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FEATURE PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS What Recession? By RichardCadena We don’t mean to be cavalier about this, but compare and contrast the recently-held LDI 2008 in the Las Vegas Convention Center to the one held immediately after Sept. 11, 2001 in Orlando and you can come to only one conclusion: What recession? As Bob Levin of New Horizons put it, “We received the invitation to join in the recession but we respectfully decline.” (Thanks to Bill Maiman for supplying the quote.) Thousands of entertainment production professionals crowded the aisles of the peculiarly long and narrow trade show floor, making a statement about the current economy and the state of the industry. The resounding consensus was that if the industry is not recession-proof then it’s at least recessionresistant. As the banking debacle continues to drag down Wall Street and the world economy joins the pity party, the entertainment industry is having a party of its own. If the attendees weren’t dancing in the aisles, then they were at the very least performing a ritualistic ballet, squeezing past each other at times, trying to take it all in. And there was a lot to take in. This year’s crop of new products filled the hall to the bumper. Even more encouraging than the quantity of new products was the quality of new and truly innovative products. “Innovation” is a term that is thrown around a lot in this industry, but this year a number of companies could apply it correctly. Some of them – and in no particular order – included: the Chauvet Q Spot LED, a hard-edge moving yoke fixture with an LED source; a preview of the Vari-Lite “VL-X” (as of yet not officially named), a very bright 600-watt LED color wash fixture; a preview of the Robe fixture with a Luxim plasma source (the lamp is the size of a TicTac and produces a tremendous amount of light); the Ocean Optics Nemo dichroic color changing ERS with the same Luxim lamp source; the Syncrolite Bi-axial Scroller with Dichro-Film (dichroic coated film); the Uni-Par UP4/Ultra- Beam Projector with a hybrid elliptical/spherical reflector that produces amazingly crisp projection; the Philips Color Kinetics Color Reach, an LED fixture that can light structures up to 500 feet tall; the Elation ELED Fresnel, a white light LED Fresnel fixture; and the new hi-resolution laser oblated gobos made by Apollo. In addition, there were many new automated luminaires with innovative manufacturing techniques and new features including, but not limited to: Martin MAC III Profile and MAC 2000 Wash XB; PRG Bad Boy; Vari- Lite VL3500 Wash, VL 500 with ceramic metal halide source, VL1000 with ceramic metal halide source; Zap Technology RGBig LED fixture; Coemar Infinity ACL, Infinity Spot S, Infinity Wash S, Infinity Spot XL; JB Lighting VaryLED A7 moving yoke LED wash with zoom (distributed by Creative Stage Lighting); Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500 and Alpha Beam 300; Barco/High End Systems ShowBeam, a 2500-watt moving yoke fixture with a “Twin Beam” effect and the signature LED tracking system; Syncrolite MX4, a 4000-watt moving yoke fixture with OmniColor II additive and subtractive color mixing; DTS Delta 7, a moving yoke LED fixture; Elation Impression XL, a soft-edged LED color wash with 240 Luxeon K2 LEDs, Design Spot 1400, a 1200-watt moving head spot fixture and Design Spot 300E, a 300-watt version of the Design Spot. Perhaps even more significant in the long term was the sudden appearance of a number of new fixtures and devices with RDM (Remote Device Management) and/or ACN (Architecture for Control Networks) features. Wybron and ETC have been onboard with the new protocols pretty much from the start, but other manufacturers are finally getting with the program. Some of them include High End Systems, Martin, Robe, PR Lighting, W-DMX, Compulite and, hopefully, some others that we missed. According to Jake Berry, Robert Plant once said that the two most expensive letters in the English language are “R” & “D.” Or was it Dennis Sheehan who attributed the quote to Bono? Either way, whoever said it was almost right; the most expensive letters in the English language are “lack of R&D.” This year, it seems, that’s not an expense that most of the companies in our industry are willing to bear, recession or no recession. For the full report, please visit www.plsn. com/showreport. Despite the slowing economy, there were no signs of a slowdown in the live event industry’s hunger for new ways to light up the stage. LEDs, automated lights and networking — including the high-tech and high-touch variants of the word — prevailed. 26 PLSN NOVEMBER 2008
A.C. Lighting exhibited new technologies from Chroma-Q, DTS, and Jands including the Chroma-Q Color Span, the new Jands Vista I3 and the new Delta 7 RGB from DTS. A.C. Lighting was also recently appointed as the North American distributor for Madrix, an LED lighting and video control software package. Techni-Lux brought the new Giotto 1500 from SGM. The modular automated fixture can be converted from a spot to wash or, with the addition of the new digital module, to a digital light. The digital module consists of a 0.7” XGA (1024x768) DLP chip and two color wheels and it gives it the ability to project animated gobos in black and white with a color overlay. The lamp source is a Philips MSR Gold 1500 FastFit or a 1200-watt MSR. A.C.T Lighting showed a preview of the grandMA2, the new signature console from MA Lighting due to be released early in 2009. A.C.T is the exclusive North American distributor of the grandMA. The new desk uses the same syntax as the original grandMA but it has upgraded hardware and software. Also featured on the A.C.T booth: the i-Pix BB 7 beamlight; the i-Pix 120-watt BB 4 washlight; the i-Pix Satellite; the Zero 88 Jester TL lighting console; the Zero 88 Orb console; and A.C.T Lighting’s new line of proprietary power distribution and motor control products called DistroTech. A.C.T Lighting also introduced Schnick Schnack Systems LED Media Display Systems. Apollo Design Technology has spared the environment over 4,000 gallons of chemical waste annually by adopting laser oblation technology to make high-resolution gobos instead of using conventional etching. At LDI they showed their new Smart Color Pro gel scroller with 24 color frames, push button menu with LED display, 25 percent less power consumption, universal mounting and 17 percent less weight. Also on display were the EZ Iris DMX, a remote iris accessory that fits in the gate of a conventional ERS fixture, three new models of Smart Power Supplies, Gel Miser with IR filtering and built-in fan and Gelwrap color for fluorescent tubes. Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info
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Page 25 and 26: With its limitless range of colors
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Page 49 and 50: Chroma-Q ColorWeb 125 Barco MiTrix
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