With a good portion of the exhibition's content (some 40-50% according to Blackman) geared towards residential applications, there was still much for the professional commercial and architectural markets. So what would you have seen there? Well, lots of systems . . . display systems, projection systems, sound, video, lighting, conferencing and broadcast monitoring systems, among others.
And control systems: Control, of course, is where the 'integration' part comes into it - how do you talk to all of these systems? Crestron and AMX were present with their top-end solutions, and Gator Systems, which works in partnership with these and other manufacturers in developing specific control solutions, also attended. D-Tools showed its latest System Integrator software (SI4), which offers designers and integrators a powerful set of tools to design and engineer complete systems, along with full management and documentation.
Also present, and attracting a great deal of attention in this field, was Stardraw.com, whose revolutionary Stardraw Control software, winner of an Award for Innovation at the PLASA Show last Autumn, is set to offer an unprecedented level of affordability and flexibility for systems designers and installers. The software is itself built on cutting-edge computing technology: David Snipp says that Microsoft's dotNET technology represents a leap forward in computing at least as significant as that from DOS to Windows. If you haven't yet looked at Stardraw Control, do check it out.
the acquisitive iLight Group was highlighting some of its recent large-scale lighting installations, many of them in the booming Middle East. iLight introduced a new 320 x 240 pixel colour touch screen to its iCAN range, offering a flexible means of controlling complex building lighting installations.
Stumpfl, an Austrian manufacturer displaying projection screens, also showed a full-on show control system it has been marketing for several years and which they tell us is now in use in 5,000 applications worldwide. This takes a time-line approach to a multitude of show events, with real-time update. The software is modular - users just pay for the code to activate the features they need. Electrosonic's Media Networks Division showed the VisionNetwork VN-Glimpse RGB adapter, designed to distribute an RGB computer signal over a network to terminal devices. Also on show were the range of HD players, with three models offering high resolution image playback.
Loudspeaker manufacturers were out in force, showing their latest install ranges: Martin Audio tested the ISE water with the AQ series first seen at PLASA '04, and found it to its liking; coming into contact with new UK installers was an unexpected bonus, said Simon Bull. Dutch-based Duran Audio showed its AXYS Intellivox range of digitally-steerable loudspeaker arrays, while another Dutch manufacturer, Alcons Audio showed its ribbon-based QR install Series, alongside its line array products; the company's Tom Back reported good results in a number of comparative listening tests for Alcons' products. Tannoy was also there, as was German manufacturer K.M.E.
Meyer Sound was promoting its Galileo loudspeaker management system, first seen at AES in San Francisco last autumn (see L&SI Dec. 2004). This is the company's first DSP product, and carries algorithms for all Meyer's previous analogue processing equipment. Recent European installs for Meyer speaker systems include the Phil
