Blackburn's HSL Production Services provided the eye-catching focal point on the top deck, with a wide range of products on show to highlight its production hire, sales and design services. These included James Thomas LED products, Community loudspeakers, Martin Pro moving heads and various trussing and rigging solutions.

UK - Bandit Lites UK supplied lighting equipment to Derek Halliday Productions for the main catwalk at the National Weddings Exhibition at Earls Court. It was the first time Bandit has supplied the ever-popular event. The contract was project managed for them by Lester Cobrin, who worked closely with Derek Halliday, technical production manager for the runway section of the exhibition. Halliday's client was The Production Team, a London-based fashion show production house.

The 25-minute, four-times-a-day show was choreographed by Oki Wamu, who also chose and arranged the music. With only one day of rehearsals, good prepping was of the essence when it came to lighting, explains LD Mark Strange. "Bandit was absolutely brilliant" he enthuses, "It was a vast improvement on previous years. Their attention to detail and the quality of gear made a real difference from ot

Color Kinetics showed several new products. With colour temperature of white being one of the big issues in LED lighting today, perhaps most notable were the two prototypes of dimmable white fixtures, each with different colour temperature.

The Compulite/Stagetec Distribution stand was as busy as ever. The Dlite range of consoles was launched, featuring a touchscreen and external monitor, 20 playbacks and interfaces for Ethernet, SMPTE, MIDI, audio and DMX input. The latest addition to the Vector series of consoles, the Vector Green, was on display along with Vector iControl, which uses a Compaq iPAQ pocket PC as the control surface for a Vector console. New for the CompuDIM range of digital dimmers was the CompuSINE module.

The newest followspot from Lycian is the Midget II. Aimed at schools, churches and small theatres it features a new dichroic glass reflector, six-colour boomerang, new cam-operated brake plus an easy, no-tool lamp change. It is available in the UK with an 800W halogen lamp.

RoscoLab launched 'Light Relief Yellow 313', designed by LD Rick Fisher on behalf of the Light Relief Charity. This will offer additional exposure to the charity and profits from sales of 313 will be donated Light Relief. Stan Miller, Rosco's president, commented: "We see this as an opportunity to give something back and support those who have supported us so well for more than 30 years in Europe."

ShowMagic featured its latest Vista V8 version integration software for the control of sound, lighting and video sources via DMX or RS232. This can all be sequenced, pre-programmed and scheduled to run at specific times of the day as 'Mood control', easily overseen by non-technical staff.

From Specialz, AtLast - a good name for a long-awaited product - is a DMX-controlled fully dimmable ballast for fluorescents. The ballast is integral, does not require a dummy load, works with all makes of tube, and besides providing smooth dimming from 0-100% also features mains in/out, allowing up to 20 units to be linked together from a single 16A feed. Also from Specialz, fully legal festoon lighting running on three-core 4mm² cable (most such commercially available lighting is unearthed) complete with inbuilt bulb guards.

Formed in May this year, Traxon UK enjoyed its first PLASA promoting 'Mood Light' panels. Supplying via a UK distributor network, the Mood tiles are a flat fronted without a frame, and the latest version features a reflector that acts as a mirror when the unit is not illuminated. Traxon has also just teamed up with German company e:cue to offer a full range of DMX control options.

A stunning 54m x 12m starcloth covered the rear wall of Earls Court throughout the show: ShowTex with ShowLED, who were having a great show, supplied it. Other products included Phosphor Foil, which allows you to capture light and hold it for several minutes, and offers spectacular blacklight effects!

Though we've become accustomed to the Guinness hospitality of Bandit Lites, there is serious purpose to the company's presence. This year Bandit extend its lighting activities, providing all the equipment for London Fashion Week, while its sales staff has expanded with the arrival of Lester Cobrin. Bandit also announced that it has joined the Vari*Lite dealer network.

Cirro Lite featured a new Dedolight 200D for daylight - a small film light based on the DLH 150 tungsten lamp, available with soft box kit and lens attachments that can be run off batteries via an inverter. The ProLight 1200 searchlight was interesting: capable of projecting up to 100ft and running off a 13A supply.

RVE, distributed by its UK distributor ESP, revealed its new Hydra Plus lighting control board, which controls 2048 channels and offers Ethernet and remote options. A new range of Dimkit dimmers was launched, available in different formats for self assembly.

Dutch dimming innovator IES was showing its iSine core dimming engine. Recently acquired by ETC, IES now has the backing of ETC's global research, marketing and service resources. ETC's CEO Fred Foster said: "IES was the pioneer behind sine wave dimming technology in Europe. At the same time ETC has been developing sine wave products in the US. With the acquisition of IES, we've had the unprecedented opportunity to unite the best people and ideas in the field and create sine wave solutions for the worldwide lighting market."

Leading digital media specialist Scene Change announced the arrival of the next generation of the acclaimed Hippotizer digital media server family by Green Hippo. The current Hippotizer range has proved enormously popular since its launch at PLASA 2003, with applications ranging from nightclubs and events around the world to stage shows such as the new musical Mary Poppins, opening soon in London's West End.

The new Hippotizer family consists of three members all built around the same Generation 2 technology. All three offer a fully hardware-accelerated graphics engine for super fast playback, full support for almost any file format - including sound as well as video - a second monitor output offering full preview of all layers and effects, an advanced 3D engine, multiple control options and a host of new effects. Unlike many media servers each of the new Hippotizer models offers a ma

Creation, a new lighting desk from GLP, was shown in prototype form. The company were coy about its features but the control surface indicates a serious piece of kit. GLP also showed two new 575W moving heads with electronic ballasts. Extremely compact, they weigh in at just 19kg.

A brace of new products from Coemar; I-Wash LED an automated LED washlight, with RGB mixing. The popular I-Spot 1200 now comes in an EB (electronic ballast) variant. New to the I range, I-Wash 575 and I-Spot 575, both remarkably small units for their output, and both also available with electronic ballast, greatly reducing weight.

If it wasn't the big red blow-up man that drew your attention to the MBN Eventproducts stand, then the repeating videos of clubbers bouncing around in foam undoubtedly did. As well as nightclub staples like foam and confetti cannon, the company was promoting its new Airdome, an inflatable waterproof housing for moving heads.

The newest addition to ETC's Smart solutions line is SmartFade, a compact lighting console ideal for first-time users, educational establishments and amateur groups. SmartFade has three operating modes: Two Preset, Normal and DMX Backup.

PLASA also saw the European lighting market get its first look at Congo, the latest console developed with the respected Avab brand. A new version of Safari software, V3.5, has also been released and for a limited time is being offered free to users who register name and system details at a new Avab website administered by ETC.

PLASA debutant Enttec had a successful show: on a mission to appoint European distributors for its lighting control solutions, the Australian manufacturer took the opportunity to launch its versatile Datagate DMX routing engine.

PRG this year had much to show and tell. With no visible evidence of the grim reaper in sight, VLPS and LSD Fourth Phase shared the stand, mingling easily with one another and their respective customers. There is a review period underway examining the integration potentials, with particular focus on combining rental stock, management systems and equipment tracking. The new VL3500 from Vari*Lite was displayed - a lamp that takes the existing VL3000 and adds a shutter mechanism by removing one gobo wheel. More significantly, the EX1 media server takes the current trend for such systems to the extremes, with the ability to create stunning effects in the 3D realm. Features include keystone correction by virtual shutters (mouse grabable at each corner) and 3D movement control by pan and tilt functions on the lighting desk.

Something for everyone on the stand of MilTec UK. New PR Lighting 575 and 1200 wash/profiles were flying the flag for moving heads, while the company's own-brand power amplifiers were attracting attention from users with lower budgets. Beyma loudspeakers were on show to interest PA manufacturers, with Ecler mixers and Universal Effects foam cannon of interest to the nightclub fraternity.

Australian lighting control manufacturer LSC revealed its new XTC console, taking the best features from the popular MaXim console and re-packaging them in a striking, compact club console format. LSC's EKO DMX dimmer is now available as a hybrid machine with architectural features - it talks DMX and also offers environmental features such as internal memories and remote wall stations.

MD Kirsten Eicher said Look Solutions was having an extremely busy show with many international visitors on the stand interested in its extensive range of fog machines. The company has recently opened a new office in the USA to respond to its growing market.

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