UK - Technical production and rental specialist Central Presentations Limited (CPL) has launched a new division – CPL Technical Sales - to focus on the sales of selected product lines, all of which CPL carries in its rental inventory. CPL Technical Sales will be based at CPL’s facility in West Midlands, UK, headed by Sam Thomas. The aim is to cross-rent only to other professional AV / rental companies and organisations, in the process supporting the selected brands through CPL’s extensive working knowledge of them, providing fully comprehensive backup. So far, the list includes Analog Way, Avolites, Connex, Denon Professional, DPA Microphones, ETC, Extron, Fiberfox, Interspace Industries, Kramer, Lightware, Marantz, Panasonic Business, Sennheiser, Shure and Unicol. More will be added as CPL Technical Sales develops its business. CPL Technical Sales will als
UK - PLASA Focus Leeds is back with a stellar line-up of seminar sessions and speakers for this year’s event on 9-10 May at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. The free to attend exhibition is a leading platform for the entertainment industry, offering an opportunity to discover the very latest technology including products from recent international launches. Speakers this year include James Simpson, lighting visualiser at the Royal Opera House, who will be discussing the latest technologies in use at the Royal Opera House, with a look at how some recent projects have been technically achieved. Simpson will also be talking for the first time about an exciting new R&D project being developed at the ROH which uses Augmented Reality technology to create new opportunities for design teams to visualise their ideas – the talk will include a live demonstration. The f
UK - Since the world’s most famous oversized gorilla first appeared on cinema screens in 1933, King Kong has become one of the most renowned movie icons, with countless comics, video games and theme park rides adding to a string of film remakes. Now the iconic ape has surfaced again with the release of the Warner Bros. film Kong: Skull Island. For the recent UK premier of the highly anticipated film, Limited Edition Event Design awarded the red carpet in London’s Leicester Square with a 36m long Kong-worthy video wall to display graphic content and film related video, utilising 216 Chauvet Professional PVP X6IP LED video panels, supplied by Impact Production Services. The low 6.9mm pixel pitch and the 4,500 NITS of the PVP X6IP panels provided the perfect solution to display video and King Kong graphics with exceptional visual clarity both during the
UK – Supporters and trustees of Backup - The Technical Entertainment Charity - gathered in London on Monday evening to help raise the profile of the charity’s new name and logo in entertainment industry. Around 80 guests attended the event, which included live entertainment from Jay Johnson. Backup exists to provide financial support to technical professionals working in live events, theatre, TV and film, helping them to get back on their feet when their lives are disrupted by illness or injury to themselves or to family members. Previously known as Behind The Scenes UK, the charity changed its name to Backup in 2016. Backup’s chairman, John Simpson, welcomed guests to The Hospital Club in London’s Covent Garden, which generously sponsored the event. He reiterated the purpose of the charity by highlighting some of its achievements to date. “We have helped a n
UK - An extraordinary new exhibition at the Barbican uses a military camera capable of detecting an individual from 30.3km distance, day or night, to make a visceral three-channel video installation about the journeys of refugees fleeing conflict. Christie M Series 3DLP projectors were designed with features able to show the luminous footage, with remarkable detail and clarity, at a greatly enlarged size. The immersive quality of the projection not only underlines how technology is putting new tools in the hands of artists, but how those tools combine to create new art forms, content possibilities and – ultimately – new experiences to keep audiences engaged. “We’ve had a record 20,000 visitors in three weeks with over 2,400 on the opening weekend,” said Alona Pardo, curator at the Barbican. For Incoming, conceptual documentary photographer and Deutsche Börse
Ireland - Coinciding with the company’s 50th anniversary, Irish broadcast, AV and video conferencing experts, Eurotek have taken delivery of BlackTrax real-time motion tracking system. The purchase meets the exponential requirement for clients within the broadcast technology, Audio Visual, VFX and communications industry requiring real-time motion tracking throughout Ireland. “Eurotek has made a commitment to focus on growth, and new projects in our home country are central to this expansion. The projects we work on are getting much more complex, and systems like BlackTrax will enable us to deliver impactful and compelling presentations to clients,” said Noel McMahon, technical sales & business development at Eurotek. “The BlackTrax system is already used by our sister company AVtek for live event projects, so we’ve invested in a further system. “
Japan - AV Stumpfl, the Austrian AV technology manufacturer, recently announced the Japanese company Mix Wave, Inc. as their exclusive media server and show control distributor for Japan. Mix Wave is well known for professional AV product distribution and related services in Japan. AV Stumpfl’s global business development manager Horst Damoser commented on the announcement, which was made public for the first time at this year’s ISE exhibition in Amsterdam: “Japan is without doubt a country with very discerning AV technology customers, for whom superior product quality is of great importance. We have a very successful and constructive relationship with our projection screen customers in Japan and are looking forward to growing the media server and show control side of things with the help of Mix Wave. Their great reputation and their experience with media server relate
Spain - Held at the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, the GSMA’s Mobile World Congress draws together leaders from the world’s largest and most influential companies in the mobile ecosystem, as well as government delegations from across the globe. Creative Technology (CT), contracted by the Fira and working with creative communications and brand experience agency Line Up for the GSMA, provided their full suite of services to support the Mobile World Congress Conference and Ministerial Programme. Project managed by CT’s Mick Jones and Nick Whitehead, these programmes utilised video, projection, cameras, audio, digital signage using CT’s Mercury system, PowerPoint management software using CT’s Apollo system, full networking, IT infrastructure and streaming services. Almost 100 crew members from every CT service and department were on site for this project, for
UK - inspHire has introduced its new global website. Cementing inspHire’s position as a leading promoter of hire software globally, with offices in UK, USA, Netherlands and Australia, the user-friendly site provides a hub of information about the hire management software provider; from innovative products and customer case studies to company news and values. The new website features customer case studies, as well as inspHire’s latest software updates and product developments. Over 2200 hire companies are already utilising inspHire software, the company says.
UK - Hundreds of aspiring young engineers and roboticists took part in an exciting science and technology challenge at the University of the West of England in Bristol. The finals of the FIRST Lego League Challenge: Animal Allies were held in the university’s Exhibition and Conference Centre on Sunday 26 February. Evans Audio Visual Staging teamed up with Utopium to supply sound and lighting to the event, which was part of a global Lego-based robotics contest, and featured tens of thousands of young people. For the sound installation, working with the in-house PA system Evans supported that by installing two Yamaha QL1’s with two channels of Shure ULXD radios on a Dante network. The Evans team connected the main competition space with the studio to allow the Institute of Engineering and Technology to stream the event live on YouTube. Helping add to the interactive
The Netherlands - International creative design practice Painting with Light was commissioned by Panasonic to produce a high-impact multimedia live show for their stand at the 2017 ISE (Integrated Systems Europe) expo at Amsterdam RAI. Painting with Light’s creative director Luc Peumans initiated the idea of simultaneous tracking and projecting onto multiple objects. It was a mission for which no-one could calculate a potential success rate in the confined and frenetic space of an exhibition booth. Panasonic’s Hartmut Kulessa and Thomas Vertommen, both in charge of the Visual Systems Marketing, first asked the question which fired Luc’s love for creative risk and experimentation - setting a trail of events in motion. “Luc’s vision and determination plus the unwavering support from Hartmut and Thomas were real driving forces,” confirms Michael Al Far, Paint
Malta - The walled Cittadella on the Maltese Island of Gozo has been of strategic importance since the Phoenicians first set out in boats to trade with their neighbours more than a thousand years before the beginnings of the Roman Empire. Over the centuries, the fortifications were regularly extended and improved by whoever had taken possession of the island at the time. Ironically, 300 years without a siege has meant that it has been allowed to lapse into serious decay. The Maltese government has adventurous plans to restore the Cittadella as a World Heritage site and museum to cater for the wave of tourists beginning to pour on to Gozo for its natural beauty. Renowned museum and attraction design and AV specialists Sarner International were engaged to design and implement an unusual experimental visitors’ centre located in the Cittadella’s abandoned water storage rese
UK - PRG XL Video, the UK operation of Production Resource Group (PRG), has moved to a new, larger, London location. Continuing its strategy for growth, the company has relocated within Central London. The office, in the very heart of London’s theatreland, houses sales and support teams from four major market sectors – concert touring, theatre, television and film, and corporate and events. The location at 77 St Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden includes space for PRG XL permanent staff, hot desking space for clients and creatives to visit, and multiple meeting rooms, which are not only used by PRG XL’s own teams, but are utilised by industry organisations for their regular board meetings. PRG XL Video’s director of human resources, Alistair Todd comments: “The space has been designed not only to house our growing team, but also as a hub of creativity for client
UAE - Christie Pandoras Box is synchronizing more than 100m pixels of Float4 content at Meraas City Walk in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. City Walk was conceived as a destination par-excellence for both locals and tourists complete with upscale shopping, dining and living with a park-like ambience by Meraas, a Dubai-based holding company with extensive assets in real estate, retail, hospitality and entertainment. Meraas approached Float4, an award-winning studio that designs and produces site-specific interactive multimedia installations, to create a digital feature for City Walk. The scope grew to encompass an outdoor digital experience that includes more than 30 LED installations, nearly 30 projectors, and a water fountain show that uses water screens. In total, there are over 100m pixels that cover a space the size of 12 football fields. “Meraas wanted to differen
USA - PixelFLEX has announced the introduction of the weather-rated FLEXStorm LED video technology. Designed specifically to overcome the challenges associated with traditional outdoor LED video displays, FLEXStorm utilizes an intelligent, auto-correcting light sensor control system to ensure the appropriate brightness at all hours of the day. FLEXStorm is available in a variety of custom sizes, resolutions and configurations. “Operating in an outdoor environment presents numerous design challenges for permanently installed outdoor LED video displays,” said David Venus, PixelFLEX director of marketing. “Understanding how to overcome these challenges, the FLEXStorm design engineers have created a truly remarkable system that allows flexibility of choice including the ability to sense the ideal brightness based upon the weather conditions and then self-adjust for an opti
USA - ImageCue has made available a new suite of free content preparation utilities for its users. The utilities are now available for downloading from the ImageCue website. One of the new utilities is designed specifically for users new to the content preparation process. “We’ve encountered many potential customers that want to integrate projection and digital content into their productions but feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the process,” says Bill Hewlett, ImageCue CEO. “This new utility allows the user to plug a USB flash drive into their PC and the utility steps them through the process.” The new utility prepares the USB drive for use with ImageCue and analyzes the user’s content, determining how best to convert or modify it for best performance with the ImageCue compact server. The tedious task of adding numeric prefixes to file names is handled
The Netherlands - Lawo has introduced its V_pro8 8-channel video processing tool armed with a comprehensive software update. With its latest update, Lawo’s V_pro8 became even more powerful, further increasing its features-per-RU density, says the company. Amongst the latest additions is an updated A/V sync tool, which, in addition to the native V_line sync pattern and the EBU pattern, can now also read the Vistek VALID8 format. Furthermore, the integrated quad-split multiviewer now also features multi-colored Tally lamps, which are switchable via Ember+, allowing to integrate the MV tally in the overall tally system of your installation. The V_pro8 can be used to connect different video formats as well as to connect between audio and video. High quality format conversion, colour correction as well as audio embedding and de-embedding make the V_pro 8 a compact and po
The Netherlands - NEC Display Solutions Europe has today launched the NEC Solutions Zone, a free web-based information and networking tool for professional end-users, distributors, NEC’s eco-partners and reseller partners. The platform supports Pan-European as well as local suppliers and partners. By providing insights into a broad range of real installation scenarios, the platform makes users aware of the added value services provided by the NEC partner ecosystem. The NEC Solutions Zone platform supports many different verticals, from aviation and transportation, cinema, corporate office and Digital out of Home (DooH) to education, healthcare, retail and many more. It gives peripheral vendors the opportunity to showcase their products, solutions and services, giving end-user customers a wide variation of solutions to choose from. When it comes to display appl
UK - Hawthorn is inviting visitors to step into virtual reality as it launches its innovative virtual venue experience at this year’s Event Production Show (1-2 March 2017). The creative technical event production expert has for the first time ‘built’, in virtual reality, just some of the diverse venues it works in partnership with in real life. This will enable event planners to pop on a HTC Vive headset and explore incredible event spaces without leaving the Hawthorn stand. The venues showcased in virtual reality at the Event Production Show will include some of Hawthorn’s key partnerships from around the UK. Built by Hawthorn’s in-house 3D and visualisation team using Cinema 4D and Unreal Engine, the virtual venue experience will offer delegates a unique on-stand experience, demonstrating the versatility of virtual reality as a powerful tool to support the
The Netherlands - Panasonic will introduce a new 20,000 lumens projector at ISE 2017 this week, a laser light source companion to the PT-DZ21K. The PT-RZ21K is a three-chip DLP Solid Shine laser series aimed at the rental, events and large venue market. It is compatible with existing Panasonic lenses and comes in a similarly compact, lightweight body as the DZ21K, which became an industry essential since its launch in 2012. The RZ21K generates up to 20,000 lm of brightness at WUXGA or SXGA+ resolution using dual solid-state laser drives. A durable dust-proof optical system means that the projector offers extended maintenance free operation beyond lamped rivals. “The industry is ready to make the switch from lamp to laser,” said Hartmut Kulessa, European marketing manager at Panasonic. “Panasonic research identified that many projection projects are not bein
The Netherlandds - Black Box has unveiled Boxilla, a premier enterprise-level KVM and AV/IT system management platform, featuring a comprehensive and centralised command centre, which provides “unparalleled performance, ease of use and security”, the company says. KVM and AV/IT system management professionals face increasing complexity associated with diverse infrastructures and multiple types of end points including physical or virtual machines, applications and networks. Boxilla’s comprehensive ability to manage high-performance KVM, KVM over IP, virtualised end-points, and various AV/IT devices on one centralised command centre, empowers administrators to manage multi-environment KVM and AV/IT deployments using a powerful web-enabled and common user-interface. Boxilla is designed for enterprise-level deployments with large-scale, mission-critical appli
The Netherlands - NEC Display Solutions Europe has announced two laser-based additions to its PA Series of LCD projectors, taking low-maintenance operation to a new level. The new additions, the PA803UL and PA653UL models leverage a filter-free design, eliminating one of the biggest operational overheads normally found in installed projectors. Designed with minimal maintenance in mind, the two new laser projectors also boast a fully-sealed optical engine, allowing brightness levels to remain high and consistent without risk of dust-based ingress and image degradation. Other key features and benefits include high lumen output (8,000 ANSI lumens from the PA803UL, 6,500 ANSI lumens from the PA653UL), highly flexible installation options with 360 degree positioning support in any direction. The projectors also feature motorised zoom and focus, interchangeable lens options
Australia - As part of their pitch for the rebranding of the Australian Open, Landor, Tennis Australia’s chosen branding agency, created a video rendering of their proposed logo. The rendering depicted a 3m high three-dimensional logo, complete with a video screen on its front and LED pixels covering the side surfaces. Whilst not part of Landor’s actual deliverable, the concept inspired Tennis Australia to test the market to see if it were possible. The technical team at Tennis Australia prepared and issued a specification in August last year. Sydney’s The P.A. People, who had worked with Tennis Australia on many events over the years, took up the challenge. “Our experience in designing bespoke mechanical solutions as part of AV systems integration, coupled with our work around the world on large scale events, led us to believe we could create a v
UK / Netherlands - Polar has been appointed as UK distributor for Netherlands based Avonic, a leading manufacturer of PTZ cameras and accessories. Avonic offers a full range of high quality pan-tilt-zoom cameras, with a choice of output, including USB3.0, IP, HDMI and SDI. Control units and accessories complement the range, designed for use in a host of applications from video-conferencing to broadcasting, lecture capture to webcasting and beyond. Polar – long known as a pro audio distributor under the name of PolarAudio - continues to extend its reach into whole AV solutions, brands such as Avonic are integral to its growing portfolio of video and Unified Communications products. Without concessions on quality, the Avonic range is an affordable choice for courtrooms, council chambers, churches and meeting rooms – or anywhere that recording, broadcasting or stream
