The theme this year was Animal Magic, which required video sequences of the animals - created by Birmingham video artist Jonathan Lee - to be projected 50-60m high over a 30m distance, across a small lake and onto the trees. This was one of a number of spectaculars staged during the year by the Council, which led it to believe that projector ownership now represented a more cost-effective option than rental.
Bruno Edwards comments: "Aside from the performance, the main advantage of the Roadster was that, thanks to the auto set-up, we were able to set it up and have it running instantly. Knowing the way things tend to work in the real world, you often don't have a lot of set-up time, and compared with other models we auditioned, this projector was fast. On top of that the quality and output seemed great and the operation straightforward."
Once Walsall Council had committed to the Roadsters, the projectors were supplied with medium/long-throw zoom lenses to suit the applications of distance projection. To date the Council has been using the S+16Ks singly - and Edwards says they will be experimenting further with the stacked configuration later this year.
Aside from its legacy Christie lenses and modules, the S+16K offers SXGA+ resolution and exceptional image quality from next generation DLP technology, high-quality optics and 10-bit image. Furthermore, it will respond to almost any kind of control in the projection world, including RS232, RS422, IR remote, wired remote, direct control panel input, and over the LAN via on-board ChristieNET.
"Overall, we are all very pleased with the performance of the Roadsters, not to mention their durability," he says.
