Post-Show Wrap Up

Top Two Picks On Day 1:

After Day 1 I’m ready to announce my top picks of the show floor so far…

#1: Vari*Lite’s prototype VL3500 Wash. A big fat, 10″ lens, the VL2C like dual color wheels in addition to VL’s 3000 Series color mixing, and an output somewhere between 45-50,000 lumens make this a real winner. It’s a buzz on the floor for sure.

#2: Compulite Vector range of consoles. Only having spent a couple of hours on the desk with Chris Nathan, it’s looking like a real winner. While not exactly a new product, it’s sort of new that Nick Freed is the distributer and the software is getting to something special. Get this Broadway/touring–Vector can store both pictures, notes (like focus notes dude), audio and video by cue. It’s neato as you could record the spot cues and the audio stored in the console would playback by cue.

Thoughts On Day 2:

Day two of the show and my new product of the day is OSRAM’s AluPAR 56 lamp. While they have been touting this lamp for over a year now, it wasn’t until their intimate luncheon today that we actually saw one turned on–the first public showing in the US! The demo showed us the existing 300w PAR56 next to the AluPAR and the reaction in the room was an resounding “Oooo ahhh.” Really–it’s significantly brighter and the color temperature is beautiful more closely resembling that of the HPL type lamps. On top of this amazing new PAR light quality, it weighs 66% less. Think of how much weight that will save in our old PAR56 strips! That’s hot.. It’s also eco-friendly being fully recyclable as the aluminum reflector separates from the glass lens. Hopefully next year we’ll see the beginnings of the PAR64 AluPAR; when that comes OSRAM will really have this next gen PAR lamp in the bag.

They have a great looking booth that not only has a glass water wall, but the real draw is one of their actual OSCAR’s is on hand for photo op’s. Word from the keeper of OSCAR day and night during the show is it’s not quite the date magnet you would think it would be. One is never enough….

Wow! It’s over. I wish I could say that it just flew by, but it was so many months in the making for us at Live Design, that I can’t even remember what day it is at the moment.

Anyway, a few folks I meant to mention during the show, but if you’ve been on here, you might have noticed that my onsite blogging time equaled zero, what with our time spent on putting out the first ever LDI Show Daily each day.

So here are some folks worth mentioning, and more will follow in the pages of Live Design in our monthly product news…

Special Mine Services manufactures electrical connectors with ampacities from milliamps up to 500 amps. This year, they introduced the Boot Entertainment Cam Style Connector for cable sizes #6 up to 4/0 W cable.

A.C. Lighting Ltd held a major online competition to win a Jands Vista S3 lighting control system and bonus Vista prize draw at the tradeshow. The competition coincided with the launch of the new Vista S3 and Vista App hardware and software solutions. In addition, there was a bonus prize draw to win a 512-channel Vista control system. I was not present for the drawing, so I’ll have to get back to you all on the winners.

Ribbonlift Acquisition Inc., designer and manufacturer of the patented Ribbonlift positioning system, announced that it has changed its name to Actua Systems Inc. Ribbonlift Acquisition, a subsidiary of Imagility Inc., had purchased the assets of the Ribbonlift business in May of 2006. The company introduced a new DMX-compatible Ribbonlift at LDI. The proprietary technology utilizes three steel ribbons that “zip” together to form a column. The design gives Ribbonlift products the maximum extension possible from an extremely compact form factor. The result is a lift that offers unprecedented portability and versatility for positioning lights, cameras, projectors, screens, set elements, and other live-event applications. The Ribbonlift‘s unique look and functionality make it ideal for stage use.

ETC showed off two new consoles (Eos and Congo jr.). I was lucky enough to get a preview when I visited ETC‘s headquarters in Madison, WI just a few week ago, but check them out for yourselves firsthand. The Eos console also won an LDI Best Debuting Product Award in the lighting category (along with Wybron’s new InfoTrace system). ETC also exhibited the new Pharos AVC.

Creative Stage Lighting currently has equipment out on tour with Third Day and moe. The company is also on tour with Celtic Woman in Japan and has provided lighting equipment for Garth Fagan Dance, TransWorld Entertainment‘s annual conference, The Disco Biscuits‘ Camp Bisco V Festival, and Yellowcard. In addition, the company has also added the following gear to its rental inventory: Sanyo 10k Projectors, High End Systems Color Pro FXs, Martin MAC 2000 Profile II Electronics, LeMaitre Low Smoke Generator Fogger,

8′x33′ Soft LED High Resolution Curtain Panels with Fiber Optics, High End Catalyst Pro V4, Tomcat 10′ Black Swingwing Trusses, MA Lighting grandMA Light console, 25′x30′ Encore Backdrops, and High End Systems Color Commands.

Digidesign was outside at ET Live showing off D-Show Profile. It‘s a compact version of the D-Show flagship console/controller in its VENUE line of live mixers. D-Show Profile is compatible with all existing VENUE hardware and software, including existing stage and FOH racks for connecting to Pro Tools HD and Pro Tools LE systems via a hardware option–allowing seamless recording and/or playback of sound effects, pre-recorded tracks, music beds, etc. It also offers expanded show control options with the new General Purpose Interface (GPI). Its eight GPI inputs/outputs allow D-Show Profile to send or respond to external equipment via simple switch closures for automation cues, etc. With the new Event List feature in D-Show 2.5, users can build and customize macros that enable the console to perform multiple functions with a single button push, footswitch press or fader movement.

Professional Wireless Systems, who received an LDI Product of the Year Award in the sound category, also introduced the PWS Intermodulation Analysis System (IAS). The system was designed by leading RF expert/software developer Jason Eskew to quickly resolve frequency coordination issues for concert, corporate, sports and broadcast event installs. PWS general manager Carl Cordes reports that the recently completed IAS 4.4 system enables RF technicians to save valuable setup time by combining a database of wireless performance equipment from any manufacturer.

Well, that’s all for now. You’ll be hearing more about the great products from the show in the pages of Live Design in the coming months in our product news. Thanks to everyone for what seems to have been the best LDI show to date! Now, get some rest and start all that follow-up!

I can only assume that this is a record attendance year for LDI. I happened to be standing on the show floor when the doors opened on day one and haven’t seen a crowd barrel through doors like that since The Who tickets went on sale. It was quite impressive.?

There are definitely some notable products being shown this year. Coemar’s showing their new Infinity Wash XL fixture. It’s nice to see that we haven’t run out of pieces of glass to stick in front of a light beam. They’ve used a prism system in the optical train that allows for splitting the beam into three with rotation. The effect is similar to an array of ACLs, and it’s pretty cool. It’s also got a new type of color mixing system that produces some truly rich hues and a red that’s closer to what most LDs desire.

The chaps at Green Hippo are showing Hippotizer V3, which is a drastic upgrade to an already great product. Talk about listening to a market! These guys are all about implementation. They’ve listened to what their users wanted and made it a reality. V3 has full network capability that allows for remote control of any number of machines on a network. One of the most notable features is the introduction of onboard video encoding. You no longer have to toil over video codecs. You can basically give the thing any content that you want and Hippo will re-encode it to the format that works best.

Element Labs has their new Versa® Tube HD, Cirrus, and Stealth products on display. Stealth gained some serious notoriety on Madonna’s latest tour and is an absolutely beautiful, low-resolution video display. Cirrus is along the same lines but the LEDs are on a wider pitch and mounted to a translucent web of vinyl-like curtain. The curtain allows for viewing objects behind it as well as taking light beautifully.

It’s almost absurd calling yesterday, October 20, the first official day of LDI. After all, for most exhibitors–and, with LDInstitute, the Backstage events, the Projection Master Classes, and various other sessions, an increasing number of attendees–LDI begins Monday or earlier. Still, Friday’s the yardstick by which we tend to measure how the show is going, since that’s the first day the show floor officially opens. And from everything I saw and everyone I spoke to, it’s safe to say that this year’s LDI is going to be the best show ever.

Yeah, yeah, I know. We say that every year. Best Show Ever! It’s so cliched, it should probably be in quotes. But as ESTA president Bill Groener noted at Thursday’s ESTA dinner, the buzz is palpable. The show floor footprint is the biggest ever, pre-registration in the days prior to the show was already up nearly 2,000 over last year’s total attendance, there are great new products being unveiled, and people are in a buying mood, across all markets.

All I can say is, thank you little baby Jesus. I gotta admit I was nervous coming into this show. We had a lot of new stuff we were doing this year–a print Show Daily, the Projection Master Classes (more on that in another posting), and a few new staff members attending LDI for the first time–and that’s on top of all the stuff we normally do: booth visits, blogging (natch), working closely with the LDI show staff, hosting our Friday cocktail reception, and of course hitting the evening party circuit. That’s a lot of balls in the air. But I gotta say that our staff here has stepped up big time. Marian Sandberg, Lisa Murphy, Diane Straughen, Earl Otsuka, Albert Margolis, Jeff Donnenwerth, Dean Muscio, Keith Gregory, Kirby Asplund, and Glenn Laudenslager–they’ve all contributed immeasurably to making all our various pieces fit seamlessly. Thanks to my homeys.

We’ll have lots more from contributors over the course of the next couple of days, so stay tuned…

We heard it thru the grapevine…

Berger Group of Canada, providing lighting, video production, indoor and outdoor staging, fabrication and turn-key event services for the entertainment industry, and Mega-Stage, designers and manufacturers of mobile stages and accessories, sold under the trademarks Dynastage and Logicstage, are poised to announce their expansion to the US under the names of BergerUSA and Mega-StageUSA in Las Vegas.

Our sources tell us the official announcement will be made at this year’s LDI, so be sure to check out both the Mega-StageUSA and BergerUSA booths, #262 and #263, respectively, where reps will be on hand to conduct demonstrations and answer questions.

In addition, the firms‘ principals invite attendees to come and see the debut of “ArtAbout,” a special event showcasing their world-famous stages in action on Saturday, October 21 from 10am to 10pm.

Stay tuned for more Vegas happenings!