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UK - Kramer Electronics has introduced the VS-42HDMI Matrix Switcher for HDMI signals. The 4x2 switcher offers signal optimization and EDID data capabilities. Its feature set and small frame size make it ideal in HD-equipped conference, advertising, or rental and staging environments, says the company.

The switcher is compatible with all HDTV signal types and features Kramer re-Klocking and equalization technology that rebuilds the signal allowing it to travel longer distances. The VS-42HDMI is able to route any or all inputs to any or all outputs simultaneously and supports HDCP (High Definition Digital Content Protection).

The VS-42HDMI matrix switcher routes HDMI 1.1 signals up to 1.65Gbps bandwidth per graphic channel. Kramer uses a sophisticated EDID handling mechanism to m

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USA - Automation specialists Kinesys will be at LDI 2007 in conjunction with their US distributor TMB, where they will be demonstrating their K2 motion control system.

K2 will again be in action with Unusual Rigging's Revolution winch, following a very successful event staged in LA by TMB in October, designed to show the capabilities of these two products working together.

K2 offers a real-time 3D programming view so the objects are moved on the screen via a graphical interface by the operator - while the computer does the calculations.

The flexible nature of K2 makes it suitable for any number of environments, from concert touring to film, from theatre to TV, says the company. Recent US projects include Genesis, American Idol and Dixie Chicks.

(Jim Evans)

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Italy - After more than a year of anticipation the new Fiat 500 was introduced to the public. The international press conference and the car's official presentation to the retailers took place at PalaIsozaki in Turin. The main technical feature of the presentation was the quantity of projectors employed to cover 1,400sq.m of screens. MA Lighting and Brother, Brother & Sons products helped to make the event run smoothly.

Various models of Barco projectors were used, depending on the different requirements: six FLM 18HD for the front screen, two FLM 20+ for the ceiling screen and nine SLM 12s. Six of these projectors were mounted on the Brother, Brother & Sons v-Base yokes for the floor screen. The precision of the v-Base allowed precise and repeatable pixel-to-pixel overlapping for the double full HD projection from a height of 25m. All v-Base yokes were controlled via DMX from a

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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

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Japan - Just three hours north east of Tokyo, the Hitachi seaside National Park is home to Japan's most popular three-day festival event. The secret to Rock In Japan Festival (RIJF) is arguably its insistence on Japanese artists only; that and an idyllic location on the site of this former air force base in the Ibaraki prefecture.

Organised by Rockin'on, a Japanese music magazine, the festival has grown since its inauguration in August 2000 from one stage over two days, to four stages and three days, this year pulling in an audience of over 147,000. Editor in Chief Mr. Yoichi Shibuya is the event producer and he also manages Countdown Japan, another popular festival staged at the end of year. It was here, in 2006, that his audience first got to hear the new J-Series from d&b audiotechnik.

"We first heard the new system in 2006," explained Mr. Shuzo Fujii, head

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Switzerland - For the its second sold-out year the Basel Tattoo used a TiMax delay matrix and showcontrol software to make the marching players' audio track their stage movements, and to help eliminate musical timing problems due to the large scale of the performance area.

An import of the Edinburgh military pageant which has also used TiMax for the last six years, the Basel Tattoo is staged in the open air in front of the 18th century Kaserne Hof barracks next to the Rhine. The performers are spread out over a 70m x 25m parade arena surrounded by audience seating on three sides.

Specified by Swiss sound designer Thomas Strebel, a 16-input 24-output TiMax Rack System was fed from eight groups of a Yamaha PM5D console which received up to 32 radio mics plus CD and harddisk playback sources for various dance troupes. Another PM5D was located in the temporary Basel Tattoo Studios

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UK - KV2 Audio has announced the appointment of Dave Ball to the role of field sales manager, covering the Midlands and Southern area of the UK. Ball brings a wealth of audio sales experience, technical knowledge and a surfeit of enthusiasm to the role.

KV2's operations director, Andy Simmons, commented: "We're delighted Dave has joined the KV2 Audio team. He understands the KV2 philosophy, the technology behind it, and combines the right mix of personality with passion for the product."

Ball elaborates: "KV2 Audio is the best sounding system I've ever heard. Moving to KV2 Audio was an easy choice for me as I have such faith in the system."

Ball is no stranger to audio sales and comes to KV2 Audio from Birmingham's LMC Audio, where he held a technical-sales position for three years. Previously, he managed Bullet Sound, the Staffordshire-based PA hire comp

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UK - The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff used Arena Seating facilities to boost its capacity to 50,000 for a record-breaking indoor crowd at the highly anticipated World Title superfight between Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler on 3 November.

The super-middleweight fight attracted a global television audience and the biggest indoor crowd that the UK has ever seen. Welshman Joe Calzaghe returned to Cardiff in front of home fans for his 21st title defence, during which a unanimous decision declared him reigning champion once again, retaining his title and the WBO crown he has held for over 10 years.

Sports Network, organisers of the event, maximised the number of seats for the sell-out crowd, while Arena Seating provided nearly 10,000 extra seats for the fight.

Mike Goodall, of production company Ringcraft Boxing Services, contracted Arena Seating to provide an additional 8,800 t

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Australia - White Light is continuing its association with the hit musical Billy Elliot as it travels its way around the world, helping it to snow down under by supplying the new Sydney production of the show with White Light Snow Machines.

Based on the movie of the same name, and directed by the film's director, Stephen Daldry with his regular theatre collaborators, designer Ian MacNeil and lighting designer Rick Fisher, Billy Elliot opened at London's Victoria Palace Theatre in early 2005 and continues to play to sold-out houses there. The London production uses a lighting rig supplied by White Light. In addition, White Light worked with the show's design team to create a new falling snow effect that was quiet and reliable enough to be used downstage of the proscenium line.

The result was the White Light Snow Machine. This uses the same paper snow as other esta

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USA - Tensioned wire grid specialists Slingco exhibit at LDI for the first time in Orlando, showcasing their CABLEnet system.

CABLEnet is a completely custom tensioned wire grid system, designed and engineered to fit the exact space and specifications required by the venue - making it unique to the US market, says the company.

The CABLEnet system is created by weaving and tensioning high tensile steel cable within a frame, which is then hoisted to the required level in a theatre or concert hall and fixed to the building. This creates a totally safe 'virtual floor' on which lighting, audio and AV technicians and riggers can work in complete confidence.

Almost invisible from ground level, the grid also has the key benefit of creating no shadows when lighting fixtures positioned above it are shone through to the stage, studio or auditorium below.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Stage Electrics demonstrated the new Bumper Cars on Ice, on a real ice rink together with the smartStand 45 and smartStage 122at the recent Showman's Show.

Ian Tregaskis, head of events for Stage Electrics reflects: "The sun may have shone during the show, but the night before the rain was torrential, the efficiency of our aluminium fold out ice rink system coped easily with the excess water and the rink was frozen solid on Wednesday morning.

"The 'real' ice rink came as a surprise to many visitors. You could see on the faces of visitors as they walked by that they weren't quite sure, it was only when they touched the ice they believed it was real."

The regular demos of the smartStage 45 and smartStand 122 also attracted the crowds who were very impressed with the short set up times and simple construction, says the company. The smartStage 45 is a stage t

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Denmark - Martin Professional A/S's positive 2007 growth continued in the year's third quarter. Martin increased revenue by 14.3% from $48.4 million in the third quarter of 2006 to $55.4 million in the third quarter of 2007. For the period 1 January to 30 September, 2007 Martin increased revenue by 24.3% to $168.6 million compared with $135.6 million for the same period last year.

The substantial increase in revenue is broadly based across all of Martin's market segments. While the entertainment industry as a whole has experienced general strong demand, Martin has increased its market share through investments in technology and new products. Sales of Martin's LED products for example continue to show dramatic growth and now account for 15% of monthly revenue. Launched only earlier this year, Martin's LED product line is forecast to generate revenue just shy of $20 million in 200

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USA - This year's Trans-Siberian Orchestra tour is the biggest it's ever been. Two identical shows are touring the East and West Coast US, each carrying 13 truckloads of production. Included in the total equipment package are 30 High End Systems Showgun automated luminaires and four Wholehog 3 consoles for both tours, supplied by Q1 of Canada.

Production/lighting designer Bryan Hartley is also touring for his eighth year as the LD on the East Coast leg. Lighting director Dan Cassar, now in his fifth year, handles the West Coast run. Both tours started 1 November.

Hartley likes to design in new products with each new production. He believes this is the year for Showgun to shine: "I love them, they're awesome. It's a good quality moving light but three times as big," Hartley says. "There's nothing else like it out there."

The rig features 10 moving pods, wi

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USA - Bandit Lites reports that Bandit clients, Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, Kenny Chesney and Rascal Flatts all received awards at the 41st annual Country Music Association Awards. The event was broadcast live from the Sommet Center in Nashville, TN on 7 November.

Former American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood, continues to take the country music scene by storm. Underwood took home 'Female Vocalist of the Year' for the second consecutive year. She also received the 'Single of the Year' award for Before He Cheats.

Kenny Chesney was awarded his third 'Entertainer of the Year.' Chesney performed the current single, Don't Blink from his most recent album, Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates.

Rounding up the Bandit clients earning awards this year was Rascal Flatts. They won their fifth consecutive 'Vocal Group of the Year' award. The 2006 top-selling art

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UK - David Atkinson Lighting Design (DALD) recently completed the lighting design for a major new exhibition - The Golden Age of Couture at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

The launch of Christian Dior's New Look in 1947 marked the beginning of a momentous decade in fashion history, one that Dior himself called the 'golden age'. Celebrating the end of war and the birth of a new era, it set a standard for dressmaking and high fashion that has rarely been surpassed. The V&A's exhibition explores this remarkable decade in fashion history.

The exhibition designers Land Design Studio's brief to DALD was for the lighting to create a theatrical event, as well as adhering to the strict conservation constraints.

The first gallery takes a practical aspect, focusing on the skills, processes and craftsmanship of haute couture, along with the creative inspiration behind some

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USA - American DJ has introduced the Dual Gem LED - and launched yet another of its classic club moonflower effects into the LED revolution. Like the company's highly popular Dual Gem, the Dual Gem LED is a dual-lens fixture that provides "double excitement" by projecting two moonflower effects from one unit. But instead of the halogen lamps used by the original, it is powered by high-output LEDs, which produce razor-sharp beams of red, green and blue light that will not fade and are not dependent on a fog machine for their brilliance, says the company."LEDs are acknowledged as the future direction of club lighting, because of the many benefits they provide," said Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Companies. "This is why we have been re-designing our most popular halogen effects in LED versions. The Dual Gem is certainly one that ou

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UK - Newly formed rental company Purple Audio has chosen a Funktion One Resolution touring rig for its initial inventory.

Davies Roberts, managing director of Purple Audio and front-of-house engineer for Koopa comments: "Having been inspired by Tony Andrews' designs for many years and experiencing great success from the Funktion One Resolution 2 system I was using for small local events, a Funktion One Resolution 4 touring system was a natural choice.

"The Resolution 4E and F121 combination is self powered. Plans are already afoot to upscale the business to a Resolution 5 system."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - ETC is set to unveil its next control desk, Ion, at LDI in Orlando. Visitors to ETC's stand will get the first look at this latest addition to ETC's Complete Control line - the much-anticipated follow-up and smaller sibling to its award-winning Eos desk.

Like Eos, Ion is designed for today's multimedia lighting rigs - delivering seamless control over conventionals, moving lights and LEDs, says the company. College and community theatres, TV studios and rehearsal halls are among the venues that will benefit from Ion's operational style. With its convenient small footprint - only 48cm wide - Ion is billed as "a compact, affordable solution for space starved venues, with the flexibility to grow even more powerful as needed".

Ion comes in 1000, 1500 and 2000 channel/output configurations and features an integral LCD for softkeys and non-intensity parameter control.

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Malta - Large format projection specialists E/T/C London returned to Malta to project onto the dramatic Fort St. Angelo in Valetta Harbour for the opening ceremony of the HotelPlan conference. Working for the Malta Tourist Authority and the Malta Fairs & Convention Centre (MFCC), the event was staged for 250 invited guests.

E/T/C London have worked in Malta several times, designing and co-ordinating large format projection shows, including the Welcome Malta celebrations in 2004, when 10 new member states joined the EU.

For this latest project, E/T/C UK's Ross Ashton was commissioned by Maltese production company Sign-It to create a special 15 minute narrative illustrating the history of Malta from its discovery 6000 years ago to the present. Ashton researched, wrote and produced the storyboard and originated all the artwork. The soundtrack was edited by Karen Monid.

E

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UK - DJ Manufacturers Vestax, distributed in the UK by Leisuretec Distribution, has reported strong enthusiasm and great feedback from the inaugural BPM Show held at Donnington last weekend.

"We showed a whole range of new Vestax products, with the new PMC-580 mixer, PDX-3000 turntable and the MDM-410 19" rack mounted mixer generating particularly high interest," enthused Leisuretec Distribution's sales development manager, Stephanie Dell. "We've had great sales orders from the event and there was definitely a buzz about the show."

"BPM is just what the DJ industry needs right now," commented Leisuretec managing director, Nick Spalding. "The DJ segment has been lacking a vibrant high energy DJ specific show for some time and BPM appears to have provided the solution."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - FogScreen has announced that their successful AV rental partner programme will be showcased at LDI 2007. Resellers and dealers can continue partnering with FogScreen to sell and rent the fully interactive device.

"Our resellers and dealers have greatly benefited from having the FogScreen projection screen in their inventory," said Jorden Woods, president of US operations at FogScreen. "We are looking to expand our reach to new territories this year by adding additional resellers to our AV rental partner programme. With the added benefit of fully interactive functionalities and a dedicated technical team, we feel that this is the perfect time for resellers and dealers to partner with FogScreen."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - "Provalo!! I'm Italian" will be the catch phrase at LDI, as LDR and Strong Entertainment Lighting introduce a new range of Italian theatrical fixtures, developed for North American designers.

This new line includes both Profile and Pebble Convex spotlights that are quite popular in Europe. But until now American designers had little opportunity to work with such tools, says the company.

Unlike an ellipsoidal, the Profile is designed around a spherical reflector and double condenser lens system - much like that of a movie projector. It provides a flat field and projects clear gobo patterns.

The Pebble Convex spot provides a crisper field than the Fresnel that is so popular in the USA. The LDR design adds the ability to change lenses in the field from PC to Fresnel and back again.

"Once they 'try it,' we are sure they'll be back for more," says Jack

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