| Volume 3, Issue 3 — March 9, 2009 |
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Click above for more information “Producers” Beware
By Joel Rollins, CTS-RWhat’s new? Bet you have a different answer for that question every time someone asks. New technologies and techniques for staging multimedia and wide screen displays arrive regularly – through the front door courtesy of dealer reps, and through the back door, thanks to the employees who make it their personal mission to stay ahead of the curve. Many of the new techniques, such as soft edge masking, pan formats, and multiple screen synchronization require specialized hardware and technical knowledge, leaving the rental and staging company with its traditional problem – having techniques available that are beyond the technical capability of clients or producers to implement or understand. And if your crew is like my crew, they’re itching to put these techniques to work, whether or not the clients grasp the superiority of the technology – or the boffo show that will result. A current f’rinstance: staging companies can use the new-generation processing tools to edit or provide content for producers and end users. Should staging companies stick to “just” staging, or is it advisable to consider adding some content editing, or even content creation, to the mix? The question of the level at which to approach materials production is not a new one for the staging company. Since most of us are still sales and general AV rental companies as well, or are closely connected to AV sales and rental partner companies, most of us have access to new technologies as dealers well before the technologies are accepted by the wider market. We bring new technologies into our inventories before producers have become accustomed to working with them, and it’s a challenge to introduce these new technologies and techniques to our markets. We’ve all faced this challenge in different ways. Some of us have gone whole hog into the market and become turnkey production and staging companies. Others have formed alliances with local production companies, bringing them new technologies as they come to us and working hand-in-hand on implementation. Still others have maintained the traditional “no production” approach, wanting to avoid being seen as potential competition by our producer clientele. Each of these strategies is valid in some way. Over my career, I’ve worked with companies that have taken each approach, and all have been convinced that their approach was the right one. But a new factor has made the decision more complex. The speed of technological change, and the 90-day cycle in which new products and techniques are introduced, makes it very difficult for the pure production company to keep up with new technologies as they become available. We have a cool new capability, but nobody’s asking for it, so we “dabble” in production, telling ourselves that we must because no one else is using this technique yet. We are also often encouraged to do this by our technicians (or that little super-geek voice in our own heads) who can’t wait to play with the production toys. And finally, most of us who spend our lives with the hardware are not-so-secretly convinced that we just may be the AV industry’s answer to Steven Spielberg, the movie studio guard turned blockbuster auteur. Such is the road to hell. Although combined production and staging companies do exist, it is not a discipline that can be dabbled in. In order to avoid chaos, the decision of what level of production services to offer must be a conscious one. Here’s why I think so: 1. Production is a discipline that requires a lot – a lot – more time than you think. As technicians, we often see producing a show as “entering the client’s material into the hardware and organizing it with effects.” We usually don’t see the vastly larger amounts of time the producer spends organizing the end-user client. Endless committee meetings and planning sessions are the norm for planning an event – with the technology part not even coming up for discussion until the planning process is close to complete. Few of the technical people I’ve known have had the patience for the full production process, because for most clients the concern is the message, not the medium. 2. Aesthetics count. “This thing is so easy, all we have to do is enter the information into a template.” That may work for an uncomplicated presentation, but real productions require real art to stand out. As a technician selling production equipment, I was technically competent with graphics equipment, but my choices in colors and fonts (and my patience with clients who were picky about them) were dubious. My brother is a producer, and we work together often. We argue about the relative importance of issues surrounding a show. I can whip materials together in a hurry, and get on to programming the show. My brother takes longer with his choices and his artwork, but when he’s done – his stuff sings. The differences are subtle, but it’s those differences that make clients take notice. 3. Splitting crew responsibilities before a show between production and technical issues has a way of disorganizing the show, especially if a senior tech is involved in the production aspect. Technical arrangements may take a back seat, or get overlooked entirely, if the lead tech is focused on getting the show into the can rather than into the convention center. Adding production as a professional service isn’t easy. Many of us have developed approaches that work. What the effective approaches have in common is that they were all planned, with an awareness of the time and resources required, and a careful eye to having the right people execute each phase of a project. rAVe Rental [and Staging] contributor Joel R. Rollins, CTS-R, is General Manager of Everett Hall Associates, Inc. and is well known throughout the professional AV industry for his contributions to industry training and his extensive background in AV rental, staging and installation. Joel can be reached at Joel can be reached at joelrollins@mac.comBack to Top |
QSC’s New Stage Monitors Are a Hit QSC's new CSM Series stage monitors, the CSM10, CSM12, and CSM15 are ready to ship!As the model numbers in the product group imply, the loudspeakers are respectively equipped with 10, 12, and 15-inch woofers. At the high-end within each of the horn-loaded, two-way cabinets, compression drivers outfitted with neodymium magnet structures, 3-inch voice coils, and 1.4-inch exits can be found. High power output, clean, transparent sound, and rugged reliability are central to CSM Series performance, along with a number of distinctive features like user-adjustable pattern control of the high frequency section, which facilitates changes in the vertical plane from asymmetrical coverage spanning a total of 100 degrees to a fully symmetrical 150 degrees. Working in combination with each CSM Series cabinet's tight, narrow coverage of 50 degrees in the horizontal plane, the asymmetrical vertical pattern is ideally suited for stage monitor use to keep spill into the house at a minimum, while the symmetrical choice makes each enclosure capable of serving double-duty as a frontfill, downfill, or other full-range device when used with a special yoke. I-Movix Launches SprintCam V3 for HD Slow, Slow Motion I-Movix this month announced the launch of the new SprintCam V3 HD, the first broadcast-integrated, native HD, ultra-slow-motion solution offering frame rates of 500 to 1,000 fps with instant replay. Producing slow-motion output equivalent to 20 to 40 times slower than normal speed, SprintCam V3 HD is the most advanced HD system available with full broadcast integration.The award-winning SprintCam system has been instrumental in providing some of the famous slow-motion footage from Beijing Summer Games in 2008, including the now-famous touch by Michael Phelps on the 100 m fly. The new SprintCam V3 HD features out-of-the-box operation with no requirement for special training as it works just like a normal camera in every other way. This will be helpful for professional staging events such as races and other sporting events. Check out the demo on their web page at: http://www.i-movix.com/v4/ Not something most of us are going to put in inventory, but something with some definite applications. I’ll be watching my cross-rental vendors, (Like Bexxel maybe) for these.
–JRR Back to Top Barco Debuts “Transformable” (Translation: Modular) LED Display Technology Barco takes creative LED to a complete new level (for them) with the introduction of transformable LED, a unique (well, sort of, Lighthouse has had this for a year) freeform LED concept that will amaze spectators all over the world. Barco’s transformable LED family consists of individual, compact, high quality LED pixel modules that can be used as building blocks to sculpt any design possible.The pixel modules can be combined with a wide variety of specifically designed carriers (mechanical structures) into any shape customers desire. And even more, thanks to 16 bit per color processing, an ultra high refresh rate and Barco’s color calibration, the pixel modules perform similar to high quality LED video displays. Customers can give their audience the ultimate creative display without compromising on the image quality. Barco demonstrated the transformable LED family to its European and Asian customers for the first time during Barco’s 10th annual Rental Partner Meeting, which took place 17 until 20 February in the Belgian headquarters Over 200 customers, attended the launch. US customers will get a chance to learn about Barco’s new products at the North American Rental Partner Meeting event in Copper Mountains, from March 9 until 12. Read all about it at: http://www.barco.com/events/en/pressreleases/show.asp?index=2257 Flexibility again – LEDs come in more form-factors every day – I’m fascinated by the improvements in quality, especially in the modular and flexible-curtain products. Every once in a while, you see an example of a show where people really take your breath away by using a new product in a whole new way – watch this years awards season, and I’m sure you’ll see what I mean.
–JRR Back to Top Extron Debuts Annotation Graphics Processor
Extron Electronics last month introduced a unique and creative product in the "Annotator," a new high-performance, hardware-based annotation processor for video and computer-video sources.
The Annotator features a graphical user interface that allows the presenter to draw, point, or add text to electronic presentation materials using a touch screen and/or a keyboard and mouse. It’s an integrated, seven input multi-format presentation switcher that supports all common analog and digital A/V signal types. Three standard outputs are provided, including RGB, VGA, and Extron MTP – Mini Twisted Pair, with high performance scaling up to 2048×1080 and HDTV 1080p. For ease of integration, a configurable fourth output is provided for use with optional DVI, HD-SDI, or scan converter output boards. The Annotator is ideal for use in any A/V presentation application that requires the overlay of graphic and text elements for emphasis.
The Annotator can be used with popular touch screen displays. Two USB ports are provided to support multiple touch screens simultaneously via USB hubs. The Annotator features an on-screen display that provides quick access to essential annotation tools for drawing freehand or lines, adding rectangular or elliptical shapes, typing in text, pointing to objects, and highlighting any area of the presentation. Additional annotation functions include the capability to zoom and pan within the image, freeze a live image, and save an image with annotation to a file.
The Annotator employs hardware-based graphics and video processing that delivers the performance and operational reliability demanded in mission-critical applications. For enhanced integration flexibility, the outputs of the Annotator can be configured as Preview and Program outputs, so that the presenter has full access to the annotation GUI on a local preview monitor, while at the same time the audience sees just the annotated presentation.
To learn more or to see a very informative Interactive Demo, go to: http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=annotatorWhat else needs to be said? The live events market has wanted one of these for years. Kudos to Extron for making us all look like the NFL’s John Madden in our ability to “draw on the fly” at resolutions up to 2048 x 1080.
–Gary Kayye Back to Top SANYO Shows Totally New HD Projector The new PDG-DHT100L is SANYO’s answer to a high-end DLP-based bright HD projector. At 6500 specified ANSI lumens and a 1920 x 1080 native resolution, this projector is aimed at the large meeting room market (i.e., auditoriums or even churches). As this projector is likely to be mounted, one nice feature — that all high-end projector manufacturers are moving towards — is the addition of an active maintenance filter that cleans itself. It’s Ethernet-ready, is available with interchangeable lenses and ships immediately. It’s not available in the US yet, but if you want to see it, you can find it on a European site at:I’ve been pleasantly surprised by SANYO’s new HD machines – bright, crisp and affordable. The fact that Sanyo and a host of other manufacturers are paying attention to staging industry features is also a nice plus.
–JRR Back to Top Electrosonic Shows High-End 3D System at ISE The new ES9600 is a JPEG2000 compression-based video player (dual channel) designed for 2K projection of 3D images. With a playback specification of 250Mbps, the ES9600 is designed with digital cinema quality in mind. Electrosonic claims it actually uses the same compression technology that digital cinema hard disc players use to show movies in digital form, rather than film.Although not part of the digital cinema alliance, Electrosonic believes there is an opportunity in the ProAV market for a two-channel HD storage device that is 3D-ready and can connect via DVI-I or HD-SDI. We agree. We see applications in high-end houses of worship, corporate auditoriums and certainly theaters. To see all the ES9600 specifications, go to: http://www.electrosonic.com/hd-video-players I agree with the comments at the end of this release, leave them – they’re right on the money.
–JRR Back to Top |
For all you REGULAR readers of rAVe Rental [and Staging] out there, hopefully you enjoyed another opinion-packed issue!
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read how we are — we are 100% opinionated. We not only report the news and new product stories of the rental and staging industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions — in this case, it’s industry-veteran Joel Rollins' opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that’s why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
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rAVe [Publications] has been around since 2003, when we launched our original newsletter, rAVe ProAV Edition. rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA, launched in February, 2004. rAVe Rental [and Staging] launched in November 2007. rAVe Ed [Education] launched in May 2008. rAVe DS [Digital Signage] was launched in January of 2009.
To read more about my background, our team, and what we do, go to https://www.ravepubs.com Copyright 2009 – rAVe [Publications] – All rights reserved – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact rAVe [Publications], 510 Meadowmont Village Circle, Suite 376 – Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – (919) 969-7501. Email: sara@ravepubs.com rAVe Rental [and Staging] contains the opinions of the author only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of other persons or companies or its sponsors. Back to Top |
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