UK - AV technology pioneer Peerless-AV and LED manufacturer Absen have teamed up to install an LED video wall in the showroom of Mulgari Cars, bespoke styling and tuning body shop for performance and luxury vehicles. Mulgari wanted a video wall solution that would enable them to advertise their services to new and existing customers via a medium befitting its supercar studio image.
LED was the most suitable choice for its design flexibility, narrow pixel pitch, high contrast in ambient light, 24/7 performance and low power consumption. Absen N Series high bright panels and an easy-assemble, custom LED mounting system from Peerless-AV were chosen for the project.
Bracknell-based Mulgari Cars is owned by Iain Campbell, a former director at AV distributor Midwich Group. “The LED video wall has successfully addressed our visual goals,” says Campbell. “We have an in-h

Europe - Painting with Light has developed Realites, a real-time virtual lighting design tool for balancing and fine-tuning the lighting of people and 3D objects in relation to digital scenery that is appearing on LED video screens in the background or foreground of the same scene.
It enables the lighting designer / programmer to light both the video content – which will already have a pre-determined ambience – and the actors or set around it, using the show lighting console, and without the video content needing to be re-rendered.
This is a flexible solution for video-orientated shows, creating highly realistic effects as the blend between 2D and 3D elements onstage becomes imperceptible.
Additionally, lighting on both the actors and digital backgrounds can be perfectly matched or contrasted to achieve the exact desired effect, bringing a perfect visual harm

UK - London based Kudos AV arrived on the Data Strategy stand at London’s PLASA 2019 exhibition to confirm its order of a two-bay QC-Check 660 Workstation, incorporating PAT-4 and CAB-5 test equipment from technology partner, Out Board.
Kudos AV is an event management company delivering full-service event production with high quality audio, visual, lighting and staging solutions. Data Strategy’s QC-check will provide the company’s stock and inventory system with increased levels of efficiency as well as safety.
QC-Check will interact with the company’s existing inventory management system, to automatically request and log product test updates from the workstation’s in-built industrial PAT and Cable inspection equipment from Out Board. One of the big advantages of the QC-Check system, Kataria explains, is its capacity to “aid the management of assets”. He

UAE - Lucid Technologies is showcasing the systems behind its art, on Stand 4B24 at this week’s ProLight+Sound Middle East exhibition.
Lucid Technologies’ recent presence in the Middle East has assured the success of vividly impressive projects such as the Saudi Arabia National Day projection at Samba Bank. With the company’s projection mapping expertise behind the event, the inherent difficulties of projection on to glass was meticulously overcome. Two facades of the vast 40-storey building in the new King Abdullah Financial District of Riyadh were rendered ablaze with colourful and flowing imagery for the celebration.
Lucid Technologies has a number of projects underway in the region and more on the horizon in the Middle East. The company will demonstrate the capabilities of BlackTrax for the tracking of both lighting and video, with a system driven by the comp

Germany - More than 50,000 EDM fans descended on a former NATO missile base in August to experience the massive Nature One Festival. Germany-based Gerdon Design specified two Green Hippo Boreal+ media servers for the main floor, to power live IMAG feeds, Notch effects and pre-made content.
This year marked the 25th anniversary of Nature One, which is held near the western town of Kastellaun. Over the years, it’s grown into one of Europe’s biggest dance music festivals. Gerdon Design has been involved with Nature One since 2011, responsible for the stage, lighting and video design as well as creating the concept, audio and visual design for the timecoded highlights show.
“We were responsible for the content playback of all acts - except for those who were travelling with a VJ – so we needed a powerful and easy-to-use solution,” explains Gerdon Design’s Marek

UK - Throughout a busy summer, event production specialists Light Fantastic Production Services has been supporting a number of major UK cinema releases, includingThe Lion King, Toy Story 4, Aladdin, Yesterday, Good Omens and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Working on behalf of client Limited Edition Event Design, recent projects required custom-built solutions tailored to the associated media campaigns and movie branding. 
Complementing the colourful look of Toy Story 4, LFPS built a series of frames to surround the LED video walls which flanked the red carpet. Finished in a gloss blue laminate, the surrounds incorporated over 400 LED cabochons to mimic the fairground theme in the films advertising campaign. The same look extended to a 3D ‘step and repeat’ structure used for

UAE - ARX has appointed Gala Pro AV as its distributor in the United Arab Emirates.
Based in Dubai, Gala is a leading pro AV and lighting solutions provider who also represents Bosch, Lavoce Italiana and Odyssey. The company is exhibiting at the upcoming Prolight+Sound Middle East expo (15-17 October) in Dubai.
“Gala are ideally placed in the UAE to strengthen our brand and to build sales in a market where we see a great potential for growth,” comments Colin Park, managing director of ARX Systems.
(Jim Evans)

China - Powersoft amplifier platforms have been chosen to drive the new audio system installed at Qingdao World Expo City (QWEC), a 32,000sq.m conference venue in the ancient coastal city of Qingdao.
The upgrade, handled by EZ Pro, focussed on QWEC’s Great Hall, which accommodates up to 1,500 people, has an area of 3,000 sqm, and can even be divided into two parts.
“We hoped to create a destination that is, in terms of scale and technology, far ahead of anything else in Northeast Asia,” says general manager Zhao Guangjun.
The venue was to be equipped with world-class audio-visual equipment to meet the needs of a variety of international and domestic high-end conferences. With this forward-thinking ethos in mind, Powersoft amplifier platforms were chosen.
“Powersoft products offer a traditionally amazing sound quality and reliability,” says Alan Ho

UK - Following a successful debut last year, Christie has announced that Christie RealLaser is the flagship projection technology for the 63rd BFI London Film Festival (LFF) in partnership with American Express.
Once reserved for the premium cinema market, RGB pure laser is now affordable and ready for mainstream cinema adoption, making it perfect for the return of the much-loved 820-seat ‘pop-up’ Embankment Garden Cinema (EGC). Described by BFI head of technical services, Dominic Simmons as, “One of the highest quality temporary cinemas ever seen”, this year the EGC hosts its first international premiere (Martin Scorsese’s hotly anticipated The Irishman from Netflix) in a stellar line-up of gala screenings.
Christie has worked with the BFI on the projection set-up since the BFI first made the bold move to build a full, state-of-the-art temporary cinem

USA - A roundtable discussion exploring the transformative effects networked AV has on learning and higher education will take place at 11am, PT on 29 October. The event includes an in-person discussion between multiple AV experts. A live Q&A, where webinar attendees can ask questions of the participants, will occur immediately after the discussion. Registration for the webinar is open now at: www.audinate.com/ddm-edu
The roundtable event is hosted by Audinate, developer of the Dante AV networking technology, and brings together experts from the University of Southern California, University of Oregon, Arizona State University, University of Colorado, Denver and Brigham Young University - Idaho.
“When we talk with our partners about how they are using networked AV we always come away impressed at their innovation and ingenuity,” said Joshua Rush, senior vice pre

Canada - Cast Software has released wysiwyg as a 64-bit application.
Available for download from the Cast members area, the application offers noticeable stability and performance increase across all modes and can now utilise more than 4GB of memory to open files.
Cast VP of product, Dino Mazza comments: “This is a special release for Cast. I am proud of the entire wysiwyg development team for getting us here, identifying the challenges along the way and finding the easy, and sometimes difficult solutions, and continuing to plug away at this project until its completion.
“R43 delivers our wysiwyg in a 64-bit architecture, and along with the increased responsiveness and improved user experience, which we know the users will love. But, also included are some new features too. I know there are some happy faces around Cast, and I’m suspecting the same is true a

UK - Equipment rental supplier Visual Elements has made a substantial investment in technologies for its new video production services division, sourcing everything from A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET).
Established for 20 years, Visual Elements provides wet and dry hire solutions to music festivals, theatre shows and film premieres, as well as servicing London events venue Tobacco Dock.
After deciding to set up a video division alongside its existing production services, it approached AC-ET to help specify and supply a complete range of technologies from its portfolio of premier brands.
Video technical sales executive Chris Beardwell worked closely with Visual Elements’ head of video, Leon O’Neill to deliver a package which met all technical needs and maximised the available budget.
The order included Panasonic PT-RZ120 and 970 1-chip DLP laser

Switzerland - The Fête des Vignerons is held once every 20 years at a temporary stadium at the edge of Lake Geneva. The celebration, which features a vast troupe of performers donning elaborate costumes, as well as animals and vehicles, is held every day for a month to honour the winegrowers of the region, which stretches from Lavaux to Chablais in Switzerland.
Organised by the official Brotherhood of Winegrowers - la Confrérie des Vignerons - the show represents a year in the life of the vineyard through 21 action-packed scenes. This year’s event also received a technological boost in the form of a gargantuan LED floor from Absen subsidiary VISS Display, provided by rental house, Alabama.
As two decades have passed since the last Fête took place, the 200-strong technical team had to ensure that the 2019 edition lived up to expectations, as well as demonstr

UK - Filmed at Maidstone Studios and hosted by Rylan Clark-Neal, the ITV2 reboot of the daytime TV cult classic Supermarket Sweep retains a stack of elements from the original. Inflatables, loud jumpers and the legendary trolley dash are mixed with a collection of new games and challenges, all taking place among the brightly coloured aisles.
Created by scenic designer Josh Grace, the gloriously bright faux supermarket set is awash with pastel shades, another subtle homage to its predecessor, mixed with an array of contemporary upgrades. Together with lighting designer Gurdip Mahal and operator Ross Williams, the team have constructed an environment which offers a fresh, modern twist on the original styling.
Helping build the look, the LED Creative team supplied their Alpha Neon and Sigma LED controlled via the company’s Megabyte Pixel Drivers.
LED Creati

Finland - Green Hippo has announced that the Finnish National Opera & Ballet (FNOB) has upgraded its stock of Green Hippo media servers with the company’s latest Hippotizer V4 systems.
The new equipment, supplied by Green Hippo’s exclusive Finnish distributor Msonic Oy, comprises seven Hippotizer Karst+ DVI, two Hippotizer Boreal+ DP and six Hippotizer Montane+ RTX servers - all with dual SDI input cards.
The new servers were specified by Johan West, video product manager at Msonic. A long-standing Hippotizer user, West has enjoyed a close relationship with the FNOB since specifying their very first Green Hippo systems back in 2008. Since then, he has been responsible for training the opera house crew, as well as advising on the use of Hippotizer on many productions. He also provides all Green Hippo training and support for the FNOB team.
“A series of n

UK - Adlib supplied full technical production to the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup staged at the 11,000 capacity M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.
Adlib’s rental departments implemented a fully integrated video, lighting and audio package linking in with broadcast elements for BBC and Sky. The spectacle took place over 10 glorious days of top sporting action which delivered world class netball to an international TV audience and many thousands packing into the court-side seats which were sold out for the duration.
This quadrennial event featured two distinctive criteria. First, a spectacular opening ceremony which wowed the crowds and got everyone in the mood for the sports to follow.
Adlib’s technical team worked closely with curators of the ceremony Culture Liverpool and Iluminos. Adlib provided six Panasonic RZ21K 20,000 lumen laser projectors mounted v

Germany - Over 250 guests were in attendance throughout the nine-day Ambion Digital Jungle open-house event. Attendees enjoyed an hour-long sensory journey of innovative installations focused on tracking, immersive interactivity, sensor technology, realtime control and reactive, generative content using BlackTrax, disguise and Notch.
Ambion is a full-service provider that plans and produces technology for concerts, sports events, trade shows and congresses around the globe.
The company recently held open house days where they invited selected clients, partners, innovation agencies and event planners to attend. The Digital Jungle demonstrations focused on technology and its application in a live event scenario.
OBJ.Studio the Ambion design department has been trying some interesting light and media tech projects in Berlin. The last one was a smart

USA - CP Communications has announced that it will add MultiDyne’s 22ft mobile van to its growing fleet of production vehicles.
MultiDyne introduced the van in 2018 as a ‘mobile marketing van’ that doubled as an exhibition showcase for MultiDyne products at North American tradeshows, and as a mobile showroom for MultiDyne road shows and training initiatives. CP Communications, a long-time MultiDyne customer, recognised an opportunity for both companies to collaborate on smaller live productions, including high school and college sports projects.
“Many high school and college sports venues have live production needs, but lack the workspace to accommodate a flypack or a large truck,” said Kurt Heitmann, CEO, CP Communications. “The MultiDyne van offers the perfect footprint for a four-to-six camera shoot, and solves our problem of carving out a workspace for

USA - Powersoft has appointed industry veteran Tom Knesel to the position of general manager, North America. Knesel, who will be located at the company’s US headquarters in Kearny, NJ and who will start on 7 October, will report directly to Luca Giorgi, sales & business development director, Powersoft. The announcement follows the successful relocation of Powersoft’s North American headquarters two years ago, and coincides with the company’s increased focus on the systems integration market and launch of the Mezzo amplifier platform earlier this year.
“We are very pleased to welcome Tom into the Powersoft family,” commented Luca Giorgi. “Two years ago, we began a significant restructuring of our U.S. operations, which included relocating our headquarters to the east coast, hiring new operational and sales staff, and realigning our entire North American sales

UK - The University of Northampton has deployed a network of interconnected Harman Professional AV solutions to facilitate a cutting-edge collaborative learning environment at their new Waterside campus.
The university leadership decided to build a new, centralised campus in Northampton’s Waterside district. The project allowed the school to completely rethink how to best serve their students, resulting in a radically different approach that eschewed traditional lecture halls in favour of flexible, collaborative learning spaces.
In order to achieve these goals, AV distributer Midwich supplied the university with a range of AMX, JBL, Crown, BSS and AKG solutions to accommodate the complex technical demands of the ultra-modern campus. The comprehensive Harman solution was designed and deployed by Kinly, a service-led integrator specializing in the design, implementatio

Italy - RTS is well established as a go-to intercom choice for sports broadcasters all over the world. RTS equipment continues to be standard issue in OB trucks covering international competitions at every level.
A recent example is Global Production’s OB coverage of the European Under-21 football championships in Italy. The Turin-based company deployed its OB-8 truck to cover the tournament - the largest and most recently-equipped member of its fleet. In addition to this, OB-8 is also Global Production’s first truck to feature RTS intercoms.
“We have two other vehicles that use different systems,” recalls Luca Manfredi, OB manager at Global Production. “But when we came to making the technical choices for OB-8, we could see that the RTS system was superior.”
As a result of this decision, the large and modern production environment of OB-8 features an

UK - Following on from the resounding success of its production of The Flying Dutchman in summer 2017, Theater Regensburg has once again pushed the boundaries of open-air opera with its latest offering - a version of Puccini’s semi-staged concert performance in three acts, Tosca.
Like its predecessor, the event was held at the West Port of the bayernhafen business park, a freight traffic hub in the East Bavarian town of Regensburg. The stage was situated on the historic Municipal Warehouse side, while the audience of nearly 3,000 was seated opposite on the North Quay. The side of the warehouse itself served as a gigantic projection surface upon which visuals were beamed, courtesy of Digital Projection Titan laser projectors.
“The video aspect was the main part of the show,” comments video operator, Wolfgang Frauendienst. “The actors and their audi

UK - The 1975’s video for new single People sees the band performing the alt rock track inside an LED cube, supplied and installed by 80six Ltd, displaying swirling lyrics and quickfire, colour-changing content. Filmed at London’s Black Island Studios, the production was an ambitious surround-video setup, powered by a Hippotizer V4 Taiga servers from Green Hippo. Directed by Warren Fu, the video featured premade content inspired by the band’s lyrics, created by Jon Emmony.
Simon Harris, project manager at Bryte Design, was approached by The 1975’s tour director James Valpy to project manage the video content delivery. “Set up was simple, utilising Hippotizer’s Output Manager and VideoMapper to map the five sides of the cube, outputting six HD signals via Evision LED processors,” says Harris. “As the content was running to timecode, playback was simple

UK - ArKaos, realtime visual processing technology provider for live performance and displays, enjoyed a busy PLASA 2019 expo in London Olympia (15-17 September) on the stand of its UK and Irish Republic distributor, Entedi.
ArKaos highlighted the latest version of its flagship MediaMaster Pro 5.6 realtime video control software, which is also now available with a License Rental service that enables weekly rental periods of MediaMaster Pro usage. This greatly increases flexibility and affordability for anyone involved in specific projects or events on which they want to use this award-winning platform, says the company.
ArKaos CEO Agnes Wojewoda comments: “PLASA was great! A lot of buzz and activity at the show and a lot of interest in MediaMaster Pro in particular and in the new Licence Rental options for this as well as some other ArKaos products. It’s

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