Clay Paky had plenty on show. The Alpha Wash 1200 is the most powerful washlight in the Alpha family. The optical system uses uniform CMY colour mixing that, together with a color wheel, with linear CTO and with a CTB filter, allows every chromatic combination to be obtained.

The extraordinary luminosity of the Alpha Spot HPE 1200 (see Technical Focus, L&SI February 2006) is guaranteed by the combination of a top performance optical unit and a 1200W discharge lamp. Features include a 10°- 40° linear zoom, a newly designed effects section and a full colour system.

The Alpha Spot 1200 is a 1200W effects projector with a 15° - 40° linear zoom, colour mixing, graphic system with 14 gobos and animation disc. The Alpha Spot 700 is a 700W effects projector which offers a remarkable price/performance ratio and brightness. The Alpha Wash 575 TH is a washlight offering a 'Top H

Entech, Australia's major entertainment technology trade show, made its biennial appearance in mid-February at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. Exhibitors occupied more floor space than at the 2004 show, although there were fewer large stands and fewer exhibitors from the lighting and sound industry. Several of the first-time exhibitors were from the audio-visual and rigging/lifting/height safety industries - areas not previously well represented at Entech.

Despite the increase in availability of budget domestic air fares, there was a noticeable absence of visitors from the more distant states of Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. Although raw visitor numbers may have been down on those claimed at previous Entech shows, the consensus amongst exhibitors was that they were very pleased with the visitors that came to their stands.

USA - Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Companies, received a Lifetime Achievement award for his service to the DJ industry at the Mobile Beat DJ Show 2006, held in Las Vegas 21-23 February. The award was presented to Davies (centre) by Mobile Beat magazine publisher Bob Lindquist (left) and Mobile Beat Show Producer Mike Buonaccorso (right).

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

On the TMB stand, the digital festoon system and the Falcon range (including high-powered xenon searchlights, architectural and LED floodlights) were on display. TMB was also exhibiting the Pharos control system, which offers an all-in-one solution for the control of entertainment and LED lighting for architectural installations. The latest version of Designer software is also available for OS-X platforms and includes support for a variety of expansion modules for additional protocols and interfaces.

Tryka L.E.D. introduced several new LED luminaires, drivers and controllers at this year's show. The enhanced MR16-size Module 3 and Module 6 were unveiled, as well as the new AR111-size Module 12, marking the launch of the Tryka Easy-Link System. The powerful Module 36 has also been redesigned and is now supplied as standard in an IP67 version. The new Intelligent Drive Systems IDS-4 and IDS-12, first seen at PLASA '05, were also on display.

It's been five years since the last additions, but Rosco have introduced 15 new colours to the Supergel range (including more saturated blues, blue-greens, lavenders) and one diffusion. Since the acquisition of DHA, Rosco were promoting the X-Effects 3D projector, with dowser and DMX module.

Although it's unusual to see products from European and North American manufacturers making their debut at a regional show, the time slot meant that several products seen in prototype at PLASA and LDI were first seen in their production versions at Entech. Bytecraft Entertainment displayed the first example of Strand Lighting's new Wallrack 24 x 2.5kW passively-cooled installation dimmer, while Jands Electronics showed the first production models of ETC's Source Four 70° and 90° spots, Vari*Lite's VL500D 1kW dimmable tungsten and VL500A 575W short arc versions, and Chroma-Q's ColorWeb.

ACDC, designer and manufacturer of specialist cold cathode and LED lighting systems, launched several new products including Genesis, a new 12V track system; Mirage, a colour changing cove light; and Odyssey, a robust reading / display light.

The Revolution series was the big news on the Dynalite stand, offering control panels available in a variety of finishes and offering unlimited décor matching possibilities.

Dial's first time at Arc, the latest version of DIALux software is available for the planning and design of lighting. Available free of charge, it can be used with the luminaires of any manufacturer and is suitable for a simple calculation now and again, or to produce photorealistic visualization.

With home markets that vary between negligible and non-existent, many Australian and New Zealand entertainment technology manufacturers have no choice but to export their products to recover development costs. For them, Entech is an opportunity to show the folks at home what they will be releasing to the rest of the world in the coming months.

ARX continues to produce interesting solutions to audio problems. New products on show included the AVstream, a two-zone audio mixer that simultaneously switches both audio and video sources to each zone, and the AV-DI, an addition to their Audibox range, designed to deal with the unbalanced stereo input from a PC sound card or consumer AV equipment. Also on show were the iSwitch, a stereo line-level switcher that routes one of two inputs to any one of12 outputs and the DI-Pre, another addition to the Audibox range that provides a single-channel

Fibre Optic Systems is a UK-based manufacturing company offering a complete in-house design and manufacturing service. Exhibiting alongside them were Avolites who provided the control systems, showing their ART 2000i installation dimmer.

Amongst Lightfactor's products was LDR's Soffio, which can project acetate images as well as gobos. Acetates can be printed from any colour printer, and LDR's Gobo Wizard software is free to download. An interesting point about Xilver's Sparkle XL product is that the colour is mixed inside the unit - avoiding a multiple multi-coloured shadow effect.

Germany - KV2 will launch various new products at Prolight and Sound, Frankfurt including the new ES Series which has been given a cosmetic and ergonomic overhaul. This includes new style grilles and handles, improved wheel boards and covers and the addition of M20 pole mounts for the ES 1.0 cabinet. The new design, higher output ES 2.8 subwoofer will also be shown for the first time.

Plus, the company launch the new ERAC 2500R amplifier/controller package, a four-way, active control and amplification system specifically designed for the KV2 Audio ES Series modular loudspeaker systems. This draws technology from KV2's existing EPAK amplifier/controller and combines it with the company's VHD technology to produce a rack mounted amplifier/controller that incorporates digital alignment utilizing a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) 6.0 MHz delay line. It houses all signal processing and a

Ireland - Two hundred and fifty Element Labs VersaTUBES LED fixtures were used for the hugely popular final of You're A Star 2006 - the Irish national TV channel RTE's search for the next generation of pop stars.

You're A Star's lighting was designed by Andrew Leonard and programmed by Peter Canning. Canning also co-ordinated the supply and design of the VersaTUBE feature and the Catalyst system used to run it, via his company Zencorp.

Dublin-based Zencorp specializes in digital media and LED fixtures and control systems. The company purchased a quantity of VersaTUBEs from UK and Irish distributor Projected Image Digital at the end of last year which have been in constant use ever since.

Leonard and Canning came onboard for this - their first - You're A Star series, having worked on a special charity edition of the show last year. For visuals, they broug

Italy - "Styles of music are never changed without affecting the most important political institutions." Quoting Plato, the Italian minister for cultural assets and activities, Rocco Buttiglione, inaugurated Rimini Fiera SIB 2006, 20th International Show of Event & Entertainment Technology and the 10th DISMA Music Show, Musical Instrument Music Publications & Recording Industry Expo at Rimini Fiera.

Rimini Fiera Chairman, Lorenzo Cagnoni, announced the official figures of each of the key sectors of the two expos, which were hosted simultaneously at the expo centre until Tuesday 14 March: "Overall, between lighting, audiovisuals and complementary products, SIB represents a part of Italy's economy with a value of approximately 650 million euros. Last year, the sales of actual musical instruments, for which DISMA Music Show is the leading event, increased by 3.6% com

UK - Eight times Grammy nominated rapper Kanye West hits the UK at the end of February on the European leg of his Touch the Sky world tour. The rap superstar performed exclusively with an AKG WMS 4000 wireless system, with C5900 condenser capsule handheld transmitter.

The AKG system was selected after numerous different systems were tested, both in rehearsal and live on stage, prior to the tour in the US. Production manager Bryon 'Hot Dog' Tate, and FOH mixer for the European tour John C. Clark III, unanimously elected the WMS 4000. "Intelligible vocals at high volume levels, road worthiness, and customer support were our main requirements, and AKG got the job done!" states Clarke.

The tour carries two C5900 equipped WMS 4000 systems for use by Kanye on stage. Eight AKG C 411 MicroMic condensers are also being used to mic the string section on the tour. These attach

UK - XL Video is supplying the multi-screen projection, playback and video hardware for the acclaimed production of Sinatra that opened at the London Palladium last week.

XL tendered for and won the contract on the strength of their previous West End work including Women In White. Theatre and arts expert, Malcolm Mellows, is handling the project for them. XL is working with video designers Scharff & Weisberg, who initially designed the system for the New York production at Radio City Music Hall.

Video is central to the show, and is divided into three main display device types: There are 70 tiles of Barco I-6 LED making up two downstage moving slabs of video, whilst upstage is 3630 clusters of Barco MiPix in custom fibre optic star effect frames. All LED is supplied complete with Barco D320 processing; and custom remote diagnostics. Finally, projections come from

UK - For the third year running, Fleetwood Mobiles was given the task of recording the sound at the Shockwaves NME Awards 2006, which took place in February at London's Hammersmith Palace.

The event featured plenty of award action plus live performances from six acts including Dirty Pretty Things, Pete Doherty; Razorlight; The Sugababes; Plan B and Ian Brown.

Fleetwood recorded the show 'as live' and it was broadcast 90 minutes later to E4 viewers and re-broadcast n Channel 4 the following day. The audio team was led by Fleetwood's operations director Tim Summerhayes and Dave O'Carroll looked after any musical fixes and the Audio Dub. The OB Scanner for the event was supplied by Andrew Jones of 021, while Tony Gregory directed the show for Remedy.

Emma Sheldon, production manager for Remedy Productions, which commissioned Fleetwood, says: "This was the biggest Awards sh

USA - British company Pharos Communications, a developer of software architecture for broadcast process management, will introduce five new systems to the US market at this year's NAB exhibition, which takes place in Las Vegas from 24-27 April 2006.

The new items are the Mediator Enterprise media asset manager system; the Exception alarm monitoring system; the Reflection browse system; the Transcoder file converter; and the Rewrapper MPEG2 processor.

Mediator Enterprise has been developed from the Mediator media management system and integrates media asset management, browsing and workflow control. It can perform automated ingest and transfer, automated transcoding and low-resolution previewing under Web browser control. According to the company, it has a greatly expanded ability to link disparate systems, to audit library content bookings and tape movements, and to handle the

Germany - The dates of this year's prolight+sound exhibition 29 March - 1 April, present d&b audiotechnik with a considerable dilemma, whether to be serious or not with the show culminating on this universally asinine day of the year. The origins of All Fool's Day are not just hundreds of years old but can be traced back to the Centurions when 1 April was effectively their new year. With the instigation of the Gregorian calendar in the 1500s this was changed to January 1st, however communications being what they were in those days many people did not know this for several years. Remorselessly ridiculed, they were often sent on fools' errands or were made the butt of other practical jokes. Knowing the expanse of the prolight+sound exhibition, d&b hopes that the communication of their latest offerings will be more rapid than in those days when news only travelled by foot.

Neverthe

Hong Kong - Telegatti is one of the most important awards events in the Italian performing arts calendar. Organised by Sorrisi e Canzoni TV magazine, with votes cast by its readers, the 2006 event took place on 22 January in the Auditorio di Via della Conciliazione, Rome - the Vatican auditorium. Being organised by a television magazine, the visuals for the awards event are all-important, and Lighthouse LED screens were chosen to provide the look that the organisers required.

In total, five Lighthouse screens were deployed. One - formed of 21x2 R6 6mm panels - was arranged in a circle, hung from the lighting grid, while two more were positioned either side of the stage, each comprising 4x13 panels of R6 screen.

Providing a memorable backdrop to the stage itself were two large Lighthouse R10 screens, formed from 103 panels each and curving in an arc from the centre of the stage

UK - Lighting technicians from across the industry are invited to attend a unique training and social event to be held on the 6 May at the Edge venue in Solihull, near Birmingham.

The hosts (Solihull Society of Arts) and organisers (UKSLC.ORG - UK Sound and Lighting Community) have assembled a top team of leading UK console manufacturers to deliver training on the latest lighting desks and entertainment technology throughout the day.

Brand names like Compulite, MA, Chamsys, ETC, Zero 88 and Robe are providing a wide variety of lighting control equipment for attendees to use, and their staff will be on hand to answer questions for console operators at all levels of experience.

The training sessions are designed to cater for everyone from drama pupils wishing to learn about 'real world' performance technology, to freelancers who want to practice on new consoles and seasoned LX

USA - At the NSCA Expo, D&M Professional, the parent company of Denon Professional, has announced it is now shipping its flagship DN-V755 Network Audio Visual Player. The new DN-V755 provides system integrators and contractors with a complete visual messaging solution and was developed based on direct feedback from leading end-users and consultants in the field, say the company.

Designed to meet the increasing demand for digital signage multimedia solutions the DN-V755 offers extensive playback capabilities through its built-in 40 GB hard drive and extended range of compatible formats. The DN-V755 also features true drag-and-drop content uploads and an RS-232 port for integrated onsite system control.

Media Transfer has never been easier than with the DN-V755. The user is able to upload MPEG video, still pictures, WAV and other media directly from a computer. In addition to ea

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