Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (1950-1954)

As Chairman of the Sustaining Memberships Committee Mr. Sponable, PastPresident, reported that he had recently approved the printing of an illustrated brochure to be sent promptly to all Sustaining members of the Society with an individual letter inviting a nominal increase in Sustaining support. He pointed out that this would be the beginning of the Society's Sustaining campaign for 1952 and would ultimately include invitations to a large number of businesses not now represented. He received the suggestion that the large number of television film producers whose work is guided technically by the Society be invited to support the Society's technical work through the medium of Sustaining memberships. ENGINEERING F. T. Bowditch, Engineering VicePresident, invited the Board's attention to the schedule of six engineering committee meetings planned for Convention week. A brief report on these committee meetings appears elsewhere in this issue of the Journal. Nearly all of the engineering committees had been busy for the past several months reviewing current American standards preparatory to listing for the International Organization for Standardization the ones most suitable for consideration as future international standards. In this connection he pointed out that there had been little real interest among ASA's Photo Correlating Committee in the field of international motion picture standards and that, consequently, there was little enthusiasm for a projected meeting on this subject in New York during June 1952. Since these were the views generally held by engineers in the eastern part of the United States, Mr. Bowditch reported his plan to sound out a number of West Coast opinions on the merits of international standards for motion pictures and on the projected meeting. If held, host for the international meeting would be Sectional Committee PH22. It had been this committee's view that the meeting should be called if a satisfactory agenda could be developed by early 1952. In that case ASA would be asked to send out the official call for the meeting early in January so that delegates could make their plans in ample time to attend. There was also extended discussion of a glossary project that had received some attention over the past ten years but had never been attacked vigorously. Mr. Carlson, a Governor and also Chairman of the Standards Committee of the Society, reported that he had arranged for the engineering committees to revive this job by working on a number of sections which Hank Kogel, Staff Engineer, was, at that moment, organizing. As a matter of interest it was noted that the proposed FCC theater television hearings were again postponed — from November 26, 1951, to February 25, 1952. Boyce Nemec, Executive Secretary, reported on a meeting of study group 10 of the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR) which he and G. L. Dimmick, Magnetic Recording Subcommittee Chairman, had attended in Washington on September 27. Sound recording characteristics was the subject of the session and the meeting was under the chairmanship of Neal McNaughton of the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters. He was appointed Chairman of the study group at the VI Plenary Assembly of the CCIR, which was held in Geneva from June 5 to July 6, 1951. Purpose of the meeting was the discussion of recording characteristics for disk and magnetic records used in the international exchange of radio program material. The technical aspects of the problem were not considered by the Board, but Mr. Nemec expressed some concern over the sudden interest shown by CCIR, a telecommunications regulatory body in the field of industrial international standards. There was an apparent conflict with similar activities now beginning to move through the ASA-ISO channels and Mr. Bowditch offered to look into the question more thoroughly with the object of forming an official SMPTE policy. EDITORIAL J. G. Frayne, Editorial Vice-President, reported that his share of program arrangements for the 70th Convention was already completed and that the success of the Papers Committee had been largely the result of efforts by Fred Albin, West Coast Vice-Chairman, and E. S. Seeley, Chairman of the Papers Committee. Ed Templin, Chairman of the West Coast Public Address and Recording Committee, 499