UK - At the PLASA exhibition in London this week, the d&b GB team and sales partner SSE/Wigwam took the opportunity to talk to visitors and answer questions about the recently launched V-Series point sources. And there was plenty to talk about following the announcement that the new V7P and V10P had been named in the 2015 PLASA Awards for Innovation.

"The new point sources attracted a lot of attention at the stand," said Gianni Abruzzese, d&b GB commercial manager. "They're actually a really good example of the way d&b products are designed to work systematically. The three-way passive V7P and V10P provide exceptional directivity control with a high output. We had a V7P cabinet with the sides cut out on the d&b stand, exposing the hornloaded mid-range section. It's this dual chamber horn, which provides a remarkable MF performance, especially in the vocal range, t

UK - Sales of ETC's iRFR and aRFR (Radio Focus Remote) application for iOS and Android devices continue to benefit industry professionals who are seriously ill or injured through the Behind the Scenes UK charity. At the recent PLASA Show, a cheque for £19,084.37 was presented by ETC's Luke Delwiche and Sarah Clausen to John Simpson, chair of the Behind the Scenes UK board of trustees.

ETC's CEO, Fred Foster, said of the donation, "Once again we're amazed at the amount of money raised from the purchase of the iRFR and aRFR apps, and by the incredible work that Behind the Scenes has done with the funds. Great support is at the heart of ETC, and we've been able to see that same philosophy spread throughout our industry with this program. We're humbled to see how many people have stepped up and supported their colleagues by simply downloading an app."

Upon receivin

UK - Robert Juliat is delighted that its new LED cyclorama batten, DALIS, has been awarded the PLASA Award for Innovation at PLASA Show 2015.

DALIS is an asymmetrical 300W LED cyclorama light, consisting of 48 LED sources arranged in a double row. Each LED works in conjunction with a mini asymmetric reflector, or 'spoon', to deliver a perfectly smooth spread of light across any surface. Eight colours of LED are used in DALIS' construction - red, green, blue, royal blue, amber, cyan, warm white (2200K) and cool white (6500K) - which mix to create a huge variety of pastel and saturated colours, with perfect balance. Silent, fanless operation makes DALIS ideal for both theatre and television use.

The panel of PLASA Award for Innovation judges said, "The colour rendering from this product is beautiful. The fixture is well designed and elegant with a very good uniform beam pat

UAE - With a new look stand (number 4-G12), Baldwin Boxall looks forward to welcoming visitors at Intersec Dubai in January. This is always a busy show for the company and staff on the stand expect to see many new faces, as well as catching up with contacts already well known to them.

Visitors to the stand will see the EN54 certified VIGIL voice evacuation system and the company's Omnicare EVC system and disabled toilet alarms.

Based in East Sussex, UK, the company prides itself not only on the quality of design and build of its products, but also on its customer service and support, which directors and staff believe is paramount to their success. Customer testimonials and a long-term customer relationships prove this to be the case.

(Jim Evans)

UK - ETC is celebrating winning the only Gold PLASA Award for Innovation at last week's PLASA Show. The Eos software version 2.3 provides unprecedented colour control options for LED fixtures, including abstract colour spaces and fade tools, allowing users to adapt their workflows in this constantly evolving art form. Giving the Gold award, the judges described the software, which also provides access to the OSC protocol for the first time, as "a game-changer."

The control desk itself was busy on the stand throughout the three day show, with Product Manager Anne Valentino giving hands-on demonstrations.

On the stand

Also popular on the ETC stand was the new ColorSource Spot fixture, and the new ColorSource Relay and Transmitter. ColorSource Spot follows the launch of the hugely popular ColorSource PAR, which marries RGB emitters with lime, completing gaps in

UK - Three successful days in early October saw the PLASA Show bring its three-year stay at London's ExCeL to a close, with the promise of a revamped and reinvigorated event at Olympia for 2016.

New for this year, the innovative zoned layout of PLASA Show 2015 was clearly a success, allowing show visitors to easily find the exhibitors they wanted to visit. In turn, this meant exhibitors enjoyed the attention of high quality visitors throughout the show.

"We were extremely busy all day. We changed the way our stand looks for this year and it's worked fantastically," said Koy Neminathan, Sales Director for Avolites and Avolites Media after the first day.

As in previous years, PLASA Show Platinum sponsor Robe occupied a large area and Robe CEO Josef Valchar pronounced himself very pleased.

"We had a really positive reaction to the stand, with people truly thril

UK - The versatile new FLX lighting console won a 2015 PLASA Innovation Award to the delight of all at Eaton's performance lighting control business.

The much coveted Innovation Awards were presented at the three day entertainment technology expo staged at London's ExCeL Centre earlier this week.

Zero 88 series general manager David Catterall commented, "A huge amount of work has gone into ensuring that FLX would deliver new standards in lighting control using a touch screen interface and other time-saving features, and winning the Award is great recognition of the effort and ingenuity engaged at all levels by the team who have brought this product to the market.

Launched earlier in the year, FLX has been an instant success for Zero 88 in a number of sectors from rental companies to theatres, churches to multi-purpose venues.

The Innovation Awards were judged by a num

USA - Robe underlines the importance of the American market by announcing a major new product launch at the 2015 LDI expo in Las Vegas - the BMFL Wash and BMFL Wash XF (Extra Features).

There will also be a host of other exciting new products making their US debut at Booth 2521 at the Las Vegas Convention Centre 23 - 25 October.

BMFL Wash and BMFL Wash XF are the latest fixtures to be added to Robe's 'game-changing' BMFL range of luminaires. These are powerful workhorse wash lights, packed with innovative and creative features, says the company.

A large 200mm diameter front fresnel lens provides a high quality traditional wash output ranging from a punchy and tight 4.5° to a super-smooth 55°.

Custom interchangeable frost filters offer three grades - light, medium and heavy - giving an extremely subtle and natural 'soft touch'.

Both CMY and CTO colour mixing filte

USA - A maintenance revision to AES67-2013 - the AES standard for high-performance streaming audio-over-IP interoperability - has been issued. The revision, called AES67-2015, clarifies some of the interoperability requirements, based on general implementation and 'plugfest' experience.

The possibility to incorporate these revisions was identified during the AES 'Plugfest' 1 testing, carried out in cooperation with the European Broadcast Union (EBU), in October last year, and held at the Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT), in Munich, Germany. During these tests ten companies tested 16 currently available networked-audio products with AES67-specific extensions against each other to confirm interoperability.

The participating manufacturers were ALC NetworX GmbH, Archwave AG, Axia Audio, Digigram SA, DirectOut GmbH, Georg Neumann GmbH, Lawo AG, Merging Technologies S.A., SOUND4

USA - Austrian engineering company, AV Stumpfl will bring its largest ever line up of innovation to LDI 2015.

Selected by leading media designers and architects, Fullwhite screens will be demonstrated in an edge-blended multi-projector display on the AV Stumpfl USA Corp Booth 2017. The elegant Fullwhite screens are virtually borderless ensuring the projected image goes right to the very edge. They come with a range of powerful accessories, in a range of sizes and can be used in unlimited configurations including 360-degree curved projection environments.

The AV Stumpfl Monoblox is fast becoming the industry standard in mobile projection by large-scale rental and staging companies. Users benefit from fast assembly of screens without additional tools - a valuable asset when on location.

Additionally, the original VarioLock modular mobile projection screen will be shown in a va

USA - Le Maitre will be unveiling two new special effects technologies at this year's LDI at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, booth 455.

Le Maitre's G300-Smart is a professional smoke machine, designed with the future in mind. This innovative new machine features IoT capability via Wi-Fi, wireless set up and diagnostics, and an easy to read backlit LCD display.

Building on the solid foundation of Le Maitre's flagship smoke machine, the G300, the G300-Smart retains all the features that have made the G300 the industry-leading unit it is. It is rugged, versatile and durable, with an extremely high output of dense white smoke. In addition, the G300-Smart has a user-friendly LCD display, DMX in and out, 0-10V control, as well as fluid out and fluid low reporting.

Having Wi-Fi on board gives the user a whole new level of flexibility, being able to set and change the configuration

USA - D.T.S. will showcase the new EVO at LDI 2015, stand 217, Las Vegas Convention Centre, from 23-25 October.

D.T.S. will also feature a range of architectural projectors, including the Delta, FOS and Drivenet lines.

(Jim Evans)

USA - LDI 2015 will see the North American premiere of the latest upgrade to entertainment motion control systems expert XLNT Advanced Technologies' CyberHoist II system on Booth #142.

The new incarnation of the world's first intelligent, variable speed, robust chain hoist and control system, CyberHoist II CH528 (2015), has been specifically designed to overcome the creative, logistical and physical rigours of automation design for entertainment environments, large scale events and touring.

Since the system's successful preview launch at Prolight+Sound Frankfurt 2015, XLNT's research and development team has continued to fine tune its pro-user-valued features.

Although the system still features its signature strength, smooth operation, intuitive plug and play interface and compact design, under its hood is a range of improved software and hardware features, each steered by X

USA - Avolites' family of consoles, dimmers and networking products will be showcased at LDI Las Vegas on booth 2004, hosted by Group One Ltd. Avolites Media will be on booth 2216, exhibiting its industry-leading range of Ai media servers which work intuitively with the entire Avolites family of products.

Key members of the Avolites team, including MD Steve Warren and sales director Koy Neminathan, will join Group One, its distributor and US partner.

One of the stars of the showcase is the Avolites' Arena console with Optical Titan Net Switch, both of which are now shipping. In addition, new software in Titan version 9.1, featuring enhanced pixel mapping functionality, fully custom Key Frame Shape engine and fully featured theatre functionality.

"The Arena console has attracted a huge amount of attention since launch - we've been inundated with lighting designers, renta

UK - Pearce Hire will be showcasing their production services and rental business at this week's Showman's Show taking place at the Newbury Showground, Berkshire.

The Cambridgeshire-based company has been a regular participant for many years as the show provides an important platform for promoting their expertise in the provision of services for the outdoor and special events market.

This year the show's timing falls just as the corporate event, exhibition and concert business is already taking off for the winter months, and with an upturn in their business the company has not seen the downtime they usually experience at this time of year.

Pearce Hire operates nationally and internationally and their expertise covers all aspects of project management, production management and production solutions and bespoke installations, in addition to an extensive inventory of rental equ

Germany - In order to make people aware of the achievements of those working behind the stage and of their frequent ingenuity the Karlsruhe Chamber of Industry and Commerce has set up an award that recognises Germany's best and most creative trainees.

On 4 December 2015, taking place for the seventh time, the Baden Baden Awards 2015 will be honouring outstanding final papers by recently graduated set artists and set sculptors, make-up artists, sound and image media designers, event representatives, event technicians and property masters.

The creative industries are among those affected by demographic change and are faced with falling numbers of young people taking up technically skilled and administrative jobs. With competition for specialists increasing on the home and international employment market the situation demands that the industry react. From 20 to 22 June 2017 Stage

USA - Doughty Engineering's award winning Drop Arms and H Frames will continue to be the star attractions on the Doughty booth at this year's LDI. Visitors to the booth #2105 can see the system in action as well as finding out more about two new items which have been added to the Modular Rigging Range.

Manufactured from high tensile aluminium, the Drop Arms come in lengths of 9.84" (250mm), 19.68" (500mm), 39.37" (1000mm) and 78.75" (2000mm) which can be connected using conical couplers to create larger drops of approximately 19.68ft (6m). H-Frames are 16.3" (415mm) and 39.37" (1000mm) high with connectors available in 9.84"(250mm), 19.68" (500mm), 39.37" (1000mm) and 78.75" (2000mm). All have a safe working load of 220 lbs (100kg) and are available in powder coated silver or black finishes.

Mark Chorley design engineer at Doug

UK - Ten goals which aim to inspire a decade of sustainable culture change within live production were launched at the industry's flagship showcase and networking event PLASA London on 4 October 2015 by The Sustainability in Production Alliance (SiPA).

SiPA's Craig Bennett reported that "over 70 representatives of all corners of live production had come together over the last year to uncover 10 shared goals, formed from stories from across our industry".

The initiative encompasses issues around equality, well-being, education and development, waste, procurement, renewable energy, transparent reporting of environmental and social impacts, fair pay and resilient industry economics.

Leading the ratification of the goals by industry figureheads, Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) CEO Matthew Griffiths said: "We need to move quickly to finding reso

USA - Lycian Stage Lighting will be showing an as yet unnamed new followspot at LDI. Model #1299 utilises a miniaturized Xenon module with integrated heat sinks to produce an intensely bright beam.

"The intent to show the prototype is to gain feedback from our distributors as well as end users so the final product has widespread appeal from a form and function standpoint," says Lycian. "This followspot puts out a beam that surpasses even the Lycian 1295 ELT, already acknowledged as the most powerful production followspot and does it in a surprisingly compact body."

The model 1299 incorporates a number of features not seen in any other followspot. Among them is the ability to be used over a wide spot to flood ratio without lens changing. The 1299 can be used in fixed or variable focal modes. Although still in the prototype stage, Lycian intends to make optio

USA - Ayrton will be bringing six new products to LDI 2015, all which have been launched this year, and will be presented on the stand of Ayrton's exclusive US distributor, Morpheus Lights (1531).

MagicDot-R and CosmoPix-R are part of the Creative Solutions line, into which Ayrton has incorporated a totally new technology: the first 94mm diameter narrow beam angle collimator combined with the latest generation high-power (40W or 60W) Osram multichip LED that create tighter beams with an unrivalled centre beam intensity.

VersaPix-RS, the third new member of the Creative solutions line, puts Ayrton's new 94mm diameter optics in combination with a 4mm2 40W RGBW multichip to produce five 3.5° beams (the narrowest in Ayrton's portfolio) with a record-breaking central beam intensity of 200 candela per lumen.

LDI also marks the US premiere of DreamPanel-Shift and DreamPanel-Twi

USA - At LDI 2015, Clear-Com will launch HelixNet Version 3.0, a free software-only update to the HelixNet digital network partyline platform. The new version unlocks the HelixNet system in response to the growing need for more communication channels to support live performances and live productions.

"We are extremely excited to unveil the updates in HelixNet Version 3.0 at LDI," said John Wyckoff, Product Manager at Clear-Com. "The additional capacity and simplified control functions create a whole new world of possibilities on this digital network partyline platform."

With this new update, the HelixNet multiplies its basic channel count by three, with a new offering of 12 channels per HMS-4X Main Station. In the previous version, users had to link three HMS-4X Stations together in order to achieve the same number of channels. This capability brings greate

USA - Underscoring its commitment to providing rental and staging professionals with the latest videowall displays, ultra-large flat panels, and touchscreens available today, APG Displays, one of North America's leading distributors and renters of videowalls, will be showcasing NEC and AViary Green Hippo Par4keet visual solutions at LDI 2015. The presentation will be made at Booth #2349 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 23-25.

"This show gives APG Displays the chance to present rental and staging professionals with the variety of opportunities that large-scale videowalls, displays and video players are offering today," APG Displays President David Weatherhead said. "We exclusively sub-rent videowall displays with full technical support, installation services and logistics, to our rental and staging partners across North America.&qu

UK - As the exclusive UK distributor for four of the most respected manufacturers in the lighting industry, Ambersphere Solutions provide a gateway to some of the most innovative lighting products on the market. As always, the team at Ambersphere went that extra mile to offer visitors the warmest of welcomes at stand B10. Representatives from all four brands alongside the Ambersphere lineup were there to welcome, inform and discuss the extensive range of products on show.

Joining the team of Clay Paky fixtures, the Mythos, the Stormy, the SuperSharpy is the brand new Scenius. This moving head spotlight boasts a 95 CRI light quality and a wide 80-500 zoom combined with all the sophisticated features one would expect from Clay Paky. Also attracting interst was the Spheriscan, a whole new take on the scanner light of the 90s; its mirror has a continuous pan rotation with speeds of

USA - During the LDI 2015 show in Las Vegas, attendees found a range of lighting, video, and automation innovations in the PRG Solutions Studio.

This year Production Resource Group L.L.C. (PRG) showcased cutting edge developments that continue to provide practical yet inventive solutions to the various challenges of production. PRG understands that true innovation must enable producers, designers, gaffers, cinematographers and technicians to work smarter - to accomplish more, with greater efficiency, at lower costs.

One of the innovations making its debut at LDI was the PRG GroundControl Remote Followspot System. Followspot control hasn't changed for decades. It's time to take the truss spot operator out of the truss and put him on the ground where it's safer and more efficient to operate the followspot.

The PRG GroundControl System allows a technician to remotely operate a

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