Academy Announces Primetime Emmy Engineering Awards

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced the recipients of the 2004 Primetime Emmy Engineering Awards. Recipients will receive their awards during the Primetime Creative Arts ceremony on Sunday, September 12th at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Following are the 2004 Primetime Emmy Engineering Awards winners:

The Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Les Paul, who is credited with sound-on-sound, over-dubbing, the electronic reverb effect and multi-track tape recording. Paul developed the first eight- track recorder in the late 1940s by stacking eight Ampex tape machines and synchronizing them, which translated into the Ampex videotape recorders, evolving into audio consoles, and many of the tools that have revolutionized our industry and are now the standard.
Chyron Corporation will receive a Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Emmy for their invention and development of the character generator.
Dolby Sound Meter – Dolby Laboratories will receive an Emmy for The Dolby LM100 Broadcast Loudness Meter, a tool for measuring the subjective loudness of dialogue within broadcast programming. It solves the problem of measuring dialogue loudness with a new technology called Dialogue Intelligence, developed specifically to measure the perceived loudness of dialogue.

The Sony/Panavision HDW-F900; a.k.a. Panavised F900, is receiving an Emmy as the world's first digital 24P imaging system that combines high quality optics, cutting edge digital signal processing and storage in one package. The Sony HDW-F900 digital camcorder was extensively customized by Panavision to meet the requirements of the most discerning cinematographers, and mounted to a new generation of high quality optics that were specifically developed for the Panavised F900. The first productions made by the Panavised F900 were “Vidocq” (director Pitof) and “Starwars Episode-II Attack of the clones” (director George Lucas). Ever since, the HDW-F900 has become the benchmark camera for multi-camera TV sitcoms, documentaries, and independent movie production.

Following are the Engineering Plaque winners:
Rosco Lite Scenic Backdrops (Rosco Laboratories, Inc.) - A photo-realistic vinyl backdrop that shows a daytime scene when front-lit and a night scene when back lit.

Perfect Horizon (Motion Picture Marine) – The only 2 and 3 axis stabilization head that allows the camera operator to physically operate the camera "hands on."

Following are the Certificate of Achievement honorees:

Blackwrap (Gamproducts, Inc.) – Enables the grip or gaffer to modify and shape the beam of light quickly and safely. Impervious to the high temperature of the light source, it can be applied directly to the hot light shaping the beam which eliminates light spills and controls the light.

Toplight (Finn Film Services) – A lightweight, integrated multiple Par unit that hangs horizontally.

Ron Estes – for engineering the first stereo broadcast ("The Tonight Show" on July 26, 1984).

The awards are overseen by the Engineering Committee Chair Cristy Trembly. Award winners receive either an Emmy Statuette or an Engineering Plaque. The Emmy is given to an individual, company or an organization for developments in engineering that are either so extensive an improvement on existing methods or so innovative in nature that they materially affect the transmission, recording or reception of television. The Engineering Plaque is given for those achievements that exhibit a high level of engineering and are important to the progress of the industry. The Plaque is not meant to be a consolation prize, but a positive recognition of engineering achievements that represent a different level of technology and industry importance than the Emmy.