Italy / China - During the recent Italian Government mission to China, the Prime Minister - accompanied by four ministers and the Chairman of Confindustria (the Confederation of Italian Industries), and with 600 businessmen in tow - met with top Chinese leaders.

Formal events alternated with festivities on a grand scale, such as the concert to mark the opening in Guangzhou of the Third International Small and Medium Industries Fair/Chinese-Italian Small and Medium Industries Fair. This memorable event was staged in a vast auditorium, where a battery of Coemar iSpots S was well able to handle a show of such gigantic size. This typifyies a market (China) where Coemar's presence is constantly growing, thanks to some dynamic joint ventures. The lighting for the event was provided by Hu Jia (lighting designer), the Guangdong Singing and Dancing Performer Group (lighting contractor) e

USA - Tomcat is giving away one scholarship to its Annual Hoist and Rigging Workshop to be held February 21-24, 2007 in Midland, Texas. Register to win at the Tomcat Booth #271.

The scholarship will be awarded after the LDI tradeshow and may be used for the Hoist and Rigging Workshop held February 21-24, 2007 which includes instruction on hoist, rigging, truss and fall protection or the Advanced Hoist and Truss Workshop on February 23-24, 2007 that includes advanced instruction on truss and motors. The Scholarship package includes all instruction materials and fees, plus lodging, lunches, dinners, snacks and all transportation for the various workshop events. Both workshops culminate with a steak dinner and tour of the Tomcat USA facilities. The winner of the Scholarship will be responsible for transportation to and from Midland, Texas.

(Chris Henry)

USA - Kish Rigging, main rigging contractor to the MTV Video Music Awards, used a CyberHoist / InMotion 3D motion control system to animate a spectacular set for the event in New York's Radio City Music Hall on August 31.

MTV's flagship show has been treated to many ground-breaking visual designs in the past and this year's set was no exception.

Director Hamish Hamilton and designers Mark Fisher and Anne Brahic along with lighting designer Allen Branton based the design on a flown array of 16 LED video screens of various sizes, each mounted in a classical ornate gilt picture frame and flown from CyberHoist CH1000 one tonne motors and CH500 half-ton motors. The screens, nine of which were constantly in motion throughout the show, were used to show a combination of Imag footage, specially created graphics, captions and visual effects.

Kish Rigging's project manager JR Cassidy

UK - The Event Show has announced that Michael Eavis, the Godfather of Glastonbury, will be speaking at the Access Sessions, hosting a question and answer seminar for event organisers at Olympia in London on 24 January 2007, day one of the two-day exhibition.

The Event Show is established as one of the leading exhibitions in the industry for anyone organising indoor or outdoor events. The Show attracts some of the most prestigious names in concert promotion, sound and lighting, festivals and live entertainment.

"This is a major coup and we expect a packed audience for his seminar," explains Michelle Tayton, manager of The Event Show. "The continuous evolvement of Glastonbury is one of the event industry's greatest success stories. The fact that we have been able to provide event organisers with access to one of the industry's most prestigious figureheads is test

USA - Bandit Lites have announced their recent involvement in Farm Aid 2006. The event took place on September 30, 2006 at the Tweeter Center at the Waterfront-a 25,000 capacity outdoor amphitheater in Camden, New Jersey.

Farm Aid 2006 featured Farm Aid president and founder, Willie Nelson, board membersNeil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews, as well as Jerry Lee Lewis withRoy Head, Los Lonely Boys, Arlo Guthrie, Gov't Mule, Steve Earle, Allison Moorer, SteelPulse, Shelby Lynne, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Jimmy Sturr & his Orchestra, Pauline Reeseand Danielle Evin.

Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organised the first Farm Aid concert in1985. They wanted to increase awareness about the loss of family farms and raisefunds to keep family farms in business. Dave Matthews joined the Farm Aid board ofdirectors in 2001. To date, Farm Aid has raised over $29 million t

USA - Royal Philips Electronics (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHG) today announced that it will present its latest innovations in entertainment lighting technology at LDI 2006, being held in Las Vegas Convention Center from October 20-22, 2006.

At the Philips booth #1455, the company will present its complete Philips FastFit range. Initiated by the launch of Philips MSR Gold 1200 FastFit and Philips Hi-Brite 1200 FastFit, at the beginning of this year, Philips has completed the product range with Philips MSR Gold 700 FastFit and Philips Hi-Brite 750 FastFit. This rear load lamp base system has been co-developed with Bender & Wirth.

The benefit of this new lamp concept is not only a fast lamp replacement due to the unique lamp and lamp holder design, it also includes an increased brightness, provides the opportunity to reduce fixture size and weight, assures reliability due to pinch protect

USA - Launched at London's PLASA Show in September, TurboDrive network control software - a new software package from Turbosound that will help to make the jobs of live sound engineers easier - was also shown for the first time in the US at the 121st Audio Engineering Society Convention at San Francisco's Moscone Centre from 5 to 8 October.

The TurboDrive package gives online access and fast, intuitive control of Turbosound controllers and powered speakers, either individually or in a BVNet network of up to 100 devices.

User control of input EQ, delay and mute is available, while key factory settings such as limiters and driver correction are locked out to ensure maximum flexibility to the user, whilst maintaining consistent voicing and driver protection in the field.

Every parameter of an LMS-D2X controller is allowed, either by typing in exact values or by using on-screen

France - With an IP-65 rating and a modular design for optimal flexibility and ease of installation, the DVwall HR is a robust LED display system for distant viewing in entertainment venues, stadiums, theme parks, billboards, as well as the rental and staging markets. Delivering 16 million colours with a pixel pitch of 31mm, it displays high-resolution graphics, animated gifs, Flash, PowerPoint, video and images to delight viewers and maximise the return on investment. It is compatible with Windows Media Player.

The system consists of 0.5m x 0.5m DV modules, each fitted with 2,304 LEDs ingeniously grouped in clusters to enhance brilliance. Each module comes with mounting hardware designed to allow multiple configurations, offering a wealth of creative flexibility. Pixel density is 256 per module or 1,024 pixels per sq.m. With endurance in mind, even the mounting system and conne

The thundering launch of the Vari*Lite VL500 by PRG Europe at last year's show (£1m in orders before the show closed) continues to resound with continued sales.

The enhanced X Box, now titled X Box Extreme, has the long-awaited Pixel Mapping function, improved 'transition' functions and lots of new tiling effects, as well as some slick new keystone, 3D generator, and masking functions.

Added to the 'for sale' product range is the Sea Changer from Ocean Optics, an easy add-on in-line colour changer for ETC Source Four profiles. Built to insert between lamp house and lens tube on any model, this dichroic colour mixer comes in two versions: 'Extreme' includes green as well as the usual CMY; beside greatly enhanced greens it also extends to blues, ambers and golds. The standard version has a dimmer wheel instead of green.

Also licensed to PRG for distribution throug

Australian DMX tools specialist Enttec Pty Ltdshowcased its latest product, the E-streamer. An Ethernet show recorder, it is capable of recording up to 64 universes of DMX per show. It can record or play multiple shows at once, featuring a built-in scheduler, which allows programming of every conceivable schedule spread over days, months or years. The product Supports ArtNet and ESP protocols, allows simultaneous show recording and playback of up to 1,000 shows.

Legendary reverb manufacturer Lexicon (Harman Pro) presented two new products, seen for the first time in Europe. The MX400 and MX400XL are both four-in four-out hardware reverb units for studio and live use. The 1U rack-mounted units have an independent processor on each channel, with the only difference between the units being the connectors on the XL sporting XLRs while the 400 is fitted with quarter-inch TRS jacks. The four inputs and outputs also allow for surround processing and effects are included, making the units an affordable way to enter the surround sound processing arena.

Roland Systems Group and its Digital Snake system has been gaining market share since its relatively recent launch. On display at the show was a new interface for the unit, an AES/EBU module with internal and external sync' options and word clock. Also on display for the RSS was a REAC (Roland's Ethernet data transfer technology) ASIO driver, allowing 40 channels of audio to be connected directly into a PC and into a multi-track recording system - in this case Cakewalk's SONAR 5 or 6.

Nestling unassumingly in a nearby rack were the AR-3000R and AR200R audio announcement system. The AR-3000R will record, playback and edit samples for announcements and voice alarms, while the AR-200 is a half-rack playback-only version.

Smoke connoisseurs were impressed by Swefog's latest high-power T26 smoke machine which offers very smooth output between 1 and 100% in 1% increments. Very compact in size, the machine includes an integrated fan outlet and DMX fan control, so it can be ramped up to impressively mega levels of 1800 cubic metres per minute for outdoor applications.

ShowTex's see-through mirror is a mirror film that acts a mirror surface when in standard mode, becoming transparent when illuminated from behind. It comes complete with a frame, in lengths of up to 24m wide by 12m high, and is popular in theatre, film and television markets. They also showed their Chain Track scenery moving system.

The judges also felt that there were three other products which deserved a special mention. These were:

Adam Hall's SM707 adjustable top-hat louspeaker mount - to adjust the cabinet angle, simply lift it slightly and lower again at the desired angle; an internal sprung-notch system uses the cabinet's weight to hold it in place.

Sennheiserpicked up two commendations, for its A5000 Antenna(for more on this, see this month's Technical Focus feature, beginning on page 124) and its TourGuide 2020D system - the first visitor guidance system with digital wireless transmission in the licence-free band.

No Environmental Award was presented this year, leaving the field open for new products that fit that criteria in 2007 . . .

Mackie proudly displayed its new flagship subwoofer at PLASA. The SWA2801z 18" Active is said to provide greater performance than mere 'powered' loudspeakers. Mackie's Active electronics are customised for each new product, providing monitoring and real-time control over critical functions such as crossover and equalisation. The SWA2801z can be stacked or pole-mounted and can be easily integrated with other full-range Mackie products.

For the club scene, Mackie previewed its new four-channel mixer, the d.4 Pro. Due for launch in early 2007, the mixer features Onyx mic preamps, VCA and analogue filter effects and 3-band EQ.

Zap Technology from Paris, France were in exceptionally good humour and demonstrated a prototype of their new Littlebig 3.0 3kW automated Xenon searchlight fixture - the latest in the BigLight range and the little brother of their flagship BigLite 4.5. The Littlebig 3.0 offers designers real-time CMY colour-mixing, diffusion with electronic strobe and many other customisable effects. With the current design style penchant for high-powered searchlight effects incorporated in larger stage shows, this should attract plenty of interest.

ShowMagic highlighted their new Version 11.0 PC show control software, complete with new-look graphics, surround sound and "live" mode, allowing operators to work on the fly as well as in a pro-programmed domain.

It was the first PLASA and indeed the first European trade show for Moving LED, a new US-based company with a manufacturing base in Hungary. They launched two new LED products for the European market - the MovingLED and the MicroStrip 48, both utilising Luxeon LEDs. Other new items included hinged C-Clamps that can live 'inside' their lighting fixtures - and will never get lost or separated!

The new C-180 confetti cannon was among the new offerings from MBN Event Products - compact, keenly priced and with a constant output. MBN also had some new ProLED RGB LED bars available in one-and-a-half metre lengths.

Lee Filters launched their new brochure, alongside the latest additions to the 700 series. Seven new colours have been added to the range, created by top lighting designers working in theatre, television, events and architectural lighting. Dane Henrik Hambro is the latest designer invited to create his own unique colours, which include: 706 King Fals Lavender; 710 Spir Special Blue; 740 Aurora Borealis Green; 741 Mustard Yellow; 773 Cardox Amber; 787 Marius Red; and 799 Special K.H. Lavender. Word on the street was that Mustard Yellow was proving a big hit . . .

InfoTrace uses RDM for the control and management of DMX-controlled lighting devices. Consisting of InfoGate software, the system works on a combination of the following: 'IT' products from Wybron or RDM-compatible equipment from any manufacturer; Non-RDM-compatible devices equipped with an InfoChip (manufactured by Wybron); and an InfoStore web-based information aggregator. 'IT' products are equipped with sensors to detect light, temperature, voltage, current, fan speed and gel-string information - so an entire rig can, therefore, be identified, addressed and tested from a laptop or PDA.

Martin Professional's focus was brand new products - 10 in all were launched at the show, and the stand this year was devoted entirely to them. First in line was the 1.2k TW1 tungsten washlight, which offers full spectrum colour mixing - impressive across the whole colour gamut from saturated through pastels and impressively into colour correction. The TW1 produces an even light distribution across a projected surface, light output is cool, plus fan cooling is controllable from the console and very quiet. It's the first and only tungsten fixture to feature internal and external dimming, thus maintaining colour temperature over a fade. The other recent moving head addition was the MAC 700 Wash, which offers soft-edge beam, quiet operation, full CMY colour-mixing and an indexable and rotatable beam-shaper.

Martin also launched two new LED products, which have already caused quite

Media server specialists Green Hippo previewed its latest Hippotizer V3. Fusing the Green Hippo design team's video and lighting backgrounds, the company says it aims to make convergence a reality! The system offers multi-discipline operation. Key features include: timeline functionality, HippoNet advanced networking capability, media management and efficiency-focused features. Hippotizer can work autonomously, control other devices or be controlled externally.

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