Let’s Send Noah on the Light World Tour

Meet Noah Craft. He is a student at the University of Minnesota Duluth studying Lighting Design.  You may know him better as part of the Duluth Team. Noah has signed up for the Philips 2011 Light World Tour. About the Light World Tour:

Drawing on the inspiration of the surroundings, one lucky lighting professional will hit the road, travel to the lighting hotspots of the world and take the rest of us along for the ride. You’ll be travelling and staying in a dozen or so cities over three months, seeing all the local sights, dropping in on events and hitting up the best that each city has offer in light. You’ll be totally immersed. And you’ll keep the rest of us biting our nails with plenty of videos and pictures of your adventures on the blog.

Let’s pull together and help send Noah on the Light World Tour. As of right now, Noah is trailing the leader by over a 1,000 votes.  With your help, we can bring him into first place.  Let’s get Noah on the tour and show us all about lighting throughout the world. What are you waiting for GO VOTE NOW.

Review: The TRX Series, from City Theatrical and Philips Color Kinetics

Not long ago, Philips Color Kinetics introduced the next generation of Color Blast’s: The TRX Series. Adding 2 new colors to the standard regimen of Red, Green, and Blue, these new Color Blasts called for a more intelligent power supply.  Providing this new backbone is City Theatrical and the new PDS-750 TRX Power and Data Supply.  Not one to rest on their laurels, City Theatrical raised the bar with this reinvention of their industry standard PDS. Lets start at the beginning:

The PDS 750 TRX is housed in a very sturdy, 3U rack mount or pipe mount housing.  The front panel has the factory label; a stylish, red air flow grill; and the back-lit LED display and 5 button control interface. On the top of the fixture is a welcome cheat sheet that covers basic setup in all modes.  The back panel contains the PowerCon power input and fuse, the 5-Pin DMX In and Out, a USB connection for software updates, a 2-port EtherCon switch, the 12 4-Pin Fixture outputs, and the SHoW DMX wireless antenna.  There is also a small hole in the metal casing, presumably for a safety cable if you are pipe mounting the PDS.

Control of PDS-750 TRX is available via wired DMX, wireless SHoW DMX, Ethernet (ArtNet, sACN, or Ki-Net) or using one of the on-board programs or static colors.  Setup is quick and simple. Plug in your power cord and hook up your fixtures and then using either the on-board setup wizard or the advanced setup menus you can select your method of control. The PDS-750 TRX will run any combination of 2, 3 or 5 color CK fixtures. Using the on-board fixture patch you can actively adapt the fixture’s address’s so that there are no wasted DMX channels as in the past. A nice part about the setup wizard is that it will also identify the types of fixtures connected and ask you what control profile you want to use.

DMX control of the PDS-750 TRX is as simple as connecting a control source to the 5-pin input on the unit.  In basic 8-bit mode, the fixtures operate on one channel per color, up to the full 5 colors available in the Color Blast TRX’s.  Using my test console (an Elation SDC-6), the Color Blast dimmed smoothly and with a very even curve.

SHoW DMX control allows the PDS to operate wirelessly on any one of 16 different channels (or universes).  Using the same test console connected to a standard SHoW DMX indoor transmitter, I had full control of the fixture with zero lag time despite four WiFi networks and Bluetooth scanners also running in the same environment. A feature of note when running SHoW DMX is that the DMX connector on the back of the PDS will output whatever universe the PDS is receiving.  This allows you to control the rest of your DMX devices without investing in more receivers. It’s a very nice hat-tip from the folks at CTI.

Ethernet control of the PDS was a bit more challenging, but only due to the steps needed to enter the IP address information.  You can control the PDS over ArtNet, sACN (think ETCNet 3), or Ki-Net (Color Kinetics Architectural).  Having the extra Ethernet port is an excellent add-on that makes daisy chaining multiple PDS units a snap.

Not having a sACN source, I setup and configured the PDS for ArtNet control on a static IP address.  I then logged into the WiFi network with my iPad and using Alcorn McBride’s LightingPad was able to control the PDS perfectly.  There was no lag time and the dimming curves were as smooth as ever.  CTI also gives Ethernet control the same hat-tip as SHoW DMX by outputting the same control universe to the DMX port on back.

Not to be outdone, Philips Color Kinetics has taken the next generation Color Blast TRX to the next level. Featuring not just RGB color mixing, CK added Amber and White to the mix.  For theatre and Broadway applications, the soft tones that can now be mixed are a most welcome addition.  The Color Blast TRX also features a first-ever 4-character LED display and touch sensitive buttons for at-fixture controls.  As introduced with the TR, the TRX features both clear and frosted lenses that can be swapped out.  The rubber surround is gone and in its place is a CTI accessory holder.

Operation of the on-board control is simple and elegant.  Press the two outermost buttons at the same time and the controls unlock for about 60 seconds.  You can set the DMX address, fixture profile, set static colors, chases, and run a test mode to name a few functions.  The control buttons use the same type of touch sensor glass that many smart phones use.  You don’t actually press them, you just tap them.  One would imagine this will significantly increase fixture reliability as adding physical contactors adds a mechanical failure point.

Overall the color mix and output of the new Color Blast TRX is excellent.  However, don’t get rid of your iW Blasts just yet.  The amber and white are excellent additions that allow the TRX to mix some amazing new colors.  However, the white and amber only output is just not quite bright enough to be effective on its own.  Overall though, Philips Color Kinetics has added an excellent new addition to the Color Blast legacy.  Combined with City Theatrical’s new PDS-750 TRX, the bar has been set for ease of use and functionality.

The new TRX technology is available now for purchase and rental from most of your top lighting dealers in the US. To round out the family, CTI also introduced the new PDS-350 TRX (6-channel vs. 12-channel).  For more information please visit either City Theatrical or Color Kinetic’s websites.

ETC Licenses Patented Technology To Philips

I just got the shortest press release I have ever received from ETC…

ETC .. announced today that it has licensed patented technology to Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Philips), a global leader in lighting products. This license covers ETC technology described by US Patent 6,932,491 (and foreign counterparts) utilized by Philips in their FastFit and MiniFastFit range of entertainment lamps.

ETC CEO Fred Foster commented: “We are pleased that Philips has demonstrated respect for ETC intellectual property by entering into this license agreement for the ‘491 patent.’”

If you were wondering, Patent 6,932,491 states:

A theatrical luminaire for entertainment and architectural applications includes a lamp socket accessible from the exterior of the luminaire housing. A lamp includes a base, a bulb on one side of the base and a handle on the other side. The handle is grasped to insert the lamp into the socket. When the base is mounted in the socket, the bulb extends through the socket into the luminaire and the handle remains accessible at the exterior of the luminaire. The lamp is mounted with a one-handed push and turn motion, and contacts on wings of the base engage socket contacts as the lamp is turned to its final position. The socket is mounted on a support that is adjustable relative to the luminaire housing to preserve the correct lamp positioning when the lamp is replaced.

Read more about Patent 6,932,491 on the US Patent website.

The Latest From Philips at LDI 2010

If you were at LDI this year, you had to have noticed the Philips booth.  It was kind of hard to miss it.  Philips was dead smack in the middle of the floor with a huge open layout with an awesome circle truss FILLED with all of their latest LED products from all of their brands, Vari-Lite, Strand and Selecon.

My good friend and funny man from Philips, Peta Borchetta gave me a walking tour of the booth going over all the latest and greatest products. Ignore the interruptions for the peanut gallery, Alan Kibbe for the Vari-Lite division wanted to throw us off and get his five seconds on camera. Maybe next time Alan! ;)

Thanks Pete for the tour!

Philips Strand Leko Lite… The Strand SL is Reborn?

Take a look at Philips Strand latest fixture, the Leko Lite.  No, no, I mean it, take a REALLY close look at it.  Remind you of a fixture that recently went away? Maybe the Strand SL is a phoenix, it died and has been reborn as the Leko Lite, they do share a bunch of the same features and design aspects. We’ll come back to that…

The Leko Lite offers a fixed and variable beam angle fixture line up.  For the fixed beam, there is the 5, 10, 19, 26, 36 & 50.  In the variable or zoom fixtures, there is the 15 to 32 & the 23 to 50. As for lamps, the Leko Lite uses Philips Hi-Brite, FastFit Lamps at 575w, 750w in 115v and 800w in 230v. The FastFit Lamp socket is a neat feature, no more wrestling to get the burner house out the back. Although I am a little curious about how bench focusing works.

One thing that I loved from the SL line up was the 360 degree body rotation at the yoke.  The Leko Lite carries that feature forward.  Along with the ability to accept and change lens tubes with the SL line up of fixtures. I guess the Leko Lite really is the SL reborn.

For more information on the Philips Strand Leko Lite, visit their website at www.strandlighting.com.

Philips Selecon PL 1 LED

Philips Selecon has a new Architectural LED fixture available, the PL 1. It uses high output and fully homogenized RGBW LEDs with a variable beam from 14-50 degrees.

The PL 1 makes perfect sense for museums and other architectural installations where UV light may cause problems.  The PL 1 produces no ultra-violet (wavelengths of less than 400nm) in the UV-A, B, C or infrared (greater than 775nm) spectrum.

The fixture also has the ability to define maximum energy consumption with built in power preset from 30 watts to full power along with fan noise management.

For more information on the Philips Selecon PL 1 LED fixture, visit their website at www.seleconlight.com.

iPhone App: Color Kinetics LSM Remote

I am a little late to the table with this one.  Back in April, Philips Color Kinetics released a new iPhone app into the iTunes store, the LSM Remote.  The LSM Remote App is used to control Philips Color Kinetics Light System Engine on your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad.

Simply add a wifi access point to the network on which Light System Engine is installed, and LSM Remote can control all of your shows remotely. For each zone programmed on the LSE you can select which show to play, adjust its brightness, or turn off its lights. Additionally, you can specify a show transition type and time.

This has a WIDE range of uses.  Practical for live performances?  Maybe not, but the architectural possibilities are endless.  Learn more about the LSM Remote from Philips Color Kinetics website, www.colorkinetics.com. You can download the LSM Remote for FREE from the iTunes App Store.  But in order for it to work correctly, you need some more pieces to the puzzle.

Elation Announces Color Tone 50 with Philips 50 Watt Lexel LED

Elation Professional is proud to launch a major breakthrough in LED color-mixing with the introduction of the Color Tone 50.  A unique and advanced DMX-controllable LED color changer for staging, entertainment and architectural applications, the Color Tone 50 utilizes the all-new 50-watt Philips Lexel LED module, a revolutionary homogenized LED light source.

Unlike previous RGB LED fixtures that produced colors by combining red, green and blue beams from different LED lamps, all of the Color Tone 50’s color blending is done within its single Philips Lexel module, resulting in superior colors and a whole spectrum of whites that are perfectly even and consistent in tone.  This new technology completely eliminates issues than can sometimes occur with RGB mixing, such as uneven output, discoloration, and “halos” or rings around beam edges.

Featuring comparable color-to-color output to a 500-watt halogen fixture with gels, the Color Tone 50 is ideal for theaters, stage shows, churches, trade shows, displays and architectural use. One of its very attractive features is Selectable Color Temperature from 2,700°K to 6,500°K, which allows users to “dial up” a whole spectrum of whites, from warm to cool to daylight. This, along with its convection-cooled silent operation, makes the Color Tone 50 perfect for television and video key lighting applications as well.

Users will find a whole array of other professional features on the Color Tone 50, including a Linear Electronic Dimmer from 0%-100% and a variable Strobe Effect.  Additionally, there are 8 User Assignable Program Presets, which let users edit and save programs either through the front control panel or an external controller.  Up to 48 program scenes can be saved and then called up and run via a menu on the control panel

The Color Tone 50 can be operated in 3 different modes: DMX, Manual or Stand Alone. When used with a DMX controller, it can be run in either 3- or 7-channel modes.  It features Elation’s exclusive RDMX (Remote DMX Addressing), which allows DMX values to be set from the convenience of a DMX-512 controller.

The Color Tone 50 retails for $1,599.95.  Learn more about the Elation Color Tone 50 by visiting Elation’s website at www.elationlighting.com.

Vari-Lite Shipping New VL550 Wash & VL1100 ERS Fixtures

I got super excited when I saw this email hit the inbox, Vari-Lite shipping new fixtures?!? What did I miss?!  Turns out Vari-Lite re-tooled and configured the VL500 Wash and VL100 ERS fixtures with design enhancements and eco-friendly technologies and gave them updated part numbers.  Here is more from the official press release:

Philips Vari-Lite is proud to announce that the new VL550 Wash and Vl1100 ERS luminaires are now shipping. Updating the current VL500 Wash and VL1000 ERS luminaire models, the new VL550 and VL1100 series have undergone design enhancements to provide a more quiet and smooth operation, while maintaining the same power and performance of their predecessors. Plus, each series now offers a 315W ceramic discharge lamp model, further demonstrating the Philips Vari-Lite commitment to being a market leader in eco-friendly lighting technology.

The VARI*LITE VL550 Wash luminaire is still based upon the Emmy® Award-winning VL5 Wash luminaire, but with significant design improvements, including a 50 kHz. drive system that quiets the operation of all two-phase motors in the fixture during movement
and while in static positions. This luminaire is now available in the VL550, VL550D, VL550CD, and VL550 80V models. The VL550CD model utilizes a 315W ceramic discharge lamp that offers the color temperature of tungsten, a high CRI, and an incredibly long-rated lamp life of 8,000 hours.

The current VL500A luminaire model is now being discontinued, but will continue to be serviced and supported by the Philips Vari-Lite customer support team.

As the next generation of the VL1000 ERS luminaire, all models of the VL1100 luminaire will also have a new 50 kHz. drive system that quiets the operation of all two-phase motors. Additional enhancements include new, three-phase, ultra quiet stepper motors that provide a smooth, timed continuous pan and tilt motion; and a new central bearing system in the gobo wheel reduces noise and ensures smooth operation. This luminaire is now available in the VL1100 Arc, VL1100 Tungsten, and VL1100CD models. As with the VL550CD, the VL1100CD model also utilizes a 315W ceramic discharge lamp for an 8,000 hour lamp life with more than 8,000 lumens of output, and a high CRI.

For more information on Vari-Lites new VL550 Wash and VL1100 ERS fixtures, visit their web site at www.vari-lite.com.

Sneak Peak at Philips/Selecon PL-3 LED Fresnel

When you reach the Broadway level of being a lighting designer, you can pretty much get what ever you want. I am not talking about fame and fourtune but new fixtures and technologies. Such as the case for Don Holder at the Broadway Lighting Master Classes this year. Mr. Holder put on a great session about LEDs vs Tungstens. Since Mr. Holder is a well respected and fantastic lighting designer, he has access to a load of products before they are even announced.

Such as the case with the sneak peak that we got of Philips/Selecon upcoming LED Fresnel, the PL-3. Mr. Holder was able to get not just one of these prototype fixtures, but two for his session. Yeah, I was a little jealous! ;) But enough about that, what about the PL-3.

The PL-3 uses three of the LED engines from the Vari-lite VLX fixture. That means that the PL-3 is a 3 engine, RGBW mixer at 90 watts per engine. Just like the VLX, the PL-3 color mixing happens behind the lens to give an even color out the front of the fixture. Speaking of light coming out the front, the PL-3 is putting out 8200 Lumens of LED goodness with a zoom range of 5 to 50 degree spread.

The entire fixture runs off just 320 watts of power and produces as much light as a 1000 watt tungsten fresnel. The PL-3 is still in the process of being developed but is rumored to have WDMX, WiFi, Network and DMX protocols included right on the fixture. If you look closely, you may notice the fixture housing and yoke are made of plastic. Since the fixtures runs a heck of a lot cooler then a typical tungsten fresnel of that size, Philips/Selecon was able to make the PL-3 even lighter by using a plastic composite.

The PL-3 is still not ready for the big time and like I mentioned, still in development so no release date has been announced yet along with pricing. I have heard hints of another version of the PL-3 is in the works, the PL-5. I’ll let you take a guess on what that means.

Take a look at some of the photos I was able to sneak in at the BLMC2010.

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Philips/Color Kinetics Announces some New LED Fixtures at LDI

This year at LDI, Philips/Color Kinetics released quite a few new LED fixtures. The fixture pictured to the right is the ColorReach TR Powercore. Color Kinetics designed the fixture for the rigors of the rental and entertainment markets with high performance LEDs to create a powerful floodlight.

ColorReach TR Powercore offers over 5,000 lumens of output, light projection of over 500 feet, and the ability to natively generate millions of colors and dynamic effects without the need for maintenance-intensive colored gels, filters, or mechanical scrollers. New royal blue LEDs are standard with ColorReach TR Powercore to offer deeper, more saturated color projection in theatrical and touring projects.

The ColorReach TR Powercore offers a range of entertainment- and stage-specific features, including a lightweight yoke for mounting to pipes, trusses, and stands, and an optional accessory holder for freestanding installations. Available spread lenses, barndoors, top hats, egg crate louvers, and other accessories slide into the accessory holder for easy swapping. Optional 16-bit control provides ultra-smooth dimming. The six-channel fixture is also available with custom LED configurations in any combination of blue, royal blue, green, amber, red, and white LEDs in eight color temperatures.

For more information on Philips/Color Kinetics New ColorReach TR Powercore LED fixture, visit their website at www.colorkinetics.com.

Selecon to Join Philips Entertainment Lighting Group

Selecon Lighting of New Zealand has decided to sell the company to Philips to become part of the Philips Global Entertainment Lighting Group.  Selecon will be joining such companies as Vari-Lite, Strand Lighting and Color Kinetics. Selecon will continue to operate as normal with no changes made to management.

To read more about the press release from Selecon, visit thier website at www.seleconlight.com.