For over two decades, the annual Lighting Dimensions International trade show has been our window into the world of live event production. And this year, there was a big elephant staring back through that window. The elephant in the room, of course, was LED technology. With all the gallium arsenide (GaAs) and phosphors in the Las Vegas Convention Center, how can any LDI 2010 show review not begin by an in-depth discussion of LEDs? They were introduced in new products, discussed on the show floor and in dozens of seminars, displayed in demo rooms and vendor's booths and marketed to thousands of attendees. They came in new color wash fixtures, PARs, Fresnels, architectural luminaires, studio lighting, video displays, effects lighting, strobes, blacklights, and even console lights. They range from the tiny Omnisistem Jr. moving yoke LED fixture to the eight-pound Martin MAC 101 moving yoke LED fixture to the giant Christie Nitro LED 100-40K with 450 3-watt LEDs. But one of the most interesting areas of new development on the LED front is in profile spot fixtures.
LED Variations
Robert Juliat's Aledin was one of the first LED profile spot fixtures with enough power and focused optics to project beautifully rendered images. Now there are a number of new LED profile spots including GLP Impression Spot One, Elation Platinum Spot LED, Chauvet Q-Beam 260-LED, Strong Entertainment Lighting Neva, Mega Systems Axis LED Spot and Techni-Lux VectorLED 160 Spot.
LEDs are also finding their way into other new form factors such as Coemar's Reflection, Prism Projection's Reveal Studio, which has the look of a Fresnel fixture, and Arri's Caster series of broadcast lighting. And they are quickly moving into areas previously reserved for conventional lighting such as key lighting and fill lighting. Just check out ETC's new Selador Pearl and Prism Projection's Reveal CW.
All of this has changed the conversation about LEDs. When Jim Bornhorst was collecting his Parnelli Lifetime Achievment Award at the Oct. 22 ceremony (see related story, this issue), he quoted a friend who said, "LEDs are the future of lighting and always will be." After this year's LDI, his friend might want to amend his quote. We suggest, "LEDs are the future of lighting, and the future just might be here right now." If not now, then perhaps tomorrow mid-morning.
But LEDs aren't the only new game in town. New fixtures are popping up with new light sources like the 850-watt HID lamp in the Barco/High End Systems Intellaspot XT-1, the 800-watt discharge lamp in the Robe MMX Spot under development, the 300-watt Philips MSD Platinum 15R lamp in the Elation Platinum Spot 15R Pro, the 190-watt Philips MSD Platinum 5R in the Clay Paky Sharpy and Elation Platinum Spot 5R, and the 480-watt Luxim LiFi-ENT 31-04 plasma lamp in the Robe 600 Plasma Spot.
Automation and Control
All of these fixtures represent real progress in the steady march towards more efficient lamps and luminaires. Marching at an even more rapid pace is another group of technologies including networking, automation, controls, media servers, wireless, consoles and video displays. A prime example of state-of-the-art networking technology was on display in the PRG demo room where their new V476 lighting console was networked with the new Commander motion control console and the newly upgraded MBox EXtreme v3. The system was controlling motorized carts and trolleys on which video display panels fed by the media server were moving through a stationary video display. Think about that for a moment; the video image was not moving, but the display device was. That's networking and systems integration at its finest.
Another sign of the increasing prominence of automation was the presence of a growing number of automation companies. Some of them included Fisher Technical Services Inc. (FTSI), who has recently entered into formal collaboration with Tait Towers, Kinesys, Show Distribution, XLNT Advanced Technologies, Eilon Engineering, ETC, J.R. Clancy, ZFX, Serapid, Stage Technologies and Vortek. Automation just might represent the most exciting area of the live entertainment industry right now.
Networking and Visualizers
Or is it networking? It's a tough call, especially when you see what companies like Cast Software are doing with their BlackBox and BlackTrax systems, or what total integrations systems like Midiator and High Resolution Systems are doing to tie together disparate technologies. Then there are all of the new generation of wireless technologies from City Theatrical, Wireless Solution, RC4 Wireless, and Lumen Radio. Entertainment networks are as ubiquitous as entertainment, and they're becoming more reliable and powerful.
Then again, the most exciting area of the live entertainment industry right now might be media servers, visualizers and the devices that are blurring the lines between them. Take, for example United Visual Artists' D3. Is it a visualizer, media server, controller, or all of the above? Or LightConverse, a visualizer which now has the ability to blend and warp video inputs in the virtual world and in the real world.
Consoles and Software
All of this technology would be worthless without a power command center to control it all. Not to fear – the industry is spending its brain capital on a number of new consoles and software updates. Some of the new consoles include Avolites Titan Mobile and Sapphire Touch consoles, Jands Vista V2 Byron (still under development), PRG V476 and Martin M1. Meanwhile, MA Lighting continues to add features to grandMA2 and Zero 88 has updated software for their Frog and Orb consoles. Though the industry is still waiting on more manufacturers (other than ETC and Zero 88) to catch up with fixtures on the RDM front, it seems that more of them are implementing streaming ACN, and that's good news.
Other notable technologies that are having an impact on the industry include battery-powered LED fixtures like Chauvet's Wireless Event LED Luminaire (WELL) and OmniSistem's Wireless DMX Uplighting System as well as a plethora of LED display panels in hi-res (Christie Digital Microtiles, Elation EPV6, Pixled F-6, Mega Systems Enigma), low-res (American DJ Flash Panel 16, G-LEC Phantom 15), curtains (Pixzel Z-Pix, G-LEC Solaris+), transparent (Clay Paky Mirage QC, Martin EC-20), flexible (Pix2o Video Reel) and flexible/transparent (TMB CurveLED, RGB Lights FlexiFleXL) varieties.
Looking through that window, besides the elephant in the room, we see a very active industry. Several manufacturers came to the show with armloads of new products including American DJ, Elation, Robe, Omnisistem, Chauvet, TMB, Pulsar, and probably many more. All of this means that there is now more technology per square foot than ever before in the history of LDI.
To download the full PLSN LDI 2010 Show Report, CLICK HERE.
