UK - Robe launches a major new green initiative - Think of the Future - Consider Nature- at PLASA 2010 to underline its ongoing commitment to developing and producing genuinely cutting-edge, innovative and energy saving products.

Using Robe's latest products, the booth lightshow will consume 30% less power than before, and look equally impressive, says the company.

There will also be no less than seven newly launched environmentally friendly moving light and LED products on stand 1-F47 from the Czech Republic based manufacturer.

Says MD Josef Valchar, "Robe has already been operating a strong green policy for several years, we are not just jumping onboard a current trend, and now is the time to push this philosophy to the next level". He adds that Robe intends to keep at the forefront of developing sustainable technologies and encouraging everyone to think s

Canada/UK - CAST Software and AVW-TELAV Audio Visual Solutions, both of Toronto, have announced that after a very exhaustive search and evaluation, AVW-TELAV has chosen a replacement for MeetingMatrix: Vivien from CAST. AVW-TELAV will commence the rollout to all of its offices of the Vivien Standard effective immediately. CAST will also supply training and tech support.

CAST Software will be demonstrating Vivien during PLASA2010. In addition to Vivien, CAST will also be showing their groundbreaking industry products wysiwyg, BlackBox and the new BlackTrax.

Vivien2010 is an intuitive, 3D event design and sales software designed for the full spectrum of event professionals who work in the special events and meetings industry. Computer skills can range from novice to highly advanced. It empowers users to conceive, design, sell, manage, and produce stunning events.

Derek Anderso

UK - A strong upsurge in PLASA 2010 visitor registrations has taken the total soaring past last year's pre-registered figure, with over two weeks still to go before the show opens.

Over 2,000 chairmen, 800 lighting designers, 1,000 engineers, 900 technicians / programmers and 500 installers are among them - with concert & touring, live events and theatre the fastest growing sectors and impressive growth coming from the AV visitor figures too. Confirming that PLASA 2010 continues to be viewed as a truly international event, 30% of registrations are from non-UK visitors.

Interest has been high as organiser PLASA Events has announced a stream of over 60 new and returning exhibitors over the summer, joining the show's regular cast of hundreds of key international brands, between them preparing to launch an estimated 500 new audio, video, lighting and stage technology products.

A

UK - At PLASA 2010, Wireless Solution Sweden will be showing the newest revolution of Wireless DMX control, W-DMX Generation 4. In addition to showcasing the new product line, Wireless Solution will hold a Wireless University seminar and for the first time at PLASA, bring the popular Swedish vodka and meatball party to the venue.

The new G4 product line includes Adaptive Frequency Hopping technology to avoid interference from Wi-fi, Intercom and other radio products, W-DMX invisi-wire and data-safe technologies for unparalleled fidelity, and support of RDM (Remote Device Management) so units can be configured remotely with no fuss or cables. W-DMX G4 is the only product on the market to support the 5.8GHz band as standard, ensuring that even if the 2.4GHz band becomes too crowded with other users, your lighting control remains rock solid. G4 also has the highest output power, up

UK - Experimental theatre group Punchdrunk joined forces with English National Opera to present a version of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, with a little help from Stage Electrics.

The play was performed in a three-storey office and warehouse complex in the Royal Albert Basin, East London. Stage Electrics' London Bridge branch supplied large quantities of equipment which included cabling, distro, dimming, lanterns and haze machines for this extraordinary production.

"We knew from the start that this was going be a massive project. With a particularly short lead-time and a huge amount of space to cover, it was vital that we could depend on our suppliers. Stage were able to provide us with all the kit and more importantly the backup we needed throughout the project," commented Euan Maybank, technical director, Punchdrunk.

Business development manager Pau

UK - Martin Professional is bringing its latest range of professional luminaries, creative LED panels, atmospheric effects, sophisticated control systems, and "a revolutionary surprise" to PLASA 2010.

The Martin stand will display an innovative line that includes "a product certain to be a springboard for revolutionary lighting designs".

The MAC 350 Entour is a cutting edge LED profile fixture. Featuring proprietary LED technology, it is the market's first real alternative to traditional HID-based profile fixtures. In a package smaller and lighter than market leading 250 watt fixtures, the MAC 350 Entour exceeds even 300 watt fixtures in brightness, says the company.

The MAC III Performance is a high-output profile moving head with a new interleaved framing system with full crossover of each blade and industry-first continuous rotation for new projection,

Fringe Records - The Edinburgh Fringe has broken last year's box office record by selling almost two million tickets. The three-week long arts festival sold 1,955,913 tickets, up more than 5% on last year. Festival organisers calculated that there were 40,254 performances of 2,453 shows in 259 venues across the city.

Fringe Society chief executive Kath Mainland said: "Edinburgh is without doubt the world's leading festival destination." In addition to official venues, the Fringe High Street Events team registered 662 acts from street performers to buskers and Fringe artists. An estimated 21,148 performers took to the stage during Fringe 2010 and 558 shows were absolutely free. Comedy made up 35% of the Fringe programme, followed closely by Theatre with 29%. Music 16%, Musicals & Opera 5%, Dance & Physical Theatre 4.5%, and Children's shows 4%, made up the rest o

Portugal - Jands Vista I3 lighting consoles have provided show lighting control for the latest tours of high-profile Portuguese artists Blasted Mechanism and João Pedro Pais.

Portuguese lighting design company, Lamp On! Creative Solutions has three Vista I3 lighting consoles in its rental stock for use by its team of lighting designers - Vitor Azevedo, brother Pedro Azevedo and Rui Rodrigues. The company chose the mid-range Vista I3 model due to its combination of affordability and built-in Linux operating system.

LD Vitor Azevedo used one of the Vista consoles on the recent João Pedro Pais Portuguese tour to launch their latest album, A Palma E A Mão. The wide variety of venue sizes, ranging from small clubs to large outdoor arenas, necessitated using different local suppliers and rigs on a daily basis. As with his previous tours using the Vista, Azevedo found that the con

USA - Longtime grandMA user Chris Kuroda, who's marking his 22nd year as the lighting designer for the rock band Phish, has taken a pair of grandMA2 full-size consoles along on the musicians' cross-country summer tour. Lighting programmer Andrew Giffin suggested using the grandMA2 for lighting control, and Kuroda reports that the two desks have been "a 100 percent complete and utter success. They've been incredibly wonderful - I'm very happy with them".

"Phish is a jam band. There's no set list and you never know what song is coming next, so you have to pay attention," Kuroda explains. "We need to programme the lighting so we can grab anything very quickly. So I have the grandMA2 broken up into two worlds: one is a punter mode than runs on the fly and follows the music as it goes, and the other is a cue stack. Sometimes we're changing cue times by hundre

Sweden - LumenRadio has in cooperation with the Swedish Department of Energy, the University of Lund, Sweden's largest property manager Riksbyggen, and leading European fixture manufacturer Fagerhult completed two large scale exterior lighting installations with a scientific twist.

These systems pioneer the application of mixed protocol wireless lighting controls and fixture feedback, as well as motion and environmental sensor inputs, in large outdoor public areas. All outdoor fixtures in the targeted residential areas were replaced with modern energy efficient LED fixtures and a unified infrastructure for wireless controls and sensors was installed. Fagerhult supplied the lighting fixtures, Riksbyggen managed the practical and legal matters, and LumenRadio provided custom CRMX wireless lighting control and monitoring systems.

The effort was part of a larger scientific project

UK - Wimbledon-based White Light is one of six companies shortlisted in the Best Green Business category of the Merton Business Awards 2010.

Organised by Merton Council, the local council covering White Light's south Wimbledon base, along with South London Business and the Merton Chamber of Commerce, the awards are designed to reward and celebrate the many dynamic and innovative businesses in the borough.

White Light's nomination is in the Best Green Business category, intended to "reward companies with an environmental conscience". The nomination reflects White Light's work over the last few years both to reduce White Light's own environmental impact and to promote improved techniques, practices and equipment for reducing the environmental impact of the shows and events it supplies.

This has seen White Light involved in a wide range of activities, from investing h

USA - Barco has announced the release of a fully optimized digital lighting package that harnesses the high brightness and DLP-quality video capabilities of the DML-1200 digital light and combines it with Axon Media Server. This improved solution offers tour companies, corporate events managers and fixed installations, such as houses of worship, expanded opportunities for creating dynamic, multi-faceted shows in a variety of rental and fixed applications, says the company.

The DML-1200 was originally designed as a dual moving digital luminaire and high-quality video projector, offering unlimited image selection with the ability to seamlessly switch between video projection and light mode, cue by cue. The Axon provides lighting designers with a full complement of digital lighting features, including collage and curved surface support, warping and edge blending, and access to thou

USA - Tomcat USA has announced an expanded partnership with 4Wall Entertainment as an official Tomcat Master Stocking Distributor. 4Wall Entertainment is a full-service lighting company with locations nationwide that specializes in providing entertainment lighting systems.

"4Wall has been a key client for many years. Similar to Tomcat, 4Wall is a company that values integrity, quality and performance," commented Don Dimitroff, sales and marketing director for Tomcat USA. "And through the Master Stocking Distributor programme, together we will be able to better serve our customers on the East and West Coasts and throughout North America."

In its role as a Master Stocking Distributor, 4Wall will carry a full stock of Tomcat truss at their Las Vegas, Nevada and Moonachie, New Jersey locations.

(Jim Evans)

UK - The Saturday night TV show Tonight's The Night is back for its second series and Richard Martin Lighting hotly anticipated which fixtures lighting designer Roger Williams would opt for this time. Tom Sutherland programmed the show.

This season, the lighting rig incorporated a heavy variety of the Clay Paky range including Alpha Spot 575 HPE, Alpha Beam 700 and Alpha Wash 300.

"It's the first time I have used the 700 beams which were astonishingly bright and so versatile. I used just the 700 beams for quite a few numbers throughout the series, they really made the show," says Williams.

The rig also included Martin LC Panels with P3 Controller. Various LED Lights completed the look - including LED Par 36, 2 Lights, iCove QL and Chroma Strips.

(Jim Evans)

USA - The growth and success of Australian lighting solutions company ENTTEC has led to the opening of its first North American office and factory this summer: ENTTEC Americas, LLC.

Located in Durham, N.C., ENTTEC Americas houses the US sales and warehousing operations for the Melbourne-based ENTTEC. The US operation's large showroom displays its variety of lighting control systems for both training and demonstration purposes.

"We started our US operation five years ago. Since then we have seen steady growth every year," says Nicolas Moreau, ENTTEC's founder and managing director. "The next logical step was to open an office and factory space to further support our North American customers; a location where we would offer training for our existing product line and our new LED-based products. I'm really excited by this new project and confident our customers will

UK - Han-Yellock is a new industrial connector series from Harting which incorporates a number of features that make it suited to use in stage automation, concert lighting and power distribution systems.

In addition to offering an IP67 mated degree of protection, the connector features an integrated 'seat-belt' style latched locking mechanism that ensures damage limitation under harsh handling conditions. The new connector also allows single-handed mating or unmating, making it suitable for fitting in awkward access areas - often the case for theatre installations.

The locking facility is a key function of the Han-Yellock connector. When locked, the connection is resistant to vibration and shock. When unmated, a red ring is visible around the perimeter of the locking pushbutton. When fully mated, this ring disappears as soon as the internally protected stainless-steel springs

UK - The first shipment of the new Chroma-Q Color Force coloured LED fixture range has gone straight into the rental stocks of UK production companies in the event, broadcast and performance lighting sectors. Early adopters include Colour Sound Experiment, DBN Lighting and White Light.

Colour Sound Experiment managing director, Haydn Cruickshank comments, "I've used various LED battens before, but in my experience, none of them have been bright enough to adequately light large stage backdrops. The Color Force fills this need perfectly. I expect it to do really well on our clients' productions needing a powerful stage theatrical style cyc light."

DBN lighting designer, Stephen Page notes, "The Color Force batten offers exceptional brightness and versatility. There's ample output to uplight or downlight stage backdrops, plus the RGBA optics deliver a full range of

Argentina - Teatro Colón, the main opera house in Buenos Aires and considered one of the best five opera houses in the world, was recently refurbished with a grandMA2 full-size console and a grandMA2 replay unit.

The city government's original 'master plan' in 2006 involved structural restoration, but Mayor Mauricio Macri decided on a total facelift across the board costing US$ 100 million - the most expensive heritage restoration in Argentina's history - in order to improve both the building's structure and to bring it up to date technologically.

Ernesto Diz was in charge of the lighting system's bid specification. Diz, founder of Estudio Diz, was a professor of lighting design at the Buenos Aires University, and is the lighting and stage designer of several buildings in Argentina and around the world, including Teatro Argentino de la Plata, Teatro Municipal de Bahia Blanca,

UK - Colour Sound Experiment, the specialist lighting and sound designers, today announced investment of over £300,000 worth in new kit, to meet the requirements for Dizzee Rascal's summer tour and exploit high demand for lighting over the festival season. Investments include 25 Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500s, 60 Chroma-Q Color Force 72 LED battens and 6 GLP Impressions.

Festival season is always a busy time of year for Colour Sound Experiment, with an increasing number of headline acts on its books, it needed to rapidly scale-up its product portfolio, to include even bigger spots and popular lighting effects such as GLP impressions. Let down by its High Street lender, Colour Sound Experiment turned to Azule Finance, the specialist sound and lighting finance provider, to source a rapid and competitive quote.

Haydn Cruickshank, MD Colour Sound Experiment explained: "

UK - Entec Sound & Light supplied sound and lighting equipment plus 19 crew for a non-stop get-in, show and performance marathon Night of Bliss, the biggest ever Christian Conference in the UK - for the Christ Embassy Church at the O2 Arena.

The event featured various Christ Embassy ministers who delivered blessings, prayers and sermons to the crowd. Speakers included Pastor Anita and Pastor Chris Oyakhilome. A live worship band and a choir of over 1000 voices accompanied them. The whole event was also recorded for DVD.

Entec's heavy schedule demanded some nimble logistics, so they brought Simon Tutchener onboard as technical production manager for the project, to integrate their services into a vast XL Video set-up, Hawthorn set design and four rigging teams from Summit Steel. Eat To the Beat and Stage Miracles completed the cast. Tutchener was also the anchor between

UK - Wireless Solution Sweden will be debuting the latest addition to the award-winning W-DMX line, the BlackBox F-2500, during PLASA 2010.

The W-DMX BlackBox F-2500 can act as two transmitters, two receivers, and one repeater - three functions in one. It also supports Dual Band of 2.45GHz and 5.8GHz as standard. It carries patent technology for adaptive frequency hopping, error correction, and high fidelity.

Bundled with the new W-DMX Bluebox RDM Controller, the F-2500 offers a breadth of control capability, says the company. The Bluebox RDM Controller is a PC based DMX and RDM controller for controlling large rigs of RDM enabled products. It allows users to search for any RDM enabled product in a DMX/RDM Network, automatically patch and control the fixture, receive status updates and configure settings such as fixture mode, lamp on/off and more.

In addition to the F-2500 a

Hong Kong - GLP has set up a new base in Hong Kong with the formation of GLP German Light Products Asia Ltd. Under the supervision of general manager Michael Münz, it will provide a third global axis for the company, following its success in Europe, and subsequent expansion into the US.

"As the brand was becoming more internationally recognised, this development was an obvious consequence," says Münz. "Hong Kong is the perfect hub to reach out to the Asian markets."

Situated on Hong Kong Island, next to the Central Business District, the main focus will be on pan-Asian sales and support - not only for the growing roster of GLP LED moving head and control products but also G-LEC visual technology.

Explaining the rationale, Münz continues, "Faced with growing sales spread throughout Asia, it became increasingly important to keep a closer eye on this

UK - Robe is launching its new Robin 600 and 300 LEDWash fixtures at PLASA 2010 - these are two of a raft of nine new environmentally friendly lighting fixtures slated for release by the Czech Republic manufacturer at the London, UK, exhibition.

The super-slim Robin LEDWash 600 features 37 x 10 Watt RGBW multichip LEDs that are each individually controllable. These are arranged in three concentric rings designed for creating colour and pattern effects when pointed towards an audience, as well as for providing comprehensive, even wash coverage of performers, stages, spaces and scenery.

The Robin LEDWash 300 is a compact fixture weighing a mere 10 Kgs. It utilises 108 single RGB 3 Watt LEDs and has a motorised zoom of between 12 and 40 degrees giving great flexibility. The life expectance of the lamp is 50,000 hours and once again, superior homogenisation of the lightsource ensu

UK - Highlite International is launching a new Showtec product at Plasa 2010: Cobrastrip, nominated for for a PLASA Award 2010.

The new Cobrastrip is a flexible striplight. All lights can be rotated and twisted against each other which allows you to make nearly any shape, this means a lot of possibilities. Each lamp can be individually controlled allowing you to create impressive chases and programmes.

Also, the Cobrastrip has multiple DMX modes selectable, and the Cobrastrip already contains 16 built-in programmes for simple applications. Power input is via Neutrik Powercon. DMX signal is transferred by Neutrik three-pole XLR connectors

Multiple Cobrastrips can be mounted together mechanically. Each Cobrastrip has 11 M10-thread mounting points to give you enough possibilities to mount the fixture or rig it on a safe way.

(Jim Evans)

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