Germany - Green Hippo has signed a distribution agreement for Germany with B&K Braun. Established in 1977, B&K Braun also distributes for GLP / G-LEC and has a large market share in trussing products by Global Truss.

Markus Augenstein from B&K Braun comments: "B&K Braun are looking forward to a successful collaboration with Green Hippo. Their products allow us to complete our product range perfectly and provide our customers with the necessary tools to put their ideas into practice. These days it is unthinkable to work without the countless possibilities and advantages that media servers have to offer and this will undoubtedly develop further in future."

Samantha Bailey from Green Hippo states, "We are pleased to welcome B&K Braun to the Green Hippo family, the enthusiasm and support they bring to the product is second to none and we have high hopes for the deve

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa's AV division has invested in an initial batch of 100 of Christie Digital's multi award winning MicroTiles which have already been utilised for a wide variety of projects.

Gearhouse AV's operations manager Bhans Sheomangal explains how they were looking for a "reliable product that can be easily deployed and used for numerous tasks including the creation of multiple plasma screen effects". The brief was to find something that was: "Good quality with excellent and consistent colour reproduction," he comments, adding MicroTiles are proving to be the "perfect" solution for many applications.

Built on proven DLP technology, MicroTiles are designed for maximum image quality in demanding, high ambient light level environments. "The price is also good, and this combined with the general robustness and great long

Qatar - Qatar celebrated its National Day on 18 December 2010 in a spectacular party atmosphere. The all-day event began with a military parade at the Doha Corniche in the presence of HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and HH the Heir Apparent Sheikh Thameem bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. The Corniche area was dressed for the festivities with illuminated palm trees, LED screen displays and lightshows.

Colourful and fun-filled events were held at different locations across the city and Christie high-powered projection was at the centre of the action. Auditoire was awarded the project for the Doha Corniche, which featured illumination, audio and large scale PA equipment, video projection and LED screens, distributed along the Corniche area. TechnoPro (Qatar) was awarded the execution and supply of the technical production.

As a part of the celebrations, a giant 36m x

UK - Rental specialist PSCo has added the 3D capable 103 "and 85" Panasonic Plasma to its rental fleet, enabling their customers to hire these Active 3D screens for events, conferences and exhibitions.

Active 3D technology is billed as the most immersive way to watch 3D content, with viewers using high-precision active shutter glasses triggered by an infra-red imager built in to the screen bezel. This enables both eyes to view Full HD resolution images. The 103" and 85" offer big screen 3D experiences on a high impact scale.

PSCo's range of 3D plasmas are available on the bespoke Screenlifter system, an in-flightcase lifting solution which makes manoeuvring them into place by one man, simple and quick. The screens are accompanied by a selection of accessories including 3D glasses, and 3D compatible Blu-Ray players.

PSCo's managing director Stuart Holmes s

USA - All eyes turned to the stage as the familiar Theme From 2001: A Space Odyssey heralded The King. Elvis was indeed in the building - but on video.

For two days in February, Elvis Presley came alive. Pete's Big TVs/Performance Video (PBTV/PV) supplied the video projection and production to the Stig Edgren event to make it happen.

Elvis Presley in Concert reunited Elvis on video with some of his former bandmates including original musical director & conductor Joe Guercio and a 16-piece orchestra, The Sweet Inspirations female backing vocals group and a band lineup featuring James Burton (Presley's lead guitarist 1969-1977), Glen Hardin (pianist 1970-1976), Paul Leim (drums) and Nathan East (bass).

This year's shows at the Mohegan Sun Arena and at Radio City Music Hall were similar to past shows, featuring a 15x20ft high screen - portrait style - on which Elv

UK - XL Video celebrated its 10th consecutive year as the production video supplier - incorporating LED screens, projection systems, PPU, cameras and co-ordination of the show playback content - for the 2011 Brit Awards - for the first time staged in London's O2 Arena.

XL again followed their successful model of splitting the project management duties between Chris Saunders, who oversaw the camera and playback elements (celebrating his 17th Brit Awards) working alongside Paul Wood, who managed the screens, projection and specials packages for the various live artists.

Chris Saunders says, "It was great to be working on The All New Brits, specially in a new venue and with a new format, celebrating some of the best musical achievements of the last year in a show that continues to advance, evolve and push boundaries in technical and presentational goals, this was a stunning

The Netherlands - Projecta has introduced Tensioned Elpro Large Electrol, an electric projection screen for large venues with a tab-tensioned projection surface for a perfectly flat viewing area.

The Tensioned Elpro Large Electrol ensures the flattest possible viewing surface for a retractable screen thanks to its tab-tensioning system. The projection screen surface is tensioned in all four directions by a heavy duty aluminum extruded slat bar and nylon tensioning cables on each side to match with the parabolic curves of the screen. The end result is a projection viewing area that is evenly tensioned and suitable for all critical applications.

The Tensioned Elpro Large Electrol is available in widths from 3.5 to 4.5m and in 4:3 (Video), 16:9 (HDTV) and 16:10 (Wide) aspect ratios. The casing is equipped with flexible mounting brackets which are one metre laterally adjustable fr

UK - Birmingham and Bristol, UK based AV rental specialist Central Presentations Limited (CPL) has boosted its stock of video projectors with the addition of the latest in lightweight, medium range, high definition machines from Panasonic - the PT DZ110 HD.

This is to meet the continuing demand for a highly portable, expediently sized HD (1920 x 1200) resolution projector around the 10-12,000 Lumen mark for the wide variety of shows, events and presentations that CPL services as a rental partner.

"Panasonic is a premium brand and the robust build and quality engineering has made it a firm favourite for rental and staging sectors in the last couple of years," says CPL's branch manager Richard Burrow, adding that they can also take advantage of the healthy cross rental and dry hire market, and these are now frequently appearing on spec sheets.

The purchase also follo

UK - Projected Image's new printed catalogue has been produced to showcase the company's extensive gobo collection. Produced as a flip out swatch, the handy guide is printed on high quality 300gsm Satin Art paper.

Containing over 2200 contemporary and new designs, split over 16 categories from abstract to halftone and circles to linear, and everything in between. Each gobo's identity number can be used to place orders via the full online shop, ready for despatch same-day.

The catalogue can be delivered free of charge by following the link - http://blog.projectedimage.com. Projected Image will also showing the new catalogue at the Black Light open day in Edinburgh on 18 and 19 March and also at PLASA Focus Leeds on 19-20 April.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Hippotizer has introduced HippoDoctor - a component which identifies and reports current and potential software issues and generates detailed logs resulting in much faster problem resolution and subsequent dissemination of known issues, says the company.

HippoDoctor is a stand-alone application which can be run outside Hippotizer and is also beneficial on the rare occasions that software issues prevent Hippotizer from running. The user can make changes to the configuration without running either the Hippotizer or ZooKeeper applications.

It is also able to troubleshoot common operating system, networking and even non Green Hippo related issues which are often time consuming and laborious for customers and Green Hippo staff alike when providing support.

Features include: full reporting of software and OS related issues; compilation of logs and compression into Zip format

UK - Ross Ashton's The Projection Studio has moved to a new purpose built office in Greenwich, East London.The office is adjacent to Greenwich mainline railway station and well placed for easy access to central London and London City Airport.

The new details are: The Projection Studio, 13 Tarves Way, Greenwich, London SE10 9JP; Tel: +44 (0) 20 8293 4270.

The new space features substantial office, administration and meeting facilities as well as an artwork production studio for both video and PIGI slide/film projections, together with a visualisation suite to demonstrate ideas and evolving projects to clients and other interested parties.

Steve Larkins continues to work alongside Ashton as graphics manager, and upcoming work includes the Edinburgh Tattoo and several high profile projects for various illuminated cities.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Isle of Wight-based Big Screen Media, specialists in indoor and outdoor large format LED and digital display solutions, were commissioned by luxury department store Harrods, to supply and install LED screens as part of the store's January to February window displays.

Big Screen Media specialise in providing effective digital display solutions by offering a wide range of high quality LED and digital signage displays and equipment to suit all applications. Recently, the company won a prestigious contract with Harrods of Knightsbridge to supply and install several large LED screens as part of the store's iconic window displays for January and February.

Sarah Southgate, Harrods head of window design, commented: "Harrods is at the forefront of luxury and innovation in window display and design. Our latest displays have incorporated advanced LED technology, and in doing th

USA - With vented side panels and a heavy duty caster base listed among standard items offered with every Installer's Choice ETN Series rack listed within the Liberty AV catalogue, the product group can be tailor-made to the different specifications of any application by selecting from a host of accessories designed to give better organization to AV components, says the company.

With static load ratings of 12,250 pounds, ETN racks are available in six different heights (18RU, 21RU, 27RU, 35RU, 40RU, and 44RU), depths of 20 and 25 inches, and a width of 22 inches.

A pair of ground studs are located within the caster base, all necessary mounting hardware is included, and two removable electrical plates reside in the back to accommodate electrical wiring.

A full line of accessories offered for use with the ETN Series includes top and side panels, front and rear doors, cooling f

Spain - El Hormiguero and Tonterías las justas, two of the leading programmes on Cuatro, the Spanish TV channel, produced by 7 y Acción, have installed Christie MicroTiles videowalls in their respective sets. Both of them are using 54 MicroTiles in a layout of 9x6, measuring 3.6 x 1.8m. The videowalls were installed by Videoreport, a company belonging to the audiovisual group Vértice 360, and a Christie partner in Spain.

El Hormiguero is a wacky TV chat show peppered with gags, interviews and goofy scientific experiments, presented by Pablo Motos assisted by puppets Trancas and Barrancas. Broadcast Monday to Friday, this primetime show has won many awards, including an Onda for the Best Entertainment Show. With around 260,000 followers, it is also the most popular TV programme on Tuenti, Spain's number one social network.

Meanwhile, Tonterías

UAE - Dubai-based Al Laith Event Services devised a lateral and highly inventive motion control solution for tracking two 30m sections of Lighthouse L7 LED screen across a distance of 140m for the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 IDEX (International Defence) Exhibition. The exhibition was at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), and Al Laith's client was the OC show producers, RedFilo Events from Abu Dhabi with its headquarters based in Singapore.

The challenge was that the tracking system had to be able to withstand 104km per hour down-currents from helicopters hovering just 40m above - not exactly an everyday requirement, and one that rendered most of the known entertainment automation systems inappropriate.

The 38 minute OC, staged right outside ADNEC, was an epic all-action show of spectacular proportions, conceived and directed by RedFilo's MD Pach Ang, assisted b

UK - The new PixelSmart from PixelRange has been snapped up for use on Saturday night prime time entertainment show and charity fundraiser, Let's Dance for Comic Relief - the show where famous faces perform some of the world's most well-known dance routines.

Lighting designer Steve Nolan and associate Tim Routledge had previously debuted the PixelSmart on the Royal Variety Performance. Nolan comments, "We loved them on Royal Variety and they're really good point sources because you can generate different shapes with them. It just gives you a little more versatility and movement in the background."

Routledge notes, "We're using them a lot more on this show than on RVP. They're in most of the show and they're great eye candy for us to give us some sparkle. As this is Comic Relief we've made them into rotating red noses, using red with the cold

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa's Cape Town branch supplied specialist LED and AV display technology to four different installations at the Design Indaba 2011 exhibition, which was staged at the Cape Town international Convention Centre (CTICC) and included the Design Indaba Conference and Young Designers Simulcast.

Since 1995, the Design Indaba Conference has invited the world's top creative minds to address professionals from the creative, corporate and educational sectors.

The first installation was a striking countdown clock made out of Lighthouse L16 LED panels mounted in a custom frame, all supplied by Gearhouse together with the motor that flew it from the ceiling. It was positioned outside Auditorium 2 of the Conference. The client supplied a laptop and the relevant software to run on the display, and the clock ticked away continuously for the 72 hours of the con

USA - Intelix LLC, US manufacturer of audio/video equipment and software, has relocated to a larger, modern facility. Effective immediately, Intelix's new address is: 8001 Terrace Ave, Suite 201, Middleton, WI 53562.

"Our previous location stymied growth," says Maggie Ellison, Intelix human relations manager. "We continue to add staff and we anticipate growing our employee base by at least 15% in the next six months. Our new facility will allow for growth for years to come."

The new Intelix campus provides almost 300% more square footage than the previous location, including improved suites for sales, marketing, engineering, and applications. A larger manufacturing floor and warehouse will help Intelix supply their growth curve.

"Sales were up 41% in 2010," says Cameron Smith, national sales and marketing director at Intelix, "and we had a

UK - Videowall and large format display specialist PSCo has signed the deal with Panasonic to distribute its flagship 152" plasma, billed as the largest flat screen in the world.

The 152" Panasonic Plasma is a full HD display boasting 4K by 2K resolution and active 3D technology. First unveiled in 2010, the first screen to be available in the UK is ordered and will be delivered to PSCo in June.

Stuart Holmes, managing director or PSCo comments, "The 152" Plasma is at the forefront of display technology in terms of picture quality and 3D capability. PSCo will be working closely with Panasonic to provide the specialist transport, service and accessory packages to bring this product to market."

The 152" Plasma is currently available with either a bespoke pedestal stand or the 'Screenlifter' lifting device enabling the screen to be wheeled into posi

UK - XL Events supplied video and visual production - including camera and PPU system, projection, playback and crew - for The Big Bang, a 2500 seater live performance space run in the ICC at London's ExCel Centre alongside the UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair.

The raison d'Ωtre for the whole event was to encourage young people to engage with the invention, fun and vast potentials of science. The ICC element was production managed for M4 Entertainment by Nigel Mousley and project managed by XL's Bill Hughes.

Over the three days, hour-long special versions of two high profile different TV science shows were showcased in the ICC - Sky 1's Brainiac, and the BBC's Bang Goes The Theory each with two shows a day.

This was followed on the Friday evening by the national finals of the CREST Awards (managed by the British Science Association) and the Young Engi

UAE - Christie has announce its participation at PALME 2011 (Dubai International Exhibition Centre, Dubai - 26 - 28 April 2011), showcasing the latest products from across its diverse business groups, including dynamic signage, rental staging and control rooms amongst others.

Nitro Solutions, the new Christie motorised moving yokes range, will make its debut at PALME this year. The modular series can provide up to 20,000 ANSI lumens of video projection, creating high brightness imagery on any surface from anywhere. Christie Nitro Solutions now offer three motorised yoke options: a dual-arm yoke for larger video projectors ranging from 12,000 to 20,000 ANSI lumens, and a single-arm yoke for projectors ranging from 5,700 to 15,000 ANSI lumens.

The modular approach of Christie Nitro Solutions expands the effectiveness of the moving yoke platform by allowing the user to deploy the

UK - Visionpoint Technologies, the AV arm of Flipside Group, has installed two dnp new wide angle 100in high contrast screens at BSkyB's Sky flagship store, situated in London's Westfield Shopping Centre. These were supplied by the manufacturer's UK distributors, Paradigm Audio Visual.

Although the Centre only opened in 2008, Sky was aware that its digital signage hardware looked under-specified due to the high ambient light afforded by the Centre's glass roof. Sky were keen to remedy this so they could best showcase their high-definition television content. In addition, by the start of 2010 Sky were also ready to launch a permanent demonstration of their new 'Sky 3D' product ahead of the launch of their 3D channel in October 2010.

Visionpoint was commissioned to review all aspects of the hardware utilised on the stand and recommend latest technologies to maximise Sky's invest

UK - Following a sustained period of growth, as well as taking on new staff, DBpixelhouse, the creative arm of IT and AV rental company DB Systems, has moved into bigger offices.

DBpixelhouse was set up by DB Systems in 2009, to supply design agencies, exhibitors and event organisers with content, including software, animation, graphics and videos, which can be shown on a variety of display systems, from touch screens, LCD video walls, plasma screens, through to Apple iPads and laptops.

Alastair Reece, head of DBpixelhouse, said, "This is an exciting time for the business. We're taking on more and more work and have also have recently expanded our team so we needed a larger office that would cater to our demands in the short to medium term. It's also a much more creative space, so we look forward to yet more fresh, innovative ideas soon.

"DBpixelhouse is an importa

UAE - Display manufacturer Prysm will showcase its scalable and eco-friendly videowall product at PALME Middle East in Dubai this April.

Having recently announced that it is now shipping its production model of the TD1 tile, featuring Laser Phosphor Display technology worldwide, PALME visitors will have the chance to view Prysm's display technology.

At the core of the Prysm Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) platform is the TD1, a seamless 25" tile, which has now begun shipping worldwide. LPD uses solid-state lasers to deliver "brilliant image quality for even the fastest action video content", while using up to 75 percent less power than traditional backlit or projection technology-based products.

Since Prysm's display solution uses less power, generates less heat and has no consumables to monitor or replace, infrastructure costs related to space planning and air c

Latest Issue. . .