Compensate for our location
(Waco is not the center of the Communication Industry)

Build a reputation

Build industry contacts

Cooperate on research

Internships

If it is really bleeding edge, no one expects you to have much or any of this technology.

Manufacturers will loan prototype equipment if there is something in it for them.

When it comes time to purchase, one can make much better informed choices

Regardless of what their particular area of interest happens to be, they get better entry-level positions, and they move up much more rapidly.

Mass Communication academics can bring a valuable perspective to proceedings usually dominated by engineers.

First Baylor HDTV production, 1988

First Baylor TV Prod class entirely in HD, 1990

What engineers "know" is sometimes wrong – for example:

Is Super16 suitable for HDTV production?

Can Digital HDTV recorders playback in slow-motion?

What is the limiting factor for camera resolution?

Do not blindly follow the market

The market is not very smart (especially now, the industry is very confused)

Broadcasters and video producers have only some of the same needs that colleges and universities do

Productivity matters

If you are not careful, new tech can make you less productive

Always weigh costs vs. benefits

Vendors are money-mad pirates

You must deal with the pirates to survive

When universities buy technology, the primary beneficiary is usually the vendor

You can believe neither

what you read in the trade press, nor

what you see at NAB

European digital HD recorder

"networked" newsroom

fibre-channel networks

The three most important factors in new comm tech are:

Bandwidth

Bandwidth

Bandwidth

The best technology almost never wins

MPEG-2 (and then MPEG-4) are the future

Find ways to buy LESS client-side technology