Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers (1930-1949)

of the IRE, RTMA and NARTB, this has been agreed to be outside the field of interest of the JCIG. The Society has, however, been engaged in a running argument with The Illuminating Engineering Society respecting duplication of effort here, which was resolved for a while by an IES agreement to leave this to SMPTE, while working in IES with the lighting problems associated with television viewing. This agreement has since been abandoned, however, so that two separate technical committees of quite similar membership presently exist in the field of television studio lighting, one sponsored by SMPTE and one by IES. We have recently explored the possibility of reducing this to a single Joint Committee of the two Societies, as with Television Film Equipment, but this has so far been unsuccessful, and further efforts have now been abandoned. It has been accepted as a basic policy of the SMPTE Committee that only those projects shall be undertaken which are of admitted interest to the television studio engineers. Equipment makers and other suppliers of the studios are in the minority on the Committee, and serve primarily as sources of information. Richard Blount of General Electric is serving his second term as Chairman of this Committee, and is presently active in promoting the chosen Committee objectives of: (1) defining means for the measurement of television studio lighting, both incident and reflected; (2) terminology; and (3) the possible standardization of electrical plugs. Test Film Quality This Committee was first organized in 1944, in order to provide expert advice respecting the maintenance of proper quality of the Society's test films. Responsibility for defining the content of one of these test films lies ordinarily with the Engineering Committee most concerned, as does the suggestion of new test films as their need becomes apparent. The Quality Committee, on the other hand, sees to it that appropriate controls are devised and maintained to insure that the films made are in accordance with these specifications. With the full time employment of Fred Whitney about one year ago, Society headquarters facilities for test film quality maintenance have been much augmented. The present Chairman of this important Committee is Fred Pfeiff of Altec Service Corp., who is exceptionally well acquainted with test film quality considerations from the user's standpoint. The Committee membership consists of persons expert in the processing of high quality film, including a representative of the Motion Picture Research Council. Theater Television This Committee was first organized in 1944 as a Subcommittee on Television Projection Practice of the Committee on Theater Engineering, acquiring the present title of "Theater Television" in 1948. The group has operated to date largely as a policy Committee, and for the purpose of assembling and distributing technical information of interest in this important new field. The Society has also appeared before the Federal Communications Commission, presenting data secured through this Committee relating to the nature of the facilities thought necessary for a theater television distribution system.22 Largely as the result of the stimulation provided through this Committee, many business groups became actively interested in theater television, and these have also appeared with increasing enthusiasm before the FCC in support of this new medium. Finally, it became apparent that the services of the Society were no longer needed to plead this cause, and the Theater Television Committee recommended that the Society F. T. Bowditch: Engineering Activities 173