==course no. 6 ===

HDTV Architectures From A Computer Graphics Perspective

course level: intermediate / full
day offered: Tuesday

Chair(s): Gary Demos - DemoGraFX

==Lecturer(s)===  
Gary Demos 
DemoGraFX

Branko Gerovac
MIT Media Lab

Michael Liebhold
Apple Computer

Eric Petajan
AT&T Bell Labs

Walter Gish
Terabit

==Course Description===   
There is a convergence between computers and video in the form of 
multimedia.  HDTV will potentially have a major impact on computer 
graphics and imaging.  Come and learn about the technical issues involved 
in the unfoldment of digital HDTV.

==Who Should Attend===  
This course is designed for the SIGGRAPH technical audience.  It is the 
intention that those knowledgeable in the techniques of computer graphics 
could benefit from this introduction to the technical issues of HDTV.  This 
course is especially relevant to anyone who has ever wondered why 
multimedia video on a computer screen seems to have funny motion, appear 
fuzzy, and to have the wrong color and contrast.  The topics should be of 
interest to anyone who is technically involved in integrating video and 
computers, or who intends to work with HDTV in the future.

==Recommended Background (Prerequisites)===  
The course assumes a knowledge of the pixel raster common to digital video 
and computer graphics displays and frame buffers.  A familiarity with RGB, 
as well as color component luminance formats may be helpful.  Mathematics 
familiarity at least at the level of basic calculus is assumed, although a 
beginning knowledge of Fourier Transforms is helpful in understanding 
digital image compression.  Beginning digital signal processing is also 
helpful, but not required.

==Course Objectives===  
This course will provide an overview of the issues involved in high 
definition television.  It is anticipated that high definition imaging will have 
a major impact on computer graphics, just as multimedia is the beginning of 
moving video imagery on the desktop.  The subject is treated from the 
perspective of computer graphics, by instructors experienced in both 
computer graphics and high definition imaging.  Technical issues which are 
fundamental to the subject include colorimetry and digital pixel 
representations, resolution conversion (transcoding), frame rate conversion 
issues, and digital image compression.  Many of these issues are being 
developed and resolved within numerous standards bodies.  The course will 
provide an overview of all of the technical and developmental issues in high 
definition television, as well as describing specific technical developments at 
the forefront of these issues.

==Chair Biography===  
Gary Demos is the founder and President/CEO of DemoGraFX.  For twenty 
years, he has been working with high resolution computer graphics imaging 
onto film.  He has also produced for digital video.  Gary is best known to 
Siggraph members as one of the founders of the Information International 
("Triple-I") motion group, and of Digital Productions, which used a Cray 
supercomputer to produce motion picture imagery.  He has also worked with 
other supercomputers such as the the massively parallel Connection Machine 
and MasPar.  

Gary has been involved in the software and hardware development which 
supported numerous motion pictures, such as "Futureworld," "Looker," 
"Tron," "Last Starfighter," "2010,"  and "Labyrinth."  Gary received an 
Academy Scientific and Engineering Award "For the Practical Simulation of 
Motion Picture Photography By Means of Computer - Generated Images" in 
1984.  

Gary has been an active participant in the international HDTV standards 
making processes.  Gary believes in the inevitable convergence of computer 
graphics and interactive advanced digital television systems.