Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Video and AV

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Australia - Opening its doors in Alexandria, Sydney on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 October, TDC Studios will give film, TV, events and advertising industry professionals up-to-the-minute insight into research and development, an opportunity to try and test out technology and participate in discussions about XR and Virtual Production.
“Australia is becoming a centre of excellence in digital filmmaking,” said David O’Connor (DOC), technical project manager at TDC Studios. “Virtual production has grown significantly over the past few years and we’re seeing a boom in high-end production techniques that mirror that growth.”
For this event, TDC Studios will be showcasing innovations with technology from ARRI, Barco, GhostFrame, Megapixel VR, Pixotope and others to demonstrate the very latest in XR technology through demonstrations of XR broadcast workflows, augmented

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China - ROE Visual has unveiled the Topaz Series, an addition to its LED panel line-up. Topaz combines ROE Visual quality with a cost-effective solution, making it a suitable choice for AV rental companies and event organisers seeking a creative, flexible, reliable LED solution that allows a superior return on investment.
At its core, the Topaz Series includes standard LED panels that uphold the highest quality standards ROE Visual is known for. The series encompasses curved panels that seamlessly bend and shape to accommodate the most imaginative stage designs and specially engineered panels that effortlessly assemble to create 90° corners and cubes, thus allowing for limitless possibilities in stage setups and visual storytelling.
"We are thrilled to introduce the Topaz series," states Jason Lu, CEO of ROE Visual. "We believe innovation is the key to transforming th

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USA - Founded in 1829, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is famous for its multi-disciplinary blend of technology, the arts and design. The acclaimed university provides a wide range of academic opportunities for its more than 19,000 students and more than 135,000 graduates from 50 states and over 100 nations.
Recently, RIT completed a highly anticipated building project on its campus called the Shed, short for Student Hall for Exploration and Development. This new creative hub will centralise the university’s makerspace and performing arts studios and theatres.
An important visual detail of the inspiring structure is the new 3072 x 3584px Planar LED marquee, a key component of the Shed’s celebration space, which was donated by RIT’s alumnus Austin McChord.
The successful entrepreneur is an avid supporter of his alma mater and favours the experiential

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UK - Gary Numan, celebrated reaching an impressive 1,000th gig milestone by performing three consecutive shows at London's Electric Ballroom. To mark this remarkable journey, lighting designer David Howard was enlisted to create an immersive backdrop that encapsulated every essence of Numan's career.
Independent lighting designer David Howard boasts a diverse portfolio spanning music tours, special events, and more. From working with artists like Jo Quail and The Hoosiers to contributing his expertise to prestigious events like Glastonbury and MCM Comic Con, Howard's creative flair knows no bounds.
First introduced to wysiwyg whilst studying at university in 2013, David Howard instantly recognised its transformative potential. The lighting design software opened doors to unprecedented creative possibilities, enabling him to turn abstract design concepts into tangible

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France - In the heart of the French Alps, event staging company CarpeDiem Evènement has been setting the stage for a new virtual recording studio, Studio 321, with the help of Digital Projection M-Vision Laser projectors.
Having recently moved into larger offices, CarpeDiem Evènement seized the opportunity to transform an unused 321 sqm space into a virtual studio, offering state-of-the-art AV equipment and the best facilities for brands and companies in the region and beyond.
The studio features a main virtual production studio space for recording and an adjoining 40-sqm production office. In the main virtual production area is a 24m x 4m white cyclorama wall with a 90° rounded floor angle, as well as a white floor covering - allowing for the recording of small and large productions, from photo shoots and company presentations to cinematic video productions, using

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China - Big Blue Technology Co is a subsidiary of Blue Focus Group, one of China's Top 500 Fortune enterprises and a prominent marketing technology group. Big Blue Technology holds a significant position in the Blue Focus Group Metaverse business segment and specialises in virtual production technologies, innovative Metaverse technology, and cutting-edge extended reality solutions.
In early September, Big Blue Technology welcomed over 400 guests to the grand re-opening of its second virtual production studio in China, Blue Box XR Studio. Based in Beijing, the upgraded studio offers a wide range of applications, from advertising to TV productions to broadcast to XR virtual product launches and more. It features a state-of-the-art LED setup, including ROE Visual LED screens and industry-standard Brompton Technology LED processing.
Located in Chaoyang District, Beijing's

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UK - CVP will be holding its third annual Production Technology Showcase this year at four different locations in Europe and the UK. The events of this year’s expanded programme kick off on Thursday 5 October at CVP’s European HQ in Brussels, before moving on to be hosted in Glasgow, Manchester, and Bristol during November.
The CVP Production Technology Showcase provides a platform for visitors to explore the latest production solutions, technology, and insights across a wide range of the company’s products and services, from engineering and repairs to finance and technical advice. This year’s showcase includes ARRI ALEXA 35, DJI Ronin 4D, RED Komodo X, Blackmagic and the latest releases from the Sony Cinema Line and Canon’s EOS range.
Workshops will run throughout the day - across two days in Manchester and Bristol - and the focus will be on real-world case

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Australia - Sydney-based TDC is at the forefront of the virtual production market. The Australian company, established since 1981, owns and operates purpose-built VP facilities in Sydney, supported by a team of experts. The team can partner with a production from concept to completion, while providing a deep knowledge of the processes and technology needed for video display, real-time rendering platforms, server hardware, playback platforms, camera tracking, remote connectivity, and content delivery.
It has delivered large scale virtual production facilities for TV, commercials, corporate films and blockbuster movies including Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder and hit psychological thriller Mercy Road, which was Australia’s first fully virtual production shoot. Mercy Road was released in Australia and the US in August, 2023.
VFX supervisor Andrew

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UK - Since its opening in 1929, Rhodes House has been an Oxford landmark, a historic Grade II listed country house in the heart of the city. Known for high profile events and visitors, the need for modernisation was recognised and the venue embarked on a comprehensive £38m refurbishment journey, which culminated in creating a technologically advanced modern conference and convening centre, that fosters connectivity and collaboration.
Darren Gatenby, senior consultant at Hewshott Consultancy, has been lead technology consultant on the project since its inception five years ago. The goal was to establish the premier events and conferencing venue in Oxford, catering to educational events, weddings, and corporate functions. Darren closely collaborated with the client and stakeholders to meticulously craft a design that fulfilled all requirements.
Incorporating a number of

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Belgium - For nearly a century, Van Marcke, the Belgian family business and international wholesaler of industry-leading brands for sanitary, heating, and renewable energy solutions, has been providing products and services that offer sustainable comfort to its customers.
Earlier this year, it unveiled an entirely digital showroom at its Van Marcke Lab in Antwerp. Despite its compact size of just 80 m², this concept and experience store uses Leyard Europe VEM-series screen walls to empower visitors to create their personalised bathroom. The LED displays, provided and installed by Ocular, a technology company specialising in immersive and interactive installations, enables visitors to digitally assemble their dream bathroom, visualise it in life-size scale, and bring it to life in 3D within their own bathroom space with the guidance of an interior consultant.
Charlott

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USA - All of it Now (AOIN), a virtual art department and in-camera VFX integration solutions provider, never shies away from pushing the boundaries of creativity. Coachella 2023 proved to be the perfect canvas for their latest artistic endeavour, which involved crafting augmented reality (AR) experiences to captivate one of the most demanding audiences on the festival circuit.
AOIN turned to Stage Precision’s SP software, a powerful data and control management software they had used before, but now hoped to deploy on a much grander scale.
As the sun rose on Coachella 2023, AOIN faced several challenges. The project brief included enhancing the main stage livestream broadcast to create a new augmented reality platform for artists including Gorillaz, Bad Bunny and Blackpink.
As a central component of Coachella's 2023 marketing campaign, Coachella introduced the "

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UK - TV, broadcast and event lighting rental specialists, Version 2 Lights has announced a management realignment to support its continued growth.
Day-to-day operational responsibilities will be assumed by technical manager Sam Crook, warehouse manager Darren Gale, general manager Emma Gale and rental manager Joe Marter. This will form the Version 2 senior management team, who will take on ownership of daily operations at V2 HQ.
Crook and Marter have been well-known industry figures, and long-term trusted collaborators for nearly two decades both at Version 2 and the previous blueprints Aurora Lighting and London Light. The company also reports that Emma Gale has recently accepted the responsibilities of company secretary.
Founder, Nick Edwards will return to a key account role, project managing and supporting LDs, producers and production managers who will dra

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Germany - intoPIX and Lawo have announced that .edge users can now benefit from the intoPIX TICO-XS codec to encode and decode JPEG XS-compressed streams.
As the media industry increasingly leverages the benefits of IP-based remote and distributed production workflows, the challenge it faces is pushing a relentlessly growing amount of data through a fibre optic pipe with a fixed bandwidth while preserving broadcast-grade quality.
Support for the lossless JPEG XS compression technology in HD, 3G and UHD video-format resolutions will allow users of Lawo’s .edge Hyper-Density SDI/IP Conversion and Routing Platform to encode, process and decode compressed SMPTE ST2110-22 IP streams.
Lawo’s aim is to provide broadcasters with the ability to leverage compressed streams as and when required in order to accelerate high-quality distributed content creation. JPEG XS su

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UK - Stage Sound Services, who offer full production and equipment services from their 50,000 sq.ft HQ in Cardiff, were recently tasked to support Freshwater UK, a marketing and events agency, with the technical realisation of this year's Unite the Union Policy Conference in Brighton.
The Policy Conference is the main decision-making body of the union, held every two years and made up of around 700 lay members from Unite's 19 sectors and 10 regions and equality structures.
One of the visual highlights of the conference was a 24m wide AV Stumpfl Vario projection screen.
“A key requirement for this year’s conference was a large 'super wide screen', to provide a flexible format for conference images, screen relays and presentations, as well as to achieve a modern fresh look,” explains Stage Sound Services director Phil Hurley.
The Vario frame concept fol

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Singapore - As the largest content creator and national media network in Singapore, Mediacorp operates a suite of TV channels, radio stations, and multiple digital platforms.
Year after year, Mediacorp assumes the role of the central hub for the country's biggest celebration of content and talent in the local entertainment industry. This year's event, the 28th edition of Star Awards, was themed Beyond | Celebrations, and was reimagined as a star-studded concert. It featured a line-up of Singapore's finest talents and regional superstars, joining forces for a night of glamour, excitement, and celebrations.
Oceanus Media Global (OMG) worked with Mediacorp to create the opening segment and after credit scene for the award ceremony using their Futurealistic Studio, with a high-tech LED volume powered by Brompton Technology LED processing.
Founded in 2020, OMG is a cr

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UK - JL-Group, technical production partner to the television, film, live events and exhibition industries, has appointed Eddie Dias in a newly created role as head of department (film & drama) to support the growth of its commercial offering to DOP’s, television, film & drama production companies, studios and beyond.
Well-known in the world of film and television drama for over 30 years, Eddie has helped shape the sector’s visual landscape with his innovative and pioneering spirit.
Dias’ influence has left an indelible mark on some of the most beloved dramas and films, including titles such as Casino Royale and The Bodyguard. His career has seen him work as in senior roles for the likes of VFG, AFM, Panalux, Cinelease, Lightnlight and Prolight Direct.
In his new role, Dias will be instrumental in supporting JL-Group in nurturing new

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UK - University of the Arts London (UAL) has signed the first deal to install Sony’s new Crystal LED, Verona displays, to create a state-of-the-art, research-grade virtual production stage.
In June 2023, University of the Arts London (UAL) announced the development of a specialist Virtual Production (VP) research volume - via its Fashion Textiles and Technology Institute (FTTI) - to create capacity for innovative, trans-disciplinary practice-led research in VP/XR textiles and dress.
To support this new facility, UAL went looking to outfit a space with a robust yet cutting-edge, future proof display solution. Research and university requirements pointed them towards display solutions that would provide value over an extended lifespan while delivering the highest possible colour accuracy and detail.
UAL worked with Lux Machina, specialists in display technology,

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UK - Green Hippo’s London-based manufacturing operation is reporting high demand for its range of Hippotizer Media Servers and is ramping up production to meet orders.
The team says the first quarter of 2023 saw a huge rise in sales across all Hippotizer models, including the flagship Tierra+ MK2 and high performance Boreal+ MK2. Most orders are coming in from the rental and staging sectors of the industry.
The recent launch of the Hippotizer v4.8 software update, which packed in a host of new and upgraded features designed to power-up real-time media manipulation, playback and mapping, drove sales.
Major enhancements of the new software included Show Manager, facilitating complete control of multiple productions and installations at once and an upgraded Timeline feature and the Shape tool which introduced Dockable Windows, aiding customisable workspace managem

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The Netherlands - Nestled in Amsterdam's Jordaan neighbourhood lies the Noorderkerk Church, a remarkable 17th-century Protestant church renowned for its architectural beauty and design. Over the past year, this church’s usually neutral atmosphere has been transformed into a mesmerising 360-degree world of colours. With the help of 38 Digital Projection projectors, it now tells the story of how Rembrandt van Rijn’s paintings inspired Vincent van Gogh’s greatest works.
Vincent meets Rembrandt: The Untold Story, which opened in 2022, will be captivating visitors until 2027 with this audiovisual spectacle. By seamlessly combining visuals with a compelling audio narration of van Gogh's letters to his brother Theo, the exhibition reveals the influence Rembrandt had on van Gogh's artistic journey.
The idea to create an immersive experience of how Rembrandt played

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Europe - Blue-i Group, known for their work on live events and theatrical productions like Disney’s Aladdin - El Musical in Madrid, Tina Turner - das Musical in Stuttgart and the Les Misérables European tour, has recently invested in five Pixera four RS media servers.
The investment follows a long-term growth strategy, that included last year’s opening of a new office and warehouse facility in Belgium to enable the Blue-i Group to expand their services in mainland Europe.
Ethan Forde, Blue-i Group’s European sales director, comments, “Our whole team is excited to begin our journey with AV Stumpfl’s Pixera system. We chose the powerful RS servers to give us the maximum performance, which we know our clients will want to fully utilise on their projects. We're seeing more demand for high bandwidth networking, real time rendering and high bi

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The Netherlands - Solid State Logic is set to launch the Tempest Control App at IBC 2023 (stand 8.B81). Delivering full control of the System T production platform from a software application, Tempest Control App presents the next step in virtualised control solutions for live-to-air broadcast audio, says SSL.
Delivering full control of all mix, routing, monitoring, setup and automation functions, including the entire suite of next-gen immersive production tools, Solid State Logic’s new Tempest Control App (TCA) brings to the market ‘an unprecedented level of production flexibility and operational adaptability for broadcasters of all sizes’.
TCA is a robust and highly scalable control solution for key broadcast audio applications including remote production, newsroom production, backup scenarios or anywhere a physical control surface is not required. TCA utilises

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UK - Built around the theme of ‘Frame Your Control, Bringing Immersion Into Frame’, ChamSys’ exhibit at PLASA Show 2023 engaged enthusiastic crowds of attendees with innovative products and ideas designed to help them take their creative visions to new heights.
Visitors got an up close and personal look at products like the MagicQ MQ500M Stadium, a standout console that seemed to be everywhere at Glastonbury earlier this year and is currently making waves touring with the likes of Ed Warren for Mumford & Sons, and Will Thomas on Bonobo’s Fragments Tour.
Also garnering attention was the ChamSys MagicQ Compact series, including the new MagicQ Compact Connect, a lightweight USB control surface that connects to a PC or Mac to deliver robust and flexible control of lighting, media, and LEDs. Visitors were universally impressed with this product, which is

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UK - In step with the welcome return of the British summer, PLASA Show made a triumphant return to the Grand Hall of Olympia London from 3-5 September, spanning a third more floor space with a striking 28% increase in visitors.
Lee House, operations director for Ambersphere Solutions, says: “I was struck by a sense of nostalgia and excitement - PLASA Show has made a triumphant return! The hall was bustling with a diverse array of exhibitors and, most importantly, visitors who were eager to engage in meaningful conversations about their technological needs for the present and future. It was a jam-packed, unforgettable three days that left us eagerly anticipating what next year will bring."
Tom Mowat, hire account manager for Encore, concurs: “PLASA Show 2023 was absolutely incredible. It was fantastic to see the whole of the hall used by exhibitors. The attendance a

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Germany - Stage Precision has announced the latest release of its flagship software, SP version 1.1.0. This update introduces a variety of powerful features and integrations designed to streamline workflows and enhance user control.
One of the key features of SP version 1.1.0 is its revamped Camera Calibration. Recently trialled on a project for the Gamers 8 event in Saudi Arabia, the new workflow redefines the calibration experience and is ideal for all virtual production setups, including green screens, LED walls and augmented reality.
"We've made it much simpler and faster to calibrate a lens profile and align a tracking system,” explains Axel Lambrecht, CTO of Stage Precision. “This will further reduce reliance on manual measurements and enable much of the camera and lens calibration workflows to be handled offsite, allowing more time for fine-tuning onset and
  1. ARRI opens multipurpose New York studio
  2. Leyard Europe launches VDS displays
  3. IBC 2023: Brompton puts focus on TrueLight
  4. TDC Studios houses first VP Australian feature
  5. Showforce announces plans for growth in Saudi Arabia
  6. Winners announced for PLASA Awards for Innovation 2023
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