." Tektronix is addressingthis problem with their PQA-200 Picture Quality Analysis system.Bill Mock will explain the theory of the system, with hardware demonstrations.He will use a Tektronix MPEG-2 fileserver, the PDR-300 Profile,as the source for picture quality analyses, with various degrees of compression.
The PQA is able to look at a sample of video over time and provide bothobjective and subjective measurements of digital and analog parameters.The unit gives a picture-quality rating much like an expert in the fieldcan do, helping to catch video glitches caused by incorrect encoding andcompression. The PQA-200 won't put video technicians out of work. The unitinforms the operator -- the "compressionist" -- that errors are occurringthat require expert intervention.
Following the meeting, we'll have a no-host lunch nearby, the placeto be announced on the day. A pleasant afternoon tour through the NapaValley, one of California's most picturesque areas, may be reason enoughto drive up for the show! See you there.
*NOTE: This Napa event is the first of twoSMPTE-SF meetings this month. On Thursday, 27 May, at 7:30 PMat the SGI Presentation Center in Mountain View, we're having an "NABWrap-Up" meeting,which will be especially useful for those who couldn'tget to Vegas this year. People who keep their fingers on the pulse of thisbusiness will share some of their insights about technical trends and productsthey noted at the show. We're going to line up some demo gear, as well.Please check this website soon for more details about the event.
See the 3 maps below. Signs will be posted atthe campus and building entrances.
