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

Europe - Dave Crump, CT's CEO Europe & Middle East, has announced the creation of a new CT department specialising in technical event infrastructure, led by Sid Lobb, CT's director of integrated networks.

Dave comments, "We have been developing the ideas for this new service for some time. We have started with a small and highly focussed team, but see this as a key growth area for the future. We're optimistic we'll see rapid expansion and broadening of the service offering in the future."

CT will now offer clients a bespoke technical solution that integrates and distributes video, audio, IT and comms signals over a reliable Fibre/IP network infrastructure.

Sid notes, "The new technology can massively increase the flexibility we offer in signal distribution architecture. We're moving away from the traditional point to point way of doing things where you lay a cable and

UK - The D&AD New Blood Festival kicked off in Shoreditch, London on 5 July with creative technical production expert Hawthorn on hand to deliver technical production for two of this year's events.

The festival provides a series of programmes for new creatives, offering them inspiration, learning and insight on how to best break into the industry.

The use of projection and projection mapping, a technique that uses specialist software to warp and blend projected images on to any surface including buildings and interior walls, is becoming increasingly popular at events due to its high visual impact and immersive experience. Proving that this technology can be used effectively in any type of event, no matter what the budget or setting, Hawthorn put their own creativity to the test, working on the D&AD New Blood Award ceremony and Adobe's muchly-anticipated fringe event, their

USA - API reports that Mount Olive High School in Flanders, New Jersey, has purchased a Vision console for their forthcoming recording studio and audio production programme.

Mount Olive's new audio programme will add to the school's already outstanding curriculum, including a top notch television production programme, an award-winning robotics team, and a music programme touting a 60-piece orchestra.

Superintendent and music enthusiast Dr. Larrie Reynolds brought in consultants who were up to the challenge of creating a professional-level studio; record producer, engineer, and mixer Ron Saint Germain and record producer and recording engineer Tony Bongiovi have been hard at work on Mount Olive's studio since the fall of 2015.

Saint Germain collaborated with Trevor Campbell, who will head Mount Olive's audio production programme, to find the right console. After traveli

UK - Working with some of the biggest names in UK live entertainment production, VER kicked off the festival season delivering a range of equipment packages to both Glastonbury and the Electric Daisy Carnival.

For the second year in succession, VER was contracted by the Glastonbury Festival Pyramid and Other Stage production team to work with video production coordinators Production Network, supplying the main camera image screens to both stages, along with installed screens onstage to be used with associated control equipment for a mixture of artists.

On the Pyramid Stage, VER had a clean sweep of headline acts, with screens supplied via Video Design for Muse on Friday, directly to the act for Adele's Saturday performance and via Glastonbury Production for Coldplay's Sunday night set. The same screen gained further use in a variety of configurations throughout Sunday by a

USA - Universal Parks & Resorts has entered into a corporate partnership agreement with Christie, which will see Christie delivering the latest projection technologies to Universal Parks & Resorts as the official projection system provider. The agreement includes Universal Parks & Resorts' Theme Parks and CityWalk complexes throughout the United States.

As a Universal Parks & Resorts corporate partner, Christie will be the preferred partner for projectors ordered, purchased, and installed by Universal Parks & Resorts at all domestic controlled venues. Christie will also supply software and professional services in addition to projection technology to Universal Parks & Resorts, helping create customized projection solutions for future attractions.

"Universal Parks & Resorts continues to push the limits of technology and innovation, and Christie is honoured to have this long

UK - Coldplay's live-show video director Ben Miles chose to work with British manufacturer Avolites and Avolites' Ai media server distributor and technical specialist RES (Realtime Environment Systems) to design what he describes as 'the ultimate video system' for the Brit rockers' current world tour.

Crossing four continents, A Head Full of Dreams is a major stadium tour in support of Coldplay's seventh studio album of the same name. The Latin American dates ran from 31 March to 17 April. The European dates - including the band's seminal headlining of the Glastonbury Festival - were from 24 May to 6 July. On 16 July the tour moved to the US, where Chris Martin and his bandmates are playing 22 stadium and arena dates. It continues in December, with six stadium dates in Australia and New Zealand.

Coldplay's live shows are renowned for their high production values - requirin

USA - AIMS has announced that Riedel Communications is the latest of the world's leading media technology companies to join the alliance.

Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Wuppertal, Germany, Riedel Communications is renowned as a leading pioneer of real-time networks for audio video and communications applications; in particular, digital audio matrix systems and fiber-based real-time media network technology.

Their products and technologies, including MediorNet, the world's first fibre-based video network for integrated signal transport, are in common use throughout the world in broadcast, pro-audio, events, sports, theatre and security applications. These include applications in the staging of major global sporting events and within international sports governing bodies.

Commenting for the company on joining the alliance, Lars Hoehmann, product manager MediorNet,

UK - A.C. Audio, a sales division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd., is hosting Digital Wireless Days in association with Shure in August, to demonstrate the brand's wireless solutions, decode the jargon, and explain why the future of wireless is digital.

The free events will take place at the company's UK headquarters (High Wycombe) on Tuesday, 9 August, and Northern sales office (Leeds) on Thursday, 11 August 2016.

RF (radio frequency) spectrum for use by wireless microphone operators has changed a lot over recent years. From the digital TV switchover to the rise of mobile phone ownership, demand for clean spectrum is greater than ever.

As the airwaves the industry operates in continue to evolve, so must the technology that is used. Digital wireless systems have much to offer in securing a positive future for wireless microphones through spectral effic

UK - Fast-growing live video, AV and technical production specialist CPL has announced a further investment in d&b audio equipment, underlining its commitment to the brand, with whom CPL has enjoyed a long and productive relationship stretching back 20 years.

CPL MD Matthew 'Max' Boyse states, "d&b has proved a high quality, hugely reliable and consistent solution for our audio needs for many years," adding that as well as continuing their relationship with these latest purchases, it also "steps up a level with a new 'partnership' arrangement recognising our long-term focus on the brand".

The latest deal includes substantial quantities of Y and V series speakers, which replace all CPL's older Q-series stock, and another large amount of E-series - E6s, E8s and B4-SUBS - taking the place of the E3 series and older E products. This is complete with all the requisite rigging a

Australia - The Adelaide Convention Centre has expanded its already impressive fleet of High End Systems consoles with the purchase of two Full Boar 4's and six Road Hog 4's, bringing their inventory to four Full Boar 4's and 10 Road Hog 4's in total.

The purchase is part of the plan for the anticipated mid-2017 opening of their new Plenary Building, a multi-purpose venue built on the site of the original 1987 Convention Centre, with a capacity of up to 3,500 seats. Local production and installation company AJS were selected to fulfil this government tender, and have developed a close working relationship with the ACC.

"This was all part of the Convention Centre's tender process for stock replenishment and the new Plenary Building," relates AJS's Luke Hattam. "We contacted Australian High End Systems distributor Lexair Entertainment for guidance. We were successful in our

Switzerland - Winkler Multi Media Events in Canton Aargau is one of the leading Swiss event solution providers for multimedia and three-dimensional live communication. They were recently entrusted with providing the equipment for the opening ceremony of the Gotthard Base Tunnel.

With a construction period of almost 17 years, and extending to 57k in length, the world's longest tunnel is regarded as the "Swiss project of the century", and has attracted many superlatives.

The construction, which is 7k longer than the Eurotunnel, is the heart of the new Railway Link through the Alps and connects the cantons of Uri in the north portal Erstfeld in central Switzerland to the south portal in Bodio (Canton Ticino). As a result, the travel time from Zurich to Milan has been reduced by one hour to about two hours 40 minutes. For freight transport, the new Gotthard tunnel brings great

UK - An impressive delivery of nearly six tons of LED displays has been received at Handy AV's Kent headquarters, as the company moves to hold the most comprehensive on-site stock in the country, with demonstration areas to match.

Handy, who have recently moved into impressive new 6,000sq.ft offices in Sidcup, Kent, are well known for global retail installations and content management - having completed AV projects for clients such as Adidas, Dior, Kenzo and Primark.

The company is now expanding its offering into other key vertical markets, including corporate, stadia and leisure and the arrival of 5,888kg of various pitch LED panels will allow instant fulfilment on orders, with Handy's expert team on hand for any required installation.

As well as order fulfilment, the large stock holding will partly be used to demonstrate the benefits of different LED pitch solutions

Brazil - International creative design and AV company Sarner is working with the FIVB (Fédération Internationale De Volleyball) to showcase volleyball and beach volleyball at the Rio Olympic Games this summer in a unique way. Using the latest in virtual reality technology, Sarner has created an immersive experience within Volleyball House, a specially designed venue near the iconic Beach Volleyball Arena on Copacabana beach.

VIPs and special guests will be invited to Volleyball House to enjoy volleyball past and present by engaging and immersing themselves in the Virtual Reality lounge.

Ed Cookson, projects director at Sarner, says, "Being part of volleyball at the Rio Olympic Games is a real privilege. Using the latest in virtual reality technology, visitors can experience the sport in a completely unique way from perspectives usually only available to athle

UK - Bristolian trip-hop band, Massive Attack headlined the opening night of the Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park festival on Friday 1 July. PRG XL Video continued their established relationship supplying lighting and rigging services to the festival, as well as working with video director Icarus Wilson-Wright to deliver a show fizzing with topical content and a novel use of their video screen technology.

Barclaycard presents British Summer Time has taken place in Hyde Park since 2013, when organisers, AEG Live, acquired the rights to hold concerts there. PRG XL Video have been major suppliers to the event since its inception. Account Director Yvonne Donnelly Smith takes care of the project for PRG XL. "BST Hyde Park is an amazing event right in the heart of London, with fantastic artists playing every day, on one of the most beautiful stages of any festival.

Germany - Since joining the Laserworld Group at the beginning of 2016, a lot of development has happened at tarm: Not only have several new laser systems been developed and released, but processes have been streamlined and optimized.

With the launch of their new website (www.tarm.com), tarm clearly focuses on their core products and services. The products section provides technical details on the new show laser systems and the laser show section provides details on the laser show services tarm and partners within the Laserworld Group can offer.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Belgium-based automations, engineering and scenic construction specialist WIcreations was asked by staging experts StageCo, working for Insomniac the production company, to produce key scenic elements of the main circuitGROUNDS stage at the 2016 Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) dance extravaganza in Las Vegas.

Staged at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway over three days, EDC is one of the largest and EDM events worldwide.

Dutch design company Jora Entertainment has worked on the event for many years and EDC's stage environments are known for their awesome high-impact visual appearance and intricate attention to detail - an area in which WI also excels.

With the scale of the staging projects being so enormous, and following a highly successfully collaboration on the Beyoncé Formation tour a few months previously the WI team, project managed by Yves Vervloet, worked

USA - Held on the eve of the Kentucky Derby, Unbridled Eve pairs a VIP cocktail reception and dinner with live entertainment provided by celebrity musical artists. Located annually inside the Galt House Hotel Grand Ballroom, Marcus Cambron and his team at Visual Productions have been creating the evening's production design over the last 18 years working with a number of event sponsors. Knowing this year the organizers wanted to capitalize on the performance capabilities of LED video, Cambron turned to Nashville-based PixelFLEX who provided him with FLEXCurtain HD LED video technology to create an energetic and dynamic visual experience.

"Every year at this event our production design changes a little bit to keep the show engaging for the guests, and so this year we really wanted to use LED video to give the show a new look," says Cambron. "I first used the PixelFLEX technolog

USA - Blue Man Group, the performance company that has won an Obie, a Drama Desk and a Grammy Award nomination for its eccentric, percussive ruminations on the human condition, has popular productions in New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Berlin and Orlando. One of the most highly attended has been in Orlando, where the production has been performing at the Blue Man Group Theatre at CityWalk at the Universal Orlando Resort since 2007.

Most recently, that venue upgraded its sound system to an L-Acoustics Kara system, provided by Clearwing Productions' Phoenix office. The system upgrade in Orlando follows one in Las Vegas, which saw an L-Acoustics K2 rig installed at Blue Man Group's new home at the Luxor Hotel and Casino.

"The Kara system has been an excellent move for Orlando," says Blue Man Group sound supervisor Marcus Ross, who is responsible for Blue Man Group's aud

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