I’m back in the saddle to discuss my weekly round of new products at LDI this year. I’m sure you’ll have your noses deep in the these new offerings, but don’t forget to check out the many different seminars and opportunities associated with LDI, including the vital workshops covering all aspects of performance technology…but let’s look at some gear, shall we?
Coemar is unleashing a bevy of new fixtures at the show. First up is the Infinity ACL, which offers incredible output from a 250W source. With focusable black light, variable beam size and beam control, rotating aerial, and split color beam effects, it is destined to turn heads. The Infinity S Spot replaces 575 and 250 spot fixtures in one fully equipped moving light and includes focal range from 35º to 8.5º, iris, rotating and indexing prism effects and many other bells and whistles. The Infinity XL Spot uses a new 1500W light source to achieve unprecedented brightness. Its new color mixing system produces both CMY and RGB colors, and the fixture sports a variety of unique effects you haven’t seen hundreds of times. Finally, the Infinity Stagelite LED fixture produces flicker-free illumination and can be focused asymmetrically on a cyc, used as floor wash, for uplighting, and in numerous other applications. Its vertical beam zoom can be adjusted from 11º to 34º, and can also be focused from +56º to -52º.
From Elation comes the new Opti Tri PAR, a high-power LED RGB theatrical PAR can. The Opti Tri PAP features Elation’s exclusive Tri Color LED Technology. Each of the unit’s 18 3W LED lenses is actually a 3-in-1 LED, comprised of a 1W red, 1W green, and 1W blue LED. This design allows color mixing to be done within each individual lens, resulting in smoother, more even mixed colors, and the elimination of the annoying multicolor shadows that typically appear around objects illuminated by standard LED RGB PAR cans with single-color lamps. It has a 25° beam angle and features flicker-free operation. The unit is housed in a rugged die cast case designed to withstand the rigors of touring and rentals.
Barco is introducing the FSN Series, a high-resolution production switcher that combines advanced video switching functionality with the power of Barco image processing. As a modular multi-format switcher, the FSN is highly configurable and easy to operate. The FSN Series includes a modular 6RU FSN-1400 chassis with 14 slots, hot-swappable front cards, passive rear connector cards, and dual redundant hot-swappable power supplies. There are two choices of control panels: the FSN-150 and the FSN-250. Features include native HD or SD operation, cross-conversion, frame synchronization, selectable native output formats, and low video delay. As its most important feature, the FSN Series has multi-format input and output flexibility. Users can install up to two eight-channel Native Input Cards, and using the power of Barco's Athena scalers, users can install up to five dual-channel Universal Input Cards. For output flexibility, the FSN Series offers powerful Aux bus routing, with six native Aux outputs as standard. Users can install up to two dual-channel Universal Output Cards (UOC), or one UOC plus an additional eight-channel Native Aux Output Card (NAC).
The clever R&D department at SGM has hit a home run with their latest Giotto fixtures. Rather than a range of products, the Giotto 1500 is an expandable modular system. In Spot configuration, the Giotto 1500 features practically endless effects and an extremely powerful light beam. The CMY Module offers a CMY color mixing system, linear CTO filter, and a dimmer section. The Spot Module has two gobo wheels that can be customized, an animation wheel, and an indexable color wheel. The Zoom Focus Module delivers focus-zoom, shutter, prisms and additional lenses, and linear frost. In Wash configuration, the Giotto 1500 features two modules: CMY and the dedicated Wash module, with all the features that enable the fixture to emit diffused, soft even light. The Wash Module uses a twin-blade beam shaper, field diaphragm, zoom lens, frost, and a customizable color wheel. Three dedicated lenses are available for the fixture in Wash configuration: Fresnel, anti-halo PC, and super wide.
Vaddio has introduced their latest addition to the productionview line of camera control systems, productionview HD. Designed to handle demanding live broadcast or staging events, yet straightforward enough to allow a novice to control a multi-camera shoot, productionview HD integrates PTZ camera control and multi-format HD/SD live switching with realtime graphics and effects into one control console. The system’s multi-format 6x2 switcher accepts any combination of input signals from HD component video, RGBHV, and SD video. A wide variety of transitions can be achieved through user-selectable buttons. Camera control elements include a broadcast-style Hall Effect Joystick with twist handle zoom control, as well as separate pan, tilt, and speed control knobs. Additional lens features include a large production-style Manual Focus wheel, an Iris control knob allowing for live manual adjustments, push control buttons for auto iris and focus, and a Zoom Speed knob to control the speed of the electronic zoom lens.
The new custom six-LED array module from OSRAM Display/Optic offers new possibilities for lighting applications. Six white or blue Platinum DRAGON® LEDs closely spaced on a low profile Metal Core Printed Circuit Board (MCPCB) with up to 450 lumens provide optimal illumination. The module design includes Surface Mount Technology for reliable production and easy installation. Applications for this LED module include back, task, and accent lighting. The module is currently used in the Sea Vision SV42 Thru Hull and Surface Mounted underwater fixtures for boats, manufactured by Underwater Lights USA.