UK - Blink TV, a leading supplier of video screens and visual content to the live music industry, has recruited two key new staff to drive its growth strategy.

Carmela Iandoli joins as programming editor, a newly-created role designed to expand Blink's pre-show entertainment offering to appeal to artists from all music genres. Blink is known for its work with pop acts, but recent projects with indie bands such as Keane and Snow Patrol signals its intention to broaden its client base.

For Snow Patrol's current tour Blink created bespoke pre-show entertainment tailored specifically to the tastes of the band and its fans, including music selected by the band set to time-lapse photography of the stage being set up. The resulting imagery builds anticipation within the crowd prior to the band's arrival on stage. The package includes targeted advertising which helps offset the signif

Norway - Reinforcing its commitment to the markets of 3D, gaming, effects and digital media display, Norway's projectiondesign is to exhibit for the first time at the fmx/09 event in Stuttgart, Germany from 5-8 May. Now in its 14th year, fmx offers a conference, a forum, an expo and a series of other events, all with the goal of furthering innovation in the creation, production, and distribution of digital entertainment.

Exhibiting with specialist Düsseldorf-based reseller 3D Powerstore, projectiondesign will show a range of products including the F32 1080 INFITEC stereo 3D setup; an F32 wuxga supplied by 3D Powerstore; and the F10 AS3D active stereo 3D projector which will be shown in conjunction with Autodesk design engineering software.

Additionally, Anders L°kke, international marketing and communications manager at projectiondesign, will present a seminar on 3D techn

UK - Urban Digital (formerly WindowGain UK) have joined forces with rear projection specialists, Paradigm AV to create a 95 sq. ft (8.8sq.m) screen displaying Barbie's image in the window of the world-renowned Hamleys toy shop in London's Regent Street.

Chosen by Mattel's brand and design agency Oakwood-dc to install and manage the content delivery of the campaign (which runs until the end of March 2009), Urban Digital in turn, contacted Paradigm to deliver the media hardware, based around four 84in dnp New Wide Angle screens, for which they are exclusive UK distributors.

Divided by narrow mullions the screens have been hard-edge blended and colour-matched, receiving picture perfect projection from four Panasonic 5700 projectors, cradled horizontally on four Paradigm Easy Erect rigs, to fold the beams off four twin mirror rigs angled at 45°.

While Paradigm were responsib

UK - XL Video supplied full video production - screen, cameras, PPU, Catalyst media servers and crew for the concluding date of Elbow's recent UK tour at Wembley Arena, London.

This was project managed for XL by Des Fallon, with live direction by Jon Shrimpton. Fallon comments, "From my first meeting with management and production, Elbow have been a pleasure to work with. The show was immense, a very special evening."

Shrimpton worked in close collaboration with Mark Thomas from Soup Collective who designed and produced all the playback visuals, and Hugh Davies Webb, who was brought in by XL to run the Catalyst media server that was at the hub of the live video show control.

"The visual cues were all very precise and we had no physical rehearsals, so the this was a major challenge" recalls Shrimpton. The three of them had several meetings to establish, ru

UK - Kramer Electronics has announced the introduction of the VP-728 ProScale presentation scaler/switcher. The VP-728 is a nine-input scaler/switcher that sets new quality and performance benchmarks in the Kramer line up of ProScale scalers and scaler/switchers with the incorporation of Silicon Optix HQV video processing.

The VP-728 is HDTV and HDCP compatible offering 720p, 1080i and 1080p HDTV output resolutions as well as numerous other user-selectable pre-defined output resolutions and one user definable output resolution setting.

The VP-728 presentation scaler/switcher employs Kramer's FTB (Fade-Thru-Black) switching for glitch-free switching. The VP-728 can switch between any of nine inputs that include three-wire universal video inputs on RCA connectors (each can be composite video, s-Video or component video as chosen from the menu), two computer graphics video inputs

UK - A/V services company PSP has continued its rolling investment programme with the addition of more state-of-the-art equipment to its inventory.

The recent purchase of a Panasonic AVS-400 multi-format live vision mixer, Christie S+20K Roadster projector, Barco DCS 200 dual channel seamless switcher and additional Grass Valley Turbo iDDR digital media recorder/players has reinforced the company's commitment to quality.

"High definition is becoming more and more of a client requirement and so we have to ensure that we can deliver it whenever requested," says PSP's David Woodcock.

"The AVS-400 and DCS-200 are both tremendously versatile. With great input and output flexibility for all formats, they provide the ultimate in vision mixing and switching capabilities and are also remarkably cost effective.

"We aim to deliver the ultimate in visual quality an

UK/Germany - 2009 sees the 30th year since the launch of Trace Elliot as a brand, in Essex, UK. To commemorate this a special promotional video has been commissioned.

It was 1979 when the first Trace Elliot amplifiers became available and these quickly revolutionised the way the industry perceived bass amplification. Coincidentally it is also 20 years since this was repeated for acoustic players with the launch of Trace Acoustic in 1989.

With both ranges again generating much interest, these milestones are being celebrated with the imminent release of an entertaining and insightful video. This refers to the continuity of the origin of the brand's design and also reveals some of the reasons that make these brands different.

The five and a half minute video will be officially released on the first day of the 2009 Frankfurt Musikmesse, 1 Aprilt, and will be freely available in

Show Time - The lighting, sound and production industries head to Frankfurt this week for ProLight+Sound 2009 and judging by the flood of pre-show product information - and launch party invitations - received by LSI, there will be much new to see and hear. Not surprisingly, then, the organisers are anticipating healthy attendance figures.

Woodstock Reprise - Michael Lang, the co-founder of the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival, is reportedly seeking sponsors for a 40th anniversary reprise in New York City. "The chances that something will happen are probable," he told the Times. "But I don't really have the answer yet as to what that will be." Central Park has been suggested as a possible location for the event. The Who were among the acts who played at the original concert, which took place in Bethel, New York State. A 30th anniversary concert

Switzerland - Barix AGhas scheduled a series of hands-on workshops to immediate follow the upcoming NAB, Infocomm and IBC conventions. The workshops will educate attendees on the topic of Audio over IP; Barix products, new developments and available software; key markets and applications; and an overview of the ABCL environment (Barix Control Language) used for custom Barix applications.

Barix held two successful workshops alongside Infocomm Asia and the Digital Signage Expo conventions in Hong Kong and Las Vegas, and included hands-on demonstrations of how the products are used in real-world applications. The next three workshops will take place on the following dates, with locations to be announced: NAB Workshop: 23 April in Las Vegas, Infocomm Workshop: 16 June in Orlando and IBC Workshop: 10 September 10 in Amsterdam.

"The initial success of our early training sessio

Denmark - Available now is the LC Plus Series from Martin Professional, a modular system of LED video panels with new generation technology that closely integrates light, video and set design for new possibilities in indoor and outdoor staging. Designed for the demanding rental and staging market, yet equally suitable for fixed installations such as retail environments and outdoor architecture, the LC Plus is an easy-to-use, all-in-one video solution, says the company.

The LC Plus is built around Martin's new P3 technology platform (Pixel Push Protocol) for video signal processing and distribution. Based on Gigabit Ethernet and Ca t5e wiring, the P3 technology removes the inherent limitations of video-type protocols for easy connectivity and speed of set-up.

The Ethernet based system is true plug and play, eliminating the limitations of DVI, fibre optic and coax (SDI) cable co

UK - Wonderworks has created a ghostly hologram within the new £1m permanent exhibition, Uncovering Origins, at Charles Darwin's Down House In Kent. Forming part of the bicentennial celebrations of the great scientist's birth, it was created in conjunction with Paradigm AV.

Wonderworks was contracted by design consultancy, Designmap, who created the exhibition for English Heritage. The Darwin hologram is set in faithful recreation of his cabin on the Beagle. MDM Props (Designmap's build partner on the project) realised the cabin interior. Having partnered Wonderworks many times in the past, Paradigm AV was brought in to work on the elaborate fabrication.

It was at Down House that Darwin lived with his devoted family for 40 years, and it was here that he researched and wrote his most famous and seminal work, On the Origin of Species.

The new exhibition cha

Sweden - CAST Software was behind-the-scenes at the recent Elle Galan 2009 - one of the most illustrious fashion events in Sweden, held at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm.

CAST Software is the maker of two popular software suites in the entertainment and event industries - Vivien-Virtual Event Designer and wysiwyg. These tools were used to create the design for the show.

Three key designers worked on the project, lighting designer Mats Andreasson, production manager Ola Melzig and set designer Åse Persson, sharing wysiwygand Vivien files with each other to meet the demands of a challenging layout, creating a striking design while saving time and money.

The venue presented a few obstacles for the team, as Grand Hotel, which opened in 1874, was never designed for the range of events to be held within its walls. Automated lights, strobe lighting

UK - Production:av, an audio-visual services provider based in Gloucestershire, has been recognised as an InfoComm International Sapphire Audio Visual Solutions Provider. Reaching AVSP status has been a target for the company for some time.

Managing director Peter McCrea comments: "We have been working to achieve this recognition to ensure our business is viewed as a qualified organisation, which provides audio visual installations and equipment rental services to the highest standards." Production:av currently has technical staff working towards CTS status (Certified Technology Specialist).

InfoComm provides an internationally recognised AV industry certification programme, which is contributing towards creating standards of excellence and practice in the AV industry.

McCrea adds: "Whether we are hiring a plasma screen to a business seminar, installing a proj

UK - AV distribution company, PSCo has commissioned the development of a new vehicle to reduce the delivery cost of its 103" plasma and 108" LCD screens for temporary and permanent installations.

Specialists in large format display products, PSCo's portfolio includes the world's largest plasma screen the Panasonic 103" and the world's largest LCD the Sharp 108".

The specially designed vehicle has a pneumatic air suspension system that lowers the tail to less than 30cm and a winch that ensures the screens are safe and secure when loading and unloading. Together they reduce time and manpower required to manoeuvre the screens.

Stuart Holmes, PSCo managing director said, "We are delighted to be able to save money for our customers and at the same time improve the service we offer. Our new vehicle benefits both our sales and rental clients by reducing cos

Hong Kong - Continuing to expand its line-up of LED display products, Lighthouse Technologies has announced the launch of HELIOS (High Efficiency LED Informative Operations System), a powerful DOOH (Digital Out-Of-Home) system that delivers and manages advertising messages "more easily and efficiently, in virtually any kind of indoor and outdoor setting".

SF6-SVP, the first HELIOS model to be launched, is a dual-sided display unit with a high resolution digital face on one side and a back-lit poster on the other. The 6mm pixel pitch, 3000 nit LED panel is capable of displaying dynamic content in a rotating fashion, significantly minimizing overhead costs. The back-lit poster on the opposite side makes it suitable for places where traffic may pass by either side of the display, such as attraction sites, high density areas, and high traffic roadsides, while the built-in

USA - Hippotizer media servers delivered a variety of visual effects for the 81st Academy Awards Show, broadcast in February. The Hippotizer content delivery system was specified by designer Bob Dickinson and media programmer Jason Rudolph. VER supported the application, with Matt Waters as lead engineer.

Three active Hippotizer HD units were used within a networked system. One Hippotizer HD was used for pixel-mapping 1,036 Color Kinetics iColor Cove LED strips embedded in the stage floor. Alternating sunburst and other patterns created stunning effects for overhead shots. Two additional Hippotizer HDs drove hundreds of 1m length Element Labs Versa Tubes, which were used in every set-piece of the show and around the venue; mounted on the projection screen surrounds, orchestra band carts, audience handrails and the 'chandeliers' which were a striking visual feature of the show.

UK - One of the UK's leading AV solutions and service providers for houses of worship in the UK has completed an elegant installation for a North London church, centering around the Edirol V-440HD multiformat vision mixer. PROmotivations Visual Technology admits to a strong preference for the Edirol range of video editing and mixing products, and is now installing them in most of its larger projects.

Edirol's popular V-440HD multi-format video mixer, and the alternative V-44SW which packages those facilities into a compact, installation-friendly, 2U rack-mount format, can mix all available video signals, including HD video (1080i or 720p), SD Video (NTSC or PAL) and RGB signal (upto SXGA). According to PROmotivation's Martyn Skirrow, "these units are very straightforward, very tactile and very easy to understand, which is a bonus when it comes to handing over the installati

Germany - G-LEC, the Ötigheim, Germany-based manufacturer of transparent LED video screen products for the events and architectural markets, has gone into administration, Lighting&Sound International has learned.

Company founder and managing director Lars Wolf explained to L&SI that a mis-allocation of assets by an external agency had given a false impression of the company's position at the end of 2008; when the error came to light, a rescue package was agreed with the company's bank. However, two consecutive months of poor trading in January and February put an end to Wolf's hopes of trading through the crisis, and he took the decision to put the company into administration.

Speaking to L&SI at the ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt, where some of the costs of the G LEC stand were met by friends and supporters, Wolf said the German authorities are satisfied that he had

UK - Digital media, lighting and solutions specialist Projected Image Digital hosts two informal open days next week - on 22 and 23 April - at its west London training and demonstration space.

Individuals and companies working in all areas of digital media and lighting are welcome to attend - and the event is particularity relevant to those interested in media servers, lighting consoles, projection systems, LED screens and digital lighting fixtures. The Open Days are a great opportunity for professionals industry-wide to get up to speed with the latest developments in this fast-moving and evolving technology, says the company.

Products on show will include the new Catalyst Lapcat - a fully portable package with all the power of the Catalyst digital media server contained in a 15 inch Mac Book Pro with solid state 128Gb hard drive. This runs Catalyst Lite software and all its f

UK - AV integration and engineering company, Ashdown AV chose two AQUiVO outdoor weatherproof screens to scare and excite riders on Thorpe Park's new rollercoaster, SAW - The Ride.

As theme parks continuously create new white knuckle rides to keep visitors returning for more, the world's first ever horror movie-themed rollercoaster, SAW - The Ride, opened at Thorpe Park this March using the latest technology to transform the idea into a reality.

The novel idea to base a ride on the most popular horror film franchise in history, SAW, and give visitors a spine chilling experience required the expertise of the Ashdown AV team, who were approached to create an integrated sound, video, lighting and effects control system for the ride. Project manager Peter Roe began the planning phase in November 2008, specifying the equipment required and designing the ride's

UK - Manchester-based rental staging company, A to V, has dipped into its new fleet of Christie Roadster HD10K-M 3-chip DLP projectors to help stage a major product launch for production company Livenet's client, Bosch Home Appliances.

Held at the International Centre, Telford, the event was designed to showcase the company's new 2009 built-in cooking range, with over 300 major appliances on display, along with many smaller items.

The event's producer and MD of Livenet, Peter Lindsey-Jones, was reportedly delighted with the brightness and clarity of the projected images. "The audience were so close to the four screens that initially we had concerns about the image quality, but these concerns proved to be completely unjustified," he said.

A to V fielded four of their six HD10K-M projectors, fitted with 2.6-4.1:1 zoom lenses. "We had been looking for some time t

The Netherlands - In early 2007, JVH gaming contacted Dutch systems integrator, Hecla Professional Audio & Video Systems BV, to talk about promotional screens for an outlet of its Jack's Casino brand at the new Dukenburg shopping centre in the Dutch town of Nijmegen. This was to be completed in early 2009 and had to adhere to many stringent requirements.

"The architect designed the building with a number of areas on the exterior walls that the retail outlets in Dukenburg can rent for advertising purposes," explains Hecla's new business manager, Jos den Hartog. "JVH believed that LED screens were the perfect visual medium for two of these areas, with one screen situated next to the main entrance of the centre and opposite the bus and train station, whilst the other is close to the busiest roundabout in Nijmegen. Both are ideal for maximum exposure."

However,

Norway - projectiondesign has supplied three of its DLP projectors to Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda for use in the major retrospective of his work.

Best-known as Japan's leading composer of electronic music, Ikeda uses both sound and visual imagery to produce intensely physical experiences for his audience. His new retrospective is being hosted by Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, which opened on 2 April and will continue to 21 June 2009, is titled '+/- [the infinite between 0 and 1]', and includes new commissions, sound works and large-scale audio visual projections.

Three F32 series will be used to power 'data.tron [3 SXGA+ version]', an expanded edition of Ikeda's floor-to-ceiling screen of art, which seeks to physically overwhelm visitors with a staggering array of binary data such as the numbers 0 and 1.

Ken Sampei, director of Mix Wave, comments: "In today's

UK - Paul Weller rocked the O2 Arena in London last week with a set encompassing tracks from his new album, 22 Dreams as well as classics from his extensive back catalogue.

The show's video design was the work of creative director Justine Catterall, who also produced custom content for 12 songs of the set. All the hardware - including MiTrix LED screen, Catalyst control, 2 camera systems, projection and PPU - plus crew were supplied by XL Video, project managed by Des Fallon. Matt Askem directed the live IMAG mix and Stuart Heaney crew chiefed. The playback content was programmed onto two high spec Catalyst digital media servers, operated by Richard Stembridge.

Catterall's design brought a quirky and fragmented look to the stage using 36 panels of MiTrix LED screen arranged at jaunty angles, suspended on three overstage trusses, providing additional depth and dimension

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