The Fox Movietone News Preservation Project: The Computer Control System

Metadata

Publisher: SMPTE — White Plains, NY, USA
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: SMPTE J
Volume: 105, No. 9, pp. 560–562
Abstract: This paper describes the computer control system developed to automate the transfer of thousands of reels of historic Fox Movietone News film to three types of magnetic tape media. The system was quickly implemented using a low-cost Macintosh computer and LabVIEW software to provide an enhanced graphical operator interface and a flexible environment for future design changes.
Publication Date: 1996-09-01
DOI: 10.5594/J04613
ISSN: Print: 0036-1682
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/J04613
Author(s): Scott E. HamiltonFox Animation Studios, Phoenix, AZ 85016.
bio
Scott E. Hamilton graduated from the University of Nebraska with a B.S. degree and subsequently performed postgraduate work in computer science at the University of Nebraska and the University of Maryland. A broadcasting career that began in 1966 at KUON-TV and subsequently the Nebraska ETV Network led to engineering and development work at the Public Broadcasting Service in Washington, D.C., where he worked on software for the first closed-caption system for the hearing impaired and the first computer-controlled video switching system for the PBS network origination center. Hamilton subsequently held senior engineering and management positions at Litton Systems, Inc., at Satellite Business Systems, and at General Electric. He was director of computer engineering at the Advanced Television Test Center in Alexandria, Va., from 1989 through 1994. — Following his involvement with ATTC, Hamilton founded Pyxis Corp., in association with Jeffrey Longbottom, to continue interests in developing advanced computer control systems employing multimedia equipment and systems. One of those projects was the Fox Movietone News system. Hamilton is currently director of engineering at Fox Animation Studios in Phoenix, Ariz. He is a member of ACM, IEEE, AES, and SMPTE.
Jeffrey U. LongbottomAtlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. (At the time of writing both authors were with Pyxis Corp., Phoenix, Ariz.)
bio
Jeffrey U. Longbottom graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a degree in computer science. He began his engineering career designing and integrating computer information systems for Resource Dynamics Corp., an energy research firm in northern Virginia. — In 1990 Longbottom joined the Advanced Television Test Center as a software design engineer tasked with developing the computer control system software for ATTC. The software consisted of an automation system to precisely control the test environment, and a data management system to carefully capture and store data for future evaluation. Following his work at ATTC, Longbottom collaborated with Scott Hamilton on the development of the Fox Movietone News system software for Pyxis Corp. Currently, Longbottom is associated with the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games as the manager of timing and results systems for the host broadcaster, Atlanta Olympic Broadcasting 1996.
Copyright: © 1996 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

1. Hamilton S. E. Longbottom J. U. , “The ATTC Laboratory Automation System,” NAB Eng. Conf., Las Vegas, Nev., Apr. 1992 . EXTERNAL

Source Data (JSON)

Full registry record with provenance metadata. Open directly: /api/doc/10.5594-J04613.json

Reference Tree

Explore all references and references to this document, as a navigable tree.

Open Reference Tree

Reference this Doc

Plain text (ISO 690 compliant)

Preview:

Scott E. Hamilton and Jeffrey U. Longbottom; The Fox Movietone News Preservation Project: The Computer Control System, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 105, Issue: 9, September 1996); SMPTE, 1996. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J04613

Snippet:

Scott E. Hamilton and Jeffrey U. Longbottom; The Fox Movietone News Preservation Project: The Computer Control System, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 105, Issue: 9, September 1996); SMPTE, 1996. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J04613

HTML (ISO 690 compliant)

Preview:

Snippet:

<span class="citation">Scott E. Hamilton and Jeffrey U. Longbottom; <cite>The Fox Movietone News Preservation Project: The Computer Control System</cite>, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 105, Issue: 9, September 1996); SMPTE, 1996. Available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5594/J04613" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5594/J04613</a></span>

SMPTE's HTML Pub

Preview:

Snippet:

<li>
Scott E. Hamilton and Jeffrey U. Longbottom; <cite id="bib-10-5594-j04613">The Fox Movietone News Preservation Project: The Computer Control System</cite>, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 105, Issue: 9, September 1996); SMPTE, 1996
<span class="doi">10.5594/J04613</span>
</li>

Referenced By

The Fox Movietone News Preservation Project: Engineering Overview [Active]