UK - Pharos Architectural Controls has announced the new Pharos Touch Panel Controller. The TPC is an advanced, standalone, solid state lighting controller with an integrated 4.3" customisable touch screen, 512 channels of eDMX output and vast interfacing potential all over a single PoE network connection.

Programmed in Pharos Designer, the TPC has the same advanced playback and show control engine as the popular and award winning Pharos Lighting Playback Controllers. Over an Ethernet network it can interface with other Pharos controllers, button panels and remote devices. The companion Interface Editor application allows you to build themed user interface pages, creating and organising multiple pages of buttons, sliders and colour pickers to suit the installation and customer needs.

The wall-mounting design features a magnetic overlay within the plated bezel to produce a

UK - When Know1 Production, specialists in the integration of lighting and video for live performance, were asked to design DJ Kissy Sell Out's Wild Romance tour, it was to White Light that they turned to provide the show's touring lighting rig - featuring a core of 16 Martin MAC 101 moving LED fixtures.

From the brief from Kissy Sell Out, Know1's Matthew Pitman and Cy Dodimead realised they needed a design that was "pretty adaptable but quite technically advanced". To achieve this, they designed a pixel-mapped video screen background formed from Martin LC video panels, surrounded by vertical booms loaded with MAC 101s. The show was controlled from a Martin M1 console and Maxedia Compact media server, the system configured so that the lights could be operated manually or switched to mimic the video screen.

"Both Cy and I have grown up working with White L

South Africa - When Clover recently hosted their annual conference and gala dinner at Sun City, they called in the services of Techrig to provide the full technical package.

Acclaimed designer Michael Gill was responsible for the set design for the gala event held in the Ballroom, with manufacturing by Just Sets. Robert Grobler from Techrig, along with Dennis Hutchinson, was responsible for the lighting design. "It was a big set that had to be lit properly and with a slick line-up, it had to be perfect," commented Grobler. Performances by George Meiring, Vicky Sampson, Jay and Lianie, Yollandi Nortjie, Flip A Coin, Dozi and Nianell, further complemented with stunning decor, ensured an evening that did not disappoint.

"We had to work around limitations of weight and availability of points to rig," said Grobler. "Height was another problem so a mother gr

UK - Lighting and visuals rental company Colour Sound Experiment (CSE) has taken delivery of the first batch of its new bespoke designed LED screen product - BT12. The 12 mm pitch screen is very bright, light and watertight - IP65 rated.

Colour Sound's Steve Marley explains that with an increasing number of lighting designs now incorporating scenic and ambient video visuals as integrated elements, it made sense - both creative and commercial - to be able to offer an 'in-house' product to fulfil this criteria. "The industry has been talking about 'convergence' between the two mediums of lighting and video for some years, and this is now happening everywhere, so we are in a position to offer a proactive solution." he confirms.

Having the kit in rental stock also enables CSE to offer the most cost-efficient packages to their clients, and it is also a perfect complement

UK - Bluman Associates delivered projections onto the giant Lovell Telescope at the first ever Live from Jodrell Bank festival in Cheshire - Transmission 001.

Working with production company Ear to the Ground and event production manager Charlie Canavan, Transmission 001 featured headliners, The Flaming Lips and took place in the shadow of the towering Lovell Telescope.

The giant dish, which has been probing deep space for over 50 years in search of alien life, became an epic interstellar projection screen and backdrop to a unique performance by the cult band.

Canavan comments: "This gig was always going to be remembered for the projection and I was charged with making sure that it was for all the right reasons. Unusually the projection played a starring role in the overall creative concept of the event rather than being something that complements i

UK - Barco and AV distributor RGB Communications report that Barco's RLM-W6 projector is now supporting the activities of Autism Independent UK. The UK's leading charity for training and information for people with autism will use the projector to add visual power to its training courses.

It is estimated that 110 in every 1,000 people worldwide has been diagnosed with autism. Charity organisation Autism Independent UK is a non-medical advice and information centre for professionals, caregivers and parents who are working with and caring for people with autism. As part of its activities, the charity organizes various training courses and workshops throughout the year.

"Our training courses attract a constantly growing number of attendees. To make the presentations perfectly visible to every trainee in the room, we really needed a powerful yet small projector," says Ke

UK - Martin Professional will be participating in the STLD LED Shootout at PLASA 2011 armed with a selection of LED moving heads and LED display panels optimised for the television market.

The Shootout is a partnership between PLASA and the Society of Television Lighting Design and will allow visitors to directly compare LED lighting fixtures in three different areas of a large STLD stand (1F-60).

The event is based on the question Can you light a TV set entirely with LED fixtures? and will be split into cyc lighting, hands-on TV studio, and lecture theatre areas. Among the Martin products involved in the Shootout will be the Stagebar 2, MAC 101, MAC 101 CT, MAC 350 Entour, MAC 401 Dual RGB Zoom, and MAC 401 Dual CT Zoom and EC-20 LED panels.

The STLD stand will also host a lecture series that includes a pixel mapping presentation each day at 4:00pm by Martin Professi

USA - After using the recently released Vista v2 software on their existing Vista T2 consoles, Dallas, Texas based Alford Media have just committed to increasing their inventory after the next generation of software delivered the leap forward it promised.

Alford Media Services is an AV and lighting company known for its high end video capabilities as well as imaginative integrated visual designs and solutions. They work on a wide variety of live events for a diverse range of premium clients with exacting standards.

One of two full time lighting designer/directors, Kurt Wunsch has been with the company for 10 years. He was an early adopter of the Jands Vista control platform, and has been an enthusiastic user since.

Their first T2 console was bought soon after Vista was launched, and along with the others they have bought since, is still going strong even after constant use.

USA / UK - GDS (Global Design Solutions) has announced the appointment of Chris Patton as Head of US Operations. With over 12 years' experience in the entertainment technology industry, Patton brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise. Working for most of his career in various roles for Stage Electrics, his most recent position was as export sales manager, where he was responsible for developing overseas business opportunities and implementing effective export sales strategies. Patton has been appointed to develop the GDS brand across North and South America and will work in strong partnership with GDS's distributor A.C.T Lighting, which distributes LiteWare, Cue SystemNet, SMConsole, ARC System and MOBAL to the North America market. Chris will initially be based in the UK and will re-locate to GDS's New York office in August 2012.

Patton Commented: "GDS are an incredibly

The new Stagebar 2 LED luminaire from Martin Professional is bright ...yet so much more. Powering out almost 10,000 lumens per meter and with a tighter field of light 10 times the intensity of the predecessor Stagebar 54™, the Stagebar 2 is an extremely capable LED pixel bar and wash luminaire. But that's just the beginning.

A new and advanced lens design provides a narrower, more concentrated field of light for better beam control and greater light intensity for overall improved floodlighting capability. A choice of lens options, which includes an opal diffuser lens for scenic on-camera looks, provides designers with beam angle flexibility.

Overall responsiveness has been improved for much faster color and intensity control. Additionally, fan noise from the automatic heat management system has been reduced for the benefit of TV studios and other noise-sensitive environments.

The new Pharos Touch Panel Controller (TPC) is an advanced, standalone, solid state lighting controller with an integrated customisable touch screen, 512 channels of eDMX output and vast interfacing potential, all over a single PoE network connection.

Programmed in Pharos Designer, the TPC has the same advanced playback and show control engine as the popular and award winning Pharos Lighting Playback Controllers. Over an Ethernet network it can interface with other Pharos controllers, button panels and remote devices. The companion Interface Editor application allows installers and integrators to build themed user interface pages, creating and organising multiple pages of buttons, sliders and colour pickers to suit the installation and customer needs.

The elegant wall-mounting design features a magnetic overlay within the sleek, plated bezel to produce a modern, streamlined design; a

On Broadway - Ghost The Musical is to transfer to Broadway next year. The show, adapted for the stage by Bruce Joel Rubin from his screenplay, opened in London's West End in June. The musical features an original score by Eurythmics star Dave Stewart and Grammy winner Glen Ballard. The Broadway show will begin its run next April after a month of previews at a yet to be announced theatre. Casting will be confirmed at a later date. The West End production currently stars ex-Coronation Street actor Richard Fleeshman and Canadian actress Caissie Levy.

Olympic Countdown - Edinburgh Festival Fringe venue bosses have warned that the technical demands of events surrounding next summer's London Olympics could drain available technical staff away from the Scottish capital.

The crucial period will be the opening week of the Olympics, from 27 July, which is when Edinburgh's

USA - The annual Orange County Fair in California, which this year took place between 15 and 14 August across multiple venues, saw GLP's Volkslicht Zooms and new impression Spot One LED moving heads out in force.

They were specified by production manager/show designer Ray Woodbury of RK Diversified Entertainment, who is accustomed to the output and performance of the German company's LED platform, having run the Volkslichts on a number of events (such as the huge E3 computer games exhibition) and at the recent NKOTBSB sell-out arena tour, where he was creative director.

Woodbury has worked with the state-run OC Fair for the past eight years, taking on multiple tasks, including production management of several venues and lighting vendor for the Pacific Amphitheatre and The Hangar. His company also provides the event with staging and rigging services.

The production manager ha

Qatar - Svetlost Teatar of Belgrade, has supplied the landmark venue of Qatar Education City Convention Centre in Doha with a large selection of Robert Juliat HMI profiles, followspots and Solo Fluorescent lighting.

Designed by Arata Isozaki and RHWL Architects, the exterior of the QECCC complex resembles a Sidra tree - the national symbol of Qatar. It is made up of 10 halls, including the 2500-seat Lyric Theatre, the 500-seat Concert Hall and a 4000-capacity banqueting and event facility, in addition to lecture halls, breakout spaces and a multipurpose exhibition hall.

Svetlost Teatar equipped the Lyric Theatre with Robert Juliat D'Artagnan 930 SNX 2.5kW HMI profiles, complete with Jalousie 2 dimming shutters, and two Cyrano 2500W HMI followspots. Twenty-four Solo 744 fluorescent strips were also added for linear effect production lighting. A further 12 Solo units were instal

The Nicolaudie Group's smartphone and tablet software company LightingSoft AG will introduce its EasyRemote iPad and browser app at PLASA 2011. The new software allows users to remotely control a wide range of DMX lighting software packages over a local network.

The EasyRemote designer is used to build a custom screen, a file that is then sent over to the iPad app, which can in turn be used to control a variety of software functions such as scene triggering and dimming. EasyRemote can also dynamically generate a web page which can be accessed from almost any device through a web browser.

The EasyRemote iPad app can currently be used with LumiDesk. Support with Daslight3 from Daslight and Sunlite Suite 2 from Nicolaudie will follow shortly.

PLASA 2011 1-G3

Emulator, the next generation of DJ performance technology that was first showcased at London's Ministry of Sound this summer, will be officially launched at PLASA 2011. This revolutionary piece of technology for DJs combines midi-based software with touch-screen hardware to deliver what the company describes as "stunning results".

Emulator is the world's first and only fully customisable, multi-touch system for professional DJs and music producers. Using a state-of-the-art dual view multi-touch system, Emulator's large-scale interface allows the DJ to become part of the light show as the crowd witnesses their every move, giving the performer a new and exciting way to communicate with the audience.

The official launch of Emulator was organised in partnership with Ministry of Sound as part of the 20:20 project, celebrating the iconic brand's 20th year in the industry. The sh

Australia - ENTTEC launched a Web site this month - www.AlephLighting.com - to showcase its new LED lighting solutions, including its Aleph 2 high power smart LED bar.

ENTTEC's light bars feature smooth dimming features and colour temperature adjustability. The Aleph 2 has advanced colour-mixing options with up to six LEDs (Red, Green, Blue, and Warm, Cool, or High CRI White), and various combinations of the same.

"The Aleph 2 can mix six LEDs per light engine. This means the designer can achieve the vibrant colors wanted or the softest whites needed for TV and film," explains Nicolas Moreau, founder and managing director. "Combined with the E-DIM smooth dimming technology, adjusting very low levels is not an issue anymore."

Making the Aleph 2 even more adjustable, various lenses can be used with the different colour options. Lenses can be 10°, 20°

Czech Republic - Robe lighting supported the 51st Zlin Film Festival for Children and Youth in Zlín, which is the oldest and among the largest film festivals of its kind worldwide. It attracts over 100,000 visitors to see nearly 600 films from more than 50 countries screened over eight days.

It was originally staged in Zlin because the city in south-eastern Moravia had one of the first big movie studios in the Czech Republic, which was founded by famous local entrepreneur Jan Antonin Bata in 1936. The film studio was originally used to make promotional and advertising material for his company and products and gradually became the most prominent centre of filmmaking focussed on children and young people. It also became famous for its animation work, and has been used by numerous international directors over the years.

Robe's marketing manager Jiri Baros arranged and co-ordinat

UK - The range of Pharos lighting controllers continues to grow. As well as launching their new Touch Panel Controller, Pharos is introducing a higher capacity product to the line of popular and award winning Lighting Playback Controllers.

Providing more system design flexibility, the LPC 4 is a four universe controller in the same form-factor as the LPC 1 and 2. It can output two universes locally using the DMX ports and two more via multiple eDMX protocols, including Art-Net, Kinet and sACN. Alternatively, as with the LPC 1 and LPC 2, the LPC 4 can output all data via eDMX protocols.

(Jim Evans)

Hong Kong - City Theatrical, manufacturer of lighting accessories, has appointed Ten Thousand Things (3T) as its distributor in Hong Kong and Macau.

Based in Hong Kong, Ten Thousand Things forms the sales arm of Alderamin Group, worldwide provider of comprehensive lighting project solutions. Ten Thousand Things offers technical supplies and support for a wide range of lighting products.

Gary Fails of City Theatrical comments, "We chose 3T because of the group's long-standing experience in the region. Naturally we seek to market our products through the most high profile and respected channels, and we feel 3T provides the qualities we are looking for."

Simon Fraser, co-owner of Alderamin Group, adds, "From our extensive experience designing and integrating projects throughout Asia, we have first-hand knowledge of the tools required to deliver a world-class proj

South Africa - Philips Selecon is helping a classic theatre in South Africa attract and keep its 'sell out' audiences.

With the explosion of festivals in South Africa, there is an increasing need for smaller theatres, outside of the festival scene, to provide performance space for newly created productions and to promote up and coming artists. The Atterbury is exactly that - a worldclass 420-seat 'West-End'styled theatre.

What distinguishes this theatre from other similar sized venues in the region is the sophistication of the entertainment technology it uses. A professional team, including Philips Entertainment distributor for South Africa DWR, has come together to design and specify the technical needs of the venue and Philips Selecon luminaires feature high on the lighting role call.

Selecon's South Africa reseller DWR Distribution worked alongside Pieter-Jan Kapp to desi

UK - Rental company, HSL is supplying a substantial 'extras package' for Arcade Fire's summer European festival tour, with lighting and set designed by Susanne Sasic, which is the latest leg of an ongoing world tour for their acclaimed 2010 album The Suburbs.

It is the first time that HSL has worked with Sasic, who has a reputation for innovative and interesting designs. HSL project manager Mike Oates says, "We are extremely pleased to be working with Susanne, who is known for her exceptional creative flair and style. The design looks stunning and in addition to that, the whole visuals package has been very well thought out to make it practical and tourable."

Looking after all the kit is Rob Starksfield, a regular HSL technician, who has also worked with Sasic on previous projects including REM.

Sasic's overall design has evolved with the different sections

UK - GLP has chosen this year's PLASA Show in London (Earls Court, 11-14 September) to launch a "revolutionary" new LED washlight from its Impression range, as well as a new video display and controller from G-LEC.

The German company continues to play an active role in the show, and in addition to showcasing its expanding portfolio, it will also participate in the STLD LED shoot-out with its Spot One and Wash One, and Impression 120 and Impression 90 LED luminaires.

The new impression Wash One, making its UK debut, will be given star billing at the show. Boasting a 400W RGB LED light engine, and the same "groundbreaking technology" as the Spot One, the fully-featured luminaire is able to deliver delicate colour changes or instantaneous colour bumps over a wide, carefully-calibrated colour spectrum, the company says.

The Impression Wash One offers a 6-60&d

Denmark - Martin Professional's award-winning P3 System Controller for LED video screen processing is now available in a PC-based version.

The P3-PC is an inexpensive yet full-featured software-only version that can control up to 20,000 pixels using the Ethernet port of the PC it is running on.

This powerful addition to the Martin family of P3 System Controllers packs three functions into a single software package:

A PC-based P3 System Controller for smaller Martin LED video setups containing up to 20000 pixels (P3-PC License on Martin One-Key required).

An offline editor for the P3-100 and P3-200 System Controllers to preprogram setups anywhere on your own PC or laptop. Save and copy shows to the P3-100/200 using a USB stick (no license required; free-of-charge).

A tool to address/test/upload firmware LED video setups on site before the P3-100/200 arrives on location (n

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