Australia - TDC, Technical Direction Company, returned to Vivid Sydney from 22 May to 8 June 2015. With an opening weekend attended by more than a quarter of a million people, TDC provided video expertise in cutting edge mapping techniques and key video technology across an unprecedented 10km distance as the 18-day festival expanded into new Chatswood and Central Park precincts.

Anthony Bastic, Vivid light curator says: "Vivid Sydney placed art into the hands of the public, giving visitors a visually triumphant feast of artistic and technical innovation."

Vivid Sydney is probably the world's largest festival of light, music and ideas and is owned and managed by Destination NSW, the NSW Government's Tourism and Major Events agency.

Michael Hassett, managing director of TDC, said: "We've worked with Destination NSW on Vivid Sydney for four years now, and it is s

UK - Panasonic has announced a long-term corporate partnership with Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), the independent charity which manages six former Royal residences in the UK. The partnership brings Panasonic the opportunity to showcase its latest technologies, while enabling HRP to provide an improved visitor experience for its customers, the manufacturer says.

The first joint initiative saw 12 Panasonic high brightness projectors used as part of the 500th anniversary celebrations at Hampton Court Palace. A 22-minute projected artwork, which told the architectural and cultural history of the palace, played for three nights over the Easter weekend.

Panasonic laser projectors are being used in a new exhibition in the palace, bringing animation to Hampton Court's stories. A total of eight projectors have also been installed within the Tower of London jewel house, helping to inter

UK - Lighting and video now go hand in hand when conceiving a concept for a show, so consoles need to speak easily and fluently with video servers - as MA Lighting have long recognised.

London-based d3 Technologies, creator of the trusted d3 platform, the integrated video production suite, has chosen an MA onPC command wing purely for the purpose of trying and testing new developments in d3. As director Ash Nehru explains: "Although d3 supports control by any of the lighting desks on the market, we opted for the grandMA2 command wing through Ambersphere Solutions for a very simple reason: it is the desk of choice for so many. It's the console that we encounter most frequently on large shows so it just made total sense for us to support it."

Currently d3 are using the grandMA2 command wing to test a new feature. "d3 has historically been a timeline-controlled sys

UK - VER UK has hosted a series of open days to present the latest in available 4K technology, spanning indoor and outdoor high resolution screens as well as the latest products in 4K projection and broadcast technology.

The first two-day showcase was hosted in the modern event facilities of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), for which VER traditionally provides support for RADA's in house productions and has a long-standing association.

A further event was hosted at VER UK's London facility, by the VER Dry Hire team. Scott Russell, Ellie Johnson and Lucy Taylor welcomed UK and European customers to demonstrations of the latest in Video Technology available for hire.

Director of European sales, Adrian Offord, commented, "VER continually strives to be at the forefront of new technology. We look forward to holding these showcase events frequently demonstrating the

Germany - Show designer Gunter Hecker brought a flourish of industrial style to the lighting, video and stage environment that he created for the latest tour by German superstar Herbert Grönemeyer, prolific singer, composer, musician and actor and one of Germany's most successful ever recording artists.

Once again Gunter worked closely with Marc Lorenz as his lighting director and technology integration specialist, and together they brought a unique look and energy to the show with a centerpiece comprising six automated pods containing video screens and a total of 96 Robe Pointes.

These can move on multiple axes into a variety of positions, and completely transform the shape and feel of the performance space.

Gunter and Marc often use Robe products for their work, the last time being earlier in the year, for the 2014/15 tour by rappers Die Fantastischen Vier for which they

UK - As a wave of consolidation passes through the video sector of the concert industry a new contender has emerged. Currently engaged on the Take That tour, Video Design founded by industry veteran Alex Leinster is already contracted for the Heaton Park 'Parklife' festival in Manchester and the series of concerts that fills the summer months in Hyde Park, London.

Leinster laid out the fundamentals of Video Design's operation. "We have already been investing in new camera gear, all Sony HD, and new PPU's built to our own specification with the latest Karrera K-Frame switchers from Grass Valley, Kaleido Miranda multi-viewers and d3 video servers. It's been nice to re-package to 2015 standards, Take That for example always demands systems that go in fast and easy; no small consideration when we are providing 220sq.m of 9mm LED.

"Speed is a given when working on Chris V

UK - Working with producers Vision Nine Arts & Entertainment, XL Video supplied a multi-channel camera system and video projection for the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular UK live concert tour.

The tour, which showcases the compositions of Murray Gold for the much-loved TV show includes the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and performers from the BBC National Chorus of Wales, conducted by Ben Foster.

Hosted by Peter Davidson, who played the fifth Doctor, the tour includes live appearances from an array of Doctor Who monsters including Daleks, Cybermen, and the Ood.

The show design aims to immerse the audience via the music, coupled with the big screen footage of Doctor Who, and live action appearances by a multitude of monsters in the arena. To help achieve this across a variety of large-scale venues, XL Video supplied a video projection system and accompanying cameras, which

China - CreateLED Electronics, a leading provider of LED video solutions, has announced that a host of new customer endorsements for its recently introduced AirMAG-2 high performance display screens is helping to drive the growth of the company's business internationally.

Since its introduction to the market in 2014, the AirMAG-2 - renowned for its advanced 16-bit colour processing, high definition 2.6mm pixel pitch and extra wide viewing angles of up to 160 degrees - has quickly become the display system of choice for a broad range of fixed and rental applications from corporate theatres and auditoriums to retail displays, car shows, television production sets, concerts and festivals.

According to David Oh , managing drector of CreateLED Japan Company Limited, the rationale behind why some of the world's leading brands, media networks and event organisers are opting for the A

USA - Showlogix, a developer of show and media control software for the entertainment market, has announced the release of a free version of its show and media control software.

The free Video Sync is designed for video artists and integrators wanting to create video installations with a low budget and simple deployment.

Showlogix Video Sync, plays video content across multiple displays, attached to one computer or / and over a local area network.

"We have peeled off all the bells and whistles, keeping only the essentials" Said Nir Goldhagen Showlogix CTO, "Artists who could not afford this kind of technology, are free to create their dream installation."

As each display is limited to one full screen video, image processing is reduced significantly, therefore artists can use low cost computers to achieve their goal. Each of these computers can drive up

Belgium / USA - Barco has announced two new products in its Event Master series of screen management systems: the S3-4K, a compact processor, and the EC-50, a lightweight, Event Master Toolset-compatible controller.

Exactly one year ago, Barco unveiled the E2 image processor to rave reviews at InfoComm in Las Vegas. Supporting native 4K input and output, the E2 screen management system instantly raised the industry bar for live event processing, as the only solution capable of managing a 4K projector blend with refresh rates of up to 60 Hz.

S3-4K, the smaller version of the E2, boasts the same processing performance and image quality. Featuring 12 input channels, four programme outputs, four AUX outputs and two dedicated Multiviewer outputs, it is suited for the rental and staging market, broadcast studios and mid-sized performance venues. "The S3-4K is the E2's more comp

Switzerland - Merging Technologies has announced the formation of a new company to support its sales and technical support in Sweden. Merging Sweden took over distribution of the Merging professional products line at the beginning of May.

The force behind this new operation is Kjetil Laukholm who has been supporting sales in Sweden for some time now. The move to become the full distributor was a logical conclusion, given his experience with the Merging brand. He has been a Pyramix user since the days of Version 3 and has a long experience of recording all types of music for major labels such as EMI and Sony. He has also recorded orchestral scores for games like Spiderman and Assassin's Creed.

Kjetil will be working with other local Pyramix and Ovation specialists to ensure that regional and relevant product expertise is being cared for. Dealers are also being appointed to prom

Puerto Rico - The Luis Fonsi Somos Uno Tour has criss-crossed the globe with stops in France, Spain and the US, but for the Puerto Rican-born Grammy-winning artist, it was home sweet home when he performed for two sell out nights at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan.

To provide extra visuals for the homecoming, Musique Xpress Lights, which furnished gear for the Puerto Rican concerts only, called on 34 Chauvet Nexus 4x4 LED panels and 40 Q-Wash 260-LED moving fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

"The overall look of the show was based around a futuristic design which intertwined a variety of moving lights, LED screens and special effects to create different scenarios around the music," explained LD Edward Aviles. "The Chauvet fixtures were critical to helping us achieve this look."

While the Chauvet Q-Wash fixtures played an integral role in this futu

Barco has announced the launch of its XPR range of high-end 4K media servers. Together with the XHD range launched last February, these complete the Barco Media Servers range. The new offering adds 4K capabilities, "unparalleled user-friendliness and elaborate preview functionalities" to Barco's impressive list of end-to-end visualization solutions.

The Barco Media Servers range will be available in three versions: the XHD-200, XHD-400, and the brand-new XPR-600. The XHD series are shipping now, whereas the XPR series will ship from end of September 2015 onwards.

"Media servers play a pivotal role in creating mesmerizing visuals for a live band, spectacular 3D projection mapping, thrilling theme park rides or showstoppers at an event or exhibition", explains Peter Pauwels, director strategic marketing V&H and entertainment at Barco. "With the addition of the

UK - Vortex Events' Matt Gourd and Iain Rendle have a combined knowledge of over 20 years in the events industry. Their company provides both dry rental of all their equipment as well as full production support for everything from musical productions, TV shows and dance events to touring productions, festivals and corporate events.

Having recently purchased a Hippotizer V4 Karst media server, Vortex Events will be putting it to the test immediately on the John Peel stage at Glastonbury this coming week.

Matt Gourd, "We looked at many different media servers and having used a wide range onsite for events, it was easy to see that the V4 range was one step ahead in many ways. These include the value for money and great support they offer. The Karst will help us realise some complicated mapping projects and visualise them at the design stage. This means we can easily translat

USA - Standing out is always important in the world of television, but never more so than during Upfront's Week, an annual event that sees networks pitch their upcoming programmes to potential sponsors.

For the Fox Broadcasting Company this meant renting the historic Beacon Theatre on Broadway, and bringing in a bevy of stars like Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny of The X-Files fame, Lea Michele, Jamie Lee Curtis, and a musical performance by the award-winning cast of Empire, Jennifer Hudson and dancers from the cast of Grease Live! to entertain guests. Adding a dramatic visual element to the high-profile proceedings were two giant video screens set off by the striking light of over 60 Nexus 4x4 panels from Chauvet Professional.

Lighting designers James Schipper and Rachel Miller of Kinetic Lighting (Los Angeles) worked with scenic designer Anton Goss t

USA - The Manchester Grand Hyatt is Southern California's largest hotel. Its 125,000sq.ft of flexible ballrooms and breakout rooms remain booked without pause. However, that tight schedule, while a blessing in every other respect, became the principle challenge in an extensive renovation of the hotel's AV system. Due to their ease of programming, cost effectiveness and complete flexibility when expanding via Dante, San Diego-based Audio Associates chose a number of Symetrix SymNet Radius 12x8 open architecture networked DSPs and affordable SymNet xIn 12 and SymNet xOut 12 I/O expanders as the audio heart of Manchester Grand Hyatt's new AV system.

"This is a large, multi-phase project," explained Eric Evans, sales engineer at Audio Associates. "Most of the system is up and running, but as the work expands to other floors and other areas, we will be installing more

UK - Event technical delivery expert FIX8Group has appointed Helen Marenghi as project coordinator.

Helen's role will be predominantly to support FIX8's existing project managers across all current and future events/projects and other company related work. It will also involve implementing and managing various operational processes and software that will help the company manage its time and equipment more efficiently as the company continues its rapid growth.

Helen brings a wealth of experience to FIX8. Her recent roles have included senior events manager at Cuffe and Taylor Ltd and working on prestigious shows such as the Rod Stewart Tour 2014 and Lytham Proms Festival. She has also worked as assistant video and graphics producer for WorldWide Shows (WWS) on the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Closing and Paralympic Opening Ceremonies and lighting and content viewing room assistant

UK - A.C. Video, a division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has been appointed as an authorised dealer for the Philips Signage Solutions product range - bolstering the company's line-up of leading-brand complementary video system technologies.

Incorporating the latest advances in display technology, MMD - the leading technology company and brand license partner for Philips Signage Solutions - delivers first-class picture performance along with practical design and convenient features for both integrators and end users, such as SmartPower, SmartControl, FailOver and Clinical D-Image proprietary innovations available across models in the range.

The signage line-up includes the entry-level Q-line featuring eco-friendly SmartPower functionality for power consumption savings of up to 50%; the E-line with FailOver backup and SmartControl technologies for future-proof conn

UK - XL Video, working for Production North, supplied all video production - LED Screens, IMAG cameras / PPU and crew - for the most recent UK tour by hi-energy pop-rockers, The Vamps.

The tour included several arena shows and was the largest to date for the rising stars who originally met via You Tube around 2012, as well as the first for Global Live, the new 'live' division of Ashley Tabor's UK-based Global Entertainment - and a co-promotion with AEG Live

The Vamps stage / set and video design was evolved by the tour's technical director Iain Whitehead (Production North) and lighting designer Peter Barnes, and included 145sq.m of XL Video's ROE Visual MC-7T LED screen. The lively IMAG mix was cut by Dan Ormerod, and video was a major part of the overall aesthetic that made the show and its presentation exciting, interesting and enjoyable to watch.

Video screens were the mo

Spain / Portugal - Currently underway throughout Spain and Portugal until October, the Crambo 360° Experience is intended to educate and create awareness of Absen LED technology for end users, integrators and rental companies in the Iberian AV industry.

Organised by exclusive Spanish distributor for Absen, Crambo Visuales, the roadshow - which began on 29 April in Bilbao - recently stopped at Madrid, La Coruña, and Barcelona, as well as Valencia, Sevilla and Malaga in June before hitting Lisbon, concluding on 15 October in Valladolid.

"The 360 Experience is our most important marketing exercise of 2015," commented marketing manager of Crambo Visuales, Mercedes Fuster. "It is an ideal opportunity for us to meet our clients in their natural habitat, and ultimately improve relations trough learning about their real needs."

With a showroom filled with va

USA - Holo-Gauze, the 3D display solution for hologram effects, has been utilised as part of the key performance presentation on the opening day of the eighth annual World Science Festival in New York. Light Falls: Space, Time & An Obsession of Einstein extensively featured Holo-Gauze to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein's discovery of the general theory of relativity.

World Science Festival took place 27-31 May at venues throughout New York City. Designed by 59 Productions, Light Falls combined Holo-Gauze holographic effects animation and dramatic portrayals to trace Einstein's electrifying journey to the conception of his theory. World Science Festival founder Dr Brian Greene and an ensemble cast saw their dramatic performances enhanced by Holo-Gauze.

"It was an honour to be able to contribute to the eighth World Science Festival," says Holo

UK - AV systems integrator Saville Audio Visual has announced a set of record breaking results for 2014, with turnover increasing 12% to top £40m for the first time in the company's long history.

Group finance director Colin Nixey said, "Our major emphasis has been a planned strategy for growth alongside improvements in business efficiency. The most pleasing aspect is that both of the company's key trading arms have played a major part in this success.

"With 14% growth, the AV Systems division has improved its share of the growing, competitive audio visual and unified communications installation market in the UK. This has been strongly supported by a 10% growth in turnover for our Conference & Live Events division, winning new business nationally and internationally."

The company has recently demonstrated its confidence in the conference industry with an

Belgium - ArKaos MediaMaster Pro has been chosen as the most versatile and user-friendly media software for Event Services at Ohio University.

Event Services is responsible for providing production support in Baker University Center (a student centre with state-of-the-art conference and event spaces), Templeton Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium (a 2000-seat concert hall), The Convocation Center (a 13,000-seat arena) as well as offsite locations.

ArKaos MediaMaster Pro has been used in support of the many university and community events that take place on and off-campus since it was first introduced by Jeremy Schaffer, associate director of operations and production for event services.

"We use Arkaos MediaMaster Pro for many different events from corporate and social functions to our University Commencement Ceremonies," says Schaffer. "Primarily we utilise M

USA - ROE Visual has launched its new Black Onyx 3.47mm and 5.21mm high resolution LED panel with showcases at Prolight and Sound in Europe and Infocomm in Orlando. The screen is the latest addition to ROE's impressive range of rental and staging focused products and has already been added to the inventories of a host of rental houses throughout Europe, the US and Asia.

Black Onyx is the first ROE product to come equipped with Brompton processing as standard and ROE is now rolling out the Brompton processing on the rest of its range. Already shipping with Brompton is the successful Magic Cube series (7mm -18mm) with others products set to follow.

Roelof Bouwman of ROE Europe said: "At ROE Visual we have built our reputation on quality, innovation and customer service. As well as delivering class leading image quality ROE Screens are some of the fastest and easiest to rig

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