UK - The TMB 'Village' will feature hands-on demos plus hospitality from TMB and their neighbour Bandit Lites.

amBIENT XC from amBX is an ambient lighting control system for the creation and delivery of immersive entertainment experiences.

ProShell - Professional RJ45 housing converts a standard RJ45 connector into a rugged, road-worthy connector with strain relief.

Atex LED flexible, reliable linear lighting systems physically conform to complex architectural contours while maintaining uniform brightness for stage sets of all kinds, or for permanent installations.

ProPlex RMT - Remote Media Transceiver System offers long range DVI video transmission and distribution over Cat 5e cable. Built for the road, in rack mount and portable mount formats, featuring user configurable

UK - Lighting and video: two unquestionably visual art forms which started apart yet have grown inexorably together in recent years as technology has allowed designers from each field to cross over into the other. How far will this crossover go? Are the two fields ultimately destined to merge into one?

Two of the leading practitioners in their fields feel this is a topic worthy of debate - and will be holding just such a debate, with the provocative title Video and Lighting Are Destined To Merge, on Sunday 13th September at 3pm, as part of the Education & Learning Programme at PLASA09 at Earls Court in London.

The debate's instigators and hosts are leading entertainment lighting supplier White Light, which through its adoption of a wide range of LED lighting technology increasingly finds itself involved with video content and media servers, and United Visual Artists, a

UK - At PLASA09, i-Pix will exhibit on booth 2-R14 in Earls Court 2, ideally positioned next to the Bandit Bar, which always ensures lively throughput of traffic, with the newest i-Pix RDM product developments also being shown on the RDM DMX stand (1-J40).

At the show, i-Pix launches its BB1 Building Block system, which offers lighting and visual designers the opportunity to configure lightsources exactly as they wish.

Building upon the BB4 and BB7, the new BB1 Building Block system creates exciting and innovative new opportunities going far beyond the semi-rigid constraints of normal fixture specification.

i-Pix (intelligent pixel) uses a custom high power light engine to provide a superior homogenised colour choice, with very accurate whites and the authentic reproduction of anything from the gentlest of pastel hues to the deepest of saturates.

The BB 1 series is designe

featured content

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

USA - Element Labs has announced a new software platform for its Cobra Technology. Cobra System 2.0 offers major enhancements to the Cobra 16 LED display and Vizomo video processor. A new 8mm mode for Cobra 16 now upgrades all Cobra 16 tiles to Cobra V8. Using Element Labs' exclusive four-color pixel and "the world's most advanced virtual pixelization", Cobra V8 offers "amazing image detail and quality".

Users can now map incoming video pixel-for-pixel to twice the horizontal and vertical resolutions of Cobra 16. Major RasterMAPPER and Vizomo updates now allow simplified system setup and centralized control. Single or multiple screens are mapped, addressed, calibrated and operated from one easy-to-use interface.

"Cobra System 2.0 and V8 further reinforce Element Lab's strategy to enhance and broaden the platform; enabling all Cobra and Helix customers

USA - Lighting & Electronics is using a new programme offered by the LDI show as a way to give back to the industry and they are issuing a challenge to all LDI exhibitors to follow in their steps.

LDI is offering a small rebate to exhibitors for every client that registers, using the exhibitor's unique code, attends the show held in Orlando, Florida 20-22 November, and verifies on site. Lighting & Electronics has embarked on an active PR campaign encouraging their customers to attend and have announced they will be donating their entire rebate to Behind the Scenes.

Maryalyce Merritt of Lighting & Electronics commented, "Too many of our colleagues are experiencing challenges to support themselves and their families. They have had to find more creative ways to pay the bills and provide for their basic needs. The L&E family has decided to take a proactive stand to help meet

UK - Reflecting its increased focus and investment in the entertainment lighting market, Philips will demonstrate its much-expanded portfolio of solutions for entertainment, touring and themed environments. Uniting the strengths of acquired brands Color Kinetics, Vari-Lite, Strand and Selecon, Philips has evolved beyond specialty entertainment lamps to deliver integrated solutions that combine new technologies with sophisticated control and ease-of-use for wide-ranging entertainment applications.

With the proliferation of new lighting technologies in entertainment - from television and film to theatre productions, concerts and themed restaurants - Philips "recognises the needs of designers who require end-to-end solutions to achieve unique designs and effects". As a result, the company assembled a product portfolio that now encompasses everything from lamps and luminai

Italy - "The production was lengthy and challenging, but finally we have released the 6PR150 driver, for mid-frequencies, just as we wanted it" stated Flavio Naggi of FaitalPRO. With this announcement, FaitalPRO has officially launched its latest professional range loudspeaker for mid-frequencies.

"Practically, the only part of the original project is the basket" - confirmed Flavio Naggi, FaitalPRO overseas sales manager , "a year of continuous improvements because it just did not respect the design input of both the marketing and the R&D department. Therefore, we went back to the drawing board, worked a lot on the details, adopted a number of special solutions and materials, and in the end we achieved the product we wanted."

The new 6PR150 boasts a waterproof cone created with a mix of cellulose pulp and a variety of long mineral fibres. The trea

UK - Defying the economic gloom-mongers PLASA09 opened its doors this morning with registrations matching last year's record breaking total of 15,000 - a sure sign that this year's show is going to be as high energy as ever.

There will be more for visitors to see, as more new exhibitors have signed up for the show at Earls Court, bringing the total of new and returning exhibitors to over 50. The education and learning programme has also been expanded with two audio-related masterclasses from previous Gottelier Award winners, Tony Andrews of Funktion One and John Stadius of Soundtracs/DiGiCo.

Another new addition to the Show is the Supply2.gov.uk Lounge, a central feature area giving exhibitors and visitors the chance to get advice from Supply2.gov.uk - the portal which helps SMEs gain access to public sector contract opportunities, typically worth up to £100,000.

Anoth

UK - Lightfactor announced its exclusive UK and Irish dealership agreement for lighting products from Italian manufacturer D.T.S. at PLASA09 in London this morning, Sunday 13 September.

Says Lightfactor's Peter Coles: "We wanted to team up with a progressive thinking partner that could offer a full, innovative, high quality range of LED, moving light, theatrical range of luminaires and PAR cans for the entertainment and architectural sectors - and D.T.S. is the perfect choice."

Lightfactor has a long history of success with distributing premium brands and cutting edge technology, and has been at the forefront of the moving light market in the UK since its inception.

Coles said at the press launch in Earls Court 1 that Lightfactor will also be appointing a series of sub-distributors for selected D.T.S. product groups.

Based on the east coast of Italy near the comm

UK - Dataton is putting Watchout version 4.1 through its paces at the PLASA show. This latest upgrade introduces numerous creativity enhancements, such as blending modes, travelling matte masking, keyer functions and several new effects. It is a free upgrade for version four users.

Dataton Watchout is a leading tool for the creation of high-impact shows in the events and entertainment industries. Watchout allows users to combine multiple projectors or other display devices with standard computer and network technology to create impressive presentations of virtually any size. The system utilises the full resolution of the display devices to create high quality imagery, in any array. The new features in version 4.1, being demonstrated at PLASA09, give even more creative power to the show designer and producer, the company says.

Key features of version 4.1 include Blend Modes - i

UK - Entertainment lifting specialists Hoist UK supplied a custom performer flying winch system to rigging specialists Over The Top for the recent Boyzone tour.

The winch is used during the tour to fly dancers above the stage, then used for the encore to fly all five members of Boyzone to the 'B' stage and then back to the main stage.

Paul Jordan, director of Hoist UK comments, "The winch is a custom version of our popular range of pilewind winches and in its fully built condition it has ten rope drums spanning over seven metres. It is manufactured in modules housed in one metre custom sections of 52cm truss with each module containing two rope drums.

Tony Dickson, fellow director of Hoist UK adds, "Each of the drum modules are then linked using a drive shaft to the next module, and then to a central module containing the geared motor assembly. The winch is capable

UK - Following a competitive tender process, Litestructures, one of the leading specialists in creative aluminium structures, has been commissioned to supply staging and rigging packages to Manchester Central Convention Complex as part of the venue's £20 million redevelopment programme.

Manchester Central is one of the UK's most iconic and popular venues and the redevelopment has centred on creating new and extended foyer areas to the iconic Grade ll listed Central Hall. The redevelopment is allied to infrastructure improvements to provide further cohesion to the venue's facilities, adding value to clients and to the venue's appeal as one of the UK's major convention and exhibition complexes. Key to the Central Hall space development was the implementation of infrastructure in-house to facilitate the staging of conference and gala functions.

The rigging package, which wa

UK - Northern Irish lighting rental company Production Services Ireland enjoyed a massively busy Bank Holiday weekend, servicing three major events in the province.

The first was a one-off gig by New York's the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in St George's Market, Belfast; the second was the three-day Belsonic Festival staged at Customs House Square, central Belfast; and the third was Live at the Castle, in Carrickfergus.

PSI supplied all lighting for this show, which was promoted by CDC Leisure and completely sold out. They worked to a spec from the band's lighting designer Lucas Cotterman.

The rig consisted of a front and back truss loaded with PARs used to provide all the basic stage washes, which were augmented with beams-work, effects and texturing from 14 moving lights - six Robe ColorWash 700E ATs and eight Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs. Eight PixelPARs were added, attached to floo

UK - LumenRadio has announced the launch and immediate availability of CRMX Nova at PLASA09 (13-16 September, Earls Court, London). The company says that CRMX Nova "redefines reliability and fidelity in wireless DMX & RDM distribution and is the first smart and adaptive wireless product range for the Entertainment and Architainment industries".

The company goes on to say that CRMX Nova offers "the same robustness as cables, but with the convenience, flexibility and low installation costs of wireless".

According to LumenRadio, key innovations and advantages in CRMX Nova include Automated Cognitive Coexistence, which ensures the signal is not disturbed by, nor disturbs, other wireless systems; Fidelity - ensuring the DMX frame output is always identical to the frame input; ErrorCorrection, in which advanced algorithms recreate corrupt or lost radio packets, w

UK - At 4pm today (Sunday 13 September), Artistic Licence will be holding the official launch of four new products at PLASA09 on stand 1-E32. Aimed to further the ease with which systems can be programmed and integrated, all four products are DIN-Rail mounted and thus suitable for permanent, architectural or display installations.

Sign-Control is a DMX512 playback system aimed at simple to sophisticated room control applications. It can be controlled by 14 buttons, a real time clock, RS232 and an external trigger. Features include three pages of eight memories along with one page of six sequences. Each memory or sequence contains all 512 channels.

Two-Play is a two-universe record and playback DMX controller. Capable of hours of show playback and with remote triggering options, Two-Play is designed as a control solution for small to medium size installations.

Art-Relay is de

The Netherlands - The new Luxor Theatre in the major Dutch harbour city of Rotterdam has installed a new Alcons loudspeaker system. The search for a new system began in 2006 because the old system did not meet the current requirements: the Luxor wanted a versatile sound system which could be used by all visiting companies, as its programme varies from musicals to variety shows and stage plays to rock concerts.

An extensive inventory resulted in a pre-selection of three manufacturers, including Alcons. These brands were invited to demonstrate their system during a special demo event. Luxor had chosen for a unique approach for this day. Not only the in-house Luxor technicians but also several famous Dutch sound designers and engineers, familiar with the Luxor Theatre, were invited to give their opinion. Also present were some other employees of the Luxor Theatre which were asked t

UK - A.C. Rigging, a division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies, recently held a trussing and rigging training school at the company's Leeds sales office in conjunction with Italian truss manufacturer, Litec.

Eric Porter, experienced independent rigger, trainer, adviser and committee member for the PLASA National Rigging Certificate, led the course. A.C. Rigging staff were on hand to assist him.

The comprehensive two-day training programme adopted an established Litec course. Topics included Regulations and Risk Assessment, Standards and Guidance, PPE Systems for Working at Height, Ropes and Knots, Inspection and Records.

Sean Pagel, project manager for Production Services Ireland, commented: "I found it a very useful and informative course. The content was very thorough and there was plenty to learn, as it was geared for people of all levels of experience. To be learn

UK/France - 5 Star Cases has delivered its third batch of flight cases to French lighting and sound rental company Arpege, bringing their total to over 100 since the first order last year.

The 57 cases in the latest order were to house Clay Paky's Alpha 300 and new 700 range of Spot, Wash and Beam moving light fixtures - both the 300 and 700 fixtures fit into the same case.

The Tour Grade trunks each house two luminaires and provide storage space for the removable hook clamps. The latest set of cases featured modifications to include a larger allowance for the bracket of the Alpha 700s.

The Arpege cases were made from 12mm birch plywood, with a high pressure laminate bonded exterior in a smart black finish. They also feature heavy-duty casters rated up to 180Kg, more than double the rating of the standard ones.

The project was handled for 5 Star by Andy Harford, who explai

UK - DiGiCo unveiled the latest addition to its digital mixing range at PLASA09 in London yesterday - the SD8-24. The small-footprint console measures under one metre in length, with no reduction in functionality or the number of inputs and outputs.

DiGiCo SD8, launched at PLASA show last year, was an instant hit for the manufacturer, with record numbers sold since its launch. Now, DiGiCo believes it has once again produced a product to suit the industry's changing needs. "A lot of our customers in the corporate world were hard hit at the start of the credit crunch," says James Gordon, DiGiCo's managing director. "Recently, they've been telling us that work is starting to come back. This is great news and we wanted to do something to address the needs of the rejuvenating market. Designing a smaller footprint SD8, but without reducing any of its features, seemed th

USA - Oxford, Ala.-based Sound Solutions recently completed the first house worship installation of the new Electro-Voice EVA compact line array at Centre of Hope Church in Anniston, Ala.

EVA was selected to upgrade the sanctuary sound system at Centre of Hope, to better serve the church's steadily growing congregation and meet the needs of its weekly services and in-house Christian rock band.

"The space is about 90ft wide by 120ft deep, and seats around 1,000 people," says Joey Hutto of Sound Solutions, "and contains some quite reflective surfaces, including a tile floor, a small balcony, and a metal ceiling. We needed to provide the sonic power and intelligibility they needed, along with highly controlled coverage and long throw; we also wanted to avoid the added expense of delays. Line array was the obvious answer, and our EV Rep Steve Land (EDA Pro Group) to

UK - Tannoy is proud to be exhibiting on Stand 1-L39 at PLASA09, the UK's leading professional audio and lighting expo, in partnership with Red Square Audio, the exclusive UK distributor of Tannoy's VQ Live.

As well as demonstrating the VQ Live system, designed for the rental/hire sound market, Tannoy are also be exhibiting the latest developments in the successful VQ Series installation range. Initially launched early last year, VQ Series has been expanded with the addition of 6 new devices (each available in passive or VNET powered) including new mid-high MH and down-firing DF enclosures with a variety of horn formats including 40 deg conical, 60 x 40 degree and 90 x 50 degree.

These new modules offer the systems designer an extremely flexible set of tools with which to build tightly packed compact arrays for a multitude of applications ranging from small to very large scale

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