IPTV Crash Course

Joseph Weber, Ph.D. (San Francisco, CA) has more than a decade of experience in digital video and its application to television services. He is currently Director of Product Management at personal video recorder (PVR) pioneer TiVo, Inc. Previously, as Director for Digital Video Platforms in the Strategic Assessment department for Cable Television Laboratories, Inc., Dr. Weber participated in the department's analysis of new technologies and business models that affect the cable industry. His particular focus was on the next generation of digital video technology and the transition of cable services to digital technologies. Dr. Weber also served as a product marketing manager at C-Cube Microsystems and participated in the development of consumer MPEG-2 video encoding technology, including the first PVR devices. Dr. Weber received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley. His thesis was on the measurement and use of visual motion, in particular as applied to robotics. He also holds a Master of Arts in Physics from Berkeley, an MBA from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Notre Dame. After completing his Ph.D., he was a lecturer at the California Institute of Technology and then at Santa Clara University, where he taught classes on video compression, image processing, and computer vision.



Tom Newberry (Indianapolis, IN) has more than 12 years of experience in digital video product development (consumer electronics) and more than 26 years of industry experience. He has worked on various facets of digital television, from its earliest days. His experience spans the digital end-to-end product value chain including content creation (with Technicolor in Los Angeles), network integration (including various headends), and client/end user devices including various digital set-top box architectures (IP STB, MMDS, cable, and so on). He contributed to the design and development of various set-top boxes for usage in consumers' homes, including MPEG-based decoders, media processors, and System on a Chip (SoC) solutions. His many contributions include participation in standards bodies such as the DVD forum. Mr. Newberry received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is currently an advanced product development manager at Thomson, Inc.