UK - Continuing their work on a number of recent high profile productions at the National Theatre London, UK, XL Video is supplying digital LED scenery for Man and Superman at the National's Lyttelton Theatre.

The highly-acclaimed production of George Bernard Shaw's play, which stars BAFTA award-winner Ralph Fiennes in the lead role of Jack Tanner, is directed by Simon Godwin, with a video design by Luke Halls.

The production uses over 1800 modules of XL Video's Barco MiTrix LED to form digital scenery - upstage and for both side walls of the set.

The semi-transparent MiTrix LED is masked with a linear plastic which diffuses the light and enables the screens to be used for a diverse range of scenic elements throughout the show - including solid colours for interior walls, to reflect the colours of heaven and hell and to create blue skies and natural landscapes for the

UAE - Peerless-AV has opened a new warehouse location in the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone (JAFZA), Dubai, to improve response times to customers throughout the Middle East, Africa and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

"This is another strategic step in Peerless-AV's growth plan for EMEA. We are seeing rising demand for our mounts and Emerging Technology solutions from the region and the time is right for us to invest in high quality and efficient local support for customers in the region," said Adam Dent, director of international sales, Peerless-AV Europe.

The Jebel Ali location was chosen for its reputation as the pre-eminent logistics hub for the region and beyond. The warehouse will be managed by DTK, who have a 20 year history in servicing the technology market across the region. Shared with other vendors, the facility already has a wide range of Peerless-A

Europe - Electro pioneers, Kraftwerk, are currently touring the world with probably their most spectacular and innovative live show of their 45-year career - 3D concerts of their The Catalogue 12345678. Having received rave reviews across North America last year, Kraftwerk are now touring throughout Europe.

Production manager Winfried Blank made the decision in early 2014 to put DirectOut Andiamo 2.XT AES/MADI AD/DA converters on the tour. He asked for extended routing functionality to be included in the software for even greater flexibility. "We are working with digital audio signals from the source to the output," he said. "Our periphery is MADI and my idea was to travel via fibre from a couple of RME MADIface XTs to DirectOut's Andiamo 2.XT and from there via AES3 to the d&b amplifiers.

"The DirectOut Andiamo 2 series already supported MADI port r

UK - XL Video UK has announced a large investment in d3's Pro range of media servers, adding 12 units to its inventory.

The addition of the units to its existing fleet now makes XL Video the largest rental stockist of d3 media servers worldwide.

The company has made the investment as a result of growing demand for d3 from all sectors of the rental market including concert touring, and events agencies.

To ensure XL Video is able to provide the highest levels of support for the new d3 machines, XL's media server and control systems manager, Christian Dickens, has become a d3 certified trainer.

As well as providing training, XL Video has a team of in-house technicians with high-level d3 expertise who can provide support with 3D modelling and previsualisation for shows, enabling clients to see how their show will look, even from the early design stage.

XL's Christian Dickens

Belgium - Barco has added two new indoor LED displays to its display portfolio for retail and advertising. Designed for fixed indoor installation in fashion retail, automotive retail, banking or transit advertising applications, the V4i and V6i feature 4mm and 6mm pixel pitch, respectively, and combine the renowned Barco image quality with excellent contrast.

"We offer an extensive portfolio of both indoor and outdoor LED displays with low, medium, and high resolution for all types of applications in the retail and advertising market," comments Carl Rijsbrack, vice president retail & advertising at Barco.

"With the addition of the V4i and V6i to our V-series LED displays, we are expanding our range of medium-resolution displays with cost-effective models. All around the globe, Barco products have proven their worth by offering exceptional image quality, ultimate

UK - On 28 February the Odyssey Arena in Belfast played host to the boxing match relayed on live TV in the UK, featuring super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton defending his title against American Chris Avalos. Boxing in his home city, Frampton, also known as 'The Jackal', defeated Avalos inside five rounds and continued his winning streak.

Creative Technology's (CT) services were engaged to supply the IMAG screens rigged above the ring. Four 18sqm displays were flown from truss using CT's new ROE MC7 LED tiles and fed with the live footage also broadcast on ITV.

Paul Seeger, CT project manager, commented, "This was an important fight in the boxing calendar with 11,000 people watching in the sold-out Arena.

"Our aim was to enhance the audience's experience which was achieved through the use of our new 7mm resolution tiles. With their high levels of brightness an

USA - Verizon Wireless is turning up the wow factor in stores and malls around the United States, from their two-story flagship store in Chicago to the Mall of America in Minneapolis, to Houston, Santa Monica, and Boston.

Smaller "Smart Store Plus" locations that include some, but not all, of the new design features of the flagship stores are also making appearances around the United States starting in Seattle.

One of the first video features customers see when entering the stores is the Brand Focal, a video column consisting of over 100 Christie MicroTiles. The feature sits at end of the entrance walkway and displays the Verizon logo on a dynamic, animated background that interacts with shoppers using the motion tracking technology of Microsoft Kinect.

Further into the store, shoppers can explore features of various phones and service plans on the Product Wall, a

USA - XL Video US has announced the addition of German Perl as technical director media application and projection. After 10 years of developing leading edge technologies with XL Video in Dusseldorf, Perl joins the US operation to position the subsidiary for expansion into complete turnkey video and presentation solutions for its clients.

XL Video is an industry leading, global provider of high-end video display systems delivering quality LED technology, projectors, and media servers as well as experienced technical support. Perl's role is to develop emerging video solutions for innovative and aesthetically daring shows.

While with XL Video Dusseldorf, Perl played an integral part in developing proprietary show control systems for clients such as Opel and Renault.

"We are pleased to have German working with us full time. His talent and skill will take us to a new level,

Germany - With hundreds of Hippotizer V4 units joining the herd of award winning Hippotizer V3's, Green Hippo and B&K Braun get ready to showcase the latest innovations in media server technology.

Says the company, "After an incredible February with a single Hippotizer Taiga unit driving the 87th Academy Awards, we're bringing Taiga to Prolight and Sound where it will be driving the entire stand along with its smaller brothers used for private demos on the B&K stand Hall 11 stand B15-D14.

The impressive stand will also feature Boreal which recently set sail on the largest cruise ship designed for the British holiday market. The vessel, officially named by the Queen, carries 3,600 passengers with the Hippotizer Boreal controlling video playback in the ships theatre!

Three Green Hippo staff will be on site with Sascha Werner, Media & LED specialist, B&K Braun delivering m

Canada - Winnipeg's striking new Canadian Museum for Human Rights explores the universal concept of human rights with a special emphasis on Canada.

Electrosonic was contracted to do the audio-visual design of the museum's 11 galleries, and subsequently the company directed the AV equipment installation working with local partner Advance Pro. The museum features theatres, interactive touchscreen stations, projections on a digital canvas and hundreds of video clips.

Eleven media partners were involved in the build-out requiring considerable technical coordination by Electrosonic. The company worked closely with SH Acoustics, LLC of Milford, Connecticut, on the museum's audio elements.

The project posed a number of challenges due to the building's architectural profile, which was designed by US architect Antoine Predock, working with Winnipeg's Architecture 49. Designed to move

Spain - With 85,000 people attending over the course of the four days, the Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the world's largest exhibition for the mobile phone industry. Held annually in Barcelona within the purpose-built arena Fira Gran Via, the MWC is renowned as the industry's forum for launching major technological breakthroughs.

Creative Technology (CT) has supplied various exhibitors at this event over the last nine years with the London office providing most of the equipment used. As CT Spain has heavily invested in new equipment, the 2015 event involved a much larger contribution from CT Europe's resources, as well as an increased number of exhibitor stands being delivered.

CT provided services for six international clients with equipment including LED, touchscreens, audio systems, and media servers. One of the most challenging was a gala dinner held in the Museu Naciona

Europe - Continuing their long-term working relationship, XL Video have supplied a compact and versatile projection package for DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist's Renegades of Rhythm European tour.

XL Video project manager, Jay Mobbs-Beal worked with manager & production manager, Jamal Chalabi, to create the video specification for the tour.

The shows, which spanned across Europe from the UK over to Estonia and Lithuania, featured a projection backdrop flown behind the DJ booth. With varying venue sizes, XL Video supplied two different screen types for the tour - one 4.8m wide by 2.7m high, and a smaller 4.3m x 2.4m screen.

For the projection, XL Video supplied two Panasonic PT-DZ 10k projectors, one live and one backup, and a 0.8 lens and 0.36 short throw lens which were alternated dependent on venue and screen size. XL are also supplying the 0.36 lens for the continuation of the

Germany - The Sinus - Systems Integration Award is presented this year for completion of the new ARD (Consortium of German Regional Public Broadcasters) 'Tagesschau' studio. This new production environment incorporates state-of-the-art technology and is innovative in terms of its optical design. It has been home to Germany's most successful news programme since April last year. The Sinus is awarded for the creative application of AV media technology and systems integration. The awards ceremony will take place on 16 April as part of Prolight+Sound and this pre-eminent industry award will be presented to the contracting clients 'Norddeutscher Rundfunk' and 'ARD-aktuell' along with the companies involved in the project.

In addition to the news presenters' innovative desks, the most conspicuous feature of the fully refurbished studio is the 17 metre long, semi-circular multi-media w

USA - For the seventh year running, Hippotizer by Green Hippo was again the media server of choice at this year's Academy Awards, broadcast from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on 22 February.

This year however, marked a major step forward: The new Hippotizer V4 hardware and software system was put to work. One V4 Taiga, the flagship model of the new V4 range, performing a task that would have previously required at least three Hippotizer HDs, drove six video outputs, feeding all projection and LED screen content on the main stage - executing the show's artistic vision with perfectly executed looks, from a vintage theatre façade, to Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge.

In addition, in the show's screens control room, a V4 Boreal provided live 3D visualization of the entire theatre and stage, including all media content, giving the programming team both accurate real-time and pre-viz repre

Italy - XL Video returned to the gleaming modernity of the MiCo Milano Congressi conference centre in downtown Milan to provide various video solutions including projection and control, cameras / multiple PPU and crew, together with general AV support for the Cisco Live! 2015 event, working for global experience marketing agency, George P. Johnson.

Cisco Live! is the industry's premier education and training event for IT, networking and communications professionals, and XL Video's team was project managed by Nick Askew and Chris Ellis. Their brief included the provision of a diverse selection of AV set-ups to 42 breakout areas, some for up to 300 people.

An impressive main room hosted the plenary sessions and accommodated 3,500 delegates. A primary presentation stage was built in the centre of the room and connected via a runway to a satellite 'demo' stage that was used for pr

Europe - Panasonic has launched a new high brightness, 1-chip DLP projector series which is "the quietest in its class". Aimed at continuous 24-hour operation in public display and signage, as well as rental and staging applications, the DZ780 projectors feature a liquid-cooling system that reduces operating noise to just 30 dB when projecting at full lamp output power.

The dual-lamp projector outputs 7,000 lumens at WUXGA resolution and introduces a host of premium features, normally reserved for flagship large-venue projectors.

Hartmut Kulessa, marketing manager projector products, Panasonic Visual System Solutions, said, "Again in an installation-class projector, we have provided a spec sheet which will set the DZ780 series apart from the competition.

"What is more, the series reduces the total cost of ownership by doubling recommended lamp replacement

USA - After dominating the country music charts with 35 number ones, more than 60 career singles and a dedicated fan base, Alan Jackson has chosen Nashville-based Elite Multimedia Productions (EMP) to handle all lighting, video and LED for his 25th anniversary, Keepin' It Country tour, which is sponsored by Kubota Tractor Corporation.

The tour, which kicked off in early January in Fort Myers, Fla. and continues through the summer, has production needs that vary with the many different types of venues it plays. Lighting and video play a major role in the country icon's production so that audiences feel the camaraderie that is driven home through Jackson's songs.

Account manager Peter Streiff assisted in compiling lighting gear from Vari*Lite, Martin, Clay Paky and PixelFLEX LED video curtains that are all serviced through EMP, and help to creatively deliver those goals p

Germany - Avolites is powering up its latest consoles, dimmers and media servers for possibly the company's biggest ever presence at Prolight + Sound Frankfurt, on stand D40, Level 0, Hall 11.

On stand, visitors can experience the capabilities of Avolites Titan V9, new networking functionality, and display of the revolutionary Autoblend feature of Ai.

Autoblend allows blending of large projection surfaces using multiple projectors. In addition, there is a new Surface Modelling page for the creation of editable 3D sets, and performance is hugely improved, with render engine optimisation offering 50% increased video throughput. Compositing high-resolution background layers with low-resolution foreground layers is also much improved.

In Titan V9, expect to see a multitude of new features, including the amazing new Key Frame Shapes, providing the capability to create spectacular

Germany - Current HD picture signals are demanding and require a high data rate. Transmission distances beyond 10m are therefore often fraught with problems.

With the new HDMI-over-Fibre system from German manufacturer Cardinal, DVM signals with a maximum resolution of 4K x 2K - including RS232 and infrared data - can be transmitted hassle free over distances of up to 300 m via an OM3 multimode line.

The robust and compact housing (known from the DVM- 120 active series) is available in two versions: as stand-alone housing with the dimensions of 68 x 36 x 145 mm, as installation housing to fit into the modular SYSBOXX frame or the 19" SYSPANEL 5XL panel for audio distribution.

The connectors for the power supply, HDMI and IR/ RS232 have been designed as robust HICON all-metal versions and are thus perfectly suitable for the tough use "on the road".

"Our

USA - Working with lighting and set designer, Will Potts, XL Video supplied a package of scenic LED, LED IMAG screens and accompanying camera system for multi-Grammy award winner Sam Smith's US Arena tour.

The sold-out shows, in support of Smith's 'In The Lonely Hour' album, visited venues across the US and Canada during January and February 2015 including The Forum in Los Angeles, and Madison Square Garden in New York.

Will Potts' show design called for a subtle, classy video setup with Sam Smith's band all situated on varying height risers at the rear of the stage. These risers were custom-built for the tour to house XL Video's ROE MC-18T Hybrid LED, mounted into XL's own touring frames.

Will was able to achieve the specific heights and widths he required for the stepped look of the design by XL Video disassembling the standard ROE tiles and repackaging them in a more flex

UK - National tourism agency VisitBritain recently held two distinct trade events in North and Southwest England, both aimed at helping local businesses develop international tourism. The agency turned to event production supplier White Light to provide lighting and projection mapping for both events, using cutting edge technology to complement two unique historic venues in Plymouth and Yorkshire.

Ahead of its Southwest showcase, VisitBritain chose the historic Royal William Yard in Plymouth as the canvas for a special lighting and projection display. The event, held the next day at Bovey Castle, hosted over 100 suppliers from the region matching them with visiting international buyers. White Light was responsible for lighting and AV for the display. Led by Project Manager Phil Gladman, the team created an 18m projection element on the exterior of the Grade I listed building.

UK - Pixel Projects provided immersive retail solutions for the new Google shop within Currys PC World on Tottenham Court Road, London.

The Google shop-in-shop (SIS) officially launched Thursday 12 March and is selling Android phones, Chromebook laptops, and Chromecast TV service whilst offering visitors the opportunity to try out various interactive AV installations.

To provide a key focal point for the shop, AV integrator Pixel Projects installed a Portal (formally Liquid Galaxy) with software development partners End Point. The large scale panoramic display provides users with a truly immersive experience. Shop visitors can use a joystick mechanism to dive into any point of the earth, land or sea via Google maps.

For budding artists Pixel Projects also installed the Google Doodle wall, in close partnership with Deeplocal. The wall features a digital spray can, allowing us

South Africa - Cuono Biviano, the owner of VuePix and also the managing director of the Australian based ULA Group visited DWR Distribution recently.

DWR Distribution is the official distributors of VuePix in South Africa. On his visit Cuono Biviano was able to meet up rental companies MGG Productions, Multi-Media Events, Fogtech, Black Motion and In Harmony Productions.

VuePix screens are becoming the centrepiece of events and the high-resolution screens are built to impress. "It's adding a new dimension to events and for DWR, it's not only about offering our clients a good product, but having the back up from Cuono and his team. That's what really makes the difference," commented Duncan Riley of DWR. " Needless to say, once Cuono's feet touched African soil, we were in for a treat with a lot of laughter and good times in the mix."

"It was an absolu

Spain - Every year tens of thousands of visitors visit the GSMA Mobile World Congress, widely considered the "must-attend" event in the mobile industry calendar. To ensure all of the news from across the show is shared daily, the GSMA created Mobile World Live TV (MWL TV).

For the 2015 show, MWL TV executive producer Jacquie Luscombe contacted XL Video project manager, Nick Askew, to be part of a competitive bid for the studio setup for MWL TV. Prior to joining XL Video, Nick had worked with the client for the previous four years.

For this year's event XL supplied a package that included HD cameras, onsite production studio, HD recordings and media servers, as well as LED truck screens for the exterior of the Fira Gran Via venue.

Mobile World Live TV was operational throughout the four-day show and included interviews, keynotes, press conferences, studio discussion

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