"Their offices have a large glass-ceilinged atrium, which they wanted to use for the forum," continues Atkins. "This gave us an area with very high ambient light. As we intended to run a selection of data and video our options were either two 10000 lumens projectors or the LED screen. Although projectors would have been the traditional choice for an application of this type, the light conditions would have washed the screen out, so we took the decision to offer the LED screen to give very bright images."
The lightweight nature of the screen, with each panel weighing just 25kg, meant that not only was the screen a perfect solution for visibility, but was also cost effective since it could be rigged by just two people in under an hour and a half, and de-rigged in half an hour, keeping crew costs to a minimum. Screen technician Giles Conte commented: "The Lighthouse screens weight characteristics were a big advantage in this situation, since it sat on a lightweight aluminium stage. We were able to construct the screen in a very short space of time due to its user-friendly nature and without any mechanical aids. The digital serial input is a big advantage and the ski that the screen stacks on is easily adjustable, so you are able to level the columns without the use of shims. It’s also always reassuring to know that there is always technical support available from Lighthouse should you happen to need it."
A 640/480 VGA input was used via AV Networks switcher, with the switcher taking a live feed from a Sony camera, computer generated slides and digital video footage. "We used VGA," continues Conte, "because it was the best solution for the computer graphics. I also chose to use a Snell & Wilcox supervisor in line, despite the fact that the switcher was capable of doing all the image sizing a shifting, simply because it meant that if anything needed to be changed I could do that from my control area."
(Lee Baldock)
