UK - Visual storytelling technology platform disguise has released its new flagship media server: the vx 4+. Purpose-built for technically demanding productions, installations and shows, the vx 4+ is designed ‘to ensure maximum content quality and playback performance, enabling productions to push boundaries and captivate audiences like never before’.
With the capability to handle twice the amount of video layers versus its award-winning predecessor, the new disguise vx 4+ machine ramps up storage performance and significantly improves video throughout, with up to 100GbE in bandwidth for higher resolution live video.
“Production teams are perpetually seeking to push the boundaries of what is possible, with many experimenting with new technologies and workflows, using real-time content or using video content at unlimited scale and complexity. As these ambitions

Germany - As the exclusive global manufacturer of Philips professional displays, PPDS is dedicated to helping integrators learn about and test the latest technologies, products and opportunities that can help grow their businesses. Building on its strategy to bring seamless global business locally, PPDS has launched its first full-solutions showroom in Munich, featuring Philips professional displays and virtual collaboration systems from ClearOne.
The new 155sq.m showroom is designed to highlight new solutions for various spaces and client types, with dedicated rooms set up to demonstrate how new technologies can be integrated to optimize conference rooms, meeting rooms, retail spaces, classrooms, hotel guest rooms and even home offices. According to Christian Krela, channel manager for PPDS in Germany, the new Munich showroom is the company’s first demo space to focus on

Spain - Christie will showcase its cinema technologies designed to meet the needs of every screen size at CineEurope, taking place 20-23 June at Centre Convencions Internacional Barcelona (CCIB).
A selection from Christie’s range of Xenon, RGBe and Real|Laser projectors, and new Cinergy theatre management platform, will be available to view in MR 134, as will Christie Vive Audio and Christie CounterAct, with Care222 - the first UVC disinfection technology with proprietary optical filter that can be used when people are present.
“We’re excited to gather with the industry at an exciting time in cinema’s continued recovery,” says Adil Zerouali, senior director EMEA Cinema, Christie. “Since our last visit to CineEurope, we have further broadened our range of solutions to make Christie an outstanding choice for exhibitors seeking an impactful cinematic experien

UAE - The recently opened Dubai Hills Mall is a destination in a popular tourist spot, offering opportunities for shopping, dining and entertainment. It is also home to The Storm, the fastest indoor rollercoaster in the city; an adventurous ride that stands 50m tall.
Showcasing the latest innovations in engineering, The Storm features a vertical launch to 50m in just five seconds. The 670m track weaves throughout the entire mall building, making it a spectacle to watch and a unique experience for riders.
Experiences operator Emaar Entertainment created the concept of the rollercoaster set into the heart of the shopping mall. They appointed engineering experts Cundall to design and deliver The Storm. As the lead design consultant, Cundall provided a range of services including structural engineering and lighting design.
To fulfil the design, Creation Gulf were bro

Australia - Lightware Visual Engineering has opened new offices in central Sydney. Located in the Newington Technology Park and surrounded by the Sydney Olympic Park and Sydney harbour, the new APAC HQ features a dedicated training centre, a showroom, a tech lab, a warehouse, and office and meeting spaces. All Sydney-based Lightware staff will be working from these new headquarters.
The opening of the new office is the next strategic step in expanding the company’s global footprint. It will be a central hub for customers and partners across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, providing sales support, after-sale technical support, on the ground customer support and product demonstrations for all of Lightware’s products. Newington Technology Park is a hub for major technology brands in the region, including Viewsonic, Bose, Sony, Ainsworth, Pelican, CAE and

Australia - After a three-year hiatus, Vivid Sydney 2022 is now underway. Millions of expected visitors will descend on the 8km Vivid Sydney Light Walk that’s packed full of large-scale projection mapping, LED screens, wayfinding and high-powered media server technology linking the Festival’s 50 installations and projection artworks from Sydney Opera House to Central Station.
Festival director Gill Minervini, who directs her first Vivid Sydney in 2022, explains: “For 12 years we’ve relied on TDC working behind-the-scenes to deploy the brightest, most powerful technology on a grand scale helping to reinvent Sydney’s urban landscape and using it as a unique and colourful canvas capturing the essence of Sydney’s soul.”
Michael Hassett, founder and managing director at TDC - Technical Direction Company - adds: “Each year, Vivid Sydney gets bigger, brighter

USA - Xytech has appointed Keith Buckley as the company’s president and CEO, succeeding Richard Gallagher, the company’s founder. Gallagher will now advise the company’s board as envisioned when Xytech was acquired by Banneker Partners in December 2021.
Most recently, Buckley served as the CEO of Federos, an AI-optimised analytics and automation software solutions provider for complex networks that was recently sold to Oracle. He previously served as president and CEO of The Switch Enterprises.
“I’m joining Xytech as the company is poised for significant growth, and look forward to leveraging Xytech’s highly skilled team, strong base of product offerings, long history of core successes and its world-class customer base,” Buckley says. “The investments we’re planning and will execute upon in the immediate future will substantially increase Xytech’s

UK - The eyes of the world were on the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Concert to witness a host of big-name singers perform on a specially created stage in front of Buckingham Palace. As the royal family, politicians, dignitaries and the public looked on, a show fit for a queen unfolded, backed by LED screen content driven by Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 media servers.
More than 200sq.m. of Roe Black Quartz LED screens, supplied by Creative Technology, were erected on the stage, which surrounded the famous Victoria Memorial statue in front of the Palace. These were split into one large LED screen upstage centre, and eight LED pillars edging out toward the audience.
Tasked with media server programming was Matthew Lee, who was approached by lighting designer for the event, Nigel Catmur. “We had two Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 servers, one main and one backup,” says Lee. “LED sc

USA - Calibre has appointed Mike Novak as sales director for North America. Novak hits the ground running with the Calibre New Product Preview Showcase event in Las Vegas revealing a One Canvas Solution incorporating the Calibre LEDFusion Pro with splicing features across multiple screens.
Novak is based in Buffalo, New York. He has taken up the position at Calibre from Daktronics, where he managed various verticals including airport and transit, out-of-home advertising, spectaculars and reseller/AV groups, and developed new markets and revenue streams.
“The Americas is the single largest market for growth in high-performance LED systems and solutions,” says Steve Su at Calibre. “I’m delighted to welcome Mike Novak to the Calibre team during our rapid growth phase. His leadership, collaborative style and experience in setting up sales strategy and channel devel

UK - Brompton Technology has announced two major feature advances as part of its Tessera v3.4 software release: Extended Bit Depth and Stacking. “These features enhance our already compelling feature-set, which is well-established as the processing of choice for both major live events and film and television production,” says Brompton’s CEO, Richard Mead.”
Extended Bit Depth unlocks higher PWM bit depth output with a free firmware update for all existing and new panels fitted with the Brompton R2 or R2+ receiver card. Up to 3.3 additional bits of precision improves low-brightness performance – reducing visual artefacts and bringing out additional detail and nuance in dark areas of the image. This substantial increase in dynamic range offers a significant boost in performance that is hard to ignore for ICVFX and other LED on camera applications.
With Extended

UK - The much-anticipated and publicised ABBA Voyage brings the 70s supergroup back to the stage in a blend of the virtual and physical worlds.
Several years in the making, the ABBA Voyage show opened on 26 May 26 in a purpose-built arena designed by Stufish Entertainment Architects at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. The production adds a new element to the live music experience by blurring the lines between CGI and reality, with The Guardian calling it a “jaw-dropping avatar act that’s destined to be copied”.
Solotech worked under the direction of director Baillie Walsh, working alongside Aniara’s technical producer Nick Levitt and technical director Joe Frisina, and collaborating with concert producers Svana Gisla and Ludvig Andersson, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) and TETRO and Greenwall’s Fredrik Stormby to provide audio, lighting, and v

UK - PLASA Show is returning to West London from 4-6 September, and those wishing to attend can now register via the event's website.
Taking place at Olympia London’s Grand Hall, the entertainment technology tradeshow promises to deliver some of the latest technology, product demos, and delve into key industry issues. There will also be four showfloor theatres running over 60 sessions on a range of topics across the three days.
The event will provide plenty of opportunities for networking with leading companies from audio, AV, lighting, rigging and staging, each one showcasing popular products and new releases. Some of the brands returning this year include Robe, Ambersphere, ETC, AC-ET, Adam Hall, L-Acoustics, Sennheiser, Chauvet Professional, Leisuretec, Highlite, Polar and

UK - North Star Engineers has appointed Jonathan Barker as creative director. Barker joins the North Star Engineers leadership team and will focus on the creative direction of the company, client liaison, and promotional content strategy and new business development.
Barker brings with him more than 30 years’ experience working in the cruise ship entertainment industry, with notable projects on board the QM2 and with Carnival UK, P&O and Cunard. HIs varied career has also seen him write two musical theatrical productions and multiple music productions for television and film.
“After more than thirty years working in the entertainment world, with a particular focus on the cruise ship industry, I’m thrilled to be working with North Star Engineers,” says Barker. “The team is highly ambitious and innovative with an excellent work ethic - I'm delighted to be o

The Netherlands - Powersoft’s compact transducer, Mover, is at the heart of a new four-dimensional nightlife experience in Amsterdam which allows visitors to take a deep dive into the culture and history of electronic dance music from its roots to the present day.
Based in Amsterdam’s Rembrandt district, Our House has been a thriving nightclub and the beating heart of the electronic music scene since the 1980s. The venue has upheld its musical legacy by recently becoming a digital storytelling museum, promising a 75-minute journey into the music genre via interactive exhibits, shows and performances, telling the story of how electronic music - once a rebellious and secretive underground scene – has evolved.
“When we came here, about two years ago, the place was very analogue: There was a sound system, strobes, smoke machine and some LEDS - that was about it,

Australia - This year marked the new era of remote broadcast experience, with Seven Network, a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network and the original broadcaster of Summer and Winter Olympic Games since 1956, working with Australia’s CT Group, part of the NEP Live Events, to create a virtual production environment with a top-end LED wall powered by Brompton Technology Tessera processing.
“CT provided LED backdrops for Seven Network’s sports hostings during the pandemic, when travelling to venues wasn’t possible,” says Michael Judges, senior project manager for CT Australia & New Zealand. “As a result of this positive experience, we built a template with the client which they were subsequently able to use on the Tokyo and Beijing host broadcasts.”
Judges explains that for this project, Seven Network wanted the highest resolution LE

France - Naostage, an engineering-led startup, has launched an automatic beaconless 3D tracking solution, making it easy for AVL rental-staging and fixed-install professionals to create immersive, interactive live experiences.
Designed and engineered at the company’s headquarters in Nantes, Naostage’s tracking solution seamlessly identifies and follows artists, performers and visitors wherever they are in a defined tracking area - allowing for the automation of an array of lighting, audio, video and media effects in real time.
“From outdoor festivals to touring shows, visitor attractions, immersive experiences and more, Naostage’s 100% automated solution streamlines and simplifies tracking workflow wherever it is deployed,” explains Paul Cales, Naostage founder and CEO, “helping artists, show designers and technical teams to improve productivity and reduce

UK - Technical event production and hire company Sterling Event Group has invested in Hippotizer media servers.
Joe Timmons, head of vision at Sterling Event Group comments: “We work on a variety of events and it’s important for us to have media servers that can provide various solutions for different projects. Our previous media servers had reached end of life and so in choosing our new media servers we wanted to explore different brands and products.”
Specialist entertainment technology suppliers, A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) demoed and supplied Sterling Event Group with Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 and Nevis+ media servers.
“We demoed different brands and what struck me about Green Hippo was the ease of use and flexibility. The ability to have different operators using different control surfaces to trigger and manipulate content in real time is a

UK - disguise has launched a Metaverse Solutions division to continue the development of virtual production and audiovisual location-based experiences. The division will build on existing disguise solutions in order to allow businesses to take advantage of the unique opportunities the metaverse has to offer.
Launched within the past two years, disguise’s extended reality (xR) workflow has powered over 600 productions in over 50 countries. These include the delivery of live events in the metaverse, such as Kaskade’s in Fortnite and Rocket League as part of its Llama-Rama event series as well as supporting launches for major brands like Gucci and Ferrari.
“Our mission is to help create experiences that challenge expectations. We believe in connecting the physical with the virtual worlds, to create Gateways to the Metaverse,” says disguise CEO Fernando Küfer. “

UK - Production agency Colada Creative has joined forces with global video platform Vimeo to launch a new interactive tour experience for Edinburgh Zoo.
Home of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), the zoo is one of Europe’s leading centres of conservation, education and research and is home to more than 1,000 rare and endangered animals and welcomes in excess of 800,000 visitors each year.
However, with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the zoo has looked into other ways to reach its supporters and share the stories of the animals on site. The interactive video allows users to tour, view and meet some of the animals and zookeepers at the 82-acre attraction, without having to be on site.
Director at Colada Creative, Jack Brodie, says: “Video has become a useful tool for tourist attractions throughout the past two years but, as we return to rela

UK - Stage Precision (SP), and technical business development specialist, Neutral Human, have announced a strategic partnership alongside the launch of Stage Precision to the wider market.
SP is an independent data and control platform that enables users to build complex control-systems and previsualise or pre-programme technological workflows for the global live events market.
“The industry’s creative technologists have adopted SP as part of their trusted workflows. It has enabled the high-end projects to develop with pioneering complexity, so now it’s time for the wider industry to discover such this ground-breaking tool,” says Neutral Human’s founder, Sarah Cox.
“What drew me to working with SP is the fact that the product is community-led. Its development comes from working alongside its userbase on real world challenges and finding solutions to

France - The 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is, for the first time, hosting a virtual production space powered by disguise - marking a new milestone in virtual production’s expansion into the European film and television industry.
Film and television group Film Soho, is partnering up with virtual production innovators disguise, ROE Visual, global video solutions provider CVP and content studio ZOAN to showcase a virtual production stage in the garden of the Grand Hotel in Cannes - hosting many of Cannes Festival’s A-list participants.
Visitors will step into a virtual production volume, powered by disguise and will become fully immersed into rich environments such as expansive city scapes and lush Icelandic country scenes - all designed in Unreal Engine and Notch. Visitors can drop by the space during the festival to receive demonstrations of the techno

Australia - Now in its 12th year, Vivid Sydney will transform the Harbour City into an illuminating fusion of creativity, innovation and technology. From 27 May to 18 June, it will host more than 200+ events celebrating the essence of Sydney’s soul including its diversity, beauty, resilience, First Nations culture, and vibrant creative community.
Providing insightful access into what exactly goes on is TDC - Technical Direction Company, a team of project managers, creative technologists, designers and engineers. Alex Rendell, technical project manager at TDC, takes up the story: “After 12 months of planning, our team are so excited to be back working on Vivid Sydney again. The project is a huge logistical and technical rollout for us. It is going to be bigger and brighter than ever. Vivid Sydney will showcase the largest projection mapping display at any single event eve

UK - The People’s Property Portfolio (PPP) is a community benefit society with a mission centred on urban regeneration. Determined to create real community spaces in a way that is social and authentic, the society aims to secure buildings through community ownership to help develop social enterprise and support cultural activity. The society recently launched its work in Bradford, marking the occasion with an event at Assembly Bradford, a creative workspace for freelancers, remote workers, small businesses and creative organisations.
To complement the presentation of its vision inside the building, PPP engaged arts company The Brick Box and artist Fabric Lenny to create an eye-catching and dynamic live artwork on the Assembly’s exterior frontage. The Brick Box producer Harry Jelley consulted with Bradford-based Pro Audio Systems (PAS) over the best way to achieve the art

France - Christie is the official projection technology partner for the 75th Cannes Film Festival. The event, which runs 17-28 May, will see projectors from across Christie’s broad portfolio powering screens throughout all venues. The festival is set to welcome approximately 35,000 guests, a significant increase over last year’s 24,000. Christie will provide installation and show support for the occasion, as it celebrates its 16th year as technical partner.
“It is a tremendous honour to continue our association with Festival de Cannes, with its renowned prestige and rich history making it a truly unique celebration, year after year,” says Adil Zerouali, senior sales director, Cinema EMEA, Christie. “We will aim to showcase this year’s outstanding line-up of films in the most visually impactful way possible with our leading projection technology. It’s great to s

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