MWC LA 2019 Lays out the Road Ahead for 5G

MWC LA 2019 Lays out the Road Ahead for 5G

August 2019 – The MWC LA Conference is once again bringing the latest technology and information on 5G, connected cars and everything wireless to the US.  The MWC LA conference is the North Amercian centered show of the industry leading cellular  MWC Barcelona conference in February. 

The Conference in LA shows off the new technologies for the ever ongoing advanced in cell phone and the associated wireless connectivity.  While the big title may be 5G, it also means connected cars, new experiences for entertainment and gaming, and security for all these connections..

For Entertainment, the long awaited higher performance for mobile games is on the way.  This will allow the cell phone and table platforms to have similar gaming graphics as console games offered just a short while back.  It also means that PC and console games can enjoy new wireless controllers and connectivity bringing a new gaming experience.

The 5G technology is also supposed to be the last piece of the puzzle to allow Virtual Reality to become the mainstream viewing environment for all gaming and content.  It has been hypothesized by several VR makers that while their sales targets have been behind for over a decade, with 5G deployment their sales will beat all expectations and replace TVs and cell phones as the primary screens in peoples lives.  This are pretty big shoes for 5G to fill.

The conference will also cover entertainment content which is about streaming media in a cellular and wireless environment.  These discussions pertain not only to being able to enjoy your favorite movie and live sports with a better quality of experience, but  also for being able to participate in high quality video conferences and intranet based video message delivery.

The conference has keynotes from many leaders including FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Executives from Verizon, Intel, US Cellular, Ericsson, Nokia and Open Table.

The 3 day event is returning to the LA Convention Center October 22-24, 2019.

SMPTE ETCA highlights creation and distribution

SMPTE ETCA highlights creation and distribution

ETCA, June 2016 – This year SMPTE had a new venue for their Entertainment Technology in the Connected Age (ETCA) conference, relocating to Campbell CA in the center of Silicon Valley from their prior location at Stanford University.  The event was opened by SMPTE President Robert Seidel, who is also the CTO of CBS.  He started by emphasizing that for the past 100 years the group has focused not only on the global standards and methods for content creation, but also on the technologies behind getting that content to the people who can enjoy it.  This includes the identification and use of new devices and methods as well as the definition to be able to share content among them.

Robert was followed by Pat Griffis who is the VP of Education for SMPTE who is from Dolby Labs.  He gave a quick overview of the SMPTE Advanced Technology Conference (ATC) that is being held in October.  The 100th anniversary event will be at the Ray Dolby Theater in Hollywood, CA and will feature an opening night Red Carpet event.

The two day event discussed traditional broadcast over the air as well as the addition of Internet based streaming connections to mobile devices and computers.  A number of the discussions focused on the change from linear television where the programs are available on a set schedule to the on-demand capability of the viewers as well “binge” watching of shows.  It also discussed the place and method of getting user created content up to the cloud, and how to then get that content out to the global viewers.

The lunch time keynote was from AMD announcing their new consumer graphics card for VR applications.  The card that was introduced by Roy Taylor retails for $199 and is called the Radeon RX 480.  It has been qualified on all VR platforms – Occulus, Valve, and HTC.  The price point also makes the card viable for industries that are rapidly adopting AR for their workflows and IT departments.  The goal is to make the product available at a price that is not only acceptable by a large range of consumers, but also for both public and private schools.