Road Tests

It’s hard to get excited about a new hard-edge moving light. At least that’s what I thought until I ran one of Martin’s new “Viper” fixtures. I was impressed because someone didn’t just join the party of recently released 800W fixtures; they came up with a whole new line.

For users of PRG’s Mbox EXtreme who are not familiar with how to program a lighting console, the wait for a non-DMX-based control interface is over. PRG has released standalone software for controlling Mbox that runs on a Mac, and it’s free!

Tapeless storage has been making some rapid advances in recent years as the need for speed and quality increases.  More and more, we’re asked to be able to record gigs not only for archive or artist review, but to have that session available for edit as rapidly as possible. While workflows on set or at the gig will vary greatly, the ability to capture the highest quality imagery with the least amount of hassle is paramount.  With the advent of super-fast SSDs and flash memory, this is getting easier and easier.

NanoFlex, NanoLumens’ new flexible LED display, breaks all of the rules of LED technology: it’s lightweight, thin, and can be flexed into concave or convex configurations, making it well-suited for digital signage and scenic applications where standard LED products just wouldn’t work.

Philips Strand Selecon has come up with a unique product in the PLCyc LED Luminaire. The fixture utilizes various aspects of new technologies to elegantly and efficiently light cycloramas. When I first heard about this unit, I had a mixed reaction — “No way can this do what they claim,” coupled with, “Wow, someone has finally come up with the right solution.”

I am staring at perhaps the coolest LED moving head on the planet. Ayrton, the French lighting manufacturer, has released the latest advance in LED technology. In extended mode, the operator has individual control of four separate rings of RGBW modules exposed in a circular array — 31 individual 13W, flicker-free LED modules that give out a collective 10,000-lumen punch; blindingly bright.

Mega-Lite’s N-E Color FX9 is an LED strip fixture with matrix capabilities. Its nine tri-color RGB 3W LEDs (with 27 red, green and blue LEDs in all) are designed for smooth color mixing, and with the ability to generate a 2.5-foot beam with output measuring close to 100 lumens at 10 feet, the fixture is powerful enough to serve as a wall or cyc wash.

I have to keep reminding myself that computers really only do one thing at a time and, even then, it’s only what you tell them to do. It’s like I always tell my technophobe friends, “Think of it like a toaster, you can make toast — not lasagna.” Video gear is much the same way. In fact, that’s what I think distinguishes great products from mediocre ones.

As the LED craze took over the entertainment industry, one of the most frequently-asked questions was, “When will ETC’s Source Four go LED?” At ETC’s CUE, a conference for end-users held in the company’s hometown, Middleton, WI, in July, 2011, the answer came as CEO Fred Foster took the stage and started talking about color. Lo and behold, what started out looking like the beam of a Source Four fixture began to change color.

Elation’s Platinum Wash ZFX Pro RGBW moving head wash fixture, which features a new Quad color Osram LED chipset and a new high output (HO) optical lens, has been winning converts all over the world since it was introduced last year, according to Eric Loader, Elation Professional’s director of sales.

Control is something we all love to have, and, in the entertainment industry, it seems we can never have enough.  I find that my colleagues in the sound department have issues with this, but that’s a different subject….Control over the rig is an issue that the lighting folks have had a handle on for a long time, but it seems like the more gear is added under the auspices of “media,” or LEDs, or LED panels, or the ubiquitous term “video,” the more it falls to the lighting guy/gal and their desk to actually make the stuff work.

Robe’s new DLX Spot joins the ROBIN series of fixtures, with a size and weight (46 lbs.) comparable to other spot, wash and beam fixtures in the ROBIN line.  As with those other fixtures, the DLX offers an impressive number of features within a compact, lightweight package, but with a big difference — the light source.