Switzerland/USA - Merging Technologies' Ovation 6 now brings the power of an integrated 3D rendering engine, for use with both replayed sounds and an almost limitless number of live inputs, says the company. The 3D engine now in Ovation is set to "completely change the way AV installers and live events production staff will plan their coming projects".

Ovation consolidated its position in 2014, with an impressive roster of new users relevant to InfoComm attendees. Major new museum installations, live events, theatres, opera houses realised that the combination of reliable and repeatable operation coupled with the ease with which all parameters can be programmed and interfaced with other devices, provided compelling reasons for specifying Ovation.

However, the industry's requirements move ahead at a pace and sound designers were creating ever more realistic soundscape

UK - Marquee AV has announced the appointment of Paul Day as business development manager. Day joined the industry with PRS, progressing his career as regional sales consultant with Bose where he has enjoyed the last seven years. The position of business development manager is an expansion for Marquee AV and Day will work alongside the existing sales team.

"I've known Paul for many years and always admired his professional approach, enthusiasm and good humour," said Marquee AV's MD, Mark Brown. "He's one of those few guys always in the back of your mind as someone it would be good to employ if the opportunity arose. With our expanding business that opportunity became reality and I'm pleased to welcome Paul to Marquee AV. I'm sure he'll fit in well and help us achieve our future goals."

"The opportunity to join a company with the background and pedigree

USA - Medialon will be showcasing its Overture facility-wide AV Management system to the US market at the upcoming InfoComm 2015 in Orlando.

Medialon's Overture was met with critical reception after its international ISE debut in January, resulting in the AV management system being integrated into a multitude of places including a conference center and a theme park.

Available for use in a range of locations including museums, concert venues, and sport stadiums, Overture makes it easy to control company-wide technology using one dynamic, innovative software.

"Overture was designed to be an AV Control System for the IT world. It is built on technologies that IT Managers and CIOs know and trust, and the response from the market has been fantastic," said Eric Cantrell, senior sales manager, Medialon.

Created by seasoned AV veterans for IT departments, Overture elimin

UK - Working with BBC election project and engineering manager, Tony Cahalane and production designer, David Marson, XL Video supplied high resolution LED screens, plus scenic curved LED and Barco screen management systems for BBC Cymru Wales and S4C's coverage of the 2015 General Election.

BBC Cymru Wales broadcast all-night election coverage on BBC1 Wales and the Welsh language channel, S4C, simultaneously from two studio sets at their studios in Llandaff, Cardiff.

Each set consisted of a wide, high-resolution curved LED screen, formed from XL Video's Unilumin 3.9mm LED, and measuring 10m wide by 3m high.

This main screen displayed a combination of playback content, election graphics generated live as results came in, and PiP broadcast footage from reporters around the country.

Surrounding the screen and set, each studio featured nine curved LED banners formed from XL's

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies' video division is reporting substantial sales for Green Hippo's all-new line of Hippotizer media servers, which have been completely re-designed to handle the manufacturer's powerful V4 next generation media control software.

Designed to meet the demands of shows today and tomorrow, the new Hippotizer V4 features include 4K+ support, more outputs, Output Manager, STRATA Caddy System, SHAPE 3D projection mapping, visualiser, multiple mixes, and a number of output options, including HD-SDI. The new Hippotizer range features the powerhouse Taiga with four inputs / six outputs; the tour-proof Boreal with four inputs / four outputs; the customisable Karst with two inputs / three outputs; and the compact Amba with two inputs / one output.

The models received much interest upon their unveiling on the AC-ET stand at PLASA London last year - and wh

UK - Shannon Harvey has joined Backstage Academy as course leader on the BA (Hons) Visual Production degree. Harvey previously worked as account manager at d3 Technologies - one of the course's core supporters - and will now be responsible for running the degree and ensuring it delivers against the industry's current skills requirements and technology.

Harvey's experience covers the architectural, theatrical and entertainment industries, working with lighting, video, projection and special effects projects on a wide range of applications.

Said Backstage Academy's Sara Gleadhall, "Shannon Harvey is a huge asset to the course and brings with him a wealth of knowledge on video and lighting system design as well as a unique creative vision which means he is an all-round inspiration for the students.

"Entertainment technology is evolving so rapidly that we need to draw

Belgium - Painting With Light headed by Luc Peumans has crafted the eye-catching design for the current Holiday On Ice touring production, Passion, which highlights some of the dreams, trials, tribulations and dedication required by those pursuing ice skating careers.

Playing to enthusiastic reviews and audiences, it's the first year that Genk based Painting With Light has produced a fully comprehensive creative concept encompassing all the disciplines - lighting, set and video - one of many strengths enabled by Luc and his talented team of associates.

This scenario allowed Luc to maintain a complete visual harmony for the work, and also gave the scope to design several new and bespoke lighting elements including wireless controlled LED soles that clamp to the base of the stakes.

Says Luc, "With Passion being partly autobiographical in relation to t

USA - - At InfoComm 2015, Barco will demonstrate how its industry-leading solutions deliver "dynamic, visual spectaculars and real-time collaboration to drive business success". Emphasizing technologies built for high impact and low total cost of ownership, Barco's projection and image processing, wireless collaboration, LED video wall, video wall and enterprise networking solutions empower companies to connect their worlds, both inside and out, by enhancing connectivity across the enterprise and around the globe, says the company.

In Booth 2529, visitors will interact with a wide array of Barco's solutions designed deliver "a heightened visual and collaboration experience".

Barco corporate solutions unlock the knowledge of an organization by connecting people and information in the most intuitive way. ClickShare empowers content sharing with a click of a b

USA - As LED video wall technology has improved in quality, it's becoming the new standard for displaying video images - in applications ranging from concerts and productions, to nightclubs and sports arenas - thanks to the superior efficiency, reliability and flexibility it offers compared to traditional projection video. Now Chauvet Professional is meeting the rising demand for sharper, more detailed LED video displays with the PVP X3, a modular indoor LED video panel with a high-resolution pixel pitch of 3.9 mm.

In addition to having a tight 3.9 mm pixel pitch, the PVP X3 utilizes SMD 2121 black body Tri-Color (red, green, blue) LEDs to produce the highest in class contrast and exceptional clarity of images. Each panel's 500mm square display surface is densely outfitted with 16,384 LEDs, which emit a standard total illuminance of 1,560 NITS (which can easily be adjusted up to

UK - Conference and events specialist Saville Audio Visual is responding to increasing demands for its AV facilities and staging services in the UK and overseas. At their conference facilities hub in Leeds, the company has invested in extra workspace, new jobs and major additions to its stock of audio, lighting and display technology - already one of the largest in the UK.

Prompted by a record trading year and £40m turnover for 2014, the company has taken on a third building in Leeds, expanding its important Central Resource Unit. The growing CRU team supports Saville's national network of AV hire branches with a large stock of staging and display technology plus a highly skilled team of creative designers and technicians.

The company's confidence in the live events industry is reflected in a significant new commitment to sustainable LED technology, including large forma

Australia - TDC, Technical Direction Company, returned to Vivid Sydney from 22 May to 8 June 2015. With an opening weekend attended by more than a quarter of a million people, TDC provided video expertise in cutting edge mapping techniques and key video technology across an unprecedented 10km distance as the 18-day festival expanded into new Chatswood and Central Park precincts.

Anthony Bastic, Vivid light curator says: "Vivid Sydney placed art into the hands of the public, giving visitors a visually triumphant feast of artistic and technical innovation."

Vivid Sydney is probably the world's largest festival of light, music and ideas and is owned and managed by Destination NSW, the NSW Government's Tourism and Major Events agency.

Michael Hassett, managing director of TDC, said: "We've worked with Destination NSW on Vivid Sydney for four years now, and it is s

UK - Panasonic has announced a long-term corporate partnership with Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), the independent charity which manages six former Royal residences in the UK. The partnership brings Panasonic the opportunity to showcase its latest technologies, while enabling HRP to provide an improved visitor experience for its customers, the manufacturer says.

The first joint initiative saw 12 Panasonic high brightness projectors used as part of the 500th anniversary celebrations at Hampton Court Palace. A 22-minute projected artwork, which told the architectural and cultural history of the palace, played for three nights over the Easter weekend.

Panasonic laser projectors are being used in a new exhibition in the palace, bringing animation to Hampton Court's stories. A total of eight projectors have also been installed within the Tower of London jewel house, helping to inter

UK - Lighting and video now go hand in hand when conceiving a concept for a show, so consoles need to speak easily and fluently with video servers - as MA Lighting have long recognised.

London-based d3 Technologies, creator of the trusted d3 platform, the integrated video production suite, has chosen an MA onPC command wing purely for the purpose of trying and testing new developments in d3. As director Ash Nehru explains: "Although d3 supports control by any of the lighting desks on the market, we opted for the grandMA2 command wing through Ambersphere Solutions for a very simple reason: it is the desk of choice for so many. It's the console that we encounter most frequently on large shows so it just made total sense for us to support it."

Currently d3 are using the grandMA2 command wing to test a new feature. "d3 has historically been a timeline-controlled sys

UK - VER UK has hosted a series of open days to present the latest in available 4K technology, spanning indoor and outdoor high resolution screens as well as the latest products in 4K projection and broadcast technology.

The first two-day showcase was hosted in the modern event facilities of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), for which VER traditionally provides support for RADA's in house productions and has a long-standing association.

A further event was hosted at VER UK's London facility, by the VER Dry Hire team. Scott Russell, Ellie Johnson and Lucy Taylor welcomed UK and European customers to demonstrations of the latest in Video Technology available for hire.

Director of European sales, Adrian Offord, commented, "VER continually strives to be at the forefront of new technology. We look forward to holding these showcase events frequently demonstrating the

Germany - Show designer Gunter Hecker brought a flourish of industrial style to the lighting, video and stage environment that he created for the latest tour by German superstar Herbert Grönemeyer, prolific singer, composer, musician and actor and one of Germany's most successful ever recording artists.

Once again Gunter worked closely with Marc Lorenz as his lighting director and technology integration specialist, and together they brought a unique look and energy to the show with a centerpiece comprising six automated pods containing video screens and a total of 96 Robe Pointes.

These can move on multiple axes into a variety of positions, and completely transform the shape and feel of the performance space.

Gunter and Marc often use Robe products for their work, the last time being earlier in the year, for the 2014/15 tour by rappers Die Fantastischen Vier for which they

UK - As a wave of consolidation passes through the video sector of the concert industry a new contender has emerged. Currently engaged on the Take That tour, Video Design founded by industry veteran Alex Leinster is already contracted for the Heaton Park 'Parklife' festival in Manchester and the series of concerts that fills the summer months in Hyde Park, London.

Leinster laid out the fundamentals of Video Design's operation. "We have already been investing in new camera gear, all Sony HD, and new PPU's built to our own specification with the latest Karrera K-Frame switchers from Grass Valley, Kaleido Miranda multi-viewers and d3 video servers. It's been nice to re-package to 2015 standards, Take That for example always demands systems that go in fast and easy; no small consideration when we are providing 220sq.m of 9mm LED.

"Speed is a given when working on Chris V

UK - Working with producers Vision Nine Arts & Entertainment, XL Video supplied a multi-channel camera system and video projection for the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular UK live concert tour.

The tour, which showcases the compositions of Murray Gold for the much-loved TV show includes the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and performers from the BBC National Chorus of Wales, conducted by Ben Foster.

Hosted by Peter Davidson, who played the fifth Doctor, the tour includes live appearances from an array of Doctor Who monsters including Daleks, Cybermen, and the Ood.

The show design aims to immerse the audience via the music, coupled with the big screen footage of Doctor Who, and live action appearances by a multitude of monsters in the arena. To help achieve this across a variety of large-scale venues, XL Video supplied a video projection system and accompanying cameras, which

China - CreateLED Electronics, a leading provider of LED video solutions, has announced that a host of new customer endorsements for its recently introduced AirMAG-2 high performance display screens is helping to drive the growth of the company's business internationally.

Since its introduction to the market in 2014, the AirMAG-2 - renowned for its advanced 16-bit colour processing, high definition 2.6mm pixel pitch and extra wide viewing angles of up to 160 degrees - has quickly become the display system of choice for a broad range of fixed and rental applications from corporate theatres and auditoriums to retail displays, car shows, television production sets, concerts and festivals.

According to David Oh , managing drector of CreateLED Japan Company Limited, the rationale behind why some of the world's leading brands, media networks and event organisers are opting for the A

USA - Showlogix, a developer of show and media control software for the entertainment market, has announced the release of a free version of its show and media control software.

The free Video Sync is designed for video artists and integrators wanting to create video installations with a low budget and simple deployment.

Showlogix Video Sync, plays video content across multiple displays, attached to one computer or / and over a local area network.

"We have peeled off all the bells and whistles, keeping only the essentials" Said Nir Goldhagen Showlogix CTO, "Artists who could not afford this kind of technology, are free to create their dream installation."

As each display is limited to one full screen video, image processing is reduced significantly, therefore artists can use low cost computers to achieve their goal. Each of these computers can drive up

Belgium / USA - Barco has announced two new products in its Event Master series of screen management systems: the S3-4K, a compact processor, and the EC-50, a lightweight, Event Master Toolset-compatible controller.

Exactly one year ago, Barco unveiled the E2 image processor to rave reviews at InfoComm in Las Vegas. Supporting native 4K input and output, the E2 screen management system instantly raised the industry bar for live event processing, as the only solution capable of managing a 4K projector blend with refresh rates of up to 60 Hz.

S3-4K, the smaller version of the E2, boasts the same processing performance and image quality. Featuring 12 input channels, four programme outputs, four AUX outputs and two dedicated Multiviewer outputs, it is suited for the rental and staging market, broadcast studios and mid-sized performance venues. "The S3-4K is the E2's more comp

Switzerland - Merging Technologies has announced the formation of a new company to support its sales and technical support in Sweden. Merging Sweden took over distribution of the Merging professional products line at the beginning of May.

The force behind this new operation is Kjetil Laukholm who has been supporting sales in Sweden for some time now. The move to become the full distributor was a logical conclusion, given his experience with the Merging brand. He has been a Pyramix user since the days of Version 3 and has a long experience of recording all types of music for major labels such as EMI and Sony. He has also recorded orchestral scores for games like Spiderman and Assassin's Creed.

Kjetil will be working with other local Pyramix and Ovation specialists to ensure that regional and relevant product expertise is being cared for. Dealers are also being appointed to prom

Puerto Rico - The Luis Fonsi Somos Uno Tour has criss-crossed the globe with stops in France, Spain and the US, but for the Puerto Rican-born Grammy-winning artist, it was home sweet home when he performed for two sell out nights at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan.

To provide extra visuals for the homecoming, Musique Xpress Lights, which furnished gear for the Puerto Rican concerts only, called on 34 Chauvet Nexus 4x4 LED panels and 40 Q-Wash 260-LED moving fixtures from Chauvet Professional.

"The overall look of the show was based around a futuristic design which intertwined a variety of moving lights, LED screens and special effects to create different scenarios around the music," explained LD Edward Aviles. "The Chauvet fixtures were critical to helping us achieve this look."

While the Chauvet Q-Wash fixtures played an integral role in this futu

Barco has announced the launch of its XPR range of high-end 4K media servers. Together with the XHD range launched last February, these complete the Barco Media Servers range. The new offering adds 4K capabilities, "unparalleled user-friendliness and elaborate preview functionalities" to Barco's impressive list of end-to-end visualization solutions.

The Barco Media Servers range will be available in three versions: the XHD-200, XHD-400, and the brand-new XPR-600. The XHD series are shipping now, whereas the XPR series will ship from end of September 2015 onwards.

"Media servers play a pivotal role in creating mesmerizing visuals for a live band, spectacular 3D projection mapping, thrilling theme park rides or showstoppers at an event or exhibition", explains Peter Pauwels, director strategic marketing V&H and entertainment at Barco. "With the addition of the

UK - Vortex Events' Matt Gourd and Iain Rendle have a combined knowledge of over 20 years in the events industry. Their company provides both dry rental of all their equipment as well as full production support for everything from musical productions, TV shows and dance events to touring productions, festivals and corporate events.

Having recently purchased a Hippotizer V4 Karst media server, Vortex Events will be putting it to the test immediately on the John Peel stage at Glastonbury this coming week.

Matt Gourd, "We looked at many different media servers and having used a wide range onsite for events, it was easy to see that the V4 range was one step ahead in many ways. These include the value for money and great support they offer. The Karst will help us realise some complicated mapping projects and visualise them at the design stage. This means we can easily translat

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