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The future?


TomLyall

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Posted

couldnt decide where to post this, but its lighting specific so I thought here would work...

 

where do you guys, being the ones who work with this stuff, see lighting equipment of the future going, do you think we will contine to use better and better moving heads, more interesting rigs and ideas, or can you see a large change in the way we light in the future, such as the change from fixed lanterns to scanners/moving heads etc.

 

Tom

Posted

Personaly I can see the market going along as it is for a while with manufacturers just bringing out new lanterns now and again. I think the biggest area of change we are going to see is probebly in Control- We will see more and more advanced features and time-savers on Lighting Desks.

 

I can't see Generic Lighting being wiped out by Moving Heads and Moving Mirrors for a while becuase firstly the Prices of these Lanterns will have to drop considerably first for it to beome Financially Viable and secondly There is just certain things you can do with Generic Lighting which you cant do with Moving Heads / Mirrors!

 

Just my Oppinion

 

Sam

Posted

I think that L.E.D's will take over generics. they are much more adaptable and aren't stupidly expensive at the moment.

 

 

http://www.10outof10.co.uk/acatalog/ChromaScape.jpg

 

A compact waterproof (IP68) spotlight LED luminaire with adjustable mounting bracket

Available in Black

 

Price £264.38(€392,81) Including VAT at 17.5%

 

on moving heads:

 

I know there is a wireless DMX system , but is there a "power" version? if not I am sure that this will follow in some form. :D

Posted

Six years ago, a friend of mine who knows what he is talking about, saw a prototype of a very high power luminaire that produces virtually no heat, at Gothenburg University in Sweden. The rumour is that Ericsson have invested substantial funds into the company producing it, but they are holding back releasing the technology until all the worldwide patents are in place.

 

Another interesting light source is the 12 volt 35 watt Xenon lamp from Philips that you see in modern car headlights. The only company who have used this lamp in the entertainment market so far, to my knowledge, are Labino in Sweden Labino Sweden who have adapted it to produce an incredibly powerful blacklight U.V. source. The standard white lamp produces 800,000 cd and is rated at 5,000 hours life. I am amazed that nobody is using this yet in a moving head, when you consider the compact size of the Labino products.

 

Italy, Spain and the U.K. were at the forefront of entertainment lighting technology in the 70's, then the Americans and Germans caught up and now we are seeing the Eastern Europeans and Chinese grab a big slice of the market, but watch out for those quietly spoken Swedes!

Posted
I think controllers will have completely computer controlled with inbuilt PCs running linux with a frontend or something....

 

Ummm.... Isn't that what we have now? Or have I misunderstood?

Posted
no, but I meant like there would be almost every desk having an inbuilt computer with full colour graphical screens, mouse and keyboard, monitor or LCD, etc with almost no real controls like faders...
Posted
with almost no real controls like faders...

Oh no I couldn't possibly imagine that! :D There would have to be some serious advances in other forms of control (like touchscreen monitors, that are good) for me to be able to accept this :blink:

 

After doing a paper plot on the Expression 3 offline editor today, it made me realise how much I actually appreciate a real desk...

 

Stu

Posted

I agree about the faders and wheels, on the control side the graphical user interface is getting a lot better and many more advanced features are going into consoles, but you still need faders for playpack, wheels and some kind of a keypad for programming.

 

Andy

Stagetec

Posted
with almost no real controls like faders...

Oh no I couldn't possibly imagine that! :D There would have to be some serious advances in other forms of control (like touchscreen monitors, that are good) for me to be able to accept this :blink:

 

After doing a paper plot on the Expression 3 offline editor today, it made me realise how much I actually appreciate a real desk...

 

Stu

Your so right,

 

I've brough a pc based system to get me out of a hole on a job, in it's own way it's great and has the functionality of a desk that costs 10x as much. But it's a pian in the a*** to programme quickly and as already mentioned it's not easy to access when you need to in a hurry.

 

THat said I've got some friends who were software programmers in a past life and they love it - horse for courses I guess. The fact theat Hog PC has an option of a mini console says it all really.

 

I guess more multi function displays will be the way - but you will alway need some chunky knobs and buttons to operate in a hurry (IMHO)

 

 

I think LEDs will make big leaps - I use ChromaDecks a lot as dancefloors and I know that Essential labs have got the Versa-Tile which will make a big impact, of course both are high priced at the moment but will drop once R&D costs are covered and of course LED's are going to get much brighter.

Posted

With the ever increasing demands of the Health & Safety authorities, the drive towards reducing work at height (e.g. visits to the FOH LX bar(s)), theatres will move towards moving generics (like the ADB Warp).

 

Tax incentives for energy saving devices and the onward drive to reducing power consumption will meet advances in extremely high efficiency light sources like LED to produce LED equivalents of generics - the ellusive LED profile. (Apparently all companies in the supply chain, including end user, can claim 150% corporation tax relief on the purchase costs of approved energy saving devices).

 

With cooler and cooler light sources, add an LCD in the optical gate, download a pattern using ACN and gobos will be a thing of the past.

 

Combine these technologies and you'll only have to visit the FOH bar(s) once a year - to pat test the lights (No ladders leant at the wrong angle between the LX bar and the most suitable space between seats in the circle). You could even turn dimmer city into a games room for the LX department.

 

(Come to think of it, maybe now would not be a good time to buy shares in the likes of Rosco, Lee, etc)

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