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P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T S & S TA G I N G N E W S VIDEO DIGERATI By VickieClaiborne The Video Display Workhorse Editor to author: Nice article, very informative. But I might have preferred an article about LED tubes in general instead of a particular brand. Author to editor: I see VersaTubes in shows even though they are almost six years old. That’s a great track record in our industry, and it speaks to the versatility and longevity of the product. Editor to author: As I was saying, I wouldn’t change a thing. Since moving to Las Vegas a little over two years ago, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects including corporate industrials, conventions, private casino parties, televised broadcasts and concerts. One thing that I’ve seen consistently is that production quality continues to improve with technology. As this evolution occurs, so does the integration of video into scenery, or in particular, LEDs. Set designers constantly explore interesting ways to incorporate video into scenic elements. And one of the most common LED/image display devices is the VersaTube (or the LED workhorse, as I like to call it). What’s a VersaTube? vd The VersaTube is an LED display fixture developed by Element Labs, which was acquired by Barco. Each tube contains a row of 36 RGB LED pixels. The tube has a special diffusing lens ensures smooth light output and durability. They can easily be mounted to any surface and in pretty much any configuration. There are a couple of options for tube lengths ranging from half a meter to one meter in both standard and HD resolutions. While not a new fixture by any means — it has been around since 2004 — it has little direct competition. What Makes It Unique? vd As some might describe this LED fixture, it’s like having a fluorescent tube that can display a row or column of video images. What that means is that instead of a single tube of color, you get moving colors, patterns, and dynamic visual effects. This is what makes the VersaTube unique. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band featuring Cheap Trick, David Foster and Friends, and the ESPN “ESPY” awards show. On the Sgt. Pepper’s/Cheap Trick show, the VersaTubes were arranged around the perimeter of a two-story set, much like a frame. The VersaTubes added both solid color outlines as well as visual energy to the stage framing the band. On David Foster and Friends, five custom-built aluminum racks of VersaTubes — two tubes wide by 48 tubes high — flanked both sides of the stage, creating LED walls surrounding the orchestra. Because of their prominent location onstage, the racks became a virtual set without the use of flats or drops. And on the ESPY Awards, multiple large racks of VersaTubes six tubes wide and approximately 10 feet tall were positioned prominently upstage beneath large video display screens to provide visual backdrops that supported the images on the main screens.t Mapping Pixels vd When you are creating a pixel map, careful attention must be given to pixel flow direction. If not, the results will be incorrectly displayed and chaotic looking. For instance, the pixel map created for the Cheap Trick show required the tubes to be mapped in three sections so that the VersaTubes on the individual sections of the set could chase colors and patterns independently from the rest of the set. And the pixel map for the David Foster show required the tubes to be mapped flowing horizontally so any image applied would flow either downstage or upstage on opposite sides of the stage while a center vertical section of VersaTubes had to be mapped vertically so that the pixels flow upwards and downwards independently of the tube racks onstage. Media Server Friendly vd VersaTubes can be used with practically any video device once it is converted to DVi. In the lighting world, more and more LDs are specifying media servers. When they are combined with VersaTubes, it makes a great LED display package. For instance, the VersaTubes on the Cheap Trick show were fed content directly from a Barco/High End Systems Axon media server controlled via an MA Lighting grandMA lighting console. The video control providing images on the David Foster show was a Martin Maxedia being controlled by Martin’s new M1 lighting console. And on the ESPY Awards show, the VersaTubes were driven by a PRG Mbox media server. For many reasons, the VersaTube is a practical choice for an LED fixture, and it is finding its way into more and more stage and lighting designs as designers seek to create more excitement onstage. Its flexibility and versatility mean that it can be configured into a design in a multitude of ways and always with dramatic impact. And for an LD, having such a reliable workhorse in the toolkit is always welcome. Send your glowing thoughts to Vickie Claiborne at vclaiborne@plsn.com. How Does It Work? vd VersaTubes work by allowing pixels from an image to be mapped directly to the pixels in the tube. The tubes are connected to one of two types of image processors called a VersaDrive. VersaDrive C1 is more of a stand-alone image processor with content onboard. VersaDrive D2/ D3 is the more commonly used processor and allows an external video source to be mapped to the array of Tubes connected to the output ports of the drive. A pixel map must be created using proprietary software called RasterMapper, and it is easily uploaded to the D2/D3 via RS232. Once the map has been loaded, the D2/D3 accepts an incoming video signal and then displays it across the VersaTubes according to how the pixels in the tubes have been mapped. Applications vd VersaTubes are well-suited for just about any application where a low-resolution video display is needed. Recently, I’ve seen them used on shows including Sgt. 2010 NOVEMBER PLSN 45
THE BIZ P R O J E C T I O N L I G H T S & S TA G I N G N E W S Psst, God — You’re On Next By DanDaley There is very little difference between what many churches and commercial theatres are doing these days.” —Hector La Torre In a world where it’s harder than ever to be surprised, don’t be shocked if Live Nation or AEG Live appears on the marquee of your neighborhood megachurch. The people who install their staging systems say it’s increasingly difficult to distinguish what’s inside them from any other theatrical venue anymore. “The typical high school performing arts center is about a sophisticated as our basic small-to-mid-level church is now,” says Gary Zandstra, the house of worship (HOW) specialist at Parkway Electric in Holland MI, which installs sound, lighting and projection systems in dozens of HOWs every year. “The technology in the larger churches is on a much higher scale and often is more sophisticated than you might find in the other performance halls in the area.” The systems in HOW venues are more complicated because they need to cover a wider range of applications. “You’ll go from a rock band to a 100-voice choir to a single talking head in the space of one day; in that same day, the church will hold a conventional worship service immediately followed by a contemporary service with bands and much more in the way of production values.” says Zandstra. “The staging needs numerous rigging points, multiservice power. It has to handle a wider array of performances than the typical 2,000-seat or less venue will in the course of a month.” Not surprisingly, the same dynamic that has made live concert touring a critical revenue stream for the secular music industry is also driving staging needs at larger churches, which are regular stops for increasingly popular Christian rock, pop and hip-hop artists, who are also on the road more as CD sales continue to decline. “In the end, there is very little difference between what many churches and commercial theatres are doing these day,” says Hector La Torre, owner of HOW-TO Sound Workshops, which trains church volunteer staffs to operate entertainment systems. “Even medium-size churches are producing Christmas and Easter events packed with special lighting, multiple large-screen displays, MediaShout programs, synchronized projection scenes and loads of music and effects cues… that rival anything a secular theatre or concert venue is producing.” Staffing Issues One major area of difference between secular and religious performance venues, however, is in the staffing. It’s a consistent refrain from systems integrators that they have to program increasingly complex systems in a manner that lets them be operated by the volunteer staffers that most HOWs rely on. “They…require different levels of operator acumen and very often quite different needs,” states Kurt Bevers, director of technical engineering for Delta AV in Milwaukie, OR. “The simplest way to integrate all of this is to control the whole thing from touch panels. This enables us to keep [access to controls] away from the folks that shouldn’t be trying to do things out of their depth, but hand the necessary technology to the guys who know how to use it.” Bevers says the strategy that’s emerged from this is a set of ever-more-sophisticated control pages in the Creston/AMX-type automation systems they use. “In about 80 percent of the churches we do, at least one night a week requires nothing more than (a simple system),” he explains. “Without a control system in the plan, they would have to have an engineer on site just to get the system up and down and to make the minor changes that are required. With a touch-panel controller, we build an entry screen that lets them choose what type of event it is; then they move on to the next screen that gives them the appropriate controls and nothing else. As you move up the technology and production ladder, more and more of the system functions and features become available as needed for the type of function that is being presented.” The reference earlier to AEG and Live Nation was facetious, but just barely. In fact, more and more HOWs with significant systems installed are renting out their performance facilities to third-party — and very secular — promoters and event producers. This is in part to help compensate for an ongoing decline in the donations that are used to fund all of the church’s operations. According to a 2009 Christianity Today International survey, tithes and offerings comprise 87 percent of the church budget, and nearly 40 percent of congregations responding said that current economic conditions have resulted in a decrease in weekly giving by two percent or more last year. But, says Gary Zandstra, it’s also a tactic to introduce more people in the community to the church itself. “Once they’ve got you through that door for a concert, you may be more likely to return on Sunday,” he says. This also often makes HOW performance facilities less expensive to rent than competing conventional venues. However, HOWs do have to pay taxes on any for-profit uses of the space in order to maintain their tax-exempt status. As live performances continue to play a bigger role in entertainment revenues streams, HOWs will become bigger factors in the overall venue and venue systems equation. What’s holding many of them back, says La Torre, is a lack of understanding of what venues need in terms of acoustics and a failure to properly budget for all of the systems and their installation. “What they have to realize is that every church service is, in fact, an AV presentation, and that there really should not be a great difference between what a goes on every worship day and a special presentation. It’s just the scope of the project that differs,” he says. Want to know who, what, when, where, why and HOW? Ask Dan Daley via e-mail at ddaley@ plsn.com. 46 PLSN NOVEMBER 2010
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