HPA Tech Retreat 2010

Posted By Barry Goch on March 16, 2010 12:00 am | Permalink
Hello Post readers! I'm watching a progress bar in Metafuze transcoding some Red dailies so I thought I would catch up on my blogging.

I had a whirlwind week back in February as I worked part of the week on a two TV shows, demo'd Smoke on Mac at a trade show, and that evening drove out to the desert for the HPA (Hollywood Post Alliance) Tech Retreat. I could just squeeze the last day into my schedule, but it was well worth it.

The HPA Tech retreat is an annual event that take place in February at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage. On Bob Hope Drive no less. This retreat is really the meeting of the minds for all the heavyweights in the industry. For example, this is how my day started...

After gathering a sumptuous breakfast, I joined a table with the head of a well-known LA based reseller, and an executive from Technicolor, and two gentleman from Arriflex. The breakfast discussion revolved around the DPX format and how it stores color information in terms of bit-depth. Talk about having dose of Wheaties for breakfast!

The panel after breakfast was an in-depth look at audio loudness. I even asked a question of the panel!

The next presentation was by Michael Bergeron from Panasonic. He gave a helpful overview of stereo filmmaking and explained the design process behind Panasonic's just announced 3D camcorder.

Hugo Gaggioni and Yasuhiko Mikami from Sony previewed some very exciting developments in 4K production and post that I'm sure we'll see next month at NAB.

Those are just a few highlights from this event. For me, this is my new must-attend event. Nowhere else can you find so many high-caliber participants under one roof, in a casual environment, far from the hectic pace that is NAB. I've already marked off February 15-18, 2011 on my calendar for next year's event. Hope to see you there.