UK - Marquee AV has announced the appointment of Ed Draycott as project manager. Draycott will oversee the company's installations in large scale venues, with applications including performing arts, live sound, visitor attractions, education and marine.

Achieving an ABTT diploma from the City of Westminster College, Draycott commenced his audio career in theatre sound before running his own audio installation and hire business. He was systems engineering director of Fuzion plc and joins Marquee AV from RaceTech, where he held the position of head of audio engineering.

Ed Draycott commented, "I'm very excited to be joining a company with the reputation and profile of Marquee AV. The company has an experienced team of people that combine enjoying their work with delivering great results. The scale and variety of applications make this a challenging and rewarding role and I'm

UK - On 7 May, the BBC aired its special programming for the election of local councils and Police Commissioners, as well as the election of the Mayor of London. Coverage of the election results included a special type of projection technology which was supported with video projectors from PRG XL Video.

The stereoscopic projection technology used by the BBC is what enables presenter Jeremy Vine to move around the studio and point out specific pieces of information within the projected, semi-transparent screens without the projection landing on the presenter themselves. To the viewer the information is floating in the studio and the presenter is able to interact with it.

The technology behind this has been developed and refined over more than a decade. Originally invented in Japan by a company called NHK in around 2001, the concept was known as invisible light. It was achie

Canada - AIMS has announced that Coveloz has joined the alliance. Coveloz offers technology solutions to address the time-sensitive networking of audio, video and control signals. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, Coveloz is focused on developing programmable embedded technologies, with a specialty in deterministic networking. Combining proprietary new hardware and software solutions with world-class engineering services, the company accelerates and lowers the cost of new product introduction in broadcast, pro-AV and Industrial markets.

"Coveloz is a technology vendor of media networking and processing solutions," says president, Nestor Amaya. "We firmly believe that these solutions should build on open standards, such as those promoted by AIMS. The goals of AIMS align with our vision of how to best serve a market seeking the flexibility and affordability of a COTS packet-based

UK - A.C. Special Projects Ltd. (ACSP) has provided a tailor-made, media responsive, colour-changing solution which introduces a complementary lighting scheme to the rear support structure of Storm Cromination London - the digital canvas in West London and one of Europe's longest digital advertising billboards.

Consisting of six screens and stretching 72m in length, Storm Cromination London is situated at a prime location on Cromwell Road, the main artery running from Heathrow Airport into the capital. Its owner, media giant Clear Channel UK, digitised the original traditional series of billboards in the autumn of 2015 to offer brands dynamic, data-driven advertising opportunities at this unmissable site.

In the spring of 2016 Clear Channel UK approached ACSP with a desire to upgrade the site by adding a dynamic lighting scheme that would respond live to the dominant colou

UK - The Vision 2016 event in Bristol again turned to Central Presentations Ltd (CPL) to deliver full technical production for this two-day inspirational conference, which was attended by 350 delegates who were motivated and engaged by 25 energizing talks from leading creatives and innovators.

Hailed as the most successful Vision to date, the event was staged in the Anson Rooms at Bristol University's Student Union building. CPL was working for production company Bright and has been involved in the event for the last four years. This year project manager Mike Radford ensured that everything ran smoothly on site, integrating elements of the venue's house lighting system where possible into the event design.

In the main room, normally used as a live band stage, they added a laser projector system utilizing a 16 X 9ft screen fed by one Panasonic RZ12k laser projector, with a

China - Audio rental and production company Neuro Tech Asia is currently providing some of the most successful and comprehensive AV solutions and designs for projects and events across China and the Asia Pacific. With three strategic main offices in Singapore, Shanghai and Beijing, Neuro Tech Asia has diversified into areas of expertise including technical consultancy, AV design implementation, and permanent installations.

As part of their commitment to providing first-rate technical solutions, the company recently decided to partner up with Chao GanGuan, exclusive distributor of D.A.S. Audio products in China, by expanding its inventory into D.A.S. Audio professional sound solutions. Neuro Tech Asia has made a massive investment in an army of D.A.S. systems, including the first full Aero 40A Advanced Line Array System (ALASTM) in China.

Neuro Tech Asia has purchased 24 of

South Africa - For 10 consecutive weeks, Blond Productions provided the full technical for the Big Brother Extremo Live Eviction Show. This consisted of the opening event, weekly evictions and the recently hosted finale all hosted at Red Pepper Studios in Linden, Johannesburg with Robe lighting the way. The new set was designed by Toni Van Oostenrijk from SpaceCadet and built by Dream Sets while Touch Media were responsible for the striking 3D Mapping.

Endemol Shine Africa produces the Angolan version of the Big Brother Reality Television Franchise for DSTV. This is the seventh consecutive year that Blond has worked on the series.

"It's a privilege to be part of an on-going production which has consisted of various countries and formats," said Christiaan Ballot, owner of Blond. "It's one of the shows that has helped us grow through the years."

Lighting designer Mauritz

UK - Quantum Special Effects provided confetti, streamers, and pyrotechnics for three major headline acts at one of the muddiest Glastonbury Festivals on record.

Battling against pouring rain and mud that threatened to swallow flight cases, the Melksham-based company is proud to have survived and serviced its biggest Glastonbury festival to date.

With trends in special effects rapidly becoming a staple of festival entertainment, the Quantum team were called upon to supply bespoke visuals for Foals, Muse, and Adele on both Friday and Saturday night.

In close collaboration with the individual production teams, Quantum worked tirelessly over the weekend to ensure each act had its own stand-out programme of SFX to entertain the crowds. Starting with Foals on Friday night, Quantum provided 30kg of white confetti alongside four stadium shots of white and blue streamers for t

UK - DJs is a newly opened 350 capacity pub / club venue in Ilfracombe Devon, which has just received a major technical upgrade designed and installed by S+H Technical Services, which is based nearby.

S+H MD Terry Murtha was approached by DJ's new management to help create a visual scheme to make the space a vibrant nightspot. The premises had been empty for a year and before then had been a sports bar.

"It's a great brief to have almost a blank canvas and be asked to produce something original and imaginative," comments Murtha, who decided on a fresh visual approach based around using LED screen and video content as the main lightsource.

"I thought video was a great medium to produce a versatile environment," he explained, "It is excellent for creating mood, and used correctly, the dramatic contrasts between bight and dark really enhance atmosphere, especially in an i

UK - Former InfoComm president and founder-director of Paradigm AV, Greg Jeffreys has announced the next chapter in his career, with the formation of a new company, Visual Displays Ltd (VDL). Based near the former company's Bedford HQ it will have "a completely new structure designed to introduce more efficiencies to the business via a faster-to-market policy".

Greg states that while VDL's mission of offering best practice to a wide client base of audio visual professionals and their clients will remain the same, the company will offer a more direct approach with regard to sales, specialist consultancy and installation architecture.

"The new structure has been designed to liberate much more of my time for working with clients and developing new display IP for them," he stated. "I had a life-changing experience on the board of InfoComm and at the same time developing ANSI S

Europe - The 2016 European tours of Santana and Grimes are using ImageCue in their designs.

Michael Ledesma, LD for Santana, is using ImageCue with LED panels in a "V" configuration on either side of the stage. The video director controls the central imag screen, but Ledesma controls the "V" visuals from the lighting console allowing him greater coordination between the lighting and video effects.

Lighting and video designer, Michelle Sarrat, is using ImageCue this summer on the Grimes tour with a background video wall. The tour is hitting many of the festivals throughout Europe.

Michelle says "I've been very satisfied with the ImageCue so far - it's been very helpful on all these festivals." ImageCue LLC is based in Running Springs, California with a European office in Dietlikon, Switzerland.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Leading trade-only distributor of technology solutions, Midwich, has recently hired 30 new employees across the Group in a variety of locations and roles. Ranging from Brand Campaign Manager, Logistics Coordinator, Solutions Specialist and General Sales Manager, the new employees highlight Midwich's ongoing investment in its people and in the areas of operation.

Midwich is constantly investing in its staff to continue to service its channel partners to the highest possible standards, the company says. All new staff will be involved in induction weeks as they are welcomed to Midwich.

Iain Campbell, Sales Director at Midwich, said: "We are delighted to be able to announce so many talented individuals joining Midwich. Our employees are the expertise in this business and they are crucial to our success. We are always looking to invest in our existing workforce and to brin

Italy - Panasonic has used ICOM Milano 2016 (International Council of Museums) to showcase its visual and security solutions aimed at enriching the visitor experience in the museum sector.

The highlight of the conference is the presentation of Ancient times seen through a modern lens, a collaboration on how to enrich the visitor experience using today's technology, with Moesgaard Museum and CAVI (Centre for Advanced Visualization and Interaction).

On the booth, Panasonic showcased its hybrid lighting projector, the Space Player, which allows the creation of stunning micro mapping attractions and Light ID technology, which enables simple sharing of content via a mobile app for information, entertainment, guidance and advertising, using the transmission of Light IDs from LED display technology.

Hartmut Kulessa, European marketing manager for projector products, sa

UK - For the Euro 2016 finals, Hyundai Motor UK and The Brooklyn Brothers created "the world's first fully immersive fan zone experience". Taking place in a 20 x 40m dome structure in Kings Cross, London, the Hyundai FanDome presents a 360° audio-visual experience that evolves in real time, completely surrounding fans with the action through live game feeds and special effects, putting them at the heart of each match.

This one-of-a-kind experience is live for the whole five weeks of the competition and has been created by Kings Cross-based event-makers and placemakers PRODUCE UK. Nine months in the making, the project was commissioned by Hyundai Motor UK to host 45,000 guests across 45 games. With the content reacting in real time to the action in live matches with everything from goals scored, red and yellow cards, penalty shootouts, national anthems and even injury time

Norway - The Norwegian Olympic Museum in Lillehammer, Norway was opened by H.M Queen of Norway at a prestigious ceremony in February 2016. The Museum is a showcase for adventurous video installations, curated exhibits of cultural and historic artefacts and Olympic memorabilia.

What makes the Norwegian Olympic Museum a must-see attraction for all is Lysgaardsbakkene roughly translated as 'Jump Hills'. It forms the centrepiece; a large-scale circular raised-platform interactive model measuring 3.5m in diameter, the Olympic jump hills. Local systems integrator Bright Norway achieved a true to life interactive presentation using AV Stumpfl Wings Engine Raw uncompressed 4K media servers and Wings VIOSO calibration software to manage and warp native video content across 4 edge-blended projectors.

Bright Norway was also responsible for multimedia and presentation equipment for la

UK - With the festival season under way, the team at PRG XL Video is in full swing supplying a wide variety of festivals with event technology. Continuing its long-term relationship with live event production company LarMac Live, with whom it also works on the country's largest EDM event, Creamfields, PRG XL Video supplied live video technology including outdoor LED screens and camera system for Field Day.

The two-day event takes place at Victoria Park in East London, and featured an eclectic line-up including Air, John Grant, Anna Meredith, The Avalanches, and headliners James Blake and PJ Harvey.

To ensure the capacity audience of 30,000 had the best view of the main stage, PRG XL Video were called in to supply an IMAG package which consisted of three HD cameras and Panasonic AVHS-450- based PPU system, together with two high resolution LED side screens each measuring 5.

UK - Panasonic has created a virtual museum in order to showcase its technology for the museum and heritage sector, entirely in the cloud.

The museum has four distinct zones, each highlighting how audiovisual technology can be integrated to create engaging, modern exhibits.

Panasonic product experts guide visitors through the museum and provide an insight into how Panasonic products and solutions can enhance the museum environment, creating an engaging visitor journey and, importantly, helping generate additional revenue. They will also be on hand, live, to answer any questions visitors may have.

'Experiential projection' combines laser projection, edge blending and ultra short throw lenses to demonstrate how large scale, high brightness, high resolution panorama projections can be created within the museum environment.

The 'informative display' zone looks at how d

China - UK-based 7thSense Design has united once more with its reseller and integrator partner for China, Wincomn, to create a new and visually stunning series of experiences at the Nanchang Wanda Cultural Tourism City in the capital of China's Jiangxi Province.

The brand new Wanda Cultural Tourism City includes an indoor theme park (Nanchang Wanda Park), shopping mall with an indoor ocean park (Nanchang Wanda Ocean Park), entertainment attractions, hotels and dining districts. The attraction is quite literally the size of a city at 200-hectares and Chinese conglomerate Wanda are behind it all.

7thSense supplied uncompressed, high frame rate and extreme resolution media serving technologies to three experiences inside the Nanchang Wanda Park; The Flyover Jiangxi Flying Ride Theatre, VASE (the Flying Theatre pre-show) and the 12-metre fulldome auditorium at the Nanchang Wan

USA - The new 4.8 mm pixel pitch VIP F4 Video Panel from Chauvet Professional is equally at home in the rental and integrator markets. Featuring cable-free magnetic LED modules and a removable control/PSU box, the new video panels are fully serviceable from the front or rear. The panels can be removed easily from the front using an MT-03 tool, making it practical to install the F4 flat on a wall in permanent installations. At the same time, the ruggedly designed panels also come with road cases for touring applications.

Running Chauvet Professional's VIP Driver 43Nova Novastar Controller, the F4 offers user-friendly convenience, whether it's used at a permanent installation or on a tour. The Novastar feature takes video input and outputs it over an Ethernet control system. This allows the video wall to be mapped without a computer. The Novastar protocol can be used to scale vi

UK - 7thSense has expanded its media server portfolio with the addition of the Nano-SDI Media Server from the Delta Media Server range. The product, an entry-level media server, is a highly affordable way of introducing uncompressed media playback into workflow for fixed installations, says the company.

John Harding, senior electronics engineer at 7thSense explains, "Users of Nano-SDI will benefit from incredibly easy content management and seamless playlist operation. We developed this as a solution primarily for theme parks, museums, science centres and attractions - venues with a lot of content, a lot of displays, and a need to quickly and easily deliver media without compromise on quality. Already, we're seeing significant interest from those who had previously used media format-specific HD playback servers that are no longer available."

A key feature-set of the new Na

USA - The OCA Alliance, the AV industry alliance promoting awareness and adoption of Open Control Architecture (the Audio Engineering Society AES70 standard), has announced the membership of three new member companies. 1602 Group, Archwave, and TOA Corporation have all joined the alliance following its exhibiting at InfoComm16, where it featured a powerful live demonstration of AES70 interoperability on its booth.

Citing the opportunity "to contribute to a more open and efficient transfer of control data between products", Duncan Crundwell, 1602 Group Systems Architect and director, stated, "1602 Group is excited to be part of the OCA Alliance. Starting out in the late 1960's controlling musical instruments we were, as part of Solid State Logic, a founding member of the MIDI specification and have experience in working together with other organizations to improve the end user

Belgium - Barco has announced the departure of its chief financial officer, Carl Peeters, who has decided to pursue a new professional opportunity. Ann Desender, currently vice president finance & control will succeed Carl as CFO for Barco. This change will become effective as of September 2016.

Ann Desender joined Barco in 2008 and has been leading Barco's global finance team since 2010. She will succeed Carl Peeters as a member of Barco's Core Leadership Team and will report directly to the CEO.

Carl Peeters joined Barco in 1987. His initial roles were in business development. He took up his first senior finance role as CFO of BarcoNet in 2000. He was appointed group CFO of Barco NV in 2010.

Eric Van Zele, CEO of Barco and Jan De Witte, CEO designate, commented, "Carl has been a long term senior manager with Barco and throughout his career has played an important rol

UK - Event technologist FIX8Group has been busy developing FIX8Studio: a fully supported visualisation and training space at the company's Stockport headquarters, which gives visiting production companies, studios and creatives direct access to the latest digital content control and interactive resources.

Although the studio has been used internally by the group for some time, it came into full existence as a rentable space late last year, in response to increased demand from theatre, corporate, music, TV studios and arena shows which have complicated and large scale digital content requirements.

As production director John Montague says, "We offer advice, modelling, digital content management and animation creation that exists on the cutting edge of this new world - but also one which can draw on the global experience of FIX8Group as a whole."

FIX8Studio works with th

UK - As part of a continuing programme of improving its inventory, PRG XL Video is upgrading its inventory of Barco projectors. This process offers greater flexibility of use across all the market sectors PRG XL serves. The upgrade sees HDX-W14 14K projectors transformed to HDX-W20 Flex units, and HDF-W26 26k projectors becoming HDF-W30 Flex units.

The stock of 14k projectors was purchased in early 2015, and the units were partly selected because they were upgradable. As the demand for higher brightness projection increases, work has begun on unlocking the units' Flex capabilities.

The upgrade process involves unlocking the units via a license key. This then enables the power to be increased to the lamp to achieve 18,000 lumens output. The second part of the upgrade process converts the projector to a Flex unit, which means it can be locked off to a specific light output l

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