Charles A. Poynton is a Canadian technical consultant and writer based in Toronto.[1] He gives seminars on digital video systems and has written two books, A Technical Introduction to Digital Video (Wiley, 1996;) and Digital Video and HDTV: Algorithms and Interfaces (Morgan Kaufmann, 2003;). He is currently a columnist at Spectracal.com.[2]
Poynton is a Fellow of SMPTE, and was awarded the David Sarnoff Gold Medal in 1993 for his work to "integrate video technology with computing and communications".[3]
He is a popular teacher of seminars and travels widely for this purpose.[4]
In 1981, he founded Poynton Vector Corporation to design and build digital television processing equipment for NASA's Johnson Space Center. From 1985 to 1995, this equipment converted the field-sequential color television signal from the Space Shuttle to NTSC, for viewing, recording, and distribution to television networks.[5]