UK - Arkaos will be launching its latest media server software, Media Master, at PLASA08. Media Master has been designed specifically with show and lighting market in mind.

Built on ArKaos' latest generation of technology, Media Master runs perfectly and reliably on standard laptops or can play up to eight full frames-per-second HD movies on an octo-core server, says the company.

Media Master's new interface has been designed to give lighting designers and video artists "the best ergonomics possible". Designed around one single window, it is possible to display all playing layers simultaneously, giving designers improved visibility of their shows. Supporting MSEX (Media Server Extensions) protocol, the ArKaos Media Master allows thumbnail display of media directly onto modern lighting consoles.

ArKaos has developed a new media management system for Media Master whi

UK - Selecon Performance Lighting is back at PLASA. Since last exhibiting in 2003 Selecon has introduced several new luminaires building on an already comprehensive theatrical and architectural display range.

The Selecon line includes includes the Acclaim, Rama and Arena Fresnels and PCs; the world's largest range of ellipsoidals as represented by Pacific range; Hui, Lui and Aurora Cyc / Floods and the very bright Performer range of Followspots.

The new high frequency, variable voltage 80V Direct DMX Power Supply supplies 80V to energy efficient 1200W lamps for the Pacific range and the Rama 175 High Performance Fresnel resulting in bright white light with the output of, or near to an equivalent 2.0/2.5kW mains voltage luminaire

The Wing range of Wall Washer Floods is Selecon's latest addition to their specialised display lighting range. A single slim-line body design offers

UK First time exhibitors at PLASA, displayLED will be officially unveiling "the world's first fully flexible LED video skin" - a product that can be moulded to the contours of display surfaces to form smooth curves displaying high resolution video, opening up new possibilities for creative designers to develop concepts.

The digiFLEX skin is manufactured in 320mm (w) x 160mm (h) tiles which can flex smoothly both horizontally and vertically.

Two further products from the digiLED creative series will also be showcased - the Mirage M40-3 and the Mirage M40-4 high brightness version. The Mirage M40 is a semi transparent and lightweight, large-scale video screen utilizing a 40mm pixel pitch and designed to provide dramatic and dynamic lighting and video effects.

With options for outdoor daylight viewing, the Mirage M40 weighs around 11kg per m2, can be built to any size

UK - Tannoy reports that its Di range of surface-mount loudspeakers has recently been deployed by Sixsmith Organ Builders Ltd n the most unlikely of places to handle a very special requirement.

The Lancashire-based family firm specialise in the manufacture, installation and refurbishment of pipe organs for the church market. The company has a long history of building and installing traditional pipe organs, but has also more recently started to specialise in the field of hybrid and pipeless organs. This is where modern sampling technologies are brought to bear to allow for full-sounding organ installations in situations where there is either insufficient space or funds for a full-scale pipe organ, often in combination with some pipe sections for the instrument (hence, hybrid).

Of course, this requires some form of speaker installation in order to deliver the audio output of the

UK - At PLASA 08, the TMB stand will house new brands in TMB's distribution family plus many other new product offerings. Global manufacturers will be on-site, as will TMB sales staff for hands-on demos.

TMB Architectural will present a comprehensive range of products and solutions: Distributed Architectural products include Blues System by Global Design Solutions (GDS); CueServer by Interactive Technologies; curveLED digital light curtain; the new Deja Cue lighting playback and integration processor; Digital Festoon DFS colour changing LED display systems; Falcon xenon fixtures by Alpha One; Leader Light flood and linear LED fixtures; ProAqua submersible custom cables and Tempest all-weather fixture and projection enclosures.

Innovative Film and TV lighting equipment will also be featured. A revolutionary product introduction, on display for the first time anywhere, is the ne

UK - Visual Productions will feature the new releases for its software lighting controllers and its range of hardware interfaces including one completely new device.

Visual Productions' Lighting Control Software products will be running the lights on the stand of Lightstorm Trading. The latest releases of both Canvix and VisualDMX will be on display with an array of new features. Canvix matrix control software will be controlling LED fixtures from Dutch manufacturer TDE Light-tech and VisualDMX lighting control will be controlling the lights on display from German based company Amptown.

The control interfaces will include the latest version of touch screen user-interface, VisualTouch, which is now available for both Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows systems. Alongside the Frontier and Elite standalone hardware interfaces will be the new Duple interface which is compatible with bo

UK - Automation specialists Kinesys is showing two new products at PLASA 08 - Libra, a loadcell system and Pulse, a powerful but easy to use pendant controller.

Libra comes in the form of a Crosby shackle with a load sensing pin. Currently 3.25 tonne and 4.5 tonne versions are offered, both with a 5:1 safety factor. A Libra loadcell can either be connected directly to a Kinesys Elevation 1+ giving feedback about the motor being controlled by the Elevation, or daisy-chained together with other Libras and connected to an interface unit positioned on the floor.

A PC is connected to the interface via USB or Ethernet, and all the loads can be clearly viewed onscreen using Libra's free software. The software package also contains numerous other features including the logging of weights, warning and overload settings for both underload and overload, multiple grouping options and the

Taiwan - GlacialTech has announced the availability of BR30 Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights. The LED BR30 Globes come in two models which range in brightness.

The LED BR30 bulbs are designed to replace the equivalent BR30 globes and lamps available in markets today. They use lower wattage compared with the original product, with the high brightness 720 Lumen illumination.

The innovative product incorporates the same structure and style of traditional BR30 bulbs but delivers a brighter performance per watt, with less heat radiation. The LED BR30 Globe can be used for general everyday use from indoor applications to spotlighting and street lighting applications, and incorporates all the latest luminary technology garnered from GlacialTech's resources, combining years of experience in designing cooling systems as well as all manner of consumer electronic device power supplies,

UK - Duran Audio will be presenting the new AXYS G2 family of sound reinforcement products at PLASA 08. The AXYSScope and Source, the first two members of the G2 family that are now available, will both be on show at the Duran Audio stand.

The AXYS Scope range is designed for theatre and conference applications. All of the units have built in amplification and DSP and can be networked together using RS485. AXYS Scope loudspeakers come fitted with stand adaptors and/or rigging hardware.

The AXYS Scope range consists of four products: T-2112: a three-way mid/hi loudspeaker with a 12" LF driver and a coaxial HF driver. T-2115: a three-way mid/hi loudspeaker with a 15" LF driver and a coaxial HF driver. UB-25: a single 15" subwoofer. B-07: a single 18" subwoofer.

The AXYS® Source system is a horn loaded system that is designed for use as a front of house

UK - Capable of covering an entire office block, the Proteus Display system - to be launched at PLASA 08 - consists of thousands of LCD pixels interconnected in a mesh. The mesh construction not only makes the displays light and strong, but also makes them flexible, so a Proteus display can be fitted to almost any building surface. For example a Proteus display could be used to cover the exterior of a new sports stadium, a tired inner-city building or the interior walls of an expo centre, says the company.

Paul Silsby, CTO and co-founder of Proteus Displays, has been developing this technology for more than three years. "We've conceived our system as an artistic cladding system, or a media façade to use the current term, which will be of interest to both architects and designers," he says. "A Proteus Display is robust and straightforward to retro-fit, and once fi

UK - PLASA 08 sees the international launch of two new additions to the Sygma Line from Renkus-Heinz - a range designed for flexibility and outstanding performance in a broad range of professional audio applications.

New for PLASA 08 is the SG/SGX12S subwoofer. The extensive Sygma development process makes this compact 12-inch vented subwoofer an exceptional combination of high performance and superior value - the right choice to add low frequency punch to any Sygma system, says the company. Multiple versions are available: the externally powered SGX12S, the SG12S-2 with a 200 Watt digital amplifier, and the SG12S-5 with 500 Watts of integrated Class D amplification.

The two self-powered versions are also available RHAON-Empowered - the SG12S-2R and SG12S-5R, both with built-in RHAON (Renkus-Heinz Audio Operations Network). All versions are capable of at least 128 dB SPL from

UK - MilTec (UK) is exhibiting at PLASA 08, showing a new range of 3W and tri-colour LED units, along with the established PAR64 LED cans and 1m battens. Also on display will be a video dance floor.

Also featuring will be high quality conventional stage lighting and followspots from FAL Lighting. On adjoining stands will be the following suppliers, all distributed in the UK by MilTec:

Ecler will be displaying a number of new products including the XPA11000 amplifier (2x 1185W @ 4 Ohms), DP400 and .amic- 6 channel and 4 channel processors, and the AMI2-70 mixer- amp. They will also be showing all of their amplifier ranges (MPA, DPA, XPA & DT) and a wide range of professional speaker cabinets.

PR Lighting will be featuring the XL range of moving heads including the new XL 250 spot luminaire, featuring zoom optics and an iris. Also on the stand will be the XS 300 spot, several

UK -Lighting control manufacturer LightProcessor is launching new dimming products at PLASA 08 and showing the full ranges of its Paradim and Dimension dimmers, along with its QCommander and Zip lighting control desks and dynamic range of DMX tools.

The new RCBO Paradim wall-mounted dimmer, offers all the features and values of the standard Paradims, with an RCBO on each channel for compliance with the new 17th Edition IEE Wiring Regulations (BS7671).

Also new at the show are two socketed versions of the Paradim wall mounted installation dimmer and two new versions of LightProcessor's Dimension wall mounted series. All four of these products feature 12 Cee 17s and 2 Schukos. The Paradims are available with MCB, Double Pole and RCBO options. The Dimension range continues to be one of the most versatile and cost-effective wall dimming ranges on the market.

Also highlighted at

Italy - The Alpha Beam 300 and Alpha Beam 1500, new concept Beam Moving Lights by Clay Paky, have been both nominated for the Plasa Award for Innovation 2008.

Presented exclusively by Clay Paky, the Alpha Beam is not a spot or even a wash, some call it a "sposh", say the company.

The Alpha Beam produces a super-concentrated parallel light beam for a similar use to that of a PAR64 ACL, always present at all the great rock shows, but with decidedly "superior and innovative characteristics".

The Alpha Beam 1500 is ultra bright and "eco-friendly" thanks to the new special Clay Paky optical group, it produces a much greater brightness than other lights of the same power, achieving projection distances reached only by lights of thousands of watts, but with the energy consumption of a 1500W light bulb. This enables it to be used instead of considerably

Italy - The key feature of SGM's Giotto Digital 1500 is the revolutionary introduction of the Digital Module which - using a clever application of DLP technology from Texas Instruments - enables the Giotto to project graphic effects with the brightness and speed of professional moving head fixtures, says the company.

Giotto Digital 1500 is the first and only moving head fixture on the market able to create all-digital, completely customizable graphic effects, finally overcoming the typical limits of effects generated by traditional gobo patterns, iris, beam shapers and zoom components.

The Giotto 1500 series is a whole new range of 'super bright' moving heads for production, stage and touring. Designed as a versatile and modular range which includes Spot, Wash and Profile variants, with the pinnacle version centring on a unit fitted with the High Tech 'Digital' module.

Using

UK - PixelRange will launch PixelMax at PLASA. A high powered six-cell wash light will introduce this new family of luminaires. 16 of these bright fixtures will feature on the rig designed by lighting designer Vince Foster. Other new products include the high resolution PixelMax Pro and a new addition to the PixelArt range - a compact 36 by 6 pixels half-length PixelArt.

PixelMax Pro is a combined wash and pixellation luminaire, featuring 288 RGBA high intensity Luxeon Rebel LEDs. Built around the same housing as the PixelMax Wash, the PixelMax Pro offers the added flexibility of 18 individually controlled cells in a 3x6 matrix. This cellular configuration gives the user the ability to produce low resolution visual effects, in addition to using the fixture as a high power wash light with a vast colour palette.

PLASA will also see the launch of a major new software upgrade for

UK - Lighting Partners, operators of usedlighting.co.uk, will be returning for the second year at PLASA 2008 next week. Featuring a range of products drawn from their comprehensive stock of used lighting equipment the stand will also feature SeaChanger colour engines and the range of Smoke Factory fog machines and hazers.

David Morgan of Lighting Partners says: "It's been a fantastic year for Lighting Partners with sales growth surpassing all expectations, doubling our warehouse space and consolidating our position as the number one supplier of used lighting equipment in the UK. The PLASA show enables us to meet customers old and new and push our international presence still further whilst also showcasing our new offerings like cable manufacture, equipment servicing and our demonstration facility which will be online shortly after the show."

Lighting Partners - stand

UK - Allen & Heath is releasing v1.3 software for the iLive digital console range, adding a host of new features for monitor engineering, as well as providing a platform for iLive Editor control software.

New features in v1.3 include engineers' fader strips for wedge and in-ears, which allow separate fader control and dedicated outputs to the operator's listen wedge and IEM personal system. Optional processing and aux monitor mixes can be assigned to wedge or IEM strips, automatically appearing in the desired monitor when auditioned.

Another key feature is the addition of Real Time Analyser (RTA) to enable the engineer to quickly identify feedback, tune room acoustics, and tailor the onstage monitor wedges. Accessed via the PAFL system, the frequency content of any input or mix, and the spectrum of the main mix, can be viewed on screen and on meters in the Graphic EQ flip-to-f

France / UK - Robert Juliat will launch two new products at the PLASA08. One of these, the Le Cin'k Fresnel spotlight, has been nominated for the 2008 PLASA Innovation Awards.

Designed to fill the need for a powerful Fresnel specifically designed for theatre, Le Cin'k is a new range of 250mm Fresnel lens spotlights that can be configured to accept 2500W tungsten, 5000W tungsten or 1200W discharge (MSR/MSD) lamps, with a further option for a 2.5kW MSR hot-restrike module to follow by the end of 2008. The mirror, lamp base and metal lamp-house casing is designed as a single component that can be quickly and easily interchanged to suit the requirements of a particular show.

As well as its adaptability, Le Cin'k has been designed to overcome many of the problems theatre users face when trying to adapt studio Fresnels to theatre use. Le Cin'k has a double slot front cassette slot,

UK - Robe is using PLASA08 to launch its Robe Digital campaign, taking the opportunity of showcasing the new products in its Digital ranges of moving lights.

This will also be linked to the launch of Robe's international roadshow, a major product awareness tour and workshop, currently scheduled to run until Christmas 2008.

This reflects the growing importance of digital technology in the quest for creative innovation, and Robe's commitment to offer lighting, visual and scenic designers the best and most flexible tools on the market, says the company. It also indicates the need to develop greener technologies to help contribute to a more environmentally sustainable industry.

The DigitalSpot 7000 DT Is a powerful digital moving light based on LCD and LED technology and is a combination of digital projector and two RGBW LED modules, offering digital gobo effects and the project

UK - Specialist LED manufacturer i-Pix will be showing its product range, sharing stand space with Amptown, who produce flight cases for all i-Pix products. Highlighted i-Pix products will be the new BB7 and BB4 fixtures and the original Satellite.

The i-Pix BB 7 is a seven-cell high power homogenised 10 degree RGB source, using a Lamina custom light engine. This fixture consumes 210 Watts at 240 volts and was originally designed for Radiohead's current world tour (LD Andi Watson). The fixture features seven cells of beam control, bringing a fresh feel to modern low power beam manipulation.

The i-Pix BB 4 is a four-cell high power homogenised 20 degree RGB washlight/blinder source, using the same custom Lamina light engine, produced exclusively for i-Pix by Lamina Ceramics in New York. It consumes 120 watts at 240 volts, on full power and gives hire companies and designers ful

Denmark - The Alien LED Downlight is a plug-and-play recessed LED downlight that features RGB+W colour mixing and is available in a standard or high power version. Designed for accent lighting in coloured or variable white light, the Alien LED Downlight's IP67 rating means it's equally suited to both indoor and outdoor environments, says the company.

The Alien LED Downlight can be mounted on walls or ceilings and is suitable for expressive background lighting in restaurants, cafés, bars, small clubs and lounges. It is useful for wall grazing, as decorative accent lighting and niche lighting, or for bottle or product displays. The Alien LED Downlight is also suitable for entrance lighting or orientation lighting for marking columns, aisles, walkways, steps, and architectural features.

The Alien is available in two versions to cover a wider range of applications; a 9 W st

UK - At PLASA 08, RMS will show its latest version of its Rental Management System. This new version, RMS25, has become even faster and easier to use, says the company.

The programme has been completely rebuilt, using the latest techiques. RMS25 uses an entirely new technique to handle the data. This allows users to either use the native RMS-dataformat, or use a SQL-database.

Features include a new look with the Explorer-bars, which allow quick access to frequently used functions.

RMS - Rental Management Systems was one of the first software-solutions for the AV- and entertainment industry. Started in 1987 with a DOS-based version, RMS is now used worldwide by more than 2000 users, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Soundcraft today introduced 96- and 72-channel upgrades to the Vi6 and Vi4 consoles, respectively. According to Andy Trott, president of Soundcraft and Studer, the new additions will make the Vi6 and Vi4 even more potent and versatile tools for front-of-house and monitor engineers in a vast array of tour and fixed install applications including large houses of worship. The input-to-mix expansion is part of the new V3.0 software release.

"Never before has so much power and versatility been accompanied by such an easily navigable, application-engineered user interface," Andy Trott, said today. "We are very pleased to expand the Vi Series and from our continuous discussions with members of the engineering community, we're confident that the 96-channel and 72-channel variants will resonate strongly with the market."

With its advanced Vistonics II user inte

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