LONDON — In addition to the Gottelier Award, given posthumously to Pasquale “Paky” Quadri, founder of Clay Paky, and accepted by Pio Nahum, pictured here, a number of manufacturers were honored for product innovation at PLASA 2014. They included (with products in parentheses) Clay Paky (Mythos), Elation (Sniper), Philips Vari-Lite (VL4000 Spot), Philips Strand Lighting (Emergency DMX Bypass Switch), GDS (ArcLamp), RC4 Wireless (DMX4dim Series 3), Neutrik (XIRIUM X) and Robe (BMFL). This year, the optional Gold Award was also presented, to LumenRadio for its CRMXchip. The awards ceremony was held Oct. 7, 2014.
More details from PLASA (www.plasa.org):
The PLASA Awards for Innovation were presented last night, revealing the most ground-breaking products of PLASA London 2014. It was a night of celebration and of remembrance, as the prestigious Gottelier Award was awarded posthumously to Clay Paky founder, Pasquale ‘Paky’ Quadri, who recently passed away.
Clay Paky’s Chief Operational Officer, Pio Nahum, graciously accepted the Gottelier Award on behalf of his friend and colleague. The other nominees – Richard Belliveau, David Cunningham and Dr Christian Heil — withdrew from the running following the sad news. The lighting industry has lost a great character and a true pioneer.
Every year, PLASA recognizes products that demonstrate progress, through attributes like a new style of thinking, an improvement in technical practice, new technology, materials or techniques, or an improvement in safety. The entries were considered by an expert judging panel comprising Tim Atkinson, Scott Burges, Jonathan Burton, Richard Cadena, Jenni Harris, Tapio Ilomaki, Steve Moles, Nick Read, Ben Rogers and Ed Manwaring.
The team of judges faced a real challenge in whittling down the contenders, eventually deciding on eight awards for innovation, and one award for sustainability. Due to the extremely competitive nature of the field this year, the judges took the extra step of making two additional commendations. They also awarded the Gold Award, which is an optional award that is reserved for industry-changing product innovation.
This year’s winners of the 2014 PLASA Awards for Innovation:
Clay Paky Mythos
The judges said: “The Mythos hybrid automated light works as a hard-edge spot, a beam light, or a wash light with a range of effects. It has excellent colours, incredible brightness, terrific optics, and a small housing. It’s also very energy efficient and it has a patented and innovative cooling system. In the Clay Paky tradition, it’s a real winner. Paky would be proud.”
Elation Sniper
The judges said: “The Sniper beam light, scanner, and laser simulator adds a unique effect to the lighting toolbox. It fills a gap in the market for a huge number of venues that won’t spend top dollar, Euro, or Pound but need great effects lighting. It also side steps the issue of laser regulations by simulating laser effects without actually using a laser source. Its small size is an added bonus and its priced affordably.”
Philips Vari-Lite VL4000 Spot
The judges said: “The VL4000 Spot is a great one-head solution to the age-old question of “Which automated lights should I keep in inventory?” It solves a lot of problems for hire companies by providing a range of features and functionality. The judges were impressed by its color animation wheel, the ‘intuitive timing’ feature, the quietness of the studio mode, the multi-point connections that allow it to be hung at various angles to the truss, and its overall performance.”
Philips Strand Lighting Emergency DMX Bypass Switch
The judges said: “The judges feel that the Philips Strand Lighting Emergency DMX Bypass Switch addresses an important safety issue that have previously been overlooked. By providing fault-tolerant DMX for emergency lighting situation, it enhances the safety of venues and provides reassurance during emergency situations. It’s a well-designed turnkey solution for using DMX in an emergency system.”
GDS ArcLamp
The judges said: “In 2011, GDS won a Sustainability Award for their ARCSystem of LED auditorium lighting fixtures. By following it up with the ArcLamp LED candle lamp, the judges feel they deserve another award for innovation in general service lighting. The handsome lamps can be retrofitted into existing fittings, are very reasonable priced, and they have an exceptional dimming curve with nice colour rendering.”
RC4 Wireless DMX4dim Series 3
The judges said: “The DMX4dim Series 3 4-channel dimmer uses clever technologies to pack a variety useful features in a tiny package. It maintains its price point from the previous system but adds more features. The lifetime warranty seals the deal. One judge said the only thing it doesn’t do is zip up your pants.”
Neutrik XIRIUM X
The judges said: “The XIRIUM X wireless audio link solves a problem neatly and without compromising audio quality. It offers low latency with full spectrum audio, and it can take a line level signal or a mic with or without phantom power. With the recent auctioning of wireless bandwidth, it provides a viable solution by using a 5 gigahertz carrier signal and taking advantage of a less crowded frequency range.”
Robe BMFL
The judges said: “BMFL raises the bar on automated lighting by increasing brightness, decreasing size and weight, and providing all of the effects you would expect in a top-of-the-line moving light. It has a very smooth dimming curve, great uniformity, and very fast speed of movement, and the Electronic Motion Stabiliser is a unique addition to its feature set.”
The Award for Sustainability goes to a product or products that the judges feel will have a positive impact on the environment. This year’s winner: GDS ARCLamp
The judges said: “If all the West End theatres alone switched to the ARCLamp system, it would translate to a significant reduction in carbon footprint, reduced heat load, lower maintenance costs, and the increased lamp life would result in less landfill. Multiply that by the number of theatres across the world and the potential impact of this product is tremendous.”
The judges felt that the number of award contenders made it extremely difficult to narrow down the field. Although the following products did not win outright, they felt they should be commended.
This year’s Honorable Mentions:
Data Strategy Power-Check
The Power-Check is not a sexy product but it’s one which insures the safety of every product that is connected to mains power. Just like the crew who makes a show happen, it’s easy to overlook the importance of these behind-the-scenes products. We at PLASA wish to recognize those who toil to insure the safety of our work force.
LumenRadio CRMX TiMo
The TiMo is an implementation of the CRMX Chip, both of which will have a profound impact on our industry. The TiMo adds RDM and transmission capabilities to the CRMX chip, and it’s pricing and small form factor make it standout in entertainment lighting.
The winner of the 2014 PLASA Awards for Innovation Gold Award:
LumenRadio CRMX Chip
The judges said: “If ever there was a game changer, this is it. The low price point and incredibly small dimensions mean that there is now no excuse for not making wireless DMX a standard feature of every lighting product that uses DMX. The only option now should be whether the application calls for copper or air, not whether a light has the in-built option. This could be the beginning of Skynet for lighting.”
Christopher Toulmin, PLASA’s Director of Events, said: “Due to the level of competition, the judging of this year’s awards has been extremely difficult. The Awards have again proven that the entertainment technology industry is abound with innovation and continues to break new ground year after year. I’d like to thank all those who entered and give my congratulations to the winners. After such a high level of innovation this year, we’re really looking forward to seeing the entries for next year’s Awards.”
LumenRadio also provided additional details on their Gold Award-winning CRMXchip. More details from LumenRadio (www.lumenradio.com):
PLASA recognizes LumenRadio with Gold Innovation Award
At this year PLASA London show, LumenRadio was honored to receive the Gold Innovation Award for their innovation of the world’s smallest wireless DMX receiver, CRMXchip.
Every year PLASA presents a number of awards for innovation at the PLASA London show, together with an award for sustainability. In addition to these regular awards, the judges are afforded the ability, if they see fit, to present a gold award – an award designed to recognize innovation in a product which will make dramatic changes to the industry as a whole. This year, the honor of this gold award was bestowed upon LumenRadio for CRMXchip — a wireless DMX receiver which measures only 6mm x 6mm.
LumenRadio are no strangers to the awards ceremony, having collected three PLASA innovation awards in 2009, 2010 and 2013, as well as numerous prizes for top start-up businesses in Sweden. However, this years PLASA show bestowed an honor none of the team expected – “If ever there was a game changer, this is it”, the judges began when summing up the award.
The awarding of the Gold Innovation trophy to LumenRadio marks the companies fourth innovation award in just six years – with previous awards in 2009 for the CRMX Nova product line and 2010 for the CRMX Nova Flex – both of which have now become standards in rental and installation markets worldwide. In 2013, LumenRadio was honored again for SuperNova 3 – pushing the boundaries of what is possible in RDM control and making it accessible to everyone.
When summarizing the award for CRMXchip, the judges continued – “The low price point and incredibly small dimensions mean that there is now no excuse for not making wireless DMX a standard feature of every lighting product that uses DMX. The only option now should be whether the application calls for copper or air, not whether a light has the in-built option. This could be the beginning of Skynet for lighting.”
CRMXchip wasn’t the only honor for LumenRadio on the night, which also received an honorable mention for CRMX TiMo – “TiMo is an implementation of the CRMXchip, both of which will have a profound impact on our industry. TiMo adds RDM and transmission capabilities to the CRMXchip, and it’s pricing and small form factor make it standout in entertainment lighting.”
CTO and co-founder of LumenRadio, Niclas Norlen, commented, “This is an honor that nobody on the team expected. We pride ourselves on pushing technology further and we knew that CRMXchip was a leap forward – to be recognized once again as innovators proves that it really is about innovation, not imitation! The only question we have now internally is – how do we win again next year? I can tell you already we have a few ideas coming… watch this space!”
RC4 Wireless also provided more information about their 2014 PLASA Awards for Innovation winning product, the DMX4dim Series 3, part of the company’s RC4Magic Series 3 product family. More details from RC4 Wireless (www.theatrewireless.com):
RC4Magic Series 3 Wins PLASA Award for Innovation
In a feat of unparalleled engineering wizardry, RC4 Wireless has packed the past, present, and future of wireless entertainment lighting into a palm-sized capsule. Award for Innovation judges at PLASALondon2014 were astonished, some revisiting the Innovation Gallery and RC4 stand several times to be sure they hadn’t fallen prey to sorcery. But as Sean Dane, Application Specialist at RC4, demonstrated each new RC4 Series 3 Harmonized Design feature in turn, mouths were agape with awe.
The DMX4dim Series 3 four-channel dimmer uses clever technologies to pack a variety of useful features in a tiny package. It maintains its price point from the previous system but adds more features. The lifetime warranty seals the deal. One judge said the only thing it doesn’t do is zip up your pants.
New RC4Magic Series 3 wireless devices offer a startlingly comprehensive feature set in packages that are dangerously easy to lose in the laundry, between car seats, or in sidewalk cracks and crevices:
• Multiple high-power high-resolution DC dimmers easily drive 50W MR16s, LEDs, motors, and much more.
• RC4 OneTouch makes it easy to assign any DMX channel and curve to any dimmer output without space-consuming dipswitches
• RC4 Digital Persistence provides super-smooth LED dimming with the warmth of vintage lighting.
• An HSL (Hue/Saturation/Level) color engine lets users pick a color, adjust saturation, and smoothly dim down to zero with no color shift along the way.
• RC4 ColorMatch lets users adjust white-balance for different LED light sources to standardize color, even in custom-built props.
• The RC4 Wireless Flkr Effects Engine is a versatile DMX-controlled tool for creating modulating effects, like candle light, welding flash, fire in a barrel, simulated electrical faults, the light and shadow cast by a television screen, and much more. Not canned effects, this is a tool for creating unique custom looks.
• A dimmer mode for controlling hobby servo motors – ideal for eyes, mouths, and more in animatronics and puppetry.
• DMX wired and wireless in/out means every RC4 Series 3 device is a miniature wireless DMX receiver, and a miniature wired or wireless DMX dimmer. Extensive RDM support is also implemented.
• With so many features and options built-in, RC4 HotPatch provides a simple and intuitive way to patch and route data between modules and dimmer outputs.
• RC4 CodeLoader connects via USB for installing new firmware modules, features, and upgrades from a PC.
• Small four-channel devices are only 80mm x 40mm x 20mm. Two-channel devices are even smaller. They all operate over a remarkably wide voltage range from less than 6VDC all the way up to 35VDC.
• RC4Magic Series 3 devices are sold with a Lifetime Warranty.
Inspired by the Apple iPhone and the Leatherman multitool, RC4 Series 3 technology delivers unparalleled versatility to propsmasters and show electricians around the world.
The culmination of nearly two years of development, RC4 Series 3 devices are part of RC4 Harmonized Design. At the core of every device is a powerful Digital Signal Processor (DSP), fast FLASH memory, and an extensive firmware code base authored in-house at RC4.
“What I did for several years was think – about what people need now and will need in the future,” explains James David Smith, President and Chief Product Designer at RC4 Wireless. “I drew block diagrams and scribbled cryptic charts. Then, for the past two years, I routed every copper trace on every circuit board, wrote every line of code, tested every feature and function, and revisited and reworked almost all of it. Today it works, and it works well.
“Thank you, PLASA, for recognizing our efforts at RC4 to make things better, smaller, more versatile, and more useful…” Mr. Smith then waved his wand, clicked his heels, and disappeared in a color-matched flash that was precisely 736 Twickenham Green.
