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UK - At approximately 3am on Monday 6 July 2009, thieves broke into a commercial premise in Clevedon, North Somerset, where over £80,000 worth of lighting equipment was being stored following its use for a private event.

The offenders used a large blue Mercedes Sprinter van to remove the equipment from the premises; the van was last seen driving through Clevedon at approximately 3.30am, believed to be heading towards Portishead and possibly the M5 motorway.

A majority of the stolen lighting equipment was, at the time, on hire from Norwich stage lighting company Viking Stage Lighting. Some of the equipment stolen included expensive Robe Colourspot 1200, Robe Colourwash 575 AT Zoom, and Robe Colourwash 250 AT moving head fixtures. The lights would have been stored in, predominantly, light blue flight cases with the Viking Lighting logo screen printed on the sides.

Also s

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USA - Illumination Dynamics (ID) has moved to a new location in San Fernando, California that features easy access, ample space and thoughtful amenities for production crew. With 70,000sq.ft of warehouse space to house ID's expanding inventory of motion picture lighting and grip, automated and theatrical lighting, HVAC equipment and expendables, the rental house "offers improved equipment accessibility, working environment and customer service".

In addition to doubling the warehouse space, ID provides 11,000sq.ft of air-conditioned offices, repair, conference, and demo rooms - including separate production crew offices with convenient telephone and wi-fi internet connectivity.

Repair facilities offer maintenance in-house as well as equipment servicing for customers. Dedicated entries and spacious loading docks for each department facilitate easy equipment pickup and

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The Met Challenged - A letter sent to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission is challenging the Metropolitan Police's right to gather information about live music. The commission has been asked to determine whether the Met is contravening race relations laws through its use of the 696 form. The letter's 50 signatories include Feargal Sharkey, head of UK Music.

Journalist Sunny Hundal said there were concerns the law was being used for racial profiling. About 70 London pubs and clubs are currently required to complete the 696 form. The document asks for the names, dates of birth, addresses and phone numbers of promoters and artists, for details of the target audience and for the style of music, "eg bashment, R'n'B, garage".

Mr Hundal, who drafted the letter, said: "I've heard from anecdotal evidence of people who've had no trouble at their venues just being h

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UK - As most of the industry is aware by now, in Spring next year, Ofcom will be holding a 'beauty contest' for a band manager to manage the radio spectrum used by PMSE (Programme Making & Special Events) users. PLASA - the Professional Lighting and Sound Association - has recently announced its intention to apply for the role.

The best applicant will be awarded a package of radio frequencies or 'spectrum bands' that content producers depend on for the use of essential wireless equipment, including radio microphones, in-ear monitoring and wireless cameras.

For Ofcom, these 'beauty contests' are an unusual way of releasing spectrum. Generally speaking, bands that are 'freed up' for whatever reason are auctioned and awarded to the highest bidder. However, Ofcom has recognised that this would not work in the case of the Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) sector, which wou

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UK - Products from the AXYS Scope and Source ranges will not only be on display at PLASA09, but Duran Audio will also have a demo room available for potential clients to listen to the products. Demonstrations will take place twice daily in the Westminster Room at 12 noon and 4pm.

AXYS G2 Loudspeakers have been designed with the theatre, places of worship, corporate and live music industries in mind. The full range models have active three-way designs which offer a smooth extended high frequency response. The result is a big 'hi-fi' sound which is achieved without compromising the power or dispersion characteristics required of a product in this class, says the company.

All AXYS G2 Series loudspeakers are self powered with built-in DSP and include eight presets, switchable under software control, over an RS485 network or directly from the rear panel of the loudspeaker.

(Jim E

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UK/Australia - In a prelude to the release of its new lighting and media control software, LSC has been revealing some of the power of its new product LSC Clarity via short videos on the company's website.

The first four videos released over the last few weeks cover Copy and Pasting, LED matrix control, media server integration and also Freesets - a new powerful innovative extension to the humble Preset.

The fifth video in the series released this week shows the power of Fixture Substitution built into LSC Clarity and further video releases are planned prior to the product's formal release.

LSC Clarity will be officially released at PLASA09. The videos can be seen by visiting the company's website at www.lsclighting.com

(Jim Evans)

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UK/The Netherlands - A new and advanced hoist motor control system will be unveiled at PLASA09, where XLNT Advanced Technologies launches its PowerMotion DS8 Pro and Pro Plus Series Solid State Motor Controllers.

The DS8 Pro Series "provides every essential option for controlling standard electrical entertainment chain hoists", with more advanced options and total multi-unit flexibility available in the Pro Plus version, including the separate DSR 8x8 64-motor hand remote. Both types offer a major benefit to professional riggers - maintenance-free reliability thanks to the solid state design, says the company.

Designed primarily for top-flight rental applications but equally suited to fixed installations, the DS8 Series is designed around the practical experience and requirements of leading riggers, to the rigging industry's highest standards of safety, protection an

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Czech republic / UK - Robe will launch several exciting new products at PLASA 2009, in anticipation of a busy year ahead. The company's R&D department has been focused on developing the new generation of ROBIN (Robe Innovative Technology) products - the first in the world to utilise the new plasma lamp technology. The Robin range consists of the ROBIN 300 Plasma Spot and Plasma Wash, the ROBIN 300E Spot, ROBIN 300E Wash and the ROBIN 300E Beam.

The ROBIN 300 Plasma Spot - the first of the plasma lamp based fixtures from Robe - offers a colour rendering index (CRI) of 94, an extremely flat and even light beam (1.3 : 1) and a lifespan of 10,000 hours, say Robe. The new plasma lamp source offers an electronic dimming capacity from 100 - 20% and a semi-hot restrike function (of less than 120th of a second for full lamp brightness to return after shutting off). Other features include

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UK - Delta Sound has invested in Navigator Systems HireTAG automatic equipment tracking system, an integrated RFID solution specifically designed for the events rental industry.

"We've been looking for a quick and easy way to track our ever increasing stock of equipment," says Delta managing director Paul Keating. "We believe that HireTAG is the ideal solution for us."

Each item of stock is individually tagged with easily fitted, specially designed components that have a unique ID, with a HireTAG Arch placed in a convenient location within Delta's warehouse.

Items are walked through the Arch, either singly or in a flight case, unique radio signals are read by the Arch's structure, processed and recorded on easy-to-use Rental Management Software.

"Although RFID tags have been around for some time, not only was the cost prohibitive, but the high meta

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UK - Following its initial preview at InfoComm 2009, Stardraw.com has announced the official release on 1 September of its latest system control application, Stardraw Control 2010. Control 2010 is a significant step up from the previous 2007 version, the company says, offering users greater flexibility, improved User Interfaces (UIs) and the ability to exploit the ever-increasing processing power of modern hardware.

Control 2010 is also fully compatible with 2007, so all current projects can easily be transferred to the new platform and benefit from its improved features and capabilities.

The Control 2010 platform includes a generic HTTP, or WebServices driver. This means that anything that talks HTTP can talk to any system controlled by Stardraw Control, anywhere. For example, you can use any browser on any device anywhere on the planet as a UI - that includes Smartphones of

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UK - Defying the economic gloom mongers and with more than a week still to go, PLASA09 pre-show registrations currently match last year's record-breaking total of 15,000, the organisers report.

There will be more for visitors to see, too, as a further 10 new exhibitors have signed up for the show at Earls Court on September 13-16, bringing the total of new and returning exhibitors to 50. The seminar program has also been expanded, with two new audio-related sessions on Tuesday, 15 September.

Another major 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 that helps SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) gain access to public sector contract opportunities, typically worth up to £100,000.

PLASA is investing in this new feature area to raise awareness am

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USA - ESTA (Entertainment Services and Technology Association) is pleased to announce the finalists in the second annual Rock Our World Awards to be presented at the ESTA Annual Dinner & Awards Ceremony at LDI 2009. The ESTA Rock Our World Awards were created to honour groundbreaking achievement by its members and to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of the technology and the designer or integrator who applies it in a real world environment. The finalists for the second annual Rock Our World Awards are:

Cobra Display - Element Labs, Inc.
DMXIS - ENTTEC
P3-100 System Controller - Martin Professional
OPTI Trilite V-Truss - Optikinetics Ltd
Bad Boy Luminaire - Production Resource Group
SRI ProPlus Fall Protection Systems - Sapsis Rigging Inc
Helix P1 in Marco Borsato's Wit Licht (White Light) Concert Tour - Element Labs, Inc
The Grand Mosque, Abu D

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UK - The A.C. Entertainment Technologies stand at PLASA09 will feature new innovations and product highlights from the ranges distributed by the company in the UK.

A.C.'s Lighting division will be displaying the complete lineup of Chroma-Q LED products.

The new Color Block 2 LED fixture combines its predecessor's core elements of modularity and versatility with new single colour RGBA optics, 530 lumens output (almost double the original model) and theatrical grade dimming to create an exceptional feature set. The stand will also preview two new Chroma-Q products joining the range later this year. The Color Charge is a battery powered, ultra portable LED light source which combines wireless control with an advanced feature set. Also appearing is the Color Force 72, a 12,000 lumen, 1.8m / 6 ft output LED batten for washing large areas with full RGBA extended colour palette.

Ot

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Sweden/UK - Wireless Solution Sweden is once again using PLASA to showcase new W-DMX products, as well as hosting an educational on the benefits and advances in Wireless DMX technology.

On prominent display will be the UglyBox Performance Kit, nominated for a PLASA Innovation Award. The kit includes the new W-DMX UglyBox and Co-Existence Dongle with a wide selection of antennae to provide feedback on all aspects of wireless signal, never before available to lighting technicians. The rugged UglyBox test tool measures the DMX channel data values, the real time signal strength, and the history of signal stability. The Co-Existence Dongle ensures harmony of multiple wireless protocols by enabling custom channel selection and adjustment of output power. Together with the accompanying software for radio spectrum monitoring and antenna calculation, the kit ensures a safe, controlled en

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UK - PixelRange will launch SkyLine, a family of "extremely durable" outdoor architectural LED floodlights this month.

Capable of high projection, even washes and focused feature lighting - each luminaire can feature one or two robust, stylish housings with a highly flexible variety of LED and circuit formats.

Other new products include the new PixelPar Festival - an outdoor IP65 rated version of the industry standard PixelPar.

(Jim Evans)

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Record-Breaking Fringe - The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has broken its own box office records by selling more than 1.8 million tickets. Ticket sales for the Fringe were up by 21% on last year and 9% on its previous best ever year, which was in 2007. Organisers said a drop in international visitors had been offset by a marked increase in UK audiences.

The 63rd Fringe, which ended on Monday night, was the first with new chief executive Kath Mainland at the helm. She said, "Even in tough economic conditions, festivals chime with people in a way few other events manage to. Over the past three-and-a-half weeks I have seen some amazing work, sometimes perfectly trivial and enormously entertaining, sometimes incredibly challenging and often hugely moving. I have been blown away by the creative energy, artistic vision and drive of the people taking part, from performers and director

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Taiwan - Event production experts TAO Productions put together a team to manage European entertainment interests at the opening ceremonies for The Deaflympics 2009 in two venues in Taiwan this summer.

NewSubstance Creative Agency employed the TAO Group to provide logistics support, production management, CAD planning, health & safety and event consultancy for four shows in Hsinchu and Taipei

To achieve the client brief, head of TAO Andy Cotton flew a crew to Taiwan, including TAO's Ben Price (production), Darren Wring (lighting); Steve Waddington (rigging) and Gareth Lewis (sound).

Now in its 21st year, the Deaflympics, features 20 sports, from athletics to taekwondo. The event was previously known as The World Games of the Deaf, having been granted permission by the IOC to change names in 2001.

The opening ceremonies and parades were produced by Mirag

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UK - With just days remaining before the PLASA09 exhibition opens its doors (13-16 September, Earls Court, London), PLASA Media has published the Show Guide online in a digital format.

Readers of Lighting&Sound International's digital edition, which has been available worldwide for the past two years, will be familiar with the freely accessible online format.

This is the first time the PLASA Show Guide has been available prior to the show, and will allow those planning on visiting PLASA09 ample opportunity to browse the exhibitors' detailed information and plan their visit in detail. The PLASA09 Guide includes full listings for all exhibitors, with a quick reference A-Z listing and floorplans to make planning your visit as straightforward as possible.

In addition to this, the Guide also features advanced information

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Europe - DMi D&M Installation Europe has introduced an IP control module for the bi-directional control of Escient Vision media players from the Marantz RC9001 and Philips TSU9600 & TSU9800 Pronto touch-screen universal remote control handsets.

Enabling the Vision OSD GUI on the Marantz and Pronto handsets provides control of the platform without having to switch on a TV. The module also enables the browsing and viewing of photos directly on the handset, as well as the viewing and editing of Vision setup parameters.

The module is downloadable free of charge from the Escient Europe and Escient UK websites (www.escienteurope.com and www.escient.co.uk; under the Support tab). Installing the module, custom installers can enable the intuitive and user friendly Vision on screen display GUI interface on the RC9001 and Pronto handsets, providing a full 2-way control experience with th

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Czech Republic - Robe Lighting has just completed the latest phase of a substantial ongoing expansion project. This includes the acquisition of PCB production company Dioflex, its long term electronic parts supplier, based in Roznov near to Robe's factory facility in Valasske Mezirici.

Robe's has also invested 3.5m Euros in building a completely new logistics centre and in doubling its warehouse space to nearly 4000sq.m.

The latest factory expansion project houses a purpose-built plastics moulding centre which covers about 1000sq.m, equipped with all necessary machinery involved in this process.

This has all been achieved by reinvesting the company's profits, supported by a strong operating cashflow, says the company.

Dioflex comes complete with 30 skilled employees, approximately 2000sq.m of premises and all the modern technology and fully automated machining processes ne

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South Africa - The third grandMA2 introduction training session within the past two months was hosted at DWR Distribution in Strijdom Park, Johannesburg.

The companies Congo Blue, Black Coffee, Selbys and the AV Alliance were represented at the most recent course and experienced first-hand the functionalities of the grandMA2 console, which had recently landed in South Africa.

"Some guys who attended commented how it opened their eyes," said Nick Britz from DWR who ran the sessions. "They were initially scared thinking it was too involved. Soon they saw just how easy it was once they knew their way around it."

Brandon Bunyan from Black Coffee was accompanied by colleagues Michael Swart and Grant Leonard. "The course was great and very inspirational," said Bunyan. "My guys are psyched, but as we've not taken ownership of our newly purchased g

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UK - BEIRG, the British Entertainment Industry Radio Group, which is busy campaigning for the performance and event industry's continued access to the radio spectrum following the digital switchover, has made an appeal to all users of wireless equipment to give their input to the campaign. BEIRG's statement reads as follows:

On 30 June 2009, Ofcom published a statement setting out its decision to clear the entire 800MHz band. This means that if you have wireless equipment such as radio microphones and/or in-ear monitors which operate in channels 61-69, they will be rendered obsolete by 2012/2013. Enforced eviction from the 800MHz band will mean major cost implications for everyone who owns affected equipment.

Ofcom and the Government agreed to the principle of putting a funding mechanism to replace affected equipment. Last week, Ofcom published a consultation - Clearing the 80

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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

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Polished Performance - Sir David Attenborough brought the 115th BBC Proms season to a close on Saturday night by playing a floor polisher as a musical instrument. Sir David was joined on stage at the Royal Albert Hall in London by pianist Stephen Hough on the vacuum cleaner. Comedian Rory Bremner also took part in the performance of Sir Malcolm Arnold's piece A Grand, Grand Overture. The eight-minute work has parts for two other vacuum cleaners, four rifles, an organ a and full orchestra.

For the first time, the Proms finale was screened via satellite to cinemas on every continent of the world. The BBC said the two-month classical music festival had been the most successful yet with a 32% increase in under-16s attending. Proms director Roger Wright said the event had included "outstanding and inspiring music-making".

Goodnight Vienna - The tribute conce

  1. ACS appoints managing director
  2. Arup expands theatre consultancy in North America
  3. ETC's new iPhone app gives some Light Relief
  4. PLASA09: Launch of the First Night Riders
  5. Gearhouse supplies South African Tattoo
  6. DiGiCo Donates 500th SD8 Console
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