UK - PLASA Focus will provide visitors with an opportunity to see an important UK product debut from PRG Distribution. The revolutionary product from SpotlessLight will also be revealed at PLASA Focus, Leeds.The Spotlesslight attaches to your digital projector and uses it as the light source; it then emits and reads infrared light to detect and track performers or objects on a stage within the projector's throw area.

The onboard engine then processes this information in real time in order to instruct the projector to map projected light back on to the performer or object - even while the performer is moving. Additionally, the Spotlesslight can function in the reverse mode (projecting only around the object or performer), or a combination of both modes. The light projected back on to the performer can be white light or it can be from Spotlesseffects - hologram-like special effect

UK - White Light has announced the launch of Fusion 672 from Illieum, which the company, as exclusive UK distributor, will exhibit at the forthcoming PLASA Focus, Leeds (28-29 April 2009).

Billed as "the next generation of LED lighting effect", Fusion 672 is a rugged, lightweight batten - just over 1m long and weighing just over 3kg - each Fusion 672 contains 432 (72x6) individually controllable tri-colour LEDs with an ultra-wide viewing angle. Battens can be arranged in any pattern with the units oriented horizontally or vertically, packed tightly together or spaced apart to allow lighting through the array. Fusion 672 can serve as a video display, a lighting fixture, a light sculpture or anything in-between, say White Light.

Setup of even the most complex systems is easy: units are daisy-chained together by standard Cat5e cable. The layout of the units is specified

Germany - City Theatrical products will be on display at ProLight&Sound on the stand of its new German distributor, LTH.

Products on display will include SHoW DMX, the wireless DMX system, and two new LED lighting fixtures: the iW Blast TR Lighting Kit (a variable colour temperature white LED lighting kit for film, video, and photography), and the MasterBlast (an RGB LED party and event light equipped with battery power and wireless data).

Also on display will be the AutoYoke, a professional quality automated yoke for the ETC Source Four and other lighting fixtures, along with a range of lighting accessories. Representatives from City Theatrical will be on hand to demonstrate Lightwright, the lighting paperwork tool, and all the other City Theatrical products.

(Jim Evans)

UK - grandMA full-size continues to be the lighting console of choice for most current major UK ice skating productions, including Lunchbox Productions' Cinderella On Ice tour, starring the Imperial Ice Stars. The console was specified by Sydney-based lighting designer Gavan Swift when the tour kicked off in New Zealand and Australia in June 2008 and is being operated day-to-day by Paul Mansfield.

Swift chose the desk because the rig features two High End DL2 moving projectors and a number of Martin Professional moving lights. Each DL2 has 170 parameters, so they needed a console with the power and flexibility to programme these and all moving lights easily.

The grandMA is also controlling six DMX scenic clocks which keep real time and were specially built for the production.

Cinderella On Ice is produced by James Cundall, Tony Mercer, David Atkins and Vladisla

Germany - GLP has recruited Mark Ravenhill to develop closer relationships with Global Key Players within the entertainment lighting industry, in particular lighting designers, key customers, decision makers and other important personnel. Mark Ravenhill brings a vast knowledge of the lighting market to GLP and will ensure that the focus on customers increases.

Ravenhill said: "From their base in moving head fixtures, GLP have really stepped out of the shadows with the Impression range, showing that the ability to meet customer demands with innovation and passion is alive and kicking in our industry. I am really looking forward to being a part of this tight-knit team with these values at their core."

The Impression product range is genuine German engineering and already a standard in the industry - in the USA the Impression is sold through Elation Professional and in

USA - Shure Incorporated will officially support Earth Hour 2009, a global climate event led by the World Wildlife Fund, by switching off all non-essential lighting in all of the company's facilities around the world for one hour on 28 March, and encouraging all of its associates, customers, and suppliers to do the same.

Shure will join corporations, organizations, governments, and individuals in more than 240 cities around the world in supporting Earth Hour, which begins at 8:30pm local time. Tens of millions of people from all corners of the world are expected to participate in this call for global action on climate change.

"One of our company's core values is to be a good corporate citizen and neighbour," said Sandy LaMantia, Shure president and CEO. "We have an internal team, our Green Team, which strives to constantly implement and improve environmentally-f

Netherlands / Australia - Royal Philips Electronics has announced that it has acquired Dynalite, a leading maker of lighting controls headquartered in Sydney, Australia, for an undisclosed sum. Dynalite now becomes part of the Lighting Electronics business within the Philips Lighting sector.

Rudy Provoost, chief executive of Philips' Lighting sector, comments: "Sophisticated lighting control systems can provide our customers with significant cost and energy savings. A variety of lighting control methods present a solution to suit any setting, ensuring that energy is not consumed unnecessarily, while providing the user with complete flexibility and control over their environment. As such, the acquisition of Dynalite enables us to further strengthen our offering of integral energy management solutions to major corporations, property developers and hotel groups. Having a promi

UK - Among the range of lighting products being exhibited by trade supplier Impact Products (Europe) at PLASA Focus is a selection of fixtures from Chauvet which have never before been shown in the UK.

New to the US manufacturer's COLORado series is the 2, 3, or 6-channel COLORado 1VW wash, producing variable shades of white from its 18 warm white and 18 cool white LEDs. An IP66 rating makes it ideal for both indoor and outdoor use, whilst colour temperature mixing and custom program recall can be done with or without DMX controller.

The compact LED Pinspot gives a 9° beam angle from its single high-power white LED, perfect for a variety of applications where powerful and highly directional illumination is required.

Introducing LED to the range of spots in the Q-Series are the Q-Spot 250-LED and Q-Spot 150-LED DMX-512 moving yokes. Features include a three-facet prism an

USA - Bandit Lites has named Chris Barbee as its new national director of sales and installations. He makes this move from a successful eight year run as the company's sales and installations design specialist.

Pete Heffernan, Bandit Lites president said: "Chris has played an integral role in the success of this company's sales and installation department. His experience and innovative design concepts have helped to set the standard in his division that Bandit Lites strives for in all of our endeavors."

(Jim Evans)

USA - Acclaim Lighting's Rebel Pro Par is suitable for a wide range of applications, indoors or out. Powered by 36 high-output Rebel RGB LEDs (also available in Cool White and Warm White LED models), it provides high luminous efficiency in a compact, lightweight case design, making it suitable for both the production and installation markets. Small enough to fit in standard 12" truss, the Rebel Pro Par can even be used as a truss warmer onstage. Additionally, advanced LED driver circuitry allows for completely flicker-free operation and dimming, which, combined with the Rebel Par Pro's totally silent operation, makes it suitable for TV/film production use, too, says the company.

The Rebel Pro Par offers 12 red, 12 green and 12 blue Rebel LEDs with special designed optics that produce a very smooth and even effect. Over 16.7 million rich colours can be created via RGB colou

Germany - OSRAM (Germany) has extended the existing licence with Everlight Electronics Co. Ltd (Taiwan), about manufacturing and sales of white and coloured LEDs with conversion technology for all applications. These patents are owned by OSRAM. In return Everlight granted to OSRAM a license to use housing patents of Everlight. This agreement paves the way for a closer cooperation between the two companies.

The licensed conversion technology was developed by the OSRAM subsidiary Opto Semiconductors. It enables the production of white or coloured LEDs using blue emitting InGaN (Indium Gallium Nitride) based chips and suitable fluorescent converters. With the agreement signed, the existing license agreement (September 2003) is extended - especially the right for Everlight to use this OSRAM intellectual property in all areas of application without limitations, including automotive a

USA - With a congregation of 2,000 members and growing, ClearView Baptist Church recently completed construction of a second chapel on its 50-acre suburban Nashville campus. Housed in a separate building, the new 450-seat chapel will accommodate overflow from Sunday worship services.

When choosing a lighting system for the new chapel that would deliver both quality and flexibility, the church and its longtime A/V designer/installer Springtree Media Group turned to Elation Professional.

Elation and Springtree had previously helped ClearView solve a challenging issue during a renovation to the church's original worship centre. ClearView had wanted to upgrade its lighting for video production, but was operating on very limited electrical capacity. Church officials didn't want to go to the expense of installing a new transformer, so Peter Vaque of Springtree came up with the solut

Europe - Lighting Designer Scott Warner is putting the grandMA through its paces on the Pussycat Dolls' world tour, which is now playing dates in the UK and Europe. Warner, who is the lighting designer, director and programmer for the tour, tapped the grandMA to control LED lighting for a previous Pussycat Dolls' tour and moving lights for Grammy Award-winner Queen Latifah's Trav'lin Light tour.

For the first time, on the Doll Domination Tour, the grandMA is controlling an all-Robe digital spot complement. "I wanted to go with newer technology," Warner says. "The whole rig is almost all Robe. It's a new digital moving spot technology combined with LED-based wash lights that delivers a very high-tech design. "Pods on trusses are packed with fixtures that make it look like there are more lights than we really use," he explains. "So I can

Germany - Martin Professional's expanding range of LED lighting solutions will feature prominently at the upcoming ProLight&Sound exhibition. On display will be the LC Plus Series of LED video panels with new generation technology and an IP65 rating; EvenLED, a modular LED system for extremely even field projection; and FlexDOT, a lightweight yet bright string of LED pixels for customized video solutions.

Also on display will be Martin's first LED moving heads, the MAC 401 Dual, a powerful LED washlight with a unique double-sided design that gives it dual functionality; and the MAC 301 Wash, a compact, high-power LED washlight with powerfully fast zoom. Another innovative launch will be Martin easyStrip, a simple yet highly capable plug-and-play LED striplight for interior enhancement. Martin's successful 1500 watt MAC III Profile will also be shown.

Several new control soluti

Germany - Entertainment Equipment Supplies is exhibiting Tinhao, their range of dimmers and distros, for the first time at Prolight&Sound.

The company produce a wide range of reliable products, ideal for use in conjunction with each other to ensure safe installations of dimming and power distribution, making them suited to TV productions, theatres and touring.

EES's product lines offer different options to meet a variety of needs, as will be shown during the exhibition where samples will be displayed for visitors to take a closer look at.

As well as presenting their Tinhao equipment, EES will display a new member of their product family, the Flygeko wall rack for fixed installation, which will launch and be introduced to the market at the exhibition.

(Claire Beeson)

South Africa - Rosco has confirmed a new partnership between Rosco and South African lighting design company Congo Blue Design. After being appointed as a new Rosco distributor for South Africa, Congo Blue Design can now offer South African customers the full range of all Rosco colours and products. Having been regular users of Rosco products on many of their projects previously, Congo Blue Design will now stock Rosco products themselves and distribute them throughout South Africa.

Congo Blue Design specialises in lighting design and consulting for both theatrical and architectural environments. They are headed by lighting designer Declan Randall, who has worked on projects all over the world especially in South Africa and Europe, and they are joined by Dave Whitehouse as senior lighting designer and Rosco's product manager.

See the March issue of

World - This Saturday (28 March) at 8.30pm local time, the world is being encouraged to act with their light switches to combat climate change. Organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the worldwide blackout is described as an election between Earth and global warming. "For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote - Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming," says the Earth Hour website.

WWF are attempting to reach a target of 1 billion "votes for Earth", which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

In London, the famous Coca Cola sign in Piccadilly Circus will be switched off for only the third time since the Second World War. Other famous London

USA - One of the biggest stars in country music, literally, is the 6' 7" Trace Adkins. The newest addition to the resume for Trace is star of the TV show The Celebrity Apprentice, with Donald Trump. Adkins is currently touring in support of his newest work, X (Ten).

Tour manager Jeff Gossett, production manager Benny Durham and lighting designer Jeff Lavallee have worked with Bandit for some time with Trace. Lavalle has captured the rock-n-roll sprit of Adkins with his up-tempo lighting presentation, using MAC 2000 wash and spot fixtures, along with High End Studio Beams, Maxedia Media Servers and a Jands Vista Console.

Brent Barrett at Bandit handles the daily needs of the Adkins tour. The tour has programmed twice at Bandit Lites rehearsal facility, Venue One, in Nashville, a full service facility that allows an entire show to be flown with band gear and s

USA - In addition to its home on the web at www.tomcatglobal.com, Tomcat USA has a new page on Facebook. Those who visit the page will find photos of products, workshops and projects. In addition, anyone with an account can stop by and become a fan of the staging and lighting equipment company.

"We encourage everyone to stop by and check it out," said Lisa Jebsen, marketing assistant for Tomcat USA. "We see this as another great opportunity to interact with industry professionals and show off our work. In the near future, we plan to offer special giveaways to our 'fans.'"

(Jim Evans)

Switzerland - Lighting for the majority of shows of the 2008 AVO Session indoor music festival in Basel was controlled by a grandMA full-size lighting console. The event featured 13 evenings of sold-out musical performances, including appearances by international artists including Zucchero, Kelly Rowland, Michael Bolton, Jethro Tull and Gary Moore.

In addition to the main grandMA at the FOH lighting position, grandMA programmer/operator Patrick Rakus had a laptop running grandMA onPC software and a 12-channel DMX desk that was triggering one page on the grandMA, giving an additional twelve faders for TV and band key lighting.

Werner Kokott, CEO of Five K Lighting & Video Design, who supplied lighting equipment for the Session, said: "Most Lighting Designers - including Günter Jäckle, Billy Bigliardi, Geoff Hall and Marco Zepeda - were happy to use the grandMA for their

UK - A/V services company PSP has continued its rolling investment programme with the addition of more state-of-the-art equipment to its inventory.

The recent purchase of a Panasonic AVS-400 multi-format live vision mixer, Christie S+20K Roadster projector, Barco DCS 200 dual channel seamless switcher and additional Grass Valley Turbo iDDR digital media recorder/players has reinforced the company's commitment to quality.

"High definition is becoming more and more of a client requirement and so we have to ensure that we can deliver it whenever requested," says PSP's David Woodcock.

"The AVS-400 and DCS-200 are both tremendously versatile. With great input and output flexibility for all formats, they provide the ultimate in vision mixing and switching capabilities and are also remarkably cost effective.

"We aim to deliver the ultimate in visual quality an

UK - To celebrate the launch of the new Chroma-Q Color Block 2 LED fixture and the growing success of the lighting brand worldwide, www.chroma-q.com has been launched.

Dealers and end users are provided with easy access to a dedicated online portal for the latest Chroma-Q product news, user applications, support and reseller information.

The site includes product information, extensive application case studies and testimonials from a diverse range of clients including lighting designers, technicians, venues, rental and production companies, plus access to full 360° product views, high resolution colour photos, brochures, detailed technical specification sheets, manuals and exploded diagrams.

(Jim Evans)

World - After an eight year absence from the stage, Tina Turner is back with a world tour spanning North America and Europe. Based on a production design by Baz Halpin and a set design by Mark Fisher of Stufish, Turner is backed by some of today's finest lighting technology.

Two grandMA full-size, one as a back-up, and six MA NSPs, (Network Signal Processor) including two spares, form the heart of the lighting control for a rig that comprises 80 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300s, 64 Vari*Lite VL 3000 spots, eight VL3500 washes as well as Coemar, Syncrolite and Martin fixtures. In total, the lighting consumes 16 DMX universes.

Lighting designer Baz Halpin explains his design, "The show is a recap of the last 50 years of the career of one of the most stunning female artists in history. We tried to create a system that was versatile enough to cope with not only the stylistic changes

UK - Lighting control and automation group, Dynalite, has drawn on its extensive expertise in the residential and hospitality sectors to secure contracts with four prestigious hotel projects in England. The installations--at the Rockliffe Hotel in County Durham, the Hilton Hotel in Liverpool, the Bridges Wharf Hotel in London, and the Berners Hotel in London - all of which are expected to be completed by year-end 2009.

Dynalite's involvement in these hotel installations will span from the design phase through to commissioning. In each case, the company will supply an automated lighting solution comprising a range of Dynalite controllers, wall panels, touch-screens, interfaces, sensors, and software.

At the heart of the Dynalite systems are the modular DIN rail-mountable DDMC802 multipurpose controllers. These support large quantities of small loads in hotel and high-density re

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