Lighting

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UK - Martin Professional has launched two important new luminaires at PLASA - a fresnel version of its MAC 250 Series of moving heads, the MAC 250 Wash, and the high power MAC 700.

The MAC 250 Wash joins the MAC 250 Krypton and MAC 250 Entour profile spots to complete the new generation MAC 250 Series. The MAC 250 Wash is designed for environments where powerful colour wash effects are required from a compact 250-watt fresnel moving head such as touring and special event applications, television studios, club installations, and retail and leisure environments.

Features include efficient reflector technology for greater output, fast and quiet movement, a variable frost filter for zoom effect and a CMY color mixing system with a complementing color wheel.

A multi-layered, dichroic reflector gives the MAC 250 Wash an exceptional output. A Philips MSD 250/2 discharge lamp and th

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UK - Color Kinetics is showcasing a wide range of new systems and technologies designed, the company says, "to support greater adaptability, ease-of-use, and streamlined installation for both white and coloured light applications".

The new offerings range from optimised versions of existing products, to the official PLASA showing of IntelliWhite™ and the company's first multi-output power/data supply.

The ColorBlast 12 Powercore offers the essential attributes of the popular ColorBlast 12 in a complete line voltage system, using Powercore™ technology, which integrates power and data management directly within the fixture. This eliminates the need for external power supplies, as well as dramatically reducing installation cost and complexity. The company says that unlike other LED-based systems of its kind, ColorBlast 12 Powercore accepts a universal power in

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UK - Clay Paky has launched the Alpha Spot HPE 1200, described as the 'highlight of the Alpha range'. Its luminosity is guaranteed, says the manufacturer, by the combination of a top performance optical unit and a 1200 W discharge lamp.

Featuring a large, newly designed effects section, CMY colour mixing and a 10°- 40° linear zoom, the luminaire is also the quietest of the range.

Features include a metal iodide 1200W lamp, and an effects section providing a graphic system comprising 20 gobos and an animation disc; two rotating gobo wheels, each with six bi-directional, indexable and easily interchangeable decorative glass and dichroic gobos, selectable 'Gobo shake' function; morphing effect; one wheel with eight fixed and easily interchangeable gobos and variable rotation.

There also two bi-directional rotating prisms, three frost filters, stop / strobe effect and a high s

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UK - The winners of the PLASA Awards for Innovation were announced last night during a well-attended awards ceremony hosted by PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths on the main show floor at Earls Court. The Awards, which focus on the best design and development work going on across the industry, came at the end of a day that reaffirmed PLASA's reputation as a forging ground for future innovations.

The Awards, which are judged by a panel of professionals, attracted 66 nominations, leading to eight technical awards and an additional award for environmental impact.

The winning products were:

  • Artistic Licence's Visual Patch is going to prove the ultimate time saver for converged lighting and video applications. It creates an on-screen geographic map of two or three-dimensional pixel array, whilst automatically also assigning DMX512 start addresses. Described by the judges as anot

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UK - British LED luminaire specialist Tryka has launched several new products at the PLASA Show - one of which is receiving a particularly favourable response, say the company. The company has chosen the PLASA Show as the launch-pad for two new and ground-breaking DMX drivers. The IDS-4 and IDS-12 Intelligent Drive Systems offer four and twelve outputs (RJ45) respectively and are able to control up to 144 LEDs each. Both models encompass seven modes (static colour, crossfade, criss-cross fade, cyclic wash, solid chase, fade chase and DMX) - each with several pre-set functions. The units, based on the unique 'colour cool' technology which is patented in Europe, USA, Australia and Japan, use Pulsed Amplitude Modulation to drive the luminaires. Other features of the IDS drivers include thermal feedback control, easy plug and play set-up, and full DMX address mapping.

Meanwhile, on

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UK - PRG Europe has reported a strong response to Vari-Lite's new VL500 luminaire, with orders for the new fixture flooding in. Following what the company has called an "overwhelming demand for a return of the VL5 wash luminaire", Vari-Lite is debuting the VL500 at the PLASA Show. Based upon the 1994 Emmy Award-winning VL5 Wash luminaire, the VL500 offers users significant performance enhancements over its predecessor, say the company.

The VL500 is available with either a 120V/1200W lamp or a 230V/1000W lamp. The most economical and lightest version of the luminaire, the VL500 is designed for those who require the 3200-degree colour temperature along with the most space-efficient unit. No external ballast or dimmer is required.

The VL500D is also available with a 120V/1200W lamp or a 230V/1000W lamp, plus an internal yoke-mounted IGBT dimmer. While retaining the 3200

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UK - The PLASA Show has seen the launch by ETC of the latest generation of its IES Matrix sine wave dimming system, in which dimmers of different ratings and dimming techniques can be mixed in the same installation.

The company's its IES Matrix Mk II, with just 44mm additional headroom, is one of the most flexible systems available, with a wide choice of channel ratings and module options, plus higher density and improved efficiency.

The extra 44mm has enabled ETC to increase the density of the rack up to 180 dimmer channels and provide the highest sine wave dimming density around. With space for up to six dimming channels per module, Matrix Mk II is customisable with up to 180 x 3kW or 90 x 5kW dimmers per rack. Sine wave modules are available as 4 x 3kW, 4 x 5kW and 1 x 10kW, with an even greater choice of channel ratings for SCR Basic and high filtering modules. With relay

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UK - PLASA 2005 was the setting for a trio of major sales orders by the Holland-based sister lighting rental companies Flashlight and Metam, announced late on Tuesday afternoon.The two companies confirmed the joint purchase of substantial quantities of the latest products from VARI*LITE, Xilver and Syncrolite.

100 units of the newly-announced VARI*LITE VL500 wash luminaire, the updated version of the classic VL5, will be delivered to Flashlight's Utrecht headquarters. Commercial director Jacco van Pel told LSI: "We already had the complete VARI*LITE product range in our rental stock, but there was a hole where the VL5 used to be. Lighting designers loved it and we've talked to VARI*LITE a lot about for the past two years, so needless to say we're absolutely delighted that the VL500 is here and that we can offer it to our rental clients."

100 of Xilver's brand-new Xol

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UK - Color Kinetics has announced the appointment of Connie Weaver to its board of advisors. A highly-regarded branding and marketing expert, Ms. Weaver is executive vice president and chief marketing officer of BearingPoint, one of the world's largest management and technology consulting firms.

Ms. Weaver's extensive experience includes leadership positions at some of the world's most well-known technology, telecom and information companies. Prior to joining BearingPoint, she served as executive vice president of public relations, marketing and brand at AT&T, where she was a member of the executive leadership team.

"Connie brings tremendous value to our board of advisors with impressive expertise in the critical areas of marketing, branding, investor relations and communications for established, blue chip companies," said Bill Sims, President and CEO, Color Kinetics

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UK - AV rental and 'advanced product sales specialists' PSCo launched its new FogScreen AV product at PLASA 2005. The system, which enables mid-air image projection, is distributed exclusively in the UK by PSCo.

FogScreen creates a dry fog, using ordinary water, to produce a seamless projection area that's viewable on both sides. It can also be used in interactive mode, enabling viewers to use their bare hands as a mouse to write or draw in the air and use the fog as a touch screen.

It has so far been used to create walk-through advertisements, AV features for presentations and walk-through entrances for shops and exhibitions.

The product joins the M-PDP seamless plasma display, launched in the summer.

(Mike Lethby)

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UK - Essential Lighting has announced its acquisition of trade hire specialists, Lighting Hire Ltd. Lighting Hire's team have been integrated with Essential Lighting's rental operations to provide an enhanced service, specifically for the lighting industry. The combined rental stocks of the companies now include an expanded range of generic and intelligent lighting equipment for rental.

Martin Lubach, technical director of Essential Lighting, takes overall responsibility for trade hire. His team consists of James Rose, Dave Charters, and will shortly be joined by a further member. Pete Barford, previously general manager of Lighting Hire, joins the board of Essential Lighting to take charge of business development.

Essential Lighting calls this "an excellent development", who are already well known and regarded within the lighting industry for their moving light rent

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USA - Color Kinetics reports that the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts has issued an order dismissing the lawsuit filed by Super Vision International Inc against Color Kinetics alleging infringement of US Patent No. 4,962,687 (also known as 'the High End' or 'Belliveau' Patent). The Court determined that Super Vision was not the owner of the High End Patent and that it was, instead, simply a non-exclusive licensee, with no right to enforce the patent. The Court ruled that Super Vision's suit is to be dismissed, but did not exclude the possibility that Super Vision could at some point acquire rights from the patentee that might permit it to assert a claim in the future.

On March 4 last year Super Vision announced that it had acquired the patent from High End Systems, and the following day filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Middle District of Flori

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At PLASA 2005, the recipients of the 6th Michael Northen Bursary Award were presented with their prizes by Rick Fisher (Chairman, ALD), Mark White (Manager UK & Ireland, ETC) and Will Evans (Student Rep, ALD) - the competition's judges, alongside David Howe (lighting designer).

The Michael Northen Award was won by Matt Daw, studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama, who submitted a lighting design for Extremely difficult Times, a circus piece performed at London's Circus Space. The entry was judged to be outstanding not only for its final achievement but also in its preparation, research and planning. He received a cheque for £500 and a copy of 'Northen Lights' (Michael Northen's autobiography).

The ETC prize went to Mary Pope, a RADA student, for her lighting of Movies in Motion at University College London and the ALD prize to Andrew Ellis, also attend

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UK - A new LED product has made its debut in a restored Grade-II listed building in Canterbury. Leading architects and designers Satmoko Ball, returned to Lighting Effects Distribution, to purchase and install quantities of the new X-Chip in the award-winning Jalsha Indian Restaurant.

With its own built-in driver, X-Chip LED - distributed in the UK by L.E.D. - can create up to 16 million colour combinations and boasts a lamp life of 50,000 hours. Moreover, designer Adrian Ball says that the tiny modules presented him with a wide range of creative options. "LED was in my mind after working with Ian Kirby at Umbaba," he said. "The beauty of these is their size - they are only four inches long by less than an inch wide. But in addition to being compact, they are low-maintenance, colour-changing, fully dimmable LED's with no heat dissipation. The light source can thus

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USA - High End Systems (HES) has announce a worldwide lowering of its Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Pricing (MSRP) on its entire line of entertainment lighting products and control systems. MSRP changes represent an average of a 20% drop in pricing; more specifically, a 23-25% drop on the line of HES automated luminaires and a smaller percentage drop on Wholehog consoles and the HES digital lighting product line.

Bill Morris, VP of Americas sales for the Austin, Texas-based lighting manufacturer, explains the reasoning behind the decision, stating that with a more efficient reseller network and lower pricing, HES can put together a stronger marketing, service and support program to better serve the needs of its resellers. HES plans to implement more training programs for customers to help them use and deploy the new technology.

(Lee Baldock)

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UK - Compulite launched its new Vector Lite lighting console at the PLASA show at Earls Court, London, this week - the first showing of this new product anywhere in the world. The Vector range has already proved popular in the market due to its flexibility, both in terms of playback and its user-configurable programming syntax, say Compulite. Vector systems are already in use on major TV, theatre and live music productions around the world Vector Lite is the latest, most compact member of the Vector family that already includes the Red, Blue and Green.

With the addition of the 'Lite', the Vector line now offers a comprehensive and effective solution for any venue, whatever the type or size. As a stand-alone console or as a tracking backup unit, it brings the most advanced control technology available in the market to limited-budget venues. The Lite offers four DMX512 universes (

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UK - In a move designed to ensure that Lumidrive's LED products are reliable and provide high levels of performance, the UK based LED technology provider has become one of just a handful of LED companies worldwide to invest in a thermal imaging system.

A thermal imager gives an instant picture of the thermal performance of an LED based system and can even record a real time mpeg image to show a system heating and cooling over time. Gordon Routledge, managing director at Lumidrives says: "Thermal design and testing of high powered LED systems are essential to ensure their long term reliability and give customers complete confidence in the product. "Traditional methods of testing relying on temperature probes can take hours and often will not identify a problem area such as assembly error."

The system can even be used to validate the performance of critical compon

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Europe - In a move designed to better serve its network of dealers in Europe and the Middle East, Wybron has appointed PRG Europe as its exclusive distribution partner for the region.

The agreement between the two companies, say PRG, ensures that Wybron dealers throughout Europe and the Middle East will have faster access to product and spare parts, thanks to the stock of Wybron products, which PRG Europe will hold at its Greenford, UK, warehouse. With quick and easy access to courier routes across Europe and the Middle East, delivery times will be reduced considerably. Among the Wybron brands being stocked by PRG Europe are the Nexera family of luminaires, the award winning Autopilot II, Forerunner, and BP-2 beam projector, as well as all Wybron RDM ready products.

In addition to stocking equipment and spares, PRG Europe will be offering Wybron dealers full sales support and

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UK - Lighting and sound design specialists Audiotech & The Lighthouse supplied sound and lighting design, equipment and crew to Manchester-based production company With, for the annual Virgin Vie sales conference, staged at the NEC, Birmingham.

The high energy one day event - "The Big One" - saw 5,200 Virgin Vie Cosmetics and Jewellery consultants and managers gather in the NEC's main arena for the highly theatrical conference. Phil Wiffen from The Lighthouse designed lighting. His brief was to produce an up-tempo show suggestive of the themes of opulence, glamour and the kind of lifestyle that successful Vie consultants might strive to achieve.

The show was produced by Sam Pole and Jenny Hazelhurst, with set design by Tim Wilding. Wiffen designed a U shaped truss overhead at the front and two gently angled mini-beam trusses at the back, which formed a subtle 'V' ove

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USA - Joe Marchese, an active member of the New York production community, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, and a fund has been set up to assist his family in defraying the anticipated medical costs. Marchese, 46, a father of three, has been the technical director of Guild Hall's John Drew Theater since 1998, making theatre spring to life with sound and lighting for hundreds of performances. He has worked solidly with the community and touring performers on numerous concerts, lectures and plays. His expert and professional guidance on stage lighting, sound engineering and theatre design have helped thousands of artists bring their work to life on Guild Hall's stage.

Recently, while working on a poetry reading at Guild Hall, Marchese was overcome with a migraine seizure. The next morning, he was rushed to a local hospital, then transported to Stony Brook University Hospital

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UK - Elumin8, manufacturer of electroluminescent lighting will see its technology on show with Workplace Art, at the sleep.05 exhibition, Old Billingsgate Market on 8-9 November 2005 and used to create a series of spectacular freestanding lighting panels by leading designer Ginco.

The panels have an intricate abstract motif that lights up gradually. Ginco has been experimenting with Elumin8 lighting since 2003. Her work aims to create a vision of the future living environment.

Richard Kirk, managing director of Elumin8 says; "Electroluminescent (EL) lights are paper-thin, low-energy, and flexible and can be screen printed on to large-scale surfaces. Emitting a glow, they have the potential to transform advertising billboards into flashing, eye-catching animations, to create low-level lighting in jet aircraft and car interiors, and provide a fascinating tool for young desi

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UK - It was "lights, camera, action!" at the University of Glamorgan last week for the launch of two brand new undergraduate degree courses from the School of Electronics.

The new courses, Live Event Technology and Lighting Technology look set to train some of the UK's top dramatic lighting professionals of the future. During the launch, which took place on Tuesday 6 September, one of the campus' largest buildings was illuminated by state-of-the-art lighting technology provided by Stage Electrics.

For the two weeks of the launch Stage Electrics is highlighting the campus building with the use of 4 Studio Due Citycolors 2.5k and two Martin MAC 2000 Performances assisted by an array of generic lanterns from ETC, Strand and Selecon. The use of three custom glass gobos together with the static lighting produces an array of different effects on the building which can be s

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UK - Visual-Patch, developed by Artistic Licence, has won the PLASA 2005 Award for Innovation. Combining video recognition technology and newly developed software, Visual-Patch can map and patch even the most complex lighting arrays.

A digital camera is positioned before the array and detects the size, position and shape of each pixel to be used, in both symmetrical and random patterns. This information is then analyzed by Visual-Patch, which generates an automatic lighting plot on screen.

Visual-Patch uses Remote Device Management (RDM) to set the start address of each fixture during the patching process. RDM is a new control protocol that allows lighting fixtures to talk back to the controller.

When Visual-Patch completes you are left with a lighting rig that is fully patched and a lighting controller that knows the position and address of every fixture. All that without e

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Australia - Ardiso - Artificial Digital Solutions is a new specialist designer and manufacturer of leading edge digital LED light sources and control interfaces. The company's design expertise is in the lighting of rare artifacts for museums along with architectural and entertainment effects lighting.

Museum fit outs are the company's fastest tracking product range with products like the Avalon series featuring a flat smooth distribution, no UV and a thermal design. The company say that these features will lead changes in the way delicate artifacts in museums are lit in the future.

Ardiso has designed a complete spatial control system that will soon intelligently monitor the complete cabinet controlling everything from temperature, light levels, viewing presence, feedback and shutdown, all from a central logic device mounted below the display cabinet.

With the pre-release of

  1. Wilkes Iris acquires sheet metal specialist
  2. Robe lights world's largest mirror ball
  3. Barco open day to showcase B-10
  4. New lens tube options for Source Four
  5. Phil O'Donnell joins Color Kinetics
  6. 2004 Olympic Ceremonies awarded Emmy
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