Principal
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Michael Karagosian is president of MKPE Consulting LLC, a consultancy he founded in 1988. Originally focused on cinema product development and theme park system design, the company evolved to address the challenging aspects of business development for emerging technologies. Michael has over 30 years of experience in the cinema industry, and has been active in the digital cinema space since 1999. He has played multiple roles in the advancement of digital cinema technology, from negotiating virtual print fee agreements for subsidizing the adoption of digital projection in cinemas, to driving several of the core technologies that underlie digital cinema. Michael's keen sense of product development and strategy, coupled with his knowledge of the marketplace and an ability to lead collaborative efforts, has served him throughout his career.
His career began in Silicon Valley, when it was truly about silicon, designing integrated circuits for custom shop Interdesign. Branching into manufacturing, Michael joined the management team of DWD Audio, a manufacturer of consumer loudspeakers. Later, he joined Dolby Laboratories, where he led cinema and studio product development, followed by the further development of cinema products as Chief Engineer for BGW Systems. Walt Disney Imagineering became a client in the 90's, where he designed systems for theme park attractions and drove the adoption of networked audio. With Clyde McKinney, Michael co-founded and was president of Cinema Group Ltd., together leading product concept, marketing, and sales for the CinemAcoustics division of Peavey Electronics. The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) became a client in late 2000, where he chaired the NATO Technology Committee, produced NATO's Digital Cinema System Requirements, and represented the exhibition industry in discussions with Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI). As a member of the Board of Directors of 3-D conversion company In-Three, he drove industry relations. Michael works with numerous clients to educate on latest developments, and sharpen strategies for new products and services. His work in the development of deployment entities and in virtual print fee (VPF) negotiations has enabled thousands of exhibitors around the world to afford the conversion to digital projection. He has been a chairman in the SMPTE digital cinema standardization effort since its inception, where he has been a champion of open standards for the cinema industry.
Among Michael's many technical achievements is the development of 70mm split surround for the release of Apocalypse Now, the pre-cursor to 5.1 sound. He also produced the Dolby CP200 Cinema Audio Processor, which became the THX standard, and led development of Dolby's first studio 24-channel noise reduction frame, the SP Series 24-channel studio noise reduction unit. CinemAcoustics, a company Michael co-founded, was the first to produce a full line of THX approved cinema sound products, utilizing Michael's CinemaMatrix™ digital surround decoder, installed in top screening rooms including those of Skywalker Sound and Pixar. In 2005, Michael drove the world's first public demonstration of digitally projected 3-D at ShoWest, which launched the digital 3-D phenomenon. In SMPTE, he initiated and chaired the development of digital cinema packaging (DCP), the Facility List Message (FLM) for security key management, and the cinema industry's first standards for accessibility. Michael currently co-chairs the SMPTE Study Group for Higher Frame Rates (HFR) in 2-D and 3-D.
He was awarded the ShoWest Award of Appreciation for Contribution to the Advancement of Digital Cinema in 2006, and is a SMPTE Fellow. Michael was a contributing author of Understanding Digital Cinema, as well as the EC publication Digital Cinema Perspectives. He is editor of mkpeReport, an online publication educating and analyzing the ongoing activities in digital cinema.
Michael is an Electrical Engineering and Computer Science graduate of U.C. Berkeley. He performed graduate work in technology and business at Santa Clara University and UCLA.
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