UK - To cater to the growing professional adoption of widescreen image format, leading professional screen manufacturer Projecta has released a 16:9 version of its popular Fast-Fold screen. This mobile, easy-to-set-up screen, suitable for indoor and outdoor use, is now also available with new seamless, Da-Mat and Da-Tex fabric, say the company. Width can be adjusted up to 427cm.

Two sturdy legs, easy push-button screen tightening and a foldout frame requiring no tools make this the ideal solution for professional presenters on the move, from sales reps to lecturers, say Projecta. The new anodised tubular aluminium frame (32 x 32 mm) is lightweight yet sturdy, featuring handy hinges and corner locking forms. The Fast-Fold is also ideal for companies and institutions that regularly hold presentations at varying locations within or outside their premises. A 5cm black border all rou

Europe - GearSource Europe Ltd, the web-based company marketing used and ex-demo equipment to the entertainment industry in conjunction with USA-based GearSource Inc, has announced that its website has gone live.

The site - at www.gearsourceeurope.com - is aimed at anyone looking for a bargain or interested in turning their excess stock into cash, and more than 1,500 lighting, audio, staging, and audio-visual items already listed, say the company.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - For the second consecutive year, Pioneer received the award for 'Most Innovative Technology' at the House Music Awards, held on 17 November 2005 at London's famed Hammersmith Palais. Last year, Pioneer collected the Most Innovative Technology award for the CDJ-1000s series, but this year the genre-splicing DVJ-X1 DVD decks took the award.

During the ceremony, hosted by the Cuban Brothers with special guests including Erick Morillo, Arthur Baker and BBC Radio 1's Pete Tong and Annie Mac, over 20 innovators were revealed as award winners. Among these, the House Music Awards honoured David Guetta (DJ of the Year, Best Live Set and Stand Out Event), Mylo and his Breastfed imprint (Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Best Breakthrough Label), dance music diva Barbara Tucker (Outstanding Vocal and Best Live PA), and Pete Tong who received the Outstanding Contribution to Hou

UAE - Regional media technology provider, MultiSell Technology Middle East FZCO and niche digital motion specialists Xische Digital have teamed up to form a new joint venture - 'MX2' - which will implement a unique range of interactive presentation and media display solutions from offices in the USA, Europe and the Middle East. MultiSell's CEO, David Holm-Glad, said: "This venture is a win-win situation for all parties involved, first and foremost for our joint blue-chip clientele and I am very excited about pioneering this unique fusion together into the future."

Danish Farhan, CEO of award winning digital innovation agency Xische Digital - is enthusiastic about the prospects and growth of MX2, offering a new, unique and engaging digital experience solution to an increasingly demanding market. "MX2 will strategically focus on Xische's digital innovative competenc

UK / USA - The latest version of Dataton Watchout - the production and presentation system used in large-scale, high-impact presentations, picked up an LDI Product of the Year award in Orlando this month. The new version, Watchout 3, is faster and more responsive, and features a completely remodelled user interface, say the company.

Watchout 3 offers easy access to offline programming and client demos, while the Stage window is improved and offers high-quality previews. New settings for preview quality and the masked preview mode help enhance both the producer's and the client's experience, say Dataton: users can even preview live video and remote computers in the Stage window.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Show Presentation Services Ltd's Barco Dlite 7 LED screens are becoming a regular feature at London's Royal Albert Hall: the company provided over 90sq.m of screen in November. Firstly, the National Television Awards used an impressive 70sq.m as the backdrop to its set, while the Festival of Remembrance used 30sq.m for IMAG purposes.

The brief for the Festival of Remembrance was simple: the LED screen had to produce perfect images for both the viewing public and the BBC cameras. Each year, care has to be taken during the installation of the LED screen as it is positioned right against the Albert Hall's impressive organ, leaving very little room for error as the slightest mistake could be very costly, say SPS.

(Lee Baldock)

Portugal - E//T//C UK supplied large format PIGI and video projection for the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005, staged on November 3rd at the Pavilhao Atlantico in Lisbon, Portugal. Significantly, it was the first live outing for E//T//C's new OnlyView control software which was used to soft-edge together 10 Barco R18 projectors to create one spectacular seamless upstage image, 32m wide by 9m high.

The video projection surface was made up of five motorised roller blind style screens that could be arranged in different formats. Each screen was fed by an overlaid front-projecting pair of R18s. The video projection was transmitted in high-definition with various inserts (both recorded and live) to match any required size, position or shape.

OnlyView is a multi-screen software capable of managing multi-projection using any kind of media (video, still images, text, sound etc) and any k

Japan - This year, the CT Germany team again gave its audio-visual media technology services to the Motorshow 2005 in Tokyo, supplying equipment and service for the exhibits of Volkswagen, Saab and Bugatti.

Volkswagen's international press conference was equipped and supported with three camera systems, the corresponding switchers and a character generator as well as a teleprompter from the CT rental park. This year, a combination of MiPIX Roadmodules and high-resolution Barco ILite 6 XP LED modules was integrated into Volkswagen's stand concept. On the right and left side of the 9sq.m, high-resolution 6mm LED screen, a total of 24 individual MiPIX Roadmodules were installed. They were integrated over a width of 25m into the communication screen. The high definition (HD) video and graphic contents onto both LED products with different resolution resulted in a fascinating effect.

UK - Projecta's SlimScreens are high quality projection screens which rollout using a spring mechanism, incorporated in a compact case. The latest addition to this successful range is the SlimScreen XL, measuring 244cm across, which accommodates the wide range of 1:1, 4:3 and 16:9 sources used in today's professional presentations, say the company.

The SlimScreen XL features integrated mounting brackets, and is ideal for any location where presentations are held on a regular basis, but where a permanent screen is not required or desirable, such as boardrooms or classrooms, say Projecta.

An extra thick metal roller prevents sagging screen fabric and a 5 cm black border all round increases perceived contrast of the projected image. The SlimScreen XL is available in flame retardant Matte White screen fabric.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - 5 Star Cases has supplied Leicestershire-based digital signage and display specialist HoloVis International with a bespoke flightcase to transport its new Media-Wall exhibition display system. The system comprises of either the HoloVis 84" or 100" specialist daylight viewable optical projection screens - complete with a bright yellow 5 Star flightcase.

5 Star designed and manufactured the Tour Grade, large-format case which includes removable doors and eight heavy duty castors fitted to an 18mm plinth for maximum manoeuvrability. Protection for the equipment is provided by a fully lined and fitted polyethylene foamed interior, which fits snugly around the screen.

The Media Wall has been designed to be quickly assembled across the corners of exhibition booths, instantly producing a very large screen surface area for displaying any type of media - TV, Video, DVD,

China - Lighthouse Technologies' support of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games was reinforced this week with the provision of a turnkey LED video solution for a spectacular gala ceremony held to mark the 1000-day countdown to the opening of the 2008 games in the Chinese capital.

The ceremony, which included the unveiling of the official Beijing Olympic Mascots by Chinese leader Jia Qinglin, was delivered to an audience of over 4,000 spectators via a 16 metre wide x 5.28m high Lighthouse Technologies' screen that took centre stage at the Beijing Worker's Stadium.

Using 275 state-of-the-art Lighthouse R6 panels, laser beam silhouettes of the 2008 Olympic Mascots, including Baibei the Fish, Jingjing the Panda, Huanhuan the Olympic Flame, Yingying the Tibetan Antelope and Nini the Swallow, were projected on the giant LED video screen.

The images were set amidst a running commentary,

UK - Software provider Stardraw.com has announced that the following capabilities have recently been added across the suite of Stardraw's design and documentation applications.

The first is Connection Scheduling. For some time, Cable and Dogleg objects, which show interconnections between products in the Schematic drawing environments, have had the ability to 'glue' to and move with symbols as they are repositioned. In Stardraw Audio and Stardraw A/V, their functionality has now been extended to identify the products they connect. This allows you to generate reports from schematic diagrams that tell you what device is connected to what, and via which cable, without the need for extraneous data entry - another big time-saver for contractors, say the company.

Default Line Width is an enhancement that boosts the legibility of printed output. Text appears much sharper, bolder and

UK/Spain - Switchcraft has strengthened its international representation by appointing Madrid based Magnetrón, S.A. to stock and supply its connectors, audio and video patchbays and cable assemblies to the broadcast and professional audio markets in Spain.

Stephen Waldron, Switchcraft's director of international sales, says: "Magnetrón is a very well established and respected supplier within its market place and we are very pleased to enter this new relationship that will increase the availability of our products and introduce the Switchcraft range to new customers."

(Sarah Rushton-Read)

UK - Lee Evans' XL tour is the hottest show on the circuit, and it's certainly the biggest. Since launching in the early autumn the hilarious, perpetually sweating Evans has played in practically every big arena in the country, and his management, Off the Kerb Productions, has added numerous extra dates along the way.

On Saturday 19 November the show's triumph was further established when Evans played to world record audiences for a single stand-up comedian of 10,108 at the Manchester Evening News Arena (MEN). Stand-up comedy is inherently intimate, which is at odds with the arena environment, so consolidating the performer/audience relationship in these huge spaces threw up its own unique set of challenges for Evans' technical design team. As production manager Mark Harris points out: "Lee's comedy style relies wholly on his audience's ability to see his every facial expre

UK - For six weeks every year, Walsall Council stages its famous Illuminations in the town's Arboretum. This year the Council decided to up the ante and used one of their two Christie S+16K 3-chip DLP Roadsters to create a series of animations. The Council purchased the projectors on the recommendation of freelance projectionist and AV consultant, Bruno Edwards.

The theme this year was Animal Magic, which required video sequences of the animals - created by Birmingham video artist Jonathan Lee - to be projected 50-60m high over a 30m distance, across a small lake and onto the trees. This was one of a number of spectaculars staged during the year by the Council, which led it to believe that projector ownership now represented a more cost-effective option than rental.

Bruno Edwards comments: "Aside from the performance, the main advantage of the Roadster was that, thanks to

Italy - An architectural multi-projection onto the Motorola Pirelli building proved a challenge in terms of creativity, technology and innovation - a challenge taken on by visual designer Paolo Buroni and lighting manufacturer Stark. The project, based on an idea by Tcommunication and Motorola, is the biggest multi-projection ever attempted on a skyscraper with large, windowed surfaces, say Stark.

The technical difficulties included combating the high ambient light levels created by the thousands of public lights of night-time Milan. Buroni says that apart from this problem, he was also faced with the only available site to project from being located 200m from the building. Buroni explains: "The image to be projected was divided into 15 sections using an extremely precise graphic process and a complicated series of calculations and tests in order to obtain the perfectly rec

Australia / Belgium - Show Technology, Australia's leading importer and distributor of intelligent lighting solutions, has been appointed exclusive Australian distributor of Arkaos DMX Media Server software VJ 3.5.

Belgium-based Arkaos is a world-leading provider of technology for live visual performances. Since 1996, Arkaos has developed visual synthesizers that trigger and manipulate graphic content that can be displayed on large screens at events, concerts, clubs or wherever visual information is required. When it comes to media manipulation software, Arkaos is one of Europe's leading names in clubs and rental companies.

"Video is becoming integrated with lighting and lighting control at a rapid rate and it is important that we provide appropriate solutions for our customers' needs" says Show Technology managing director, Emmanuel Ziino. "Our team is dedicate

Spain - Bosch reports that a purpose-built integrated conference and information system went live on 12 September in the debating hall of the historic Congreso de los Diputados, the Madrid home of the Spanish Parliament. The system is the first of its kind, say Bosch and, most importantly, was implemented without disturbing the historic and elegant furnishings and surroundings of the building - a key customer requirement.

The newly installed system integrates a Bosch DCN Next Generation microphone, voice and voting system, with an HP PC-based thin client and server information and display system. In addition to modern conferencing and voting features, this facility also provides parliamentarians with on-floor informational (office-type applications), messaging and display functionality, interconnected with high-speed Cat 5 data and conferencing networks.

The system features 35

Belgium - ISE - Europe's largest trade show for AV systems integrators - will include a powerful demonstration of large LED video screens, which will take over the impressive frontage of the huge Brussels Expo Centre, say the organizers.

ISE 2006 is already set to be twice the size of the 2005 show. Mike Blackman, managing director of ISE 2006, says the event is set to stimulate all human senses over the three-day event. "People who come to trade shows are looking beyond just seeing a series of products. Our exhibitors and sponsors have pushed the boundaries of showcasing systems integration solutions into a new era of dazzling shows and eye-catching displays. Without giving too much away, no one who arrives at the Brussels Expo will fail to miss the gigantic LED Outdoor Park that we have set up with our partners. Huge LED video screens will welcome visitors and set the sce

UK - Digital media solutions specialists Projected Image Digital threw open their gates in West London, for two open days. These were designed to illustrate the range of both digital output and control products offered by the company. Of special interest was a selection of new developments including Element Labs' Versa PIXEL, and the DL2 moving projector head, and Catalyst V4media server from High End Systems.

PID targeted a selection of existing and potential new clients for the strictly invite-only event that attracted a good mix of attendees including concert LDs, theatre designers and architectural lighting designers. In addition to the above mentioned products, PID also had Carallon's Pharos DMX architectural lighting controller on-hand, which was of interest to the installation visitors.

PID ensured that all the assorted technologies had an expert on-hand to demonstrate

UK - Miraculously, XL Video's Hemel Hempstead HQ sustained only superficial damage, despite being located just 600 metres from the epicentre of the Buncefield oil terminal explosion, that triggered Europe's biggest peacetime fire.

Driver Martin Woolward, was at XL on Sunday at 6 a.m., the time of the first blast, and a number of tour trucks were ready to unload that morning. Within an hour, the area had been evacuated, preventing access to the warehouse or any of the office facilities.

It was 'business as usual', however, for XL's 12 shows due to load in on the Monday morning! XL's project managers were diverted as per the Disaster Recovery Plan, to First Network in Northolt. Directors and project managers were able to carry on with phone calls, planning, re-directing equipment and juggling the logistics to take into account the disruption caused by the blast.

"We accom

UK - Rycote, the industry standard in windshield and shockmount manufacturing, has released five new accessories available immediately. Through UK distributor Sennheiser UK, all these accessories have been designed and developed from suggestions received from Rycote users.

Rycote director, Vivienne Dyer explains: "We listen to our distributors and customers and so we are confident that there is a ready market for these products. Each accessory is the result of feedback from end-users and our commitment has always been to provide the industry with the most effective systems possible." The new accessories are outlined below.

Hot Shoe Extension: This simple extension will allow camcorder users to fit multiple hot shoe attachments onto their equipment. Hot Shoe 3/8" Adaptor: To attach any fitting with a 3/8" thread to a camera hot shoe. Multimount v2: Availab

Italy / India - Italian company Aethra SpA, a leader in the global video communications market, today announced that it is providing videoconferencing solutions for the Government in the Kerala State of India through Keltron, a Kerala State Government Enterprise dedicated to technology proliferation in the state.

The state Information Technology (IT) department of Kerala is setting up a videoconferencing network in order to connect authorities such as the Secretariat, Kerala House in New Delhi and the district collectorates, as a part of a way to establish an effective technology-driven communication system within the government.

The aim of the network facility, being set up using the Modernising Government Programme (MGP) fund, is to help ministers and top officials to communicate with district collectors and vice-versa, connecting on either a person-to-person or group level.

UAE - At the opening of the eighth Middle East International Motor Show, show, MultiSell Technology, the inventor of MIM - Motion Interactive Media technologies and leading supplier of value added Point of Sale (POS) solutions, announced today installations of its digital marketing technology, delivering dynamic, interactive floors in the entrance of hall no.3 at the DWTC.

"We chose to utilize the MultiFX because it is in line with our brand values - sophisticated, technologically advanced, and futuristic" said Marcelle Duncan, marketing manager for Land Rover Middle East & Africa.

MultiFX is the innovative visual display system that allows people to directly interact with a large projected ad or game with their body movements, immersing them selves into your message, providing a full-body interactive environment for an effective and fun experience for all users. Thi

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