In the ever-changing landscape of constant improvement within the video products segment of our industry, we’ve seen products come down in size, weight, pixel pitch and structure. This year’s season is no exception, as proven by video giant ROE Visual. ROE brings more A-game to this year’s 2018 LDI Show with strong, innovative offerings in its structural products line, high pixel pitch (HPP) panel line and LED floor lines. ROE has been providing several very competitive video products in the last few years, and this year is no exception to the constant growth being exhibited by the company. ROE Visual’s latest products have crossed the lines of definition, proven structural integrity and high quality floor-based video equipment, all with a bevy of features that continue to show ROE Visual as a leader in the pixel products market. To that particular point, let’s talk about the three latest offerings that have garnered quite a bit of media attention in the industry this season: the Air Frame, which is a high-strength carbon fiber system of wind-resistance and structural safety that’s compatible with ROE’s Carbon series of panel products, specifically the CB5 and CB8 series products; the Sapphire line of offset-mounted, high pixel pitch LED panels; and the Black Marble line of LED-based flooring.
ROE Visual Air Frame
ROE Visual’s Air Frame structure is a carbon fiber creation that is designed to cut down on pre-tour structural prep time and onsite load-in time with a snap-together system contained together in flight carts, keeping with the industry standard practice of traveling panel and structure together. Air Frame is a mix of carbon fiber structure and aluminum, keeping forward the idea of light travel weight, durability and optimum spatial usage, both in and out of its travel carts. With production safety, audience and staff protection and wind resistance in the forefront of everyone’s minds, ROE adds a new layer of production protection to video installations that continue to get larger and larger with every festival season.
The product is, frankly, impressive to say the least. Air Frame panel structure integrated with the Carbon series of video panels from ROE Visual can be hung from points, where the Air Frame structure remains folded together to keep a low profile while still providing stability, or they can be ground mounted (stacked). Hanging capacity with the Air Frames extended is tremendous, at 24 meters (a towering 78.75 feet) while still allowing video engineers front and rear service access to the panels.
Ground mount height is similarly impressive at 4.8 meters (15.75 feet), retains the same front and back panel access, and gives the video production department safety and security in both hanging and standing scenarios.
Air Frame recently had its production proving debut at the Netherlands’ longest running outdoor music festival, PinkPop, which saw performances by Pearl Jam, Bruno Mars and The Foo Fighters, among others. “Building the LED screens for PinkPop had to be both quick and safe,” says Steven Embrechts from Faber Audiovisual, providers of this year’s PinkPop festival. “Structurally calculated to absorb high wind speeds, the ROE Visual Air Frame offers the ideal solution for us. Building a large LED wall like this turned out to be amazingly fast, the panels and the frames did fit together perfectly.”
“We’re really glad we can now offer this support solution for our customers who own the Carbon Series LED panels. Providing a good and structurally safe support system is vital in the building of your LED screen, the more for touring productions, where building times are always under pressure. The Air Frame is designed for both hanging or stacking options and comes with a series of accessories,” says Tony van Moorleghem, the product marketing director for ROE Visual.
In addition to strength and production safety, the Air Frame also has an incorporated angle curving options, from 10° to -10°, allowing for creativity in design and implementation while still providing the much-needed structural integrity in today’s touring and festival production environment. There is no room for mistakes in this day and age of monstrous, intimidating video designs and ROE Visual’s Air Frame readily reaches to make installations safe, strong and sturdy.
Air Frame’s dolly design allows incorporation of 16 Carbon full-size panels, or 32 half-size Carbon panels per cart, weighing in at 532kg per cart, or 1,172.86 pounds for the CB5 panels. Lighter-weight CB8 panels are 513kg per cart, or 1,131 pounds fully loaded. A full-sized Air Frame measures in at 600 x 1200 x 120mm, and half frames are 600 x 600 x 120mm, standard industry size, keeping your video configuration in the realm of production normalcy.
ROE Visual Sapphire Video Panels
ROE Video’s Sapphire panel product is another major improvement over previous resolutions of video products industry-wide, featuring an impressively sharp 1.545mm pixel pitch. Again, frankly, you won’t believe your eyes when you see video being played back on the Sapphire panels, 1.545mm of pixel pitch is quite a sight to behold. Panels weigh 4 kg a piece (8.8 pounds), have an unreal pixel density of 418,932 LEDs per square meter and are easy to access from front or rear for service onsite or in the shop.
Coast-to-coast production company WorldStage is the first U.S. company to debut the Sapphire panels, offering this razor-sharp video product to the American production audience. “Our investment in the next-generation of LED technology from ROE reinforces the reputation WorldStage has earned for being the industry’s leading provider of innovative LED solutions to our customers,” says Gary Standard, WorldStage CEO. “Now, we continue that leadership as the first to offer next-generation sub-2mm LED tiles for the rental marketplace with ROE Visual Sapphire.”
Beyond having an super-fine pixel pitch, Sapphire panels’ tiny pixels and incredible resolution are boosted by a novel concept of innovation by ROE Visual: Instead of installing rows and columns like an Excel spreadsheet, as is generally the standard practice with video walls in our industry, the panels mount in an offset fashion much like that of a cinder block wall. This non-linear column design helps eliminate seams by allowing for less gap between panels than the typical rows-and-columns design. If you’ve ever had to deconstruct part of a video wall to tighten up a seam out between panels, you’ll be well-aware of how critical a feature the offset panel mounting is to installation. The offset design also gives more freedom to the designer to concoct non-linear displays and inherently garner a new level of creativity in the video surface.
Sapphire was designed with ease of use and durability in mind, which almost seems secondary when you have a sub-2mm pixel pitch, but are perhaps even more important. Sapphire panels incorporate FPT, or Front Panel Treatment, to alleviate damage during travel and installation by protecting the edges and corners of individual modules. In addition to that treatment, Sapphire panels are integrated with an eject motor that makes removing individual panels and modules simple at any angle of installation.
“ROE Visual is committed to providing the highest quality of innovative LED products to global production companies, broadcast networks and cross-platform exhibitors. We offer a highly customizable creative alternative to the traditional rectangle without the need for additional hardware,” says ROE Visual’s Van Moorleghem. “With the ROE Visual Sapphire, integrated push motors allow panels to eject safely and effortlessly, while the standard screen aspect ratio of 16:9 makes it quick and easy to set-up,” Van Moorleghem adds.
ROE Visual Black Marble Floor Panels
The phenomenon of video floors, video stairs and other non-wall surface video designs is truly no longer out of reach for designers and production companies; ROE Visual brings a new player to that realm with their Black Marble video floor products, ranging from a tight 4.7mm pixel pitch floor panel product (the BM4, at 44,058 pixels per square meter), to a 15.2mm pixel pitch model (the BM15 and BM15P, both at 4,306 pixels per square meter), to a hybrid floor panel with a less dense but still powerful 150mm pixel pitch version with 16 integrated high-output LED spotlights per panel. The hybrid model of Black Marble video flooring brings an entirely different level of creativity to integrated video floor products, adding bright LED spotlights to video pixels to create a unique experience for implementation into video designs.
Black Marble panels average around 22 kg (or 48.5 lbs.) between models with the high-shine glass surface, or around 16.75 kg (36.9 lbs.) for panels using the matte surface finish. Panel modules are all two feet square and 5.1 inches deep (609.6 mm x 609.6mm x 130mm), with the glass finish adding eight millimeters’ height. Considering the durability of the glass finish, I find the 8mm depth of that glass surface impressive.
Black Marble video panels come in either a high-gloss, uniformly brilliant, nearly specular surface, or a strong matte offering that allows for a more muted look to an LED video floor design. Perhaps more importantly, the Black Marble surfaces are scratch-proof, noiseless, waterproof and purely beautiful. LED modules on Black Marble panels are magnetic, so front-facing maintenance is possible with a module remover tool. ROE Visual has also assured a quick and easy installation with their modular flooring mounts and internal structure, allowing the production company to have confidence in proper installation on tour stops, in convention centers, or for corporate events while saving time and money on installation time.
At a Glance:
ROE Visual Air Frame
A structural device that allows for structural protection from the wind and other factors that incorporates into the Carbon line of ROE Visual video panels. Air Frame modules can fold flat or be extended and constructed for large video designs.
ROE Visual Sapphire Video Panels
Sapphire video panels are very high pixel pitch video products (1.5mm, or “sub-2mm”) that produce razor-sharp video picture. The Sapphire panels are also reinforced on the corners and LED surfaces to protect from damage in transit and installation, and include ejection motors that allow for quick and easy removal of LED modules regardless of installation angle or placement.
ROE Visual Black Marble Video Floor Panels
Black Marble video floor products are designed to offer LED floor solutions for concert stages, TV studios, commercial stands and a variety of other creative applications. The high-end glass or matte finish is remarkably strong and scratch-proof, while Black Marble’s glass finish enhances the visual effect of its high-contrast panel. Similar to other ROE Visual products, Black Marble installs quickly and easily, reducing assembly time and labor costs.
For more information on ROE Visual’s latest products, visit ROE at www.roevisual.com, stop by LDI booth #2763, send email to usa@
roevisual.com or call 747.229.9190.
