Adaptive Media Systems Engineering

Author: Philip J. Cianci, CSTE, CBNT

SBE Members: $149; Non-members: $209

The advent of digital television and the transition to digital transmission, the implementation information technology (IT) laden broadcast infrastructures, and the evolution to file-based production, has precipitated challenges and the need for broadcast engineers to master a new set of technical skills. To matters a little more interesting (and challenging), the emergence of multiple delivery channels - which can be used both for consumer distribution and professional backhaul and contribution - have complicated matters even more. And with business moving from paper to electronic systems for maintaining business information, and with the need to automate the flow of this information and metadata through every area of operations, from rights management, ad sales, traffic, media management, content movement and play to air, the opportunity now exists to integrate all business, creative and media processes into a holistic workflow, streamlining operations to meet the needs of the any content, anywhere, at any time on any device media-multiverse.

As a result, new skills are needed, both technical and communication; teamwork and planning have now come to the fore. A new design philosophy requires the elimination of silos, and that a symbiosis of business, creative and technical considerations, requirements and harmony system integration and media and data flow is adhered to.

This course addresses the challenges of a contemporary technologist who works in the broadcast or media industry and offers techniques to ease the transition from Broadcast Engineer to Media Systems Engineer. Each lesson, or chapter, provides practical suggestions and solutions for the digital era. 

This course was written for the SBE by member Philip J. Cianci, CSTE, CBNT. He is the author of High Definition Television - the Creation, Development and Implementation of HDTV Technology, published by McFarland in January 2012. This thoroughly researched work traces the 40-year history of high definition television technology is from initial studies in Japan, through its development in Europe, and then to the United States, where the first all-digital systems were implemented; followed by advances in HDTV technology in Australia and Japan, Europe's introduction of HDTV, Brazil's innovative use of MPEG-4 and China's terrestrial standard.