Oman - XL Video supplied 150sq.m of Martin LC40 screen - the largest configuration of this surface to date - as a large format, big pixel LED solution for the opening of the new Lexus Cars showroom in Muscat, Oman.

XL was working for production company Live Communications. The Martin LC40 was specified due to its light weight and transparent properties, allowing viewers to see into the showroom whilst off, then provide large video canvass when in operation.

XL Video's brief was to fill the interior of the showroom window with a semi-transparent LED screen, showing a series of high-impact 'Wow factor' images for the reveal moment of the show. Once activated, the screen went on to show a series of graphics and video content supplied by the client and delivered via a Catalyst digital media server.

David MacIntyre, Live Communications' technical production manager states: "

UK - Stuart Reay has joined PSCo as it's new advanced product specialist, a role which has been designed to ensure PSCo continues to provide optimum technical support to its clients.

Reay has many years experience within the AV industry, specialising in visualisation for leading manufactures, such as Panoram Technologies and CRT Displays.

Managing director Stuart Holmes comments: "In response to customer feedback, it became apparent that we needed to look for an additional product specialist to support the fleet of 'advanced' products throughout complicated design integration projects and installations. Stuart's skills will also provide key logistical information, especially for the more challenging and complex projects."

"Joining PSCo is a very exciting time in my career, as it provides me with the opportunity to focus my experience working with a company wit

Norway - projectiondesign has appointed Chris Axford to the role of director of international sales & marketing. He has worked within projectiondesign for two years as senior regional sales manager, responsible for the UK and Ireland markets.

J°rn Eriksen, CEO at projectiondesign comments: "Chris has already proved himself in a senior sales role within the company. He's extremely well respected by his peers and byour important clients. In his new role, we're expecting Chris to further his outstanding contribution to projectiondesign as well as the whole Professional AV and Home Theatre industry."

(Jim Evans)

South Africa - Questek Broadcast Technologies (QBT) has recently been appointed as the local agent for Chromatec and Chord Professional audio monitoring, Chromatec video display and openGear products on behalf of Michael Stevens & Partners.

"We are thrilled at the opportunity of representing Michael Stevens & Partners in Southern Africa," says Justin Thathiah, general manager of Questek Broadcast Technologies, "Many of our customers are planning to upgrade and improve both the quality and efficiency of their operations. This new agreement allows us to offer the latest specialist technologies from a world class international partner."

"Any manufacturer benefits from an experienced reseller with good local knowledge," says Ian Burkinshaw, business development manager at Michael Stevens & Partners. "We are very pleased to be working with QBT who

Slovakia - Slovensko h?adá Superstar is a casting television show based on the popular British show Pop Idol. Broadcast twice a week from October to December by TV station Markíza, this wildly popular series to find the best young singer in the land was the highest rated TV show ever in Slovakia.

Adam Pastorek, president of Martin distributor Adam A Syn s.r.o., together with director Peter Nunez, set designer Marek Holly and chief cameraman Vlado Valko, decided on a modern set design featuring the Martin LC Series LED video screens.

Dominating the set design upstage centre was a large LED video wall consisting of 28 LC 2140 panels vertically divided so they could open for competitors to enter the stage. It was the LC Series' versatility and light weight that allowed for this entrance "gate" to be realized. Stage right and left were more LC Series pane

UK - XL Video UK is again supplying video production and crew for the X-Factor Live 2008 tour, an all-action performance featuring a strong line up of the 10 finalists from the 2007 BBC TV series.

Dan Omerod is the live video director. Show director is Tim Byrne, the set has been designed by Iain Whitehouse from Production North and production manager is Sarah Hollis. The tour is being project managed for XL by Jo Beirne and Phil Mercer, and is one of a number of shows they are working on this spring for Leeds-based Production North in conjunction with Blink TV.

Phil Mercer adds, "As screen supplier for the recent ITV series it's been a good challenge for XL to adapt the system for touring whilst still maintaining the overall scale, variety and quality of the original TV studio based design."

Similar to the TV show, X-Factor Live is fast-paced and involves l

UK - Specialist audio visual distributor AVM has announced a new distribution partnership with Christie. The agreement sees AVM become Christie's distributor for the UK audio visual market and brings its range of single chip and three chip DLP projectors to AVM's channel customers.

Commenting on the new agreement, Mark Nisbet, AVM's managing director said: "Christie is recognised as a pioneer of DLP technology and their success in both professional display applications and in particular d-cinema has earned them and their products an unrivalled reputation for image quality. This expertise is reflected right across their range, and with their bespoke approach to developing projectors designed for individual applications, it means that resellers can offer truly tailored solutions to their customers."

Dale Miller, vice-president EMEA for Christie said: "We've chosen

UK - PSL's video display technology was deployed in an innovative musical performances, as non-conformist band The Bays joined with the Heritage Orchestra for the world premiere of a new piece of music which was being written as the musicians played. This hugely ambitious musical challenge was undertaken at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, as part of the city's Fresh festival.

The Bays famously don't rehearse; their music is improvised and spontaneous, and different at every performance. But this show was edgy, even by their standards. Musicians in the Heritage Orchestra played the notes in real time as they were written by two 'live composers' John Metcalfe and Simon Hale; with the four members of the Bays - drummer Andy Gangadeen, bassist Chris Taylor and keyboard and effects men Jamie Odell and Simon Richmond - joining in, the results prompted Metcalfe and Hale to interact an

UK - Media Powerhouse has announced the arrival of video engineering expert Simon Cox, formerly of Blitz Communications.

Cox joins after 10 years as head of engineering at Blitz and has long experience of developing video and widescreen video. He was responsible for its video offering and designed a multipurpose Multi Definition Portable Production Unit (MDPPU) which proved to be a tremendous success with clients.

At Media Powerhouse, Cox will assist in the research, development and sourcing of new equipment to ensure that the business is at the forefront of video technology and provide quality solutions for its increasing client base, says the company.

Simon Cox comments: "I am extremely excited to join such a new and ambitious company. I'm also looking forward to working together with Kevin Orwin to design and supply the very latest technologies and equipment availabl

Germany - In addition to the worldwide debut of High End's two newest products - the DL.3 and the Road Hog Programming and Playback Wings - attendees at ProLight & Sound in Frankfurt are eligible to enter a draw to win a new Road Hog Full Boar console with Playback Wing.

The DL.3. This integrates a media server loaded with a wealth of digital content with a 6500 lumen 3-chip LCD projector, a highly sensitive HAD sensor camera and an infrared illumination system. Among many new features of DL.3 are its high 2000:1 contrast ratio for a dark 'video black,' lens options for longer throw projection applications, SDI input/output for professional AV markets, and new art libraries with high resolution content.

Also debuting are the new Road Hog Programming and Playback Wings, designed for Wholehog control systems including the Wholehog 3, Road Hog Full Boar, Hog iPC and Hog 3PC.

Ot

UK - Event services company PSL successfully completed a UK tour supplying video projection and screens Madness, culminating in a rotating 'in-the-round' set at the massive 20,000-seater O2 Arena in London.

PSL supplied four 20ft x 15ft projection screens to fulfil the specification of video director Julian Hogg, using the new Christie Roadster S+20K DLP projectors to provide a mix of pin-sharp graphics, Madness' own material created by Tim Fleming of Plastic Pictures and live footage, generated by PSL's eight-camera PPU, all using Sony cameras.

"With the stage itself rotating, we had to have more cameras than usual to provide front coverage," explained Hogg, doing his first show in the O2 Arena. "This was an unusual show for Madness as it was set in-the-round. We were flying our screens nearly 50ft in the air, above the lighting grid and below the PA, sitting i

UK - XL Video UK supplied MiTrix screens to Mark Ronson's LD Matt Arthur for the latest UK leg of the Brit Award winning star's tour. XL worked closely with lighting suppliers Lite Alternative, who supplied the Catalyst digital media server and suggested using media server tech Stevie Marr to look after both elements of the video.

Upstage were five 'fingers' of MiTrix, each 1.5m wide with a 4.5m drop, rigged with six 250Kg CM Prostar motors (two for the centre panel and one each for the others) suspended inside an upstage truss. These fingers were each constructed from 54 panels of MiTrix and spread out into a 1960's style fan, as Ronson was particularly keen on a retro look for the stage.

There were several risers spread across the stage, including a downstage section for people and dancers, accessed via two sets of stairs. All the riser fronts were bordered by MiTrix panels,

UK - As part of an ongoing sponsorship arrangement, Compulite and Fuzion, its UK distributor, have recently upgraded RADA's Compulite Vector Orange console to a Vector Green.

The console was first used on the production of Little Women staged in the Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre at the beginning of February. The main design concept for the show utilises video, designed by Nigel Sadler from Green Hippo, to transform the set into numerous different locations for the different scenes in the production.

Lighting designer Matt Prentice used moving lights as specials to keep the light off the video projection, these included three ETC Source 4 Revolutions and six Clay Paky Alpha Halos all supplied by Stage Electrics London, another major RADA sponsor.

(Jim Evans)

UK - The Mission's recent farewell tour brought much of its own to the stage, but it also gave many nods to some of the highlights of the band's touring past. The rig was structurally reminiscent of some of the first tours they did, with a custom Pre Rigged Truss Arch from the 80s containing a backdrop with an album's cover art on it. The only problem was however, that the original canvas backdrop no longer existed. So instead lighting director Adam Stevenson from Entec turned to Martin's LC2140 for the solution.

"We really wanted to have the album artwork in the arch, and we thought about projecting it, but there were some limitations for projections, especially with the shape of the arch we used. So we thought; how about a screen instead?

"The LC screens were perfect and the audience and band loved it. For the last four nights we used the first four albums, so one

Eire - Barco has installed a large-scale, visual decision-making environment in the main auditorium at Google's Irish headquarters. The Barco display is equipped with advanced imaging and multi-windowing capabilities, and is used to magnify auditorium presentations and create an information-rich, engaging forum for collaborative discussions.

For years, Google was using complex switching and cabling setups, as well as multiple remotes to connect and operate its projectors in order to show various presentations. Google AV/IT staff found this arrangement costly and time consuming. As such, Google decided to replace its existing projection equipment in its auditorium with an up-to-date visual system that offered only the best in terms of ease of use and projecting various types of content simultaneously and flexibly. After an extensive review of display solutions, Google narrowed do

UK - High-performance dnp optical screens are being adopted by the SA Media Group to offer a radical high-impact, rear projection digital solution for advertisers on portable outdoor displays.The high-impact innovation is the brainchild of Scott Anthony, who recognised 15 years ago that products being displayed for outdoor media campaign solutions were not up to agency/media standards. "This was an area crying out for innovation," he said.

Anthony developed his own portfolio of flexible mobile media advertising vehicles. "These were primarily poster media vehicles - however, I started to look at digital media possibilities when I was engaged with private and public sector campaigns, educating people about the risks associated with drink driving. We needed to engage with all the senses - audio as well as visual."

It was then that SA Media Group were introduc

Russia - Inaugurated in 2000 and now in its ninth year, the annual Laureus World Sports Awards was staged this year in the historic Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall (formerly known as the Kirov Opera and Ballet) in St Petersburg and was televised to a worldwide audience.

Working for production company Done and Dusted, audiovisual services company Creative Technology (CT) provided the event's demanding screen requirements, a service it has been providing to the Laureus Awards for the past three years whilst sister company, Dimension Audio, was on hand to address its audio needs.

In charge of CT's five-man crew was project manager Alex Leinster, who explains what was involved: "We used Barco OLite 612 modules for the main screen in an 8x6 module which was split into four columns that were tracked backwards and forwards on a Vertigo Rigging system during the show, to create en

Ireland - Dublin-based High Resolution Lighting co-ordinated the supply of all video, digital and visual control elements for the 2008 final of You're A Star, Ireland's popular quest to find new singing talent.

The final was staged in the Helix Theatre at the City of Dublin University and the contemporary video-based visual design combined ideas from the creative team of lighting designer Andrew Leonard, set designer Molly Malloy and moving light and Catalyst programmer/operator Peter Canning. Sound was engineered by Paul Ashe-Brown using the house rig.

The show was produced by Screentime ShinAwiL, directed by Pat Cowap and broadcast live on RTE 1 where it consistently topped the Saturday night ratings. The 2008 final was won by Limerick singer Leanne Moore, who beat Wicklow singer Robyn Kavanagh on the results show, with the other finalist, Deidre Archbold from Cork vo

Ireland - Green Hippo's Hippotizer media servers are frequently seen on big spectaculars and events but it is sometimes easy to overlook their involvement in the quieter projects. Quiet is perhaps the wrong word when describing the phenomenal performances of dancer Colin Dunne, whose latest solo work, Out of Time, Green Hippo has just sponsored.

Performed at the Glór Theatre, Ennis in February, before going on tour later this year, Out of Time explores Dunne's private world as a dancer rooted in the Irish step dance tradition. It looks to the past for simple beginnings as he examines his relationship with a tradition that has shaped his life.

Dunne wanted to find a way to present traditional Irish dance within a contemporary setting and an introduction to Green Hippo's Sean Westgate by the show's director, Sinead Rushe, was the beginning of an evolutionary, crea

USA - Nordstrom, one of America's leading fashion specialty retailers, recently turned to lighting designer and programmer Mike Casale for a spectacular visual display for their Annual Men's Fashion Show on Chicago's trendy Michigan Avenue. Casale employed Intelligent Lighting Creations (ILC) to bring his vision to life.

Using Martin's new LC Series panels and Maxedia media server, both Casale and ILC were able to create an atmosphere that would complement the designs while garnering the crowd's full attention.

"The LC Series panels provided an excellent backdrop for the runway and stage area," said Bob Moisan of Intelligent Lighting Creations. "The output of the LED's was tremendous and created an exciting event for the audience as well as the production crew."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Visual designer Nick Jevons of Electric Fly Productions used an Avolites Diamond 4 for controlling lighting for the first Radio 1XTRA Live event staged at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Show visuals were played back from a Maxedia media server triggered by a Pearl Expert console run by Jake Jevons.

The show featured Akon, Chris Brown, Kelly Rowland and Craig David and was the first of its kind to be staged by the BBC's popular digital urban music channel. It was broadcast live on 1XTRA and recorded for a BBC 2 live special and BBC Digital's Red Button channel.

Jevons was brought onboard by producer Dave McColmont of Angel Music, following his many ground-breaking designs integrating video and lighting for the BBC's One Big Weekend events. All lighting and rigging was supplied by Blackburn-based HSL, with visuals and control from Electric Fly, and screens from

UK - A Catalyst V 4 digital media server is at the core of Paul Normandale's visual design for the 2008 James Blunt world tour. It replaces a previous digital media server and is being operated on tour by lighting director Glen Johnson, who is also running lights and overseeing all the design aspects of the show.

Normandale and Johnson have created a varied set of visual content which runs throughout the set, produced from a variety of sources including the Catalyst library, websites and selected and re-cut James Blunt videos, some of which have never been shown before.

"Using Catalyst allows daily onsite editing and scaling, and also the development of images for colour palette and the various media surfaces," says Normandale.

The tour was conceived for American arenas and has been scaled accordingly for the European section. The design had a regal theme using Blu

Norway - Sarner, renowned for creating visitor attractions and engineering AV systems around the globe, has just completed another major commission in Norway. 'Our Fragile Climate' is a new visitor attraction at the Norwegian Glacier Museum in Fjaerland.

Sarner produced a powerful design concept aimed at visually communicating the effects of climate change on our environment. Michael Bennett, lead designer and creative director at Sarner, commented on the scale of the project: "Our brief was to provide a unique experience to the visitor, highlighting the current issues of global warming. We have delivered a highly creative solution, supported by the latest technological advances, to portray the full story of how our climate has changed - from the creation of earth through to the potential hazards we may be facing in the future."

Sarner's educational showpiece deliver

Finland - FogScreen Inc, creator of the "dry" fog walk-through projection screens, has announced the latest additions to its rapidly growing AV Rental Partner Program. In the first quarter of 2008, FogScreen has added new partners in Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Japan, Russia, Turkey and the United States.

"The feedback from our partners in the AV Rental Partner Program has been great worldwide," said Mika Koivula, CEO of FogScreen. "Because our partners are seeing such incredible uptake in the market, many of them are attaining payback on their purchases in only 3 to 6 months and are already adding additional screens to their inventory to keep up with demand. The interest has been so incredible that we have doubled the total number of partners in the past four months."

FogScreen Inc says it is working closely with all its resellers and dea

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