France - Rental company Ace Event Group, suppliers of a range of audio-visual services from video and data-processing to LED video screens, has recently purchased 128 modules of digiLED T8S.

Based out of Biarritz, Ace Event Group will be using digiLED's latest product from the Tile series, the T8S for events such as sport, lifestyle company promotions, festival and concerts throughout the South of France. With the new company structure being launched, Ace Event Group was keen to update and increase its LED screen inventory and approached DisplayLED's managing director, Michiel Hettinga, to discuss selling its existing Lighthouse screens and upgrading to new digiLED screens.

Key to Ace choosing the digiLED T8S was the fact that they could be involved in the production process, discussing with the displayLED team its special needs to customise the product to suit its requirement

Belgium - Barco has announced the launch of the RLM-W6. The RLM-W6 is the world's first three-chip DLP projector with a WUXGA (1920x1200) resolution at the price of a single-chip DLP projector. With an extremely low noise level of 32dB, a power consumption 33% lower than comparable systems and a 6,000 lumens light output, it is a green, ergonomic and cost-conscious choice for boardrooms, lobbies and auditoriums, says the company.

Barco's RLM-W6 premieres the colour saturation and image stability of three-chip DLP technology in applications hitherto mostly reserved for single-chip DLP systems. In addition to its low price, the RLM-W6 offers a minimal total cost ownership due to its low energy consumption. In terms of ergonomics, its near-silent noise level is a significant improvement over competing three-chip DLP systems.

The RLM-W6's WUXGA (1920x1200) resolution gives it the

UK - The 500,000 fans attending 54 sold-out shows on Michael McIntryre's 2009 UK arena tour were able to see every nuance of the comedian's performance thanks to Lighthouse Technologies' R7-ER 7mm visual resolution LED screen, supplied by Creative Technology.

An impressive total of 150sq.m of R7-ER made up the LED backdrop, configured as a giant 16:9 aspect central screen, with two square IMAG side screens meaning that even the seats at the very back of the largest of the country's arenas was a viable prospect for the audience.

The majority of venues were supplied with a 10.16m x 6.1m central screen with the side screens measuring 5.08m x 5.34m.

CT's project manager for the tour, Steve Purkess, comments: "Our R7 screen has been used for a large number of high profile live events over the course of the year. For many applications it's the first choice and, because of its

USA - Xantech Corporation has announced the addition of Tom Harvey to its senior management team, in the position of director of sales. Harvey comes to Xantech with over 25 years' experience in the consumer electronics industry - over 15 years at the executive level - which includes roles in sales, marketing and executive management.

In his new position, Harvey will focus on driving sales for Xantech and its dealer network by working closely with Xantech dealers, distributors and sales representatives. He will also be developing new and creative sales programmes that will allow all dealers and distributors to grow and achieve even more profitability in these challenging times.

Xantech president Graham Hallett commented: "Tom's extensive experience in audio and video sales management perfectly aligns with Xantech's business strategy as we expand beyond our core control bus

UK - ExCeL London has announced that it has in-sourced the audio visual services provision for the venue and created a new in house team, ExCeL London Audio Visual Services.

In addition, ExCel London has signed a new five year services agreement with Blitz Communications to provide support to the in house team in regards to equipment hire and services. James Mark commented, "Blitz has been an ExCeL service partner for a number of years and has made a fantastic contribution to the business. I am delighted that this relationship will continue to develop under the new arrangement.

"Over the years we have brought a variety of venue services in-house and these have proved to be extremely effective in ensuring that we maintain consistently high service levels across the whole business. The creation of this new team will allow us to provide a more seamless service for all o

Belgium - XL-Technologies is a new, Belgium-based LED sales and solutions company, launched to offer innovative solutions for anyone interested in utilising LED technologies for their shows, events, displays, art and installations of all types.

Grown out of the XL Video Group's expertise, XL-Technologies is an independent company well placed to maximise the expertise and knowledge held within the group, thus offering its clients a wide range of LED products and design solutions for purchase.

All major and currently specified LED brands will be available through XL Technologies. Not being tied to any specific range or brand, the company can offer a fully integrated service to fit the exact requirements of its clients.

There is the flexibility to offer standard LED solutions from the wide product range and also second-hand sales from large projects that are now finished, plus

UK - PSCo has recruited two more rental specialists to its team in Reading, as well as reinforcing its operations team to support its network of UK offices and sister company in the UAE.

PSCo rental expert Karen Davis returns to the PSCo fold, bringing with her 12 years' experience in the industry, and is joined by Alison Livemore as part of the rental desk team.

Karen Davis, who worked for PSCo's rental desk for eight years before leaving to help her husband start a business, returns to the team after 12 months.

Alison Livemore joins PSCo from Maxim Integrated Products, bringing with her three years' experience in technical sales to UK manufacturers.

Former account manager Gemma Collins moves across to the operations team within PSCo, helping to improve efficiency and communication between the offices and head up the administration of the PSCo rental department.

Rental

Angola / UK - Special effects and AV specialists Arcstream AV has been engaged by production company Media XXI to install an Arcsphere structure for the African Cup of Nations Final, to host the Angolan president and guests.

The huge projection sphere is being installed in host country Angola for the tournament which kicks off on 10 January 2010. Angola will be joined by 15 nations who successfully advanced from the qualification process that began in October 2007 and involved 53 African national teams.

The 22m diameter inflatable structure will feature a 360º seamless projection, playing sponsor adverts and logos, viewable on both the inside and outside of the dome structure. The Arcsphere is an inflated positive pressure dome, and will be installed with a state of the art AV system including a series of plasmas inside for guests to follow the matches.

The sphere is being

UK - Projection artist Ross Ashton from E/T/C London was commissioned to create three special art works for the 2009 St Andrews Festival, a three-day event designed to celebrate the rich history and culture of St Andrews, home of the Scottish patron saint. This was staged amidst the environs of the town of St Andrews on the last weekend in November.

Two of the three projections were at the ruined Cathedral of St Andrews. Ashton projected giant moving images onto the altar area and one on the cloister walls.

The third site was in St Mary's Quadrangle, part of St Andrews' university - the third oldest in the English speaking world. These were the only light works in the 2009 Festival.

Ashton had produced a small piece for last year's festival, after which he was asked back by event organiser Rob Murray-Brown to do a piece specifically about St Andrews, to be staged in t

UK - Following the Le Bourget Airshow in June 2009 and the Dubai Airshow in November 2009, eight Christie 3-chip DLP HD10 projectors will give visitors at airshows around the world an insight into the Airbus history books and the lowdown on its future A350 wide-body jet.

A four-minute immersive experience designed and produced by Master Image Films will be staged at the Singapore Airshow in February 2010, followed by Berlin, Hamburg and Farnborough. The film will breathe life into an aircraft that has only ever been modelled in 3D using computer-generated graphics.

The project began in March 2009 when Master Image Films (Toulouse), an Airbus partner for 20 years, was asked to design a system to allow Airbus to spread the word about its future A350 wide-body jet and use the world's largest airshows as a platform to announce the start of production.

To design and complete the

Spain - The Unesco World Heritage Committee met for its 33rd session last June at the Seville Conference and Exhibition Centre, bringing together representatives from 21 countries. This is the first time that the Committee has met in Spain. Attended by 1,500 people, the event was organised to study applications from possible new locations to be included in its World Heritage List.

During the event Spanish company SAC Audiovisuales was responsible for the central HD projection covering an area of 20 x 6m, for which it used two Christie Roadster S+20K projectors.

The meeting was held in Hall 2 at the Seville Conference and Exhibition Centre, comprising an area of 7,200 m2. SAC Audiovisuales was commissioned with producing and preparing the whole event, including projection, lighting, audio, translation, video, CCTV, IT equipment, AV design.

Gonzalo Palacio, manager and partner

USA - There has been a lot of TV coverage recently concerning the Dallas Cowboys giant video displays at their new stadium in Arlington. The $40m, four-sided, high-definition Diamond Vision video board, which is built by Mitsubishi Electric, uses 22,000 TDK-Lambda ZWS power supplies to light the 25 million Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) needed to create the image on the screen.

As part of the team's move from their previous home in Irving, the recently opened $1.1bn stadium sports a retractable roof from which the world's largest HDTV screens hang. The four panels, which together weigh 600 metric tons (600,000kg), are suspended approximately 30m above midfield. The sideline panel stretches from one 20-yard line to the other and measures 21.76 x 48.32m; it has just been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest High Definition (HD) video screen.

Alr

UK - The PLASA 2010 Show has officially launched with the opening of a free registration month, enabling early bookers to gain admission to this year's show, at Earls Court on 12 - 15 September 2010, at no charge. Registration is now open on the new-look PLASA 2010 website (www.plasashow.com) with free visitor registration available until 11 February.

Following the highly upbeat reaction to PLASA09, with exhibitors expressing delight at the quality of visitors despite the financial climate, expectations for PLASA 2010 are also high.

Early exhibitor news includes confirmation by Martin Professional; a doubling of stand space by Nexo; and the return after a one-year absence of Zero 88.

PLASA's Events manager Sophie Atkinson said, "Last year the free registration offer helped boost exhibitors' confidence in the show's compelling drawing power by attracting thousands of ear

UK - BrightSign media controllers are delivering messages about marine biology and conservation at the Sea Life London Aquarium, which re-launched in April 2009 following a multi-million pound refurbishment. Eighty of the BrightSign HD110 units provide interactive looping signage, primarily as electronic labels on tanks that are home to thousands of marine mammals, fish, turtles, seahorse and octopuses.

BrightSign players are delivering the same benefits at other Sea Life attractions throughout Europe, including 15 BrightSigns at Legoland Germany and 30 of the units in Sea Life Portugal.

Each controller drives an HD LCD display built into a bespoke metal enclosure; designed, integrated and installed by audio visual experts Digital Antics. The fish-tank label display is divided into two zones. A narrow menu area shows images of all the species in the particular enclosure whilst

Hot News - A major initiative for NAMM 2010 this week will be the introduction of NAMM's H.O.T. Zone which will offer specialised training courses and networking events for music industry professionals in live audio, house of worship and stage and lighting industries.

"NAMM recognises the importance of the live audio, house of worship and stage and lighting industries to the music products industry and welcomes these music industry professionals to the 2010 NAMM Show," says Kevin Johnstone, director of trade shows, NAMM. "This year, we're working closely with a number of partner organisations and media outlets that serve these segments to create a new and valuable education track to meet their needs and giving them even more reasons to attend this year's NAMM Show."

More than 15 industry partners, publishers, organisations and associations will offer a seri

Denmark - Climate change is proving to be a good thing for video and projection services specialists Bluman Associates, who have completed a high-visibility project at the UN Conference in Copenhagen featuring a 20m tall giant globe in City Hall Square.

As the leaders of 192 different countries gathered in Copenhagen for the UN Climate Change Conference, Bluman Associates were providing full project management to American 'dome industry leaders' Absolute Hollywood. Designer James Lanier conceived a 20m tall Total Sphere representing Planet Earth which dominated the central square of Copenhagen.

The giant globe changed in appearance as it responded directly to text messages and emails from all over the world. Bluman Associates deployed 10 Christie S+20k c/w/TWIST projectors and two Delta Media Servers, running over 2 kilometres of custom-made fibre-optic DVI distribution

China - Swiss digital signage manufacturer SpinetiX has appointed Beijing-based Avopo Technologies as certified distribution partner (CDP) for China.

Avopo will distribute the SpinetiX HMP100 Hyper Media Player. The HMP100 is able to completely replace PC based digital signage platforms. It utilises open software standards and has a small footprint with a very practical feature-set.

"Not only will Avopo increase the accessibility of our HMP100 to Chinese companies, they will manage and develop the Chinese partner and customer channels. This includes the provision of dedicated customer-based training at their Beijing demonstration centre, events support and project support for a wide variety of customers and markets in regional Chinese territories," says Nikola Knezovic, vice president of sales of SpinetiX.

"The partnership with Avopo Technologies is an excitin

UK - XL Events enjoyed a very busy 2009, and here is a roundup of some of the highlights:

The Clothes Show Live was hosted at the Birmingham NEC in December for Haymarket Exhibitions. Production manager Paul Divine worked with XL Events on an ambitious set where all three screens were built onto revolves. The rear of the screens were dressed seasonal style to resemble giant bow-wrapped Christmas presents! These were constructed from three large Lighthouse R7 screens with varying panel counts and a right angle in each.

Tim Riley, project manager for XL Events says, "This was a challenging yet rewarding project. We had great support from Stage One who created the structure supporting the screens and the dressing at the back, and coupled with cool graphics, all elements combined to make an excellent show."

In November 2009, XL Events secured the contract to sup

USA / The Netherlands - BTX will show its ProBlox-D all-in-one connector system at ISE in Amsterdam next month (2-4 February 2010). The patent-pending ProBlox-D all-in-one connector system is the AV industry's first to incorporate multiple data, HD video, audio, and control signals in a single connector, the company says.

The system contains two Cat 5e connectors along with 16 HD video and 18 audio and control contacts - all field-terminatable. The addition of the Cat 5e components takes advantage of all the signals, including HDMI, DVI, and VGA, that can now effectively be run over one or two Cat 5e cables. The ProBlox-D connector system simplifies setup for AV applications in classrooms, houses of worship, conference rooms, or any setting where multiple signals of different formats need to be delivered to a single connection point. In addition to saving installers time during

Germany - Belgium based XL-Technologies supplied two customised Pixled F-30 screens for the flagship Mercedes Benz Gallery showroom in Berlin.

XL-Technologies was commissioned to build the screens by Frankfurt-based design agency Atelier Markgraph. The company was recommended to provide a bespoke LED solution for the project by rental partner XL Video, which has worked on a variety of Motor Show Mercedes stands designed by Markgraph.

The two specially shaped screens are different sizes and flown at different angles in the showroom, Each has staggered edges and is made up from specially adapted and sized Pixled modules.

Screen 1 consists of 22 Pixled modules giving a full screen area of 20.6sq.m, with a plasma monitor inset at the lower levels. The second screen is constructed from 30 Pixled F-30 panels, making up a total surface area of 29.7sq.m with a much larger plasma mon

Belgium - Tait Towers and Frederic Opsomer, founder of System Technologies - both well-known names in the entertainment design industry - today announced the joint founding of the new company, named Tait Technologies, effective as of 1 February 2010.

The new company will be lead by Frederic Opsomer, who assumes the position of CEO of Tait Technologies. The company will have its headquarters in Waardamme, Belgium.

By setting up Tait Technologies, both parties have taken a strategic decision to refine their focus on the converging video and scenic industry. The company will develop and supply standard and bespoke mechanical and automation solutions that allow easy and seamless integration of video and scenic products.

Backed by long-standing reputations in the live entertainment design industries, Tait Technologies will focus on providing the entertainment and event design ind

Switzerland - Digital signage manufacturer SpinetiX has announced the appointment of Datumstruct as Certified Distribution Partner (CDP) for the SpinetiX digital signage hardware & software solutions for the South East Asia region.

"HMP100 represents an alternative to the traditional distributed video from a single PC or individual PCs at each display which have previously been used to deliver content." said Serge Konter, marketing manager at SpinetiX, "The HMP100 is an incredibly small solid state solution with low power use and reliable operation."

"Datumstruct Group is very pleased to be able to offer such an innovative product in South East Asia and China," said Timothy Tiah, director and head of the technology business division. "SpinetiX' solution is unique in providing alternative PC solution for the growing digital signage market. The

Canada - The Glacier Garden is a scientific indoor and outdoor museum located in Baie-Comeau, Quebec, where visitors can travel back in time and experience the northern adventure 20,000 years under the ice.

Medialon has been selected by XYZ Cultural Technology, a Canadian-based integrator and AV designer company, to be the main controller of the entire indoor part of the museum.

Visitors start their journey by entering the Glacier Exploration Station where the magic of sound, video, lighting, and multimedia technologies transport them into a virtual expedition.

One Medialon Manager V5 Pro license controls four different timeline shows where several tasks run simultaneously in the Glacier Exploration Station. Thanks to Medialon Manager Panel, the free touch panel design software, XYZ Cultural Technology has created friendly-user touch panel interfaces to be used on Red

UK - The London Eye New Years' Eve celebration has become a regular event for Stage Electrics, marking a successful beginning to the New Year.

Following eight consecutive years of supplying elements of lighting equipment and staff, this was the first year that Stage Electrics was the sole supplier of all the lighting for the New Years Eve event for Jack Morton Worldwide. This year's event stepped up a level with lighting designer Durham Marenghi making use of 14 Clay Paky Alpha Beams 700s, which were programmed by associate designer Paul Cook, to form 50ft tall digital count-down clock, on the Shell building façade, achieved using some precise indexing of the oblong slot Gobos.

The cues were triggered by a satellite time code via MIDI into the console, which set the stage, attracting over half a million New Year revellers, who again braved the cold to usher in the New Year as

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