Each year, exciting new technology is featured at the Lighting Dimensions International Convention. This year, the big news from the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas was the amount of exhibitors showcasing their new LED fixtures. In fact, LED’s were everywhere! Along with the usual architectural LED applications, it seemed that every lighting company was featuring their new theatrical LED fixtures. Rosco even displayed their prototype of an LED ellipsoidal reflector spotlight! Imagine a leko that does not require a dimmer or color changer... Amazing!

Manufacturers also showcased their new Media Servers. In my opinion, this technology is the exciting future of theatrical and church lighting. Imagine being able to mix your video content directly into your stage worship lighting design… What began with High End System’s Catalyst Media Server has spread to no less than three additional manufacturers introducing their own media server systems.

Each year we choose Church Production Magazine’s LDI New Product of the Year. There were many worthy products competing this year. But my favorite product was from a small company called Selador. They introduced a new LED striplight that incorporates seven LED colors to mix to virtually any color of light—including deep saturate colors that are virtually impossible to achieve using the three-color LED’s that most of the other manufacturers use.

Following (in alphabetical order) are a few notable products from LDI that would be of particular interest to the worship market. With the thousands of products on the convention floor, I apologize in advance if your favorite companies and/or products were left out, but space considerations require a great deal of editing.

ACT Lighting, makers of the grandMA automated lighting controller, introduced their new Frog 2 controller. This lighting console features multiple playbacks, user-definable buttons, faders, screen views, and touch screen menus. Not to be left out of the Media Server field, ACT introduced their grandMA video. This product is a software-based media server application for Windows XP that controls video and still images in real-time, directly via grandMA consoles.

Altman Lighting, introduced its ODEC outdoor ellipsoidal reflector spotlight. The ODEC is an affordable outdoor ellipsoidal with 15–35-degree zoom focus, framing shutters, glass/steel pattern projection capabilities and internal/external accessory mounting options for color media, louver, donut, color-scroller or douser. Altman also showcased their outdoor PAR fixtures.

City Theatrical is using their license with Color Kinetics to full use in developing LED accessories for theatrical and worship use. These include Accessory Holders, Top Hats, Half Top Hats, Spread Lenses, Egg Crate Louvers, and Barndoors. They also introduced the Autoyoke WDS For wireless DMX control along with their full line of wireless DMX transponders and receivers. This is quite useful when you don’t want to run hundreds of feet of DMX cable to remote locations.

Clay Paky showcased two new impressive automated lighting fixtures. The Alpha Spot HPC has a very impressive zoom range of 10 - 40 degrees. Whereas the new Alpha Wash HPC has an incredible 4 - 80 degree zoom!

Clear Com Showcased their CellCom wireless intercom system. CellCom™ is a new concept in wireless intercom, combining license-free digital transmission with an intelligent base station that interconnects with wired communications.

Coemar had its new iWash LED automated wash light prominently displayed. The intensity of this LED fixture was very impressive! Coemar claims a 10-year LED life for this product.

Color Kinetics, one of the leading manufacturers of LED lighting, released several new products at the show. The iColor® Module FX Color Module FX is a 6” (15.2 cm) square modular unit for wide-ranging designs that require individually controllable points of light. The unit incorporates 9 or 36 tri-color LED nodes that are individually driven by Color Kinetics’ custom Chromasic™ microchip, which enables complex lighting effects including animation and video. The iColor® MR g2 Color MR g2 is an intelligent, color changing lamp that applies the latest high-power LEDs to generate saturated bursts of color from standard MR16 fixtures and sockets. The ColorCast™ 14 ColorCast 14 is a sleek, linear 13.5” (34.3 cm) system with maximized light intensity and custom Powercore™ technology for greater operational efficiency and ease of installation. It’s ideally suited for washing large-scale alcoves, archways, and up to 15’ (4.6 m) walls with saturated color and dynamic effects. And the Colorblaze striplight is a 6 foot LED striplight that can mix to thousands of colors.

Compulite displayed their new Vector Green lighting console. This is the smallest controller in their vector series and is applicable for small to medium church installations. This console is designed to control both conventional and moving fixtures.

Dove Lighting displayed their MPX 100 DMX Tester / Remote Focus Unit. This is an invaluable tool for the lighting technician. The MPX-100 generates and receives DMX512 data to aid in testing lighting systems. The unit also serves as a remote focus unit, giving the lighting designer access to all 512 DMX channels from a hand held device. The unit operates on four AA cells. They also introduced their Starport Software lighting controller. The StarPort turns any PC compatible computer into a full featured DMX memory lighting controller. A complete system consists of the printer port adaptor, software, I/O cable and your computer.

Elation Lighting was packed with new products for the worship market. First, there is the Easycolor LED Moving Light. The Easycolor is one of the very first professional LED moving-head fixtures in the lighting industry. Its eighteen high-power LED have a 10 year life span. Another exciting product is the Powerwash 250. This moving head automated fixture is extremely versatile with CMY color mixing and a very powerful 250 watt arc lamp. (Look for reviews of the Easycolor and Powerwash 250 in CPM in the near future!).

Electronics Theatre Controls showcased their new ETC SmartFade™ compact lighting control console. This compact console comes in several size configurations (one can fit in a briefcase!) and is ideal for small and touring installations.

High End Systems proudly displayed their new Catalyst Pro 3.2 Media Server and DL-2 moving head projector. Showcased in my favorite LDI booth (which had very comfortable chairs and free wine), High End had a very impressive demonstration of this new technology projected on the walls, floors, and ceiling! The DL2 features the Media server electronics integrated into the fixture! High End also announced the immediate availability of three new versions of software-only Catalyst packages. The three versions are priced for any sized application or budget and enable customers to easily upgrade from one version of the product to the next.

Leprecon Lighting introduced their new LPX 48 lighting controller. This controller is designed for medium to large churches with automated lighting requirements. The LPX 48 has new software that features an easy to understand user interface. (Look for an upcoming revue in CPM!). Leprecon also had its prototype ULD360 Stage Pin Dimmer on display. This product allows you to hang a module of six 25 amp dimmers in a remote location. All you have to do is run a DMX cable from your lighting console to this dimmer module and subsequent modules daisy-chain to each other.

Leviton Lighting displayed their Z-Max architectural lighting control relay system. This product features no contact pitting due to arcing. Z-Max provides circuitry capable of switching at full load at zero crossing with true zero current, providing and industry-leading 10,000,000 cycle life.

Martin Professional won the coveted LDI Product of the Year with its Maxedia Media Server. Maxedia, which includes integrated DMX control, provides full control of both lighting and video elements. It can run a maximum of 20 layers running simultaneously; 3D effects with unique real-time manipulation; programming and playback without the use of a DMX lighting console; and the use of no more than 25 DMX channels.

PRG Lighting, one of the largest lighting conglomerates, has released its own Media Server called the M-Box. The M-Box has an impressive user interface and should be a major player in the Media Server field.

Robe Lighting introduced their new automated lighting fixture, the ColorMix 575 AT. This fixture offers remote zoom of 7 – 26 degrees, continuously rotating color wheel with 4 colors, 3200ºK, 5600ºK, UV and frost filters plus open. The 575 also has a beam shaper. This product joins their line of impressive automated fixtures including the ColorSpot 575 AT and ColorWash 1200E AT.

Rosco featured their prototype LED Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight. Rosco claims that this light can match Rosco colors through its Spectrmatrix technology.

Selador Lighting, winner of this year’s CPM LDI New Product of the Year, Selador Lighting’s impressive X7 Series LED Striplight knocked the pants off the competition. With its seven-LED color matrix, this LED striplight can achieve the deep saturate colors that were previously unattainable with LED color mixing technology.

Strand Laboratories introduced a new line of fixtures primarily for film and TV. However, these fixtures can also be adaptable for worship needs that require intense light. The new OneLight PAR 575 is such a fixture. It is virtually silent and projects an incredibly bright light.

Wybron showcased their Super Beam 1200. That’s right, the beam projector has returned! The Super Beam 1200 uses a new Philips 80V 1200W lamp, which together with sophisticated double reflector optics, gives an amazing light output. I was also able to view some very interesting prototypes in Wybron’s private room, including a very impressive fiber optic illuminator based on their Nexera fixture. I also viewed a new beam projector that uses a 150W CPM lamp with a lamp life of 10,000 hours!

DAVID MARTIN JACQUES is a professional lighting designer and lighting consultant for houses of worship throughout the United States. He is also Head of Stage Design at California State University Long Beach. He can be reached at: djacques@csulb.edu.

Quick Link:

ACT Lighting: http://www.actlighting.com/
A.C.T Lighting, Inc.
5308 Derry Ave. Unit R
Agoura Hills CA 91301
Voice: (818) 707-0884
Fax: (818) 707-0512

Altman Lighting: http://www.altmanltg.com/
57 Alexander Street
Yonkers, NY 10701
(800) 4-ALTMAN
(914) 476-7987
(212) 569-7777
Fax (914) 963-7304

City Theatrical: http://www.citytheatrical.com/
752 East 133rd Street
Bronx, NY 10454
(718) 292-7932
(800) 230-9497
(718) 292-7482

Clay Paky: http://www.claypaky.it/
Clay Paky SPA
via Pastrengo, 3/B
24068 Seriate (BG)
Tel. +39 035 65.43.11
Fax +39 035 30.18.76

Clear Com: http://www.clear-com.com/
4065 Hollis Street
Emeryville, CA 94608
510-496-6666

Coemar : http://www.coemar.com/
Via Inghilterra 2/A
46042 Castelgoffredo Mantova
Italy
Ph. +39 0376.77521
Fax +39 0376.780657

Color Kinetics: http://www.colorkinetics.com/
Color Kinetics Incorporated
10 Milk St.
Suite 1100
Boston, MA 02108
Tel: 617.423.9999

Compulite: http://www.stagetec.co.uk/php/
16 Tawfield,
Bracknell,
Berkshire, RG12 8YU
Tel: 01344 440507
Fax: 01344 642018

Dove Lighting: http://www.dovesystems.com/BuildPage.php?page=home&d=
3563 Sueldo Street Suite E
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
phone +1 805 541 8292
fax +1 805 541 8293

Elation Lighting: http://www.elationlighting.com/ ,
Elation Professional
4295 Charter Street
Los Angeles, CA 90058
Phone: (323) 582-3322
Fax: (323) 582-3108
E-Mail: info@elationlighting.com

Electronics Theatre Controls: http://www.etcconnect.com/
ETC Global Headquarters
3031 Pleasant View Rd
PO Box 620979
Middleton WI 53562 0979
1.800.688.4116
1.608.831.4116
Fax - 1.608.836.1736
Automated voice mail system: 608.831.4041
mail@etcconnect.com

High End Systems: http://www.highend.com/
High End Systems Inc.
2105 Gracy Farms Lane
Austin, TX 78758
Phone: 512.836.2242
Fax: 512.837.5290
Toll Free: 800.890.8989

Leprecon Lighting: http://www.leprecon.com/
P.O. Box 430
10087 Industrial Drive,
Hamburg, Michigan 48139-0430
Phone (810) 231-9373
Fax (810) 231-1631
Email:lepsls@leprecon.com

Leviton Lighting: http://www.leviton.com/
59-25 Little Neck Pkwy.,
Little Neck, N.Y. 11362-2591
Phone 718-229-4040
Fax 1-800-832-9538
Tech Support 1-800-824-3005

Martin Professional: http://www.martinpro.com/frontpage/frontpage.asp
Martin Professional, Inc.
700 Sawgrass Corporate Parkway
Sunrise, Florida 33325
Voice: 954.858.1800
Fax: 954.858.1811
24hr Tech Support: 1.888.TECH180
E-Mail: martinus@martinpro.com

PRG Lighting: http://www.prg.com/home/
630 9th Ave.
Suite 610
New York, NY 10036-3708
Phone: 1.212.589.5400
Fax: 1.212.589.5425

Robe Lighting: http://www.robe.cz/
ROBE Show Lighting s.r.o.
Hážovice 2090
756 61 Rožnov pod Radhoštem
Czech Republic
sales@robe.cz

Rosco: http://www.rosco.com/ ,
Rosco Laboratories Inc.
52 Harbor View,
Stamford, CT
USA, 06902
Toll free: (800) ROSCO NY
(800) 767-2669
Phone: (203) 708-8900
Fax: (203) 708-8919
Email: info@rosco.com

Selador Lighting:
2922 South 800 Street
Salt Lake City, UT, 84106
801-484-4246
infor@selador.net

Strand Laboratories: http://www.strandlight.com/
Strand Lighting, Inc.
6603 Darin Way
Cypress, CA 90630
Phone: (714)230-8200 Fax: (714) 899-0042

Wybron: http://www.wybron.com/
Wybron, Inc.
4830 List Dr.
Colorado Springs, CO 80919
Phone: (719) 548-9774
Toll Free: (800) 624-0146
Fax: (719) 548-0432
info@wybron.com