Thailand - MediaVision of Thailand has invested in a pair of Robert Juliat Merlin followspots supplied by Total Solution Marketing Pte.
MediaVision provides equipment and services for local and international concerts, as well as corporate events and conferences. Robert Juliat’s Merlin 2500W HMI touring followspot was ideal thanks to its rugged body, powerful output and 3°-12° zoom range, making it suitable for venues of all sizes.
“We chose the Merlin after Total Solution brought it to our attention in late 2016. We needed a followspot that was reliable and versatile enough to adapt to the many demands of a rental company,” says MediaVision’s Joe Thanaruch. “Robert Juliat’s reliability and build-quality is well-known, and Merlin turned out to be surprisingl

Lebanon - Clair Brothers has added Boujikian Bros. Co. to its growing list of distributors.
Established in 1984 as a supplier of a wide range of electronics accessories, Boujikian Bros. refocused its attention towards audio, lighting, rigging, staging as the company recognised the potential in the Lebanese market, as well as other expanding markets in their greater region. The company serves educational and religious institutions, corporate, governmental, and military sectors
Gary Boujikian, president and general manager, comments: “The quality products we provide are central to our success. It’s why when the opportunity arose to represent Clair Brothers, we didn’t hesitate. Loudspeakers don’t get any better than what Clair Brothers designs and manufactures, and the people at Clair Brothers couldn’t be nicer or easier to work with. I could tell right away whe

Billboard Awards - Ed Sheeran was the big winner at the Billboard Awards in Las Vegas. The singer took home four awards - top artist, top radio songs artist, top song sales artist and top hot 100.
Other artists used the ceremony to pay tribute to Avicii, the Swedish DJ who died last month aged 28. Andrew Taggart from The Chainsmokers said the DJ's death was "a great loss for the music world and for us. He was an artist who inspired so many in so many ways and simply put he meant so much to us and so many in the EDM community."
Halsey added: "Everyone who worked with him would agree he was such a joy and it makes this tragedy all the more painful. And it's a reminder to all of us to be there and to support and love all of our friends and family members who may be struggling with mental health issues."
The annual awards show, which celebrates artists' achievements

Europe - AVIXA, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association, has announced the appointment of Chris Lavelle to the position of senior director of development Europe. Lavelle takes on the role having spent nine years as regional director for UK and Ireland. He will lead the team based in Munich and the UK.
“It’s a real pleasure to be given this exciting opportunity, and I look forward to getting started in my new role,” says Lavelle. “There has been some fantastic work done by our team in Europe, and there is a strong desire and commitment from AVIXA to do even more to deliver our message, liaise closely with our existing members and further drive membership growth.”
The move will be effective 1 June. Current senior director of development Europe, Pam Taggart, will be moving into a global position with AVIXA as senior director of strategic relations

USA - At InfoComm 2018 in Las Vegas, Shure will feature the new Microflex Complete integrated audio system for conferences and meetings. Available in wireless and wired configurations, and with advanced meeting productivity tools, the systems delivers natural, intelligible audio for both in-room participants and remote attendees.
Boasting easy set-up, configuration and solid audio capabilities, Microflex Complete Wireless supports productive, engaging meetings even in the most challenging wireless communications environments, says the company.
The Microflex Complete Wireless system combines a fully-featured discussion system with wireless convenience for government, corporate, and educational facilities, and speeds setup in dynamic meeting spaces or at temporary meeting locations, such as hotels and conference centres.
With no cable limitations, Microflex Comple
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ETC Halcyon Silent

High End Systems Halcyon Silent builds on ETC’s legacy of fanless automated fixtures by incorporating features from the highly sought-after Halcyon family. Halcyon Silent perfectly balances silent operation with brilliant output of 18,400 lumens and high-impact features. 

For more information visit us at www.etcconnect.com

UK - PSCo, trade only rental supplier of display technologies, has invested in Absen’s new 3.9mm indoor / outdoor LED product within the Polaris range. The PL3.9 Pro LED is exclusively available in the UK from PSCo.
This new product from Absen is part of their High Brightness Black (HBB) range, an innovative new series which utilises Common Cathode technology. This provides dedicated voltages for individual RGB sub-pixels to substantially improve their efficiency. This results in 20% less power used and 20% less heat generated, allowing for more brightness output with total stability & reliability.
This technology means that the PL3.9 Pro with HBB can achieve 5000nits brightness with a 1921 black-face SMD - using less power and without compromising on brightness or black levels. This is delivered in an IP65 rated chassis allowing for excellent visual performance

UK - Event production company VisionEventsManchester (VE-M) has upgraded its equipment inventory, adding a selection of Doughty equipment to its stock.
Darren Howard, director, VE-M explains: "As VE-M has expanded, we found we were regularly hiring in stands and so it was really a natural choice that we should purchase some Doughty kit."
The company which was born out of Vision Events back in 2011 focuses on bringing together various elements of event design under one roof, making its clients' lives easier when organising often complex events. The addition of Doughty items to the company's stock is part of a major overhaul of VE-M's video, lighting, audio and rigging stock as the company continues to grow. Keen to invest in high quality technologies, Darren turned to A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) – one of Doughty's UK distributors to handle the entire upgra
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Create new traditions – Cameo P6 - High Output Full-Spectrum Ellipsoidal

Cameo's P6 is a future-proof LED profiler with a powerful 600 W RGBACL engine and 16,000 lumens. It’s an energy-efficient replacement for 2.5 kW halogen profile lights in theatres and venues. With excellent light quality and natural colour rendering, it fits perfectly in theatres, musicals, TV studios, congresses, and live events.

With an LED life of 50,000 hours and low power use, the P6 cuts energy costs and supports the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ goals for climate neutrality by 2050. It also meets updated eco-design rules for lighting.

www.cameolight.com/p6profile

Italy - Making its first appearance in many years, Nexo has returned to the Rimini trade show in some style, presenting three different line arrays systems on the expo’s live music stages.
Having seen attendance dwindle at the long-established entertainment technology exhibition, this year’s Music Inside Rimini saw a cooperative effort from rental companies and equipment distributors to revitalise the event and bring back the crowds. Alongside the traditional show halls, the new Live You Play initiative took over four halls at the exhibition centre, each set up with three stages equipped with a wide variety of audio, lighting and video systems.
With the same band in each hall moving around to play on each of the three stages, the event offered a chance to audition different branded systems in a true live environment.
Under the supervision of Nexo distributor

UK - Celebrating PLASA Focus Leeds’ 10th anniversary at the start of May, Current RMS was back at the popular show, exhibiting new features of its cloud-based rental management software to stand visitors.
In between catching up with their customers and demonstrating their software to new faces, the show proved an opportunity to showcase its new and highly-anticipated feature, Deal Pricing.
Requested directly by Current users via their online wishlist, Deal Pricing allows users to apply an agreed deal price straight to a job. This overrides the charge total and can either be applied as a blanket figure to all items on the job, or to individual groups, for example, audio or conference room sub-labels.
Handy for providing clients with friendlier quotations and charging a neat deal price for a job, feedback at the show was “overwhelmingly positive”. As with all

USA - At this year’s InfoComm, Martin Audio will be introducing Sound Adventures, a 3D sound experience in cooperation with its partner Astro Spatial Audio.
Immersive audio is becoming an important new trend across multiple applications, bringing with it an exciting and differentiated experience for the audience.
Martin Audio managing director, Dom Harter, comments: “There are many solutions now appearing in the market, but we believe that Sound Adventures, which combines our sound quality and dispersion control alongside the absolute 3D sound immersion of Astro Spatial Audio, is unrivalled.
“Martin Audio loudspeakers with Astro Spatial Audio processing is utilising nearly 30 patents to unite the audience in a fully 3D immersive sound field. Moreover, it does so without audible artefacts and provides a solution that is more realistic for the audience. Our c

The Netherlands - EVE is a restaurant and event location set in an old locomotive train repair hall, called Polygonal Hall, in Tilburg, Holland.
The hall is built around a circular platform which was formerly used to rotate and position trains in the correct track to enter and leave the big hall. You still can see all the old details in the well preserved monumental building.
The structure is highlighted by 66 Focus Pinspot compact lights with ultra-narrow beam, while the ceiling is lit by 24 Freeline 90FC LED bars. Scena LED 80 and Profilo LED 80 are used to light several details and areas in the building. This brings the total amount of DTS fixtures to 115, centrally driven by Drivenet 1664.
The installer was First Impression & Turific, lighting design is by Ruben Fernandes and Mischa Woudenberg and the lighting equipment was supplied by Full AVL.
(Ji

Portugal - LED solutions and bespoke installation provider, Light Initiative (LI) were 'on board' at this year's Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) to design and manufacture a custom-built LED scenic element for the UK entry, SuRie, with her song Storm.
LI worked with long-term client creative show director Dan Shipton of Black Skull Creative on a series of 18 video-mapped LED chevrons that created the perspective guiding 'corridor' of light in which the artist performed. The design was created to read as a flat video visual from the front, then stretch out to show depth and distance when viewed from the side.
"I wanted to close down the space on stage so that SuRie could completely own her environment," says Shipton. "However, it was not conducive to keep everything within a restricted space for the entire song and equally important was the opening up of the stage t

UK - Fifteen years ago The Prolight Concepts Group moved from its home in Bury to its current home in Darwen. It has now outgrown the 37,000sq.ft premises and is set to move.
Situated less than four miles away in the neighbouring town of Blackburn the new premises will see a tenfold increase in office and workshop space and treble the amount of warehouse bays. With the M65 motorway also being within such close proximity it allows excellent transport links to the M6 and the rest of the country for fast and efficient distribution along with easy access for visiting customers and suppliers.
“We are delighted to be able to secure the future growth of our business with this key property purchase. We have been actively seeking a location to build on the growth we have already accomplished and it was important to achieve this in the local area so we could maintain our high

UK - Backup’s Kart-Fest 2018 returns on 5 July at Daytona Sandown Park in Surrey, with Chauvet helping drive the event forward and Wimbledon named as this year’s theme.
“We all know people in it who have suffered or are suffering right now in our crazy industry family,” says Matt Hallard, Chauvet’s UK sales manager. “Having an opportunity to support friends and colleagues by sponsoring one of backup’s amazing events is simply the least we can do. Here’s to many more opportunities to shout loud about the great work the trustees and team are doing at Backup and here’s to all that support them.”
“We are delighted to welcome Chauvet as our key partner for Kart-Fest 2018,” says Backup trustee Lee Dennison. "Chauvet joins an amazing list of companies who have already committed to backup and supporting the work we do. We also welcome Creative Technolo

UK - For anyone working with video, codecs play a vital role in compressing clips for optimum playback in real-time scenarios. For many, the HAP codec - inter-operable between platforms - was key to their work. With Adobe having dropped support of QuickTime 7 (a popular platform that included the HAP codec) as of 24 April, a new workaround for many video professionals is needed. Step forward Green Hippo, whose FlexRes codec means its Hippotizer servers are unaffected by the change. LSi spoke to Sean Westgate, technical director and founder of Green Hippo, to find out more about all things HAP, FlexRes and more . . .
LSi: For those who might not know, can you please explain the importance of codecs and what the HAP codec is?
Sean Westgate: “To get maximum playback performance in real-time, video clips need to be compressed using a codec. This reduces th

UK - Comedian and musician Bill Bailey is back on the road for his Larks in Transit tour which was first performed in Australia in October 2017.
Dave Farmer of THC Design’s, Bailey’s lighting designer for the last seven years, added Robe to the mix in the form of Spiiders and MMX Spots for the current UK theatre leg of the tour, which kicked off with five gigs at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London over the festive period.
Dave took the backdrop they had used in Australia as a scenic starting point for the visual design. Originally this was a map of the world, which he re-imagined as a scenic circular globe suspended inside a circular truss and fitted into a cut out backdrop.
This brings an authentic 3D impression to the stage and to the audience, it looks like a complete globe.
Further upstage is a starcloth to add a bit of magic and sparkle an

USA - Disney's Frozen made its stage debut on Broadway this spring at the St. James Theatre in New York. Video design team FRAY Studio were tasked with delivering the production's theatrical world of snow, ice and the Aurora Borealis for the stage.
Working with leading media server manufacturer disguise and real-time effects software Notch, FRAY co-founders Finn Ross and Adam Young are taking the animation magic of Disney and rendering it with full integrity in the theatre.
"Frozen is a show about transformation, a spring-time world that moves to a frozen one, a frightened woman to a self-empowered leader," says Young.
To do this, FRAY collaborated with set and costume designer Christopher Oram and Richard Nutbourne Scenic Studio to develop a technique to make scenery look like stone or wood under normal theatre lighting, but then magically transfor

UK - Adlib helped bring all the drama, excitement and glamour of the massively popular CMT TV series Nashville to the stage as Nashville in Concert returned to the UK for a second run of sold out arena shows following the success of last year’s tour.
The Liverpool based production specialist was asked to provide full production - lighting, audio and video.
Adlib this year provided the key disciplines of lighting and sound plus the IMAG video package.
The format was as before, a tight house band supporting a selection of cast from the series including Jonathan Jackson, Chris Carmack, Clare Bowen, Charles Esten and Sam Palladio.
Adlib’s Dave Eldridge co-ordinated all the lighting and video elements. This year, Adlib was also asked to create a production lighting design after receiving a brief from the production team led by Betsega and Mike

Greece - Saint Panteleimon Monastery is a Russian Orthodox monastery built on the southwest side of the peninsula of Mount Athos in Macedonia, northern Greece. Hhome to around 70 resident monks and many pilgrims every year, a Yamaha audio system has recently been installed to help scripture reading be clearly heard.
The monastery was founded in the 11th Century, with much of the present complex built on a nearby site, closer to the sea, between 1812 and 1821. Today, it is the largest monastery on the Mount Athos peninsula, its multi-storied buildings and tall cupolas giving the impression of a city in miniature. Its Cenobitic tradition follows the monastic practise of regulated community life. A key part of this is mealtimes where, after prayers in church, monks and pilgrims gather in the refectory to eat, while being read scripture from the Bible.
Ensuring that everyb

UK - Hire and events company SLX has announced the successful applicants for its 2018 bursary scheme, which sees the company supporting five students enrolled on production courses with £3000 of hire equipment as well as networking and development opportunities.
Spanning the UK, the students attend different institutions and are enrolled on a variety of technical production focussed courses. Third year students and graduating this year are Ashley Holdom (Rose Bruford) and Ryan Searle (Bristol Old Vic) and the 2nd year students receiving the bursary are Alex Silvester (University of Bolton – Backstage Academy), Georgia Wren - LIPA and Ben Linwood (Guildford School of Acting).
As well as receiving the £3000 bursary to support a project of the student’s choosing, the five applicants were also welcomed into SLX Avonmouth, spending two full days in May with the SLX

USA - Effective immediately, ADJ Products is taking over the development, support and sales for the Compu Show lighting control software previously offered by Elation Professional for the past 10 years.
ADJ USA’s national sales manager, Alfred Gonzales, explains: “As ADJ’s fixtures have evolved, we felt it was important to grow our DMX software line as well. Our existing myDMX control software has been a very successful product worldwide for ten years, but we felt we needed to offer something with more power and possibilities. Compu Show is a proven system that offers lighting designers powerful features and flexible control options to allow them to make the most of their lighting rigs and fully realize their creative vision.”
Compu Show is an advanced DMX control software application for PC, that is designed for programming and controlling large rigs of moving

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