High End Discontinues Repair Service of Wholehog 2 Consoles

Late in the week, I got a note from a good friend and industry insider about the High End Wholehog 2 desk.  It looks like High End has stopped supporting repairs of the desk. Starting August 11, 2010, Barco / High End Systems has discontinue their repair service for the Wholehog 2 hardware.

The Hog2 has been one of the most sought after desk in the industry due to it’s form factor, control capabilities and of course, the ease of programing and reliability.  It is a sad day to hear that repair support from the factory has stopped.  There are still a bunch of these desk out in the wild producing some pretty amazing lights.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel though.  If you still own and operate a Wholehog 2, check with your local Barco / High End dealer for repair services at the dealer level. Some dealers may still may offer some sort of support in repairing your desk. Albeit, that it may become difficult to find parts as many of them have been discontinued as well.

There is also one last glimmer of hope with your Hog2.  Barco / High End has extended their console trade in program through August 31, 2010.  Your Hog2 can proudly serve you one more time by going back home and saving you money on upgrading to a new Hog desk. For full details on the trade in program, contact your local Barco / High End dealer for details.

Rumor Mill: Zero 88 Fat Frog EOL

We have heard through the twitter-verse  via @BarbizonChicago that Zero 88 has discontinued the Fat Frog  moving light console.

We have not been able to confirm this rumor via Zero 88’s web site or on the phone.  If you hear anything different or anything more, let us know in comments.

UPDATE: Looks like the Fat Frog was discontinued over a year ago!  It just looks like stock has finally been depleted and thus not longer available.

Thanks Ryan and Carl!

DeSisti No Longer Making the Monet HPL Fresnel

We recently discovered that Desisti Lighting is no longer producing the HPL version of the Monet Fresnel. We have not heard of any reason why the sudden halt on production and sale of the Monet HPl Fresnel.

Desisti and ETC had an agreement were Desisti could produce a fixture using the HPL lamp and base. ETC holds the rights to use the HPL lamp and the base style.

We are not quite sure how this transpired, but it does hint at something, we are just not sure what at the moment. We will make sure to keep our ears to the train tracks on this one and let our readers know of any new changes or why Desisti stopped production of the Monet HPL.

High End Discontinues Studio Beam & Cyberlight

The good folks over at controlbooth.com have a report out that High End Systems/Barco have discontinues the Studio Beam and Cyberlight series Luminaires. Both of these fixtures have been used and loved by the entertainment lighting industry for over 10 years. There have been rumors that High End/Barco are moving away from producing traditional moving head/mirror fixtures and heading in the direction of digital projection like such fixtures as the DL3 digital projection moving head.

With the end of these two fixtures, it further proves that rumor that High End/Barco is in the move to just produce digital media servers and moving heads.  This is a true shame as many industry professionals loved these fixtures for specific reasons.

The complete run down as controlbooth.com reports:

At Barco/High End Systems, we are committed to developing new visual technologies that will excite audiences in new ways and boost attendance at entertainment venues.

As we continue to launch innovative new products, the time has come to discontinue some old favorites:

Cyberlight Series
Studio Beam

We will only take orders for these products through Jan. 31, with full distribution by March. We will continue to warranty and support these products indefinitely.

We have launched several new products this past fall and continue the parallel development in all four product categories: Digital, Automated Luminaires, Control and LED. At LDI 2008 we introduced the DML-1200 Digital Light (shipping now), the DMX Processor 8000, SHOWGUN 2.5 (shipping now) and SHOWBEAM 2.5 (shipping in spring).