Since Lighting & Sound Design introduced the Icon M at LDI in 1998, manufacturers of lighting equipment have ventured into the video production market. Barco, the Belgium-based manufacturer of video equipment, has reversed this trend and ventured into the lighting market with their new product, the Digital Moving Luminaire 1200.
This fixture is designed to be used as both a high quality video projector and a bright moving light fixture. By selecting the correct setting in the DMX512-controlled menu, the fixture can be in light or video mode. In light mode, the fixture emits a perfect circular beam of light that looks to be equivalent to a 1200-watt hard edge fixture. To the naked eye, it appears to be about the same brightness as a Martin MAC 2000 Profile. The output measures 12,000 field lumens. It has a mechanical dimmer (iris type) that produces true black versus video black. It fades in a smooth linear path. Of course, it strobes as well.
In video mode, the beam and image are rectangular. The fixture has a sealed DLP engine which delivers full color, DLP-quality video with SXGA+ resolution (1400 x 1050 pixels). The light output in this mode is over 10,000 center lumens, making it at about twice as bright some of the other digital light products out there. I saw four of their competitor’s fixtures quadruple-stacked to blend one video image on a screen. Next to it was one DML-1200 with the same image. To my eye, the brightness of the one Barco fixture was equal to the four others combined.
This fixture contains four 300-watt UHP lamps. If one fails, the other three stay lit. The lamp life is rated at 750 hours before noticeable lumen depreciation. In projector mode the color temperature is 6400K in white (no video playing). The lamps are easily replaced by clicking them into place; no need for alignment. Barco claims that the lamps cannot explode because each one is locked in its own module with a separate cooling fan. For heat management in the rest of the fixture, it has a water-cooled radiator, built into the fixture. There are also heat sensors located in the head. You can switch between one, two or four bulb mode to control the heat, if necessary.
When it’s opened up, I can see that everything is modular and the modules are sealed. This is good for technicians, as they can easily replace a faulty module. But more importantly, no dust or fog juice will accumulate in the fixture as in normal projectors. For instance, there are two color systems in the head. Neither one will ever need cleaning. In projector mode, colors can be blended with the video image using RGB. In lighting mode it uses the subtractive CYM mode for adjusting and bumping colors. The color system is extremely fast and totally seamless, unlike most moving lights sold today. The RGB color system does cut down the light output; hence, the fixture is brighter in light mode.
The optics (lenses) are also enclosed in a sealed module. The fixture can zoom between 12º and 42º while keeping a gobo pattern perfectly focused. You can zoom out the beam to a full 50° if a wide unfocused light beam is desired. It has a lens throw of 1.2, meaning that if I have a throw distance of ten feet, the image on the screen will appear eight feet wide.
The fixture has Green Hippo Hippotizer v3 software and a built-in media server. The Hippo plays back any file uploaded to it by Barco’s main controller. This controller is a PC-based machine called the “media wing.” The wing will convert any file into MPEG files with no loss of frame-to-frame data, which the Hippo requires for playback. It deals with file management for the fixtures and can also control other attributes of the fixture if necessary. The DML-1200 comes stocked with plenty of images as well as complete gobo files from all your favorite pattern manufacturers.
This fixture is also able to take in any outside media source through HD or SDI inputs. Live video can play through this fixture with no noticeable time loss. You can also blend images from multiple fixtures. Through the “Encore” system, the Hippotizer can blend up to 64 separate projectors to make one seamless image. For live video, the DML-1200 uses its own algorithms to collate the images.
There are four layers on this particular media server and you can design your own mask to be used on any layer. The media wing provides a series of different wipes, which they call “transition EFX.” Effects can also be added to existing images to create things like water, tiling and rippling on top of the image.
Physically, this fixture is as large as any moving light head on the market today. But it is well-built with an aluminum frame and plastic covers. It is approximately 42 inches tall and about half that wide. It weighs in at 165 pounds. There are clamps that attach to the top for easy truss mounting.
It has a 540° pan and 270° tilt, but it moves very slowly — only about 80° per second. It can take between 200-240 volts AC at 50 or 60 Hz. It runs off of any DMX512 or ArtNet output either through a 5-pin XLR connector or Ethernet input. It requires 78 DMX512 channels to run one fixture. Through the Ethernet connectors you can synch all the fixtures together to play footage at the exact same speed.
Finally, someone has made a moving head projector that is bright enough to work alongside the moving lights that we use in large shows. It can be used as another moving light when it’s not being used as a projector and it can hold its own very well.
What it is: Digital luminaire that runs in video mode or light mode
Who it’s for: Anyone wanting full-color animated graphics and a profile fixture in one
Pros: Bright enough to work along side bright moving lights; SXGA+ resolution; sealed optics; modular; easy lamp replacement; built-in media server; effects; nice zoom; image blending
Cons: Slow movement for a moving light fixture; extremely heavy
Retail Price: $50,000; Media Wing: $12,000
