Bremen, Hollywood, 15. October 2015

Cube-Tec team receives SMPTE award

Burghardt, Houpert, and Meyer of Cube-Tec to receive SMPTE 2015 Journal Certificate of Merit

Jürgen Burghardt, Jörg Houpert, and Timo Meyer of Cube-Tec International, have been selected by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers® (SMPTE®) and will be recognised with the SMPTE 2015 Journal Certificate of Merit for the paper, “Increased Value of Video Assets: New Technologies for the Automatic Transfer and Digital Preservation of Analog Videocassettes,” published in the January 2014 issue of the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal.


The paper describes a new technology for a software-based high quality transfer of video tapes to archives. By rebuilding the video tape recorder (VTR) playback process in software improved processing and algorithms can be applied beyond the limits of technology of the time the VTR technology was created. This can support the analysis and detection of many playback imperfections like drop-outs. The tape read-out can be improved. This new technology can help to preserve audio-visual (AV) assets and its inherent cultural, political and historical heritage.

The award will be presented at the Society’s Honors & Awards Ceremony during the SMPTE 2015 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition (SMPTE 2015), October 26-29, 2015 in Hollywood, CA.

Millions of video tapes worldwide are still stored in shelves waiting to be transferred into future digital archives. I hope that our paper encourages archivists worldwide to use only the highest quality systems and best technology to transfer, protect and maintain the value of AV-material for the long term future and for many generations of people to come.
- Jürgen Burghardt - Business Development Video (Cube-Tec International)


About the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers® (SMPTE®)
The Oscar® and Emmy® Award-winning Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers® (SMPTE®), a professional membership association, is a leader in the advancement of the art, science, and craft of the image, sound, and metadata ecosystem, worldwide. An internationally recognized and accredited organization, SMPTE advances moving-imagery education and engineering across the communications, technology, media, and entertainment industries. Since its founding in 1916, SMPTE has published the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal and developed more than 800 standards, recommended practices, and engineering guidelines.

More than 6,000 members — motion-imaging executives, engineers, creative and technology professionals, researchers, scientists, educators, and students — who meet in Sections throughout the world, sustain the Society. Through the Society’s partnership with the Hollywood Post Alliance® (HPA®), this membership is complemented by the professional community of businesses and individuals who provide the expertise, support, tools, and infrastructure for the creation and finishing of motion pictures, television programs, commercials, digital media, and other dynamic media content. Information on joining SMPTE is available at https://www.smpte.org/join.

About Cube-Tec International
Cube-Tec International is a pioneer in quality-supervised, file-based processing for large-scale media archives. For more than 15 years Cube-Tec supports clients with innovative, customized solutions for media quality control and workflow optimisation.

Cube-Tec's products are in use at world leading media companies and renowned government archives. With installations in more than 100 media archives in 22 countries, Cube-Tec today is in a leading position in this market. Cube-Tec's technology is licensed to companies like Adobe and Steinberg Media Technologies. Also, Cube-Tec is a member of various European research projects and involved in international media standardisation activities at SMPTE, AMWA and EBU.