Spectacle of Lights - PLSN.com
Spectacle of Lights - PLSN.com
Spectacle of Lights - PLSN.com
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PRODUCTGALLERY<br />
-<br />
By RichardCadena<br />
This month’s Product Gallery could be<br />
a metaphor for change in our industry.<br />
Less than 10 years ago, a small<br />
display appeared at LDI in which only a few<br />
luminaires were displayed on a countertop.<br />
Those luminaires drew little interest, a few<br />
snickers and lots <strong>of</strong> doubt. The <strong>com</strong>pany<br />
was Color Kinetics and their product was an<br />
RGB color mixing can with LEDs.<br />
In just a few short years, the doubt<br />
turned to debate about the viability <strong>of</strong> LEDs<br />
in the entertainment industry while manufacturers<br />
increasingly turned out more and<br />
more products using the now ubiquitous<br />
solid-state devices. But despite their best<br />
efforts, few manufacturers have succeeded<br />
in producing LED fixtures for general illumination.<br />
They have, however, been very successful<br />
in turning out LED displays for direct<br />
viewing — aided, in part, by the new generation<br />
<strong>of</strong> DMX-controllable media servers<br />
that make it so fast and easy to create intricate<br />
graphics. So successful, in fact, that<br />
most every entertainment lighting manufacturer<br />
now has some form <strong>of</strong> LED product<br />
in their stable.<br />
Keep in mind, this is in a category that<br />
didn’t even exist a few years ago. Interestingly<br />
enough, the product that everyone<br />
was talking about at LDI 2005 fit into this<br />
category very nicely. Unfortunately, the<br />
manufacturer, Komaden, was unable to deliver<br />
on its promise <strong>of</strong> a semi-transparent<br />
LED display called I-Mesh. Fortunately, Element<br />
Labs was — or at least a reasonable<br />
facsimile they call Stealth. But that’s just<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the many lo-res displays on the market<br />
today.<br />
What exactly is a lo-res LED display?<br />
Excellent question. Hi-res displays have a<br />
huge number <strong>of</strong> pixels and lo-res displays<br />
have less. Also, lo-res displays tend to have<br />
a larger pixel pitch, meaning the LEDs are<br />
spaced farther apart. But what’s to keep<br />
someone from putting together lots and<br />
lots <strong>of</strong> “lo-res” displays with a very large<br />
pixel pitch to form one huge display with<br />
lots and lots <strong>of</strong> pixels and feeding it with<br />
hi-definition content? Or, what’s to keep<br />
someone from using an LED display with a<br />
very small pixel pitch and feeding it lo-res<br />
content? Absolutely nothing.<br />
In a sense, “lo-res” is all in how you use it<br />
— whether you feed it hi-definition images<br />
(assuming it’s able to display it) or lo-res<br />
graphic images to <strong>com</strong>plement the other<br />
staging elements. Either way, LED displays<br />
are flexible, fun, and it looks like they’re<br />
here to stay.<br />
But just as the industry is constantly<br />
changing, so are LEDs. What’s rare today<br />
is plentiful tomorrow. What’s costly now is<br />
reasonable tomorrow. What’s highly <strong>com</strong>petitive<br />
today is... Okay, some things will<br />
never change.<br />
Here are some <strong>of</strong> today’s LED displays<br />
that you might use for lo-res.<br />
Martin LC2140<br />
MainLight S<strong>of</strong>tLED<br />
Artistic Licence Color Web<br />
Chauvet DV Wall<br />
Robe StageQube 324<br />
Daktronics Pro Pixel<br />
Acclaim X Panel<br />
Barco MiPix<br />
Pixel Range Pixel Line 1044<br />
A.C. Lighting Chroma Q<br />
www.<strong>PLSN</strong>.<strong>com</strong><br />
<strong>PLSN</strong> DECEMBER 2006 45