“Sex In The City,” “West Wing,” and “The Sopranos” weren’t the only big winners at the Emmy Awards. Panasonic, Hitachi, JVC, Zenith, TiVo, Faroudja and Pinnacle Systems all received technology Emmys for various innovations.
At the Technological/Engineering Emmy Award ceremony held here in October, before the entertainment Emmys, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences handed out awards.
Panasonic received an award for its efforts in the early 1980s that led to the development of consumer camcorders. “This award covers the full spectrum of consumer camcorder development,” explained Charlie Jablonski, chairman of the NATAS Engineering Achievement Awards Committee. It was the 14th Emmy Award received by the company, with 11 Emmys being presented for achievements in digital video technology.
Hitachi America received an award for “Pioneering Development of Consumer Camcorders” for its DVD-RAM camcorder, the DZ-MV100A. The unit, introduced in the United States during January, is said to be the world’s first DVD RAM-based camcorder with the ability to record high-quality video and still images to a DVD disc instead of tape media.
In the same category, JVC received an Emmy. Upon receiving the award, executive VP and chief operating officer Harry Elias said, “This is a great honor for JVC to be recognized in technical and engineering achievement for creating the first portable video system. The same pioneering spirit continues and maintains JVC’s position as a leader in the consumer electronics industry.”
Zenith Electronics was honored in the category of “Outstanding Achievements in Television Technology” for its development of flat-screen CRT television technology, whose research began in the 1970s. The core innovation was the so-called “flat tension mask” (FTM), said to be the industry’s first perfectly flat high-resolution color CRT. This is Zenith’s fourth Emmy, the other awards going for developments in stereo TV, remote control and digital HDTV.
TiVo won an Emmy for its creation, development and advancement of the digital video recorder technology and services. Faroudja, a division of Sage, was honored for its “Pioneering Development of an HDTV Upconverter.” It is the third Emmy for Faroudja, the other two being for engineering and a lifetime achievement award to founder Yves Faroudja. And Pinnacle Systems received an Emmy for technical achievement and developments in shared video data storage systems technology for use in television video servers.
