Russia - The 10th anniversary 2012 Muz TV Awards, held at the famed Olimpiisky stadium in Moscow was more than a showcase of top musical talent, it also provided a backdrop (both literally and figuratively) to demonstrate the capabilities of Light Converse's 3D Show Platform software and server hardware in action

The more than three hour show (Muz TV is Russia's answer to MTV) depended heavily on awe-inspiring visuals to match the level of performance onstage. Besides a magical-looking crown-like three screen center piece over center stage, video elements were also projected on two large arches (33m x 15m) stage left and right. The multiple piece arches, which opened and closed as acts performed or readied their place on either the left and right stages, required precise video mapping as content was projected while sliding elements of each arch dynamically moved in seven directi

UK - Christie has published and released The Book of Shapes - a 'coffee table' style book "showcasing projects around the globe that are redefining the use of display technology in everything from retail stores to museums and corporate spaces".

A free download as an interactive iPad app, PDF, or hard copy, the book explores how Christie MicroTiles have allowed architects and designers to introduce inventive, irregular shapes into projects where video, motion graphics and interactive content are applied.

The release of The Book of Shapes: International Design Inspirations Featuring Christie MicroTiles coincided with Christie's largest ever presence at the Integrated Systems Europe trade show in Amsterdam and comes on the third anniversary of the market release of Christie MicroTiles.

The Book of Shapes app features MicroTiles installations from

UK - XL Events supplied Haymarket Exhibitions with LED screens, projection, camera systems, control and crew for their annual fashion event, Clothes Show Live.

The event took place over five days at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre in December, with top designers and fashion retailers showing the hottest upcoming trends.

The central point of the exhibition was the Suzuki Fashion Theatre, a catwalk show that ran several times daily and featured more than 40 models and dancers.

For the catwalk show, XL Events supplied a 4.5m wide by 5.4m high LED screen located centrally at the rear of the stage. This was formed from 120 tiles of lightweight Pixled FX-11.

The LED screen was flanked either side by scenic projection using double stacks of Barco FLM HD 20 projectors, managed by chief projectionist Chris Johnson.

Built into the end of the main runway was an LED floor, u

UK - Adam Pike has been appointed head of events for the Conference and Live Events division of audio visual company Saville.

After joining Saville Audio Visual in 2004 as a senior technician Pike quickly acquired a taste for developing relationships with top clients and after securing an approved supplier contract with the Gherkin in London he took on the role of account director for Tesco delivering 350+ events both in the UK and across Europe.

Says Pike, "Saville is a world class services company in AV/events providing levels of service that exceed clients expectations time and time again. This is in no small part due to the fantastic and passionate teams we have across our national network. We are all looking forward to the exciting challenges that lie ahead."

UK - Green Hippo has announced the launch of Hippotizer version 3.2 software available for download from the Green Hippo website.

After many months of developing and listening to user feedback version 3.2 sees one of the largest builds ever produced by the growing team at Hippo HQ.

With over seven new features and 100+ enhancements also included, V3.2 takes what many call the easiest server and makes it even easier, says the company.

Version 3.2 is available free of charge from the Green Hippo website and is suitable for installation on HippoCritter, GrassHopper, HippoPortamus and HD models.

Hippotizer product manager Lee House says, "Version 3.2 is the result of months of development for Green Hippo. We have concentrated on producing software that meets our customer's needs whilst retaining the ease of use Green Hippo are renowned for. The number of new features in

USA - The AVnu Alliance, the industry forum that certifies Audio Video Bridging (AVB) products for interoperability, has announced the opening of its certification testing for AVB-enabled networking bridges at its appointed testing house - the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). AVnu Certification is available to Alliance member companies.

This announcement, says the AVnu Alliance, is an important milestone in its mission to bring high-quality open-standard audio and video networking to professional AV, automotive, and consumer electronics segments. Several manufacturers have submitted AVB-enabled devices for AVnu Alliance's exhaustive interoperability and conformance testing, with more AVnu Alliance members expected to follow suit in the coming months. Products that complete the testing program successfully will receive an official logo of certifi

UK - Following one of the most successful years in the company's 26 year history, Creative Technology (CT) are celebrating after receiving two awards in as many weeks.

Delighted to have won the Event Production Awards Best AV Equipment Supplier, held at the London Lancaster Hotel on 5 February 2013, CT have now been confirmed as 'Favourite Video Services Company' at the Total Production Awards held at the Novotel London West Hotel.

Both awards are in recognition of CT's phenomenal year and of the enormous effort the team at CT put into London 2012 and countless other amazing events throughout 2012, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

Israel - Compulite Systems (2000) ltd have recently teamed up with coolux Media Systems to enable their Vector consoles to fully support coolux Pandora's Box Media Server.

Compulite extended their Media Server support to allow direct real time communication between Vector consoles and coolux Media Server. Media thumbnails are automatically downloaded to the console during initial communication, which allows for instant workflow. The interactive operation between the two systems extends user control capabilities, during programming and during live show time.

"Once again it's been proved that good and open collaborations between companies improves the products on both hands and mostly benefits the users in their daily work", said Yehuda Shukrun, Compulite CEO. "During the process, both companies shared a lot of necessary information to achieve the goal. Compulite

UK - One of London's iconic live music venues has invested in an Avolites Media Ai Media Server to recharge its visuals.

Camden's Electric Ballroom has installed an Avolites Media Ai T4 Media Server and is using it to serve two separate areas of the main room: the 3x2m lo-res LED screens which hang either side of the DJ booth, and the DJ box itself.

"Recently, the owner wanted to install a raised DJ box area in the main club, and discussed the idea of investing in a cutting edge visuals solution," says the venue's technical manager Steve Waterhouse. "I'd seen the electro-house producer Deadmau5 using an Immersive projection system, and needless to say was impressed with how it looked, so as soon as I heard Avolites Media had bought the media server l8 from Immersive and launched the Ai Media Server I knew that was the solution for the club.

"I have the D

UK - Lighting and visual rental specialist HSL created the lighting and video design for the 2013 Total Production International (TPi) Awards, and supplied all the necessary trussing, motors, rigging and control infrastructure plus crew needed to rig over 350 Robe lighting fixtures in the Ballroom of the Novotel, West London.

Working for TPi Awards show producers Mondiale Publishing and with event manager Ben Chadwick, the visual design was created by HSL's Tim Fawkes in collaboration with Mike Oates. HSL's event project manager was Spantax.

The basic concept was to make it "Funky, fun and more rock n roll than in previous years," states Fawkes, adding that the biggest challenge was being under pressure to produce something amazing looking to impress all the top industry professionals who were present.

All video content plus the sound track for the opening video wa

UK - Event production and audio-visual specialists Anagram used an Avolites Ai Media Server to replicate the atmosphere of the underground sewer lair of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Part of the relaunch of the cult TV series, Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP) invited over 350 guests to Shoreditch, London to announce their plans for a number of their well-known characters including: Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Anagram used the first ever eight-head Avolites Ai media server, combined with three HD10k Christie M series projectors, to project images of the well-known children's characters onto the walls of the stage in the Village Underground.

In addition, a feed was sent from the Ai to all the HD plasma screens within the room. The server's projection mapping capabilities enabled lighting programmer Russ Grub

The Netherlands - dnp denmark provided a compelling product showcase for its latest screen solutions at ISE 2013, occupying an open booth in their own right for the first time since 2009.

The showstopper was the new InvisiBezel LCD panel cover, demonstrated (with and without the bezel cover) via a 2 x 2 display of 46" LCD panels. Passers-by, captivated by the display, massed to witness how this media could be reduced from a standard 5mm bezel width to a virtually seamless 1mm with the help of the dnp 'super narrow bezel' panels. These can be mounted on top of standard LCD screens and at the same time protect the panels from scratches.

According to global sales & marketing manager S°ren Kraemmergaard, there were several differentiators embedded in the dnp system which give it a competitive edge.

"The pixels can be optically stretched at the edge of the panel via

Canada - CAST Software has announced its 2013 Video Contest, in which users of the brand new wysiwyg R30 are invited to submit their finest lighting designs for a chance to win one of three prizes. The creator of the winning video will land themselves a full one-year wyg membership, while second and third place runners-up will scoop a half-year wyg membership.

In an exciting twist on 2012's R28 competition, the use of consoles WILL be allowed, due to popular demand among previous entrants. Of course, employment of the software's Cue List and Camera Path features is perfectly acceptable and encouraged - Members are simply challenged to create a two-minute video of a stunning wysiwyg design and upload it to the CAST Software Facebook page for appraisal, initially by CAST's hand-picked judging panel, and then by the public who can vote for their favourite video via Facebook.

CAST

The Netherlands - Screen specialist displayLED has reported a marked increase in projects specifically looking for high resolution screens. The company celebrated the start of its tenth year in business at the tenth ISE show this January and recorded a significant increase in customers looking for tighter pixel pitch solutions than in previous years.

"On the top end of the scale we had on display the HRi 1.9mm - one of the world's highest resolution commercially available screens," explains Managing Director, Graham Burgess. "We had a lot of interest in our HRi systems throughout the show and had many requests for projects specifying in the 2mm - 3mm range. Most of the projects were for fixed installations with applications in high-end retail settings and entertainment venues such as casinos."

displayLED incorporated a range of its latest products into its

USA - Liberty AV Solutions and Perfect Path have jointly announced details of a distribution partnership that will add the Perfect Path line of locking high-speed HDMI cables to Liberty's extensive product catalogue.

A trademarked brand of the East Syracuse, New York-based company PPC, Perfect Path products debuted four years ago with a patented line of high-retention and locking HDMI cables that quickly garnered a reputation for performance and reliability within the residential AV, home theatre, and systems contracting markets.

With its headquarters located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Liberty AV Solutions is an AV supplier of solutions-based products ranging from bulk cable and connectors to custom plates, panels, racks, and signal distribution devices manufactured by its Intelix division.

"Partnering with Liberty is a perfect fit for our extension into the world o

UK - Crestron has announced the appointment of Matthew Browning, filling the new position of EMEA marketing campaign manager. Based in the Crestron UK office, Browning will be using his extensive marketing experience to support the dealer base throughout EMEA.

Browning's career has seen him fulfill a wide range of marketing roles that make him the appropriate candidate for this new position. Having worked in business-to-business marketing for over six years, he has been responsible for numerous successful tactical marketing initiatives for large international technology organisations in both agency and in-house positions.

"It's easy to see that Crestron is making positive noise in the market place and growing on an impressive, international scale, with incredible speed," said Browning. "The company is a huge player in the industry and I can't wait to be a part o

Australia - As the newest and largest arrival to the Phoenix Group, Parramatta Phoenix is upholding the group's passion for delivering Sydney Chinese dining experiences. As well as their well known Yum Cha and A la carte menu, the Parramatta Phoenix restaurant is also able to cater for all types and sizes of groups, with their private dining function area perfect for weddings, parties and corporate events.

Envision AV were commissioned to design and install a comprehensive audio system for the venue and with no hesitation they proposed a Jands solution.

The venue has a main restaurant level on the ground floor, a mezzanine level, a private dining room that can be divided into three when required and a function space upstairs. The main restaurant floor was a particularly challenging space acoustically with ten metre high glass walls on three sides and many demanding ceiling spa

USA - Barco provided the ultra-bright projection technology for Fresh Air Flicks to create an astonishing illusion depicting the future of automobile travel via the BMW i: A Window Into the Near Future campaign. By turning a street-level window of the MetLife building across from Bryant Park in New York into a digital reflection which morphed passing traffic into BMW's new all-electric i3 and plug-in hybrid i8 concept vehicles, event producers gave passersby a glimpse of the future of automobile transportation.

From the outset, the biggest challenge that New York-based video display integrator Fresh Air Flicks faced was the need to project moving images on a giant window in direct sunlight. After extensive testing, producers discovered that 3M Corporation's Vikuiti window film and Barco's brightest large-venue projectors were the perfect combination for achieving this fir

UK - XL Video UK supplied LED screens, projection system and Catalyst media server control for Rita Ora's first full production tour of the UK promoting her debut Ora album.

The tour's video treatment was designed by Ora's creative producers Bronski (also production manager and FOH sound engineer) and Amber Rimell (also stage director) in close conjunction with lighting designer Andy Iliffe.

It's based around creating big epic looks, lots of movement and interest, as well as working with a series of props to produce a constantly changing visual environment.

Ora supported Coldplay last summer and Bronski was impressed with the service they received from XL's crew on this, so he approached XL project managers Jo Beirne and Macca (Paul McCauley) to help devise a suitable package for the tour.

Pixled's FX-11 indoor / outdoor product was selected - 60 tiles for the main

UK - Projection artist Ross Ashton from London UK based The Projection Studio created a special giant video artwork, Spiritus on the front of All Souls Church, Cheriton near Folkestone in Kent for the 2013 Cheriton Lights Festival.

Ashton was commissioned to produce the piece by production company Strange Cargo and collaborated with sound artist Karen Monid who produced a special accompanying soundscape.

All Souls, which stands at the end of the High Street and was consecrated in 1895, is a fairly conventional parish church of its era, however it has the unusual feature of four stained glass windows depicting the four Archangels - Gabriel, Michael, Uriel and Raphael.

Ashton and Monid took these windows and the vivid colours of the peacock feathers making up their wings as the starting point of their concept.

The idea was to produce a two centre piece which worked bo

UK - XL Video has announced the appointment of Lucas Covers, former CEO of De Boer Structures and Philips Home Networks as its new Chief Executive Officer for the Group. The appointment takes effect from 1 March 2013. His management experience in closely related businesses will be a valuable asset to XL Video for the further expansion of the business, says the company.

The group decided to reinforce its top management given its high ambition to further develop the company. Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Chris Depreeuw mentions, "We are delighted to have Lucas Covers on board. This appointment must be seen as the next logical step in the evolution of XL Video. After a rewarding year 2012, the time has come to further accelerate our growth path."

René de Keyzer, founder and board member of XL Video, will take up his role as founder-president, with parti

South Africa - Extron Electronics is creating major talk ability on local soil with the recent opening of their new office in Johannesburg and their participation as exhibitors at Mediatech Africa. With offices around the world and a long standing support to the African ProAV market through the EMEA office in The Netherlands, the decision was made to establish a physical presence in South Africa where they will be able to increase support and provide easy access to training.

"One of the exciting things we have experienced recently is the positive reaction we are getting from our customers who have attended the first training classes in our Africa office. The classes help us build a strong relationship with our customers and help attendees' gain the skills they need to grow their businesses," remarks Jérôme Guéras, vice president of sales, EMEA.

Extron

Spain - The multi award-winning Christie MicroTiles display solution was firmly to the fore throughout the 27th Goya Awards ceremony held recently at the Auditorium Hotel in Madrid. There were two T-shaped stands on stage where the winners received their prizes and gave their speeches - each made up of five MicroTiles modules.

In fact, the idea of using MicroTiles actually came from the Spanish Film Academy itself. It specifically asked Elenco Audiovisión, the company commissioned with supplying the audiovisual equipment for the prize-giving ceremony, to use MicroTiles. The two displays received the signal from the mobile unit broadcasting the event.

"MicroTiles are ideal for creative displays because you can put them together in any shape or size imaginable. And afterwards you can reshuffle them into completely new designs", says Marcos Fernández, Christie sales d

UK - In an effort to drive the movement toward a common protocol for audio networking, Calrec has joined the AVnu Alliance, the industry consortium dedicated to the development and promotion of a professional-quality streaming standard for networked audio and video content based on the IEEE 802.1 Audio Video Bridging (AVB) standards.

"The AVB standard addresses Ethernet's most serious shortcomings as a transport for streaming audio," said Calrec technical director Patrick Warrington. "We know a lot about audio networking and have already brought two solutions to the table because we want to ensure that our customers' needs are well-represented in the new protocol."

"We are very pleased to welcome a broadcast audio leader like Calrec to AVnu Alliance," said Lee Minich, AVnu Alliance Marketing Work Group chair and president of Lab X Technologies. &q

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