UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies' video division is reporting substantial sales for Green Hippo's all-new line of Hippotizer media servers, which have been completely re-designed to handle the manufacturer's powerful V4 next generation media control software.

Designed to meet the demands of shows today and tomorrow, the new Hippotizer V4 features include 4K+ support, more outputs, Output Manager, STRATA Caddy System, SHAPE 3D projection mapping, visualiser, multiple mixes, and a number of output options, including HD-SDI. The new Hippotizer range features the powerhouse Taiga with four inputs / six outputs; the tour-proof Boreal with four inputs / four outputs; the customisable Karst with two inputs / three outputs; and the compact Amba with two inputs / one output.

The models received much interest upon their unveiling on the AC-ET stand at PLASA London last year - and wh

USA - High End Systems, along with partners CSI Leasing and Light Converse, reports that more than 50 universities from across the United States have entered teams for the Hog Factor.

The top three teams will be selected to go head to head and perform their lighting pieces live on the High End Systems booth at LDI 2015 in Las Vegas in the competition final.

The teams have a chance to win their school a $20,000 scholarship and a Hog 4 console. They can also win themselves a Hedge Hog 4X each. There is still some time to sign up and submit entries for the chance to take part in this competition. Submissions close on 30 June.

"The breadth of entries, coming from universities across the country, shows that we had a tremendous response to this endeavour" says Chris Ferrante, general manager. "We are committed to providing state of the art lighting control in all ma

UK - To mark the arrival of their new Luton van, Showforce has launched a competition on social media. Anyone who spots the van onsite or in transit should take a photo and upload it to Twitter or Instagram. The posts should mention @showforcegroup (Twitter) or @showforcegram (Instagram) and include the hashtag #vanspotting. They will then be entered into a prize draw to win a free four-hour 'Man and Van' call. The prize worth £250 is available to anyone with the Greater London area. The winners will be announced via Twitter and Instagram on 1 July.

Anya Roszkowiak, Showforce's business development director said, "Our 'Man and Van' service can be booked by the hour and has proven extremely popular with clients. An experienced driver is on hand to ensure goods are delivered and loaded both securely and on time. It's perfect for last minute pick-ups and deliveries, the

USA - "Dying is easy. Comedy is hard." That aphorism has been attributed to numerous comedic actors, but it also applies in spades to mixing front-of-house for stand-up comedy.

"People think, 'It's one microphone-how hard can it be?'" says Geoff Hidden, FOH mixer for Fluffy, aka Gabriel Iglesias, the hefty comedian, actor, writer, producer and voice actor out on the road with his Unity Through Laughter world tour since February and known for his online shows I'm Not Fat... I'm Fluffy and Hot & Fluffy. "But there's a lot more to it than that." There is, and a DiGiCo SD9 digital console, including a D2 Rack and integrated Waves plug-ins, is providing Hidden with the specialized tools he needs to make sure that every word is heard.

Hidden says that audio for comedy is all about clarity. "The challenge is keeping Gabriel cons

USA - The Media Networking Alliance is both exhibiting and engaging in a range of activities at InfoComm15 to promote the understanding and uptake of AES67, the interoperability standard for high-performance audio-over-IP streaming.

The alliance's booth on the show floor (# 693) will be staffed throughout the exhibition by MNA member engineers and experts, enabling InfoComm attendees to obtain information and advice concerning AES67, and discuss with member companies their experience in implementing the standard. Visitors can inquire about the MNA and the benefits of becoming a member.

The alliance is also hosting two open events in meeting room W304F in the convention centre West Hall. The first of these, from 15:00 to 16:30 on Thursday 18 June, is a panel discussion How is AES67 going to change our industry? It will provide an opportunity for InfoComm attendees to dis

UK - Canford has been appointed sole distribution partner in the UK and Ireland for the multi-award winning Green-GO range of digital intercom over Ethernet products.

Unlike other digital intercom designs, Green-GO does not employ an expensive central matrix. All interconnection routing data, system set-up and user preferences are stored locally within each user station including beltpacks, which eliminates the possibility of a catastrophic central failure.

Green-GO does not require a dedicated Ethernet network. It will operate on any 100Mbit network without interfering with other data protocols coexisting on the system, including Dante. User stations are powered by Power over Ethernet (PoE). If this is not available locally, any good quality PoE switch may be used including Green-Go's own 5-port switch.

Canford product manager Mike Reay is upbeat about the new partnership.

Record Sales - One Direction, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay helped UK artists account for one in seven of the albums sold globally during 2014, the BPI has said. With 13.7% of worldwide sales, it's the highest British share since the BPI began recording those figures in 2000. Sales of albums by British artists rose in Canada, Australia, Italy and Sweden, as well as the US. Albums from Sam Smith and Pink Floyd also made the top ten list of the world's biggest-sellers of 2014.

According to the BPI's Music Market 2015 report, Taylor Swift topped the list of global recording artists, after shifting six million copies of her album 1989. The figures, which take into account album sales, track sales and streams, put One Direction in second place and Sheeran in third. The BPI also found that streaming had doubled in the UK during 2014.

Royal Ruler - Dame Helen Mirren was named

The Netherlands - More than a decade after much-loved Dutch duo Karel de Rooij and Peter de Jong stopped performing their comedy act Mini en Maxi, public demand for their brand of humour was so great that they agreed to perform as Mini en Maxi again at Koningklijke Schouwburg (Royal Theatre) in Den Haag for a run of shows from April through to June. A Yamaha CL1 digital mixing system has helped to bring the act right up to date.

Established in 1969, de Rooij and de Jong enjoyed huge success with Mini en Maxi, a Silver Rose of Montreux-winning variety act of non-speaking, visual humour. However, music was always a major part of the performances, both men being accomplished musicians, as well as having extra players in the shows for musical accompaniment.

Despite having put the act aside for over 10 years, the two men continued to perform together in speaking plays like Samuel B

World - AC/DC are back with their Rock or Bust world tour and lighting designer and show director Patrick Woodroffe is again the creative mastermind for the tour design, for which lighting director Cosmo Wilson specified two grandMA2 full-size consoles for control. Woodroffe explained his design ideas, "I wanted to create a big, large scale rock concert to fill the end of a stadium. Therefore I selected a tough, strong, ballsy lighting for this tough strong band."

Wilson commented on the grandMA2, "I am using the grandMA2 because I have had such success using the grandMA series 1 for the past 10 years and I decided it was time for me to upgrade to the grandMA2. The learning curve was easier because I have been using the grandMA series 1, but there are so many new things on the grandMA2 that make programming and operating my show much easier and quicker. Also havin

Italy - "Our purpose is to spread a new culture, where art becomes life and life becomes art," is the promotional tagline for Metamorfosi, a stylish new bar in the Italian city of Fondi, where a Yamaha CIS installation is helping to inspire and entertain the city's new generation of artisans.

The area around Fondi is known as 'little Florence', due to the history and quality of art that characterises it. Owned by Gianfranco 'Jef' Annunziata, the recently-opened Metamorfosi is intended to act as a hub of cultural originality; a meeting place for people who want to continue the region's traditions of innovative art and design through participation, education, training, seminars and exhibitions.

Already attracting a reputation as 'the most trendy bar in town', a Yamaha CIS sound reinforcement system has been installed to deliver original live music, DJ sets and speech-b

USA / Canada - Another draft American National Standard has been posted for public review on the PLASA TSP website at http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php: BSR E1.51 - 201x, The Selection, Installation, and Use of Single-Conductor Portable Power Feeder Cable Systems for Use at 600 Volts Nominal or Less for the Distribution of Electrical Energy in the Television, Film, Live Performance and Event Industries in Canada. Its public review period runs through 3 August, 2015; the review is over and the links to the review materials disappear when 4 August starts.

BSR E1.51 is intended to offer guidance in accordance with existing applicable standards and regulations in Canada on how to select, install, use and maintain single-conductor portable feeder cables used to supply power for television, film, live performance, and special events in Canada. Materially affect

Canada - Since 2010, Montreal's Rialto Theatre has undergone extensive renovations to bring the historic venue back to its former glory. Originally built in 1923 and designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1993, the venue has undergone several changes throughout its lifetime from its original use as a cinema to a high-end steakhouse in 2000 to the live entertainment space it now offers.

After its 2010 purchase by current owners/operators Ezio Carosielli and Luisa Sassano, the venue has revitalized both the interior space and the iconic architectural elements of its façade, including a new exterior lighting system outfitted with Martin Professional architectural lighting solutions.

When structural renovations in the summer of 2014 presented an opportunity to refresh the façade, Garou Blancan, the Rialto's technical director and winner of Martin Professional's 2014 Yo

Canada - Staging operator TAIT has brought Limpet safety and access systems on board to support the World's biggest band on one of the biggest tours ever seen. U2's Innocence + Experience tour kicked off in Vancouver's Rogers Arena on 15 May with Limpet E5 units being used as access and safety systems for the innovative video wall that is the centrepiece of the tour's stage effects.

Frank Aguirre, president of Innovative Access Systems struck the deal and commented, "Awareness of Limpet systems is growing fast among professional stage riggers in the USA. More folks are now seeing them out on tours and are getting wise to the access, safety and rescue benefits of bringing them into touring shows.

"As with many of its projects, Tait is at the front of innovation. The use of Limpet to be redirected through custom bracket with multiple pulley points to help cover the who

UK - On Sunday 31 May, Leon Kay for First Light Theatre, together with TheatreMAD, a fundraising brand of The Make A Difference Trust, held a one-off performance of Elegies For Angels, Punks and Raging Queens at the Criterion Theatre.

Twenty-two years after it was originally performed in the venue, the play made a welcomed return to the stage to once again raise the profile of HIV awareness as well as the charity's work. White Light was called upon to provide some essential lighting equipment for the performance, which not only meant assisting on an important event but also continuing their relationship with one of the UK's leading HIV charities.

Established in 1990 as West End Cares, the rebranded TheatreMAD is a group of volunteers bringing the theatre community and its audiences together to raise awareness and funds for those diagnosed with HIV. Originally starting w

Qatar - The 2015 World Men's Handball Championship finals were staged for the first time in Qatar, from 15 January to 3 February 2015.

Auditoire Qatar, a well-known event organizing company headquartered in France with branches in Qatar and various locations worldwide, conceptualized, designed and produced festivities in different locations across the city establishing Qatar as a world class sport hosting country in the region.

SGM's Middle East distributor, TechnoPro llc, contributed to the success of the event by providing the technical production with the latest state-of-the-art equipment, manpower, and system operation in the month long preparation and implementation of the event.

The Doha Corniche skyline was illuminated with a dynamic lightshow featuring 1000 x SGM LED fixtures. One hundred and twenty G-Spot, 600 x P-5, 280 x SixPack were installed on 28 x Litec truss

Austria - The LumenRadio team, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, had two reasons to celebrate this year as Sweden brought home the Eurovision song contest trophy for the sixth time. This year's contest was held in Vienna, Austria and made use of LumenRadio's CRMX technology to provide wireless DMX links around the arena for props and set pieces, ensuring even in highly congested environment, the link was rock solid.

Lighting designer Al Gurdon dazzled the audience with an array of looks from soft and subtle ballads to rock and punk, accented by LED screens embedded in the floor and providing a constantly evolving backdrop to the stage. Providing media technology and kinetic lighting effects was Entertainment Technology Concepts GmbH. Volker Suhre, CEO, selected LumenRadio as their wireless partner for the event.

The CRMX technology was used in the show to provide links to difficult

Singapore - Nearly 500 Robe BMFL moving lights were at the core of the lighting scheme designed by LD Mac Chan for the vibrant Opening Ceremony of the 2015 South East Asia Games in Singapore on Friday.

The glittering spectacle staged in the new 55,000 capacity National Stadium was broadcast live on national TV and across south East Asia, reaching an estimated audience of 600m, and saw the 28th SEA Games declared open in great style. It also featured the greatest number of Robe BMFLs - to date - used on a single event.

The BMFLs represent a massive investment made by Singapore based rental company Showtec Communications Pte Ltd., which purchased over 700 BMFL fixtures, most of them especially for the event, once Mac had confirmed his decision.

Mac was asked to design the high-profile event's lighting by creative director Beatrice Chia, with whom he has worked on previous larg

UK / USA - British singer-songwriter Ben Howard is enjoying success on both sides of the Atlantic, having completed a sold out UK tour in December, a successful run in the US, returning to the UK in April, where he filled arenas round the country, including three nights at London's Alexandra Palace, Glasgow's SSE Hydro, Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena and Birmingham's NIA. His fans are no doubt delighted with the quality of audio that rental company Nitelites is delivering, which in no small part due to their choice of DiGiCo SD7s for both Front of House and monitor positions.

Nitelites director Andy Magee, who has been working with Ben since 2012, elected to take up the FOH position, with Barrie Pitt mixing monitors. They use SD7s, he says, simply because they are head and shoulders above anything else.

"The band knows exactly what they want and we try very hard to give it to

New Zealand - The X Factor New Zealand is based on the international X Factor production format owned by Simon Cowell's SYCO Entertainment. Paul Collison, along with Simon Garret, design and operate the weekly show from a temporary studio fitted out in a food storage warehouse in South Auckland.

Norwest Oceania Productions supplied the lighting, audio and rigging for the project, which include eight ETC Source Four Revolutions, purchased especially for The X Factor.

Garrett, Norwest Oceania's general manager, is delighted with his purchase which is essentially a high performance Source Four zoom profile spot equipped with motorized pan, tilt, zoom, on-board dimming, and colour scroll.

"I knew they would be good but I underestimated how much fixed lighting they would render obsolete," Garrett remarked. "Being able to shift lights live when the tal

UK - Bel Digital's BM-A1-4SHD four channel audio monitor/de-embedder is already a firm favourite with broadcasters. All of its features are now available in a larger 2U chassis, providing increased definition in metering and an increase in SPL.

With a reduction of both chassis depth (down to 200 mm) and overall weight, the new BM-A2-4SHD MKII is ideal for OB or Flyaway applications.

The BM-A2-4SHD MKII can de-embed any group of four channels of audio from one of two SDI sources (up to 3G SDI) and display the levels on the front panel meters, as well as providing stereo audio monitoring of any combination of the four channels.

In addition to the auto-detecting SDI inputs, the BM-A2-4SHD MKII has four balanced XLR analogue inputs and two AES3id BNCs. A re-clocked loop-through output is available for the selected SDI source, providing a convenient and cost-effective method of s

UK - The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) has issued a warning to UK employers about the risks of being misled regarding their obligation to undertake periodic thorough examination of all lifting equipment.

The advice reflects growing concerns within the lifting industry that some companies are being tempted to cut costs by not conducting thorough examinations as frequently as required by LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations).

Geoff Holden, chief executive of LEEA, said: "All UK employers are subject to LOLER, which clearly states that, once in service, lifting equipment for lifting persons or accessories for lifting must be thoroughly examined by a competent person every six months. Lifting accessories include commonly used items such as shackles, steels, hooks and round slings. Only for lifting equipment that does not fall into one o

Vienna - While equally unsuccessful on the stage at the recent Eurovision Song Contest, Austria and Germany achieved full marks behind the scenes. Austrian host broadcaster ORF marked the 60th anniversary of the world's oldest and most successful televised song contest not only as a perfect host, providing a spectacular TV and stage show, but also with a technically innovative production concept.

All of the contest's audio signals were routed via a Ravenna/AES67-based IP infrastructure for the first time at a Eurovision event. Both the Lawo Nova 73 audio matrix - including all connected Dallis I/O systems used by ORF's broadcast supplier, VideoHouse - and the video and audio distribution of the Lawo commentary solution were based on IP networking technology.

All of the audio signals were collected by a central audio router, to be distributed to all of the event's suppliers and

UK - Wembley Stadium was awash with neon light as thousands ran, danced, shone and partied through the night, basked in the Avolites controlled glow of the Electric Run UK. VME took on the event production, also supplying the lighting kit for the event. Their appointed lighting designer and programmer Pete Watts chose a selection of Avolites control solutions including Titan One dongles, an Expert Pro and a Titan Mobile.

Electric Run, an internationally run event originating in the US, is in its second year in the UK. It has grown from a single Wembley date to multiple events across the country in 2015.

Watts, who also programmed the show last year, specified an Avolites control solution for the 5k run around Wembley Park. This included five Titan One dongles, running on touch screen Panasonic Toughbooks, all provided by VME.

Designing colourful and energetic displays across

USA - To be independent means different things to different people, but for the eponymous live music venue in the San Francisco Bay Area the name is unambiguous. Ten years presenting a cross section of local, national and international acts underlines The Independent's commitment to the broad church of contemporary music. "Fundamentally, music is about intimacy with the artist," said the venue's head of audio and production, Terry Yerves. "And for that to happen it's got to sound good."

This is Yerves' sixth year at the venue. "I started with The Independent in 2009, but I still do the occasional short tour from time to time if the dates allow. In 2014, we staged almost 300 shows so my touring work is very occasional. This is a five hundred capacity auditorium, a square box with an arched ceiling and concrete floor; the back wall has a VIP balcony above.

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