UK - Robe celebrates its tenth birthday and 10years of 'Working With Winners' at PLASA 2012, referring to its international distribution team, most of whom have been with the company since its first PLASA in 2002.

The company was established in 1994, starting with humble beginnings in a small garage, and was launched as the 'Robe' brand in 2002. The company is still independently owned and run by the original partners who take active roles in its day-to-day running.

Now with one of the most high profile booths of the show, and fresh from the Czech House Olympic Pavilion at the Business Design Centre - lit with Robe fixtures - awarded 'gold medal' status as one of the best social hubs of the Summer Games, Robe launches seven new products on Booth 1 F47

On debut are: The Robin DLS Profile, Robin MMX WashBeam , Robin 800 LEDWash, Robin Actor 3, Robin Actor 6, Robin Actor 12, Ro

Germany - Wireless LED system manufacturer Astera has forecast significant medium-term growth of the market that it helped to create, predicting that the demand for wireless LED products could double by 2014.

The company - which pioneered wireless LED technology in 2005 with the development of remotely-controlled LED tubes - has observed a sharp increase in the sales of its products in recent months. This, combined with a steady rise in the number of competitor firms launching development of their own wireless LED products, has led the brand to make its projections amid preparations for the forthcoming PLASA show in London next month.

Sebastian Bückle, head of international sales and marketing at Astera, commented, "We've seen something of a spike in the demand for wireless LED products of late. It's hard to talk numbers, but let's just say that the market has grown expo

UK - Pharos will be showcasing a range of bespoke mobile web apps that have been produced to meet the specific needs of clients. Custom web interfaces have always been part of the standard Pharos feature set - all Pharos controllers can host them - but creating rich web applications for touch screen mobile devices presents additional challenges.

In response to projects requiring control from mobile devices, Pharos now offers a web app authoring service. Each app can be tailored to suit the corporate and technical requirements of clients, from the icon on the Home screen to the layout of the pages. Visit stand 1-G43 to try them out.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Swisson will debut the XMT-350 RDM Controller and DMX Measurement Tool at PLASA 2012.

The XMT-350 combines the features and functions of a RDMController with the company's current DMX Measurement and Testing Tool. The XMT-350 is easy to use, simple robust and very reliable. Set and patch DMX addresses, select DMX personality, and receive device information and updates. The XMT-350 works together with wireless RDM over Artnet. It's like the Swiss army knife for the Entertainment and Architectural Lighting.

Swisson will also be showing the XSW Wireless DMX Splitter. The XSW combines CRMX wireless DMX technology with Swisson's entire line of DMX splitters. The XSW can operate as a DMX transmitter or as a DMX receiver at the press of a button. The DMX splitter functionality is always available regardless of whether the device is configured as a transmitter or receiver. If onl

UK - DMT has upgraded its Pixelscreen Tour series with the new P6 Tour screen which represents the newest generation of indoor and outdoor high-res LED screens for both rental and permanent installations. Excellent brightness, outstanding contrast, compatible size ratio and fashionable look are making it ideal for use demanding environment and applications.

The ergonomic and service friendly design with a sensational low weight of 21 kg for each panel improve the set-up times of Pixelscreens. The modular structure allows a 'one-minute' maintenance in case of any problem.

The Pixelscreen P6 SMD Tour is one of the most silent LED screens on the market. Due to efficient design with optimal convection cooling it does not have any fans. This feature makes the Pixelscreen P6 SMD Tour very suitable for use in TV and Theatre applications where silence is demanded, says the company.

UK - Alongside Pulsar's new optimised TriColour LED chipsets that generate between 25 and 50% more light per Fixture, PLASA 2012 sees the official launch of Pulsar Fixture Management (PFM), a remote configuration system for Pulsar fixtures controlling settings that would normally be programmed by their User Interface Module (UIM).

"It's a real bonus for fixtures installed in inaccessible places, essential for products without their own UIM, and helps engineer a cost-effective and tamper-resistant lighting solution powered by Pulsar's cutting edge LED ChromaRange Fixtures," says the company.

In addition to PFM sees the optimisation and upgrading of Pulsar's LED lines with further development to QuickLink, ChromaPixelStrip25, ChromaStrip24, and the new High Brightness Single Colour ChromaAR111, an economically priced light-engine that can power the ChromaRange AngleFlu

UK - Stage Electrics has been appointed as a distributor for new British LED fixture manufacturer Lumonic. The first product launched in a planned new stable is the ilumo Zoom Led spot/wash.

Davie Bell divisional sales manager at Stage Electrics commented, "Lumonic are a new company, but their team has a huge experience of entertainment lighting and product design. Their first product in the ilumo range has a number of exciting features and superb colour mixing optics with an extremely clever Colour Crossfade Engine which means the unit can fade from one colour to another without going via intermediate colours in the palette."

Responsible for product development is Dr James Powell who is no stranger to the entertainment industry. He has developed a very powerful colour control engine for the ilumo product in addition to standard DMX control of the units colour. This

Operatic Moves - The arm of the Royal Opera House dedicated to commissioning and producing contemporary opera and dance is to close. The company revealed it had decided not to continue with ROH2 as a distinct entity after Deborah Bull, who had creative responsibility for the strand, and Alison Duthie, the department's head, left to take up positions with King's Cultural Partners earlier this year.

Two positions from ROH2's eight-strong team have been made redundant, including that of head of opera development, a role held by John Lloyd Davies. The post of manager of the On the Road programme, which oversaw projects around the UK, has also been axed.

Following Davies' redundancy, an ROH spokeswoman said director of opera Kasper Holten would head the team responsible for new operatic work, to run in the Linbury Studio Theatre and Clore Studio - spaces traditionally associ

UK - Robe celebrates its tenth birthday and ten years of 'Working With Winners' at PLASA 2012, referring to its international distribution team, most of whom have been with the company since its first PLASA in 2002.

The company was established in 1994, starting with humble beginnings in a small garage, and was launched as the 'Robe' brand in 2002. The company is still independently owned and run by the original partners who take active roles in its day-to-day running.

Now with one of the most high profile booths of the show, and fresh from the Czech House Olympic Pavilion at the Business Design Centre - lit with Robe fixtures - awarded 'gold medal' status as one of the best social hubs of the Summer Games, Robe launches seven new winning products on Booth 1 F47:

Robin DLS Profile, Robin MMX WashBeam, Robin 800 LEDWash, Robin Actor 3, Robin Actor 6 , Robin Actor 12 and Robin1

UK - Stageco and Tait Technologies will once again be exhibiting together with a shared stand at PLASA 2012 following a highly successful year working alongside one another across Europe.

The two companies opened a joint London office in May 2011, building on years of working alongside each other across a range of projects and as a step towards further cementing their European strategic alliance.

This year Stageco and Tait Technologies respectively, have continued to provide innovative staging solutions and scenic motion technology to a number of international events, prominently the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Madonna's MDNA tour, Lady GaGa, Bruce Springsteen, Metallica and major sporting events in London. Both companies have introduced innovative products and working practices with Stageco launching its Arena Lift earlier this year as well as its XL stage which was first used in

UK - International screen specialist displayLED has launched a new generation of the flexible LED tile, digiFLEX. The new digiFLEX is a more robust version of displayLED's previous award winning flexible screen, upgraded to be production friendly in concert touring environments while simultaneously providing camera friendly imagery in television studios. The product also opens up creative and dramatic opportunities for architectural applications and for creating stunning displays for the conference and exhibition market.

"The new digiFLEX is a rugged, rental-friendly product with robust connections and handling for touring use," says Tom Mudd, displayLED's technical manager. "With a magnetic installation system, digiFLEX is extremely easy to use, allowing any metal surface to be covered with this LED video skin. If you can make the shape in steel we can cover it i

UK - Billions of people worldwide watched the 2012 London Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies, where producer Danny Boyle masterfully deployed mystical elements of the gods - light, colour, and fire - in a celebration of British culture and history, depicted using a huge rig featuring all the latest in entertainment technology from around the world.

The prodigious system of LEDs, lasers, lighting, projection, audio, motion control and pyrotechnics was flawlessly controlled and synchronised over a stadium-wide network using more than eight kilometres of fibre optic cable. A significant element of the network was a system of ProPlex GBS.

"There is no greater AV event in the world than the Olympics," says Fred Morgenstern, product manager at Neutrik USA. "Every four years, Neutrik supports the games with tens of thousands of our connectors. We were delight

Switzerland - The train journey to the Jungfraujoch station in the Swiss Alps is one of the world's most spectacular. Stunning views from the platform, restaurants and a geological station greet visitors when they finally reach the top. And now, with the help of ETC Selador Desire LED lighting fixtures, a large section of tunnel has been turned into even more compelling tourist experience.

Up to 5,000 people visit Jungfraujoch per day, from around the world, normally leaving within an hour. Now the streams of people can explore six special attraction areas as part of a new museum-like exhibition. The new Alpine Sensation creates a 250m-long round 'experience subway,' with moving walkways transporting guests on steeper sections.

Dynamic exhibitions include A Longing for the Mountains and Construction of the Jungfrau Railway. Communications company Steiner Sarnen A

UK - Two Robert Juliat Lancelot 4000W HTI followspots, supplied by exclusive UK distributor White Light, illuminated a spell-binding rainfall that fell on London's Jubilee Gardens in June.

A 'Rain of Poems' fell from a helicopter as it hovered above Jubilee Gardens for 30 minutes, distributing 100,000 bookmark-shaped poems onto large crowds as they scrambled excitedly to catch and collect them all.

The Lancelots' powerful beams swept the sky, roof tops and the magnificent London Eye, which formed the backdrop for the deluge of poetry, picking out the spinning poems from the darkness as they descended through their long shafts of light.

The event, which marked the launch of Southbank Centre's Poetry Parnassus festival, was the brainchild of Chilean art collective, Casagrande, which has created similar events in Santiago, Berlin, Guernica, Warsaw and Dubrovnik, cities which ha

UK - While the eyes of many were firmly focused on east London, theatrical life did nonetheless continue across the rest of Britain - notably in York, for which the highlight of August is the performance of the York Mystery Plays.

Recent productions have seen the plays performed at York's Theatre Royal, around the city and, for the Millennium Mystery Plays, in York Minster itself. For 2012, the plays are returning to the Museum Gardens in York, allowing them to be staged with the dramatic ruins of St. Mary's Abbey as a backdrop. This is a return to the location used from the first production of the modern era in 1951 through to 1988 - but this year the area has been turned into a 1400-seat outdoor theatre with tiered, covered audience seating on three sides.

The team creating the Mystery Plays for 2012 include writer Mike Kenny, directors Damian Cruden and Paul Burbridg

Europe - Acclaimed lighting designer Paul Normandale is set to wow arena audiences in Europe on Coldplay's Xylo Myloto tour with a dazzling lighting design crammed with Philips Vari-Lite luminaires.

Normandale, whose enviable design credits include: Bjork, Depeche Mode, Shakira, and the Stone Roses, is using the power of Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash FX units to create a e lighting experience "to perfectly complement the band's ultraviolet spectacular".

Coldplay's current world tour promotes the band's Mylo Xyloto album release, which has charted at number one in thirty countries, including the UK and the US.

"We started the tour in festivals," explains Normandale, a long time Coldplay collaborator. "The idea was an evolving design that can scale all the way into stadiums from a core aesthetic. The band wanted a vivid ultraviolet feel,

USA - Having maintained a long relationship with GLP Inc. since the original impression 90 (first used on the WWE circuit), Bandit Lites has embraced every subsequent generation of the German company's LED platform.

Recently they invested in Spot One technology - noting that this high power LED spot was the first fixture of its kind to be released to the global market.

"The impression 90 was definitely a revolutionary fixture at the time," remembers Bandit Lites' president, Pete Heffernan. He added that this success was followed by the Volkslicht which has appeared on many of their tours, and has been particularly prominent this year on tour with country star, Jason Aldean, and his Nashville based LD, Aaron Swetland.

"Purchases are driven by the designer's needs. We look at demand on a global basis and listen to our design partners - and investing in the Spot

Russia - Soviet and Russian pop singer, songwriter and producer, Philip Kirkorov, is using fixtures from PR Lighting to support his latest 60-date Eastern European DruGoy tour, designed to promote his new album.

Five time winner of the World Music Awards and with eight Ovation awards under his belt, Russia's most popular singer has been given a grandioise stage set - including huge screens, 3D-graphics, fireworks, computer and animated effects - and a dynamic lightshow designed by Boris Volkov.

FE Belimlight, the PR Lighting distributor for Belarus, was selected to provide the equipment for this tour, with the main fixtures including quantities of PR Lighting's XL 1500 Wash and XL 1500 Spots.

"With many dancers performing at the different stage levels, the XL 1500 Wash was the perfect choice to provide sufficient lighting to highlight the acts, while the XL 1500

USA - ANSI E1.35 - 2007, Standard for Lens Quality Measurements for Pattern Projecting Luminaires Intended for Entertainment Use, is being revised to increase the accuracy of the measurement procedure while still keeping it simple. The draft of the revised standard is available for free download and comment through 8 October at http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php.

E1.35 describes a method that uses a projected gobo image for measuring stage and studio luminaire lens quality, with particular emphasis on quantifying contrast and perceived image quality (sharpness). It also offers a way for presenting these results on a datasheet in a format that is readily understood by a typical end-user. It's a simple way of saying, "This lens is sharper than that lens."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Placebo are using 90 Robe Robin 300 LEDWash fixtures in custom touring frames for their current European festival tour, specified by lighting designer Jvan Morandi.

Morandi is well known for his fresh and innovative visual concepts and has worked for Placebo since their MEDS album in 2006. Each time they go on the road he brings something new and interesting to the visual equation.

This is the first time that he has specified Robe moving lights for one of his touring rigs, which are being supplied by PRG EML Productions.

The main idea behind Placebo's touring 'specials package' is that it is exceptionally quick and easy to install in festival situations 'underneath' the house rig at each event.

The LEDWash 300s are fitted into five rolling touring-frames specially fabricated by PRG EML Productions. Inside each frame they are rigged in a 6 x 3 format, with 18 lu

MilTec (UK) Ltd. will once again be in their prime position in the front row at the PLASA show where they will be joined by UK and Ireland distributor MT Pro Ltd on stand 1-F1 in the main hall. There will be several new products on show in both the lighting and audio sections, featuring LED lighting, lightweight amplification and professional speakers. This will be in addition to existing products such as LED pars, mixers and signal processing.

On the lighting front, there will be moving heads, LED pars and battens, all featuring up-to -date technology with 150W white and 8W quadcolour LEDS to give powerful beams, crisp gobo projection and bright, even colour washes.

Of particular interest will be the EPW range of multi-function moving heads. These units use a white LED for the spot beam in place of a lamp. They also have tricolour LEDS positioned at the front end to give the wash be

Australia - Joseph Mercurio, lecturer in performance technology at the Victorian College of the Arts, is on a mission to ensure that his students have access to the latest in lighting technology and has invested in a Jands Vista console.

"Part of my purpose here is to teach people how to learn and Vista offers a very different way of approaching lighting control," began Mercurio. "With most consoles you type in numbers on a keyboard but Vista has a totally different mentality with which younger people are familiar. They are used to a visual, touch screen, interactive method. Older people have learnt to be digital natives but our students were born and raised this way. You don't need to know numbers; you're talking holistically around the design and getting lights to work.

"Vista offers a totally different paradigm and breaks new ground. It certainly shows t

UK - Leading European designed LED brand Pixled will show its new F-10 i/o tile product at PLASA 2012.

This latest innovation from Pixled is an 'all-round' 10.4 mm pitch screen surface, populated with three in one SMD chips that can be used indoors or outdoors, or be rigged horizontally - and covered - to become a dynamic dance-floor and under-floor stage effect.

The standard F-10 i/o tile is fully indoor use ready. It is a mesh surface and therefore transparent, and excellent for creative indoor work including scenic elements as well as for IMAG displays. The tile dimensions are 50 x 50 cm, each of which is super lightweight at only 7 Kg! (28 Kg/sqm)

For outdoor use, Pixled offers optional "clickable in/outdoor shaders" which are quickly fitted onto the mesh tiles and include blank panels to 'close' the modules and increase the contrast.

The tiles are IP65 rated

Belgium - Martin Professional has recently added Kris Van Hullebusch in the position of test and support engineer at its lighting controller development centre in Belgium, providing global support, training and service.

Van Hullebusch comes to Martin with an extensive background in live event production, lighting and media server programming and controller maintenance. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics from Karel de Grote University College in Antwerp, Belgium.

With the success and growing popularity of the Martin M1, M2GO and other lighting controllers in the M-Series range, Martin has also launched a new, dedicated 24-hour controller support hotline to "offer its fast-growing user base a convenient point of contact and peace of mind around the world".

The new hotline is routed to carefully selected controller experts worldwide to help users and programm

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