DVB honours a true pioneer with fellowship for David Wood
Marking a career in media technology that ran for more than 55 years, and his leading role in both the founding of DVB and the development of some of its most important specifications, David Wood was made an Honorary Fellow of the DVB Project in Munich last week. The award was presented by DVB Chair Remo Vogel at the end of DVB World 2025.
While some delegates were already ‘in the loop’ regarding the planned presentation, for most it was a wonderful surprise to see a genuine DVB pioneer joining the closing circle at the event. In his acceptance speech, David generously namechecked several others who had been instrumental in the creation and progress of the DVB Project and recalled that, in 1993, he was asked to run the Project Office for the new organization. He was also the first secretary of the DVB Technical Module, and was thus directly involved in the creation of DVB’s first specification, DVB-S.
Working for the EBU from 1980, David was a well-known figure across many international organizations. He led the ITU groups that prepared the recommendations for digital television, HDTV, and UHDTV. Indeed, he also led DVB’s work on developing specifications for UHD as well as, albeit with less market success (so far!), the work on 3DTV.
From Teletext to YouTube
Looking back even further in time, Remo Vogel asked David to talk about about his role in the development of Teletext, a project he worked on in the mid-1970s when with the IBA. Remo also mentioned the popular series of videos that David made with the EBU, in which he explained a range of technical concepts in simple terms.
David was acclaimed by the DVB World 20205 attendees with several warm rounds of applause. Urging those present to take advantage of the opportunity to make lasting contributions to the development of media technology, he quoted from a favourite poem by Ernest Dowson:
They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.
