isquint Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Hi, I run an independent lighting blog about news in the industry. I have been on the Blue Room forum a couple of times and finally decided to register as a member. I recently wrote an article my site and wanted to re-post the article here for the membership to discuss. Just a few weeks ago, we reported a rumor that Vari-lite is in the process of developing an LED moving head. Many of the top lighting designers and dealers were able to view the fixture in a private room at LDI this past year in Las Vegas, at half power (because of limitations of the off the shelf power supplies) and reports were that they were all blown away. Today we have learned more details of the mysterious LED fixture called VLX. The VLX is rumored to be about the same body shape and size of the current VL500 fixture with close to the same weight, 43 lbs. (19.5kg). The VLX is heard to be as bright if not brighter then the VL2500 wash unit with an output of about 13,000 lumens. The fixture does not look like an LED fixture or perform like one, it works and looks, even from the front, like a standard fixture except the colors really pop and are completely homogenized when mixed. While we were not able to determine what type of LEDs the VLX uses, it does use RGB (Red, Blue, Green) plus White LED’s. An amber LED may be added in at a later time, but as many people in the industry know, amber LEDs are not quite as bright yet. What is truly amazing about these LEDs is that they are developed exclusively for Vari-Lite and does not use Color Kinetics or Philips brand LEDs. The VLX will also utilize a 3:1 zoom lens (LED zoom?) without the use of any sort of frost diffusion. While information is scarce about the VLX right now, we can guesstimate that the fixture will be a little more than the price of a VL2500 Wash. Considering the cost of a moving light that still uses Metal Halide lamps and the VLX uses LED’s, the fixture housing may die long before the LEDs do. We haven’t heard anything about a release date, but chances are something will hit the market before the 2nd quarter of 2009. We also hear that the plan is to release an entire range of fixtures using this technology with par cans, cyc lights and exterior wash fixtures supposedly in the works. Enjoy! iSquint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokm Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 I heard something about this back at Plasa.. but got the impression it was all just a bit of a joke and they'd just stuck a couple of LED clusters in a VL500 for comedy value. Now I'm happy to be proved wrong, but from speaking to various people, it seems to be the general consensus that Vari*lite aren't delving into LED right now. (LED zoom?)Have a look at the VaryLED A7 from JB Lighting. Got to see a demo of one recently and the spec's aren't lying. It steplessly zooms from 8 to 26 degree's via a lens that moves closer or further away from the LED source's. Definitely on par with GLP Impressions in terms of brightness at both ends of the zoom range too. Anyways, VLX.. I suppose time will tell if it actually exists or not. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lightnix Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Thanks for the info, isquint and welcome to the Blue Room :D At the risk of sounding contradictory, I'm not sure why such a luminaire would need to be the same size (let alone weight) as a VL500, unless there's some kind of optical jiggery-pokery going on inside that needs the space. I'm also surprised to read that it doesn't use Philips brand LEDs, given that V*L is now a part of the Philips group. Maybe Philips have done something special here - this would be an ideal platform to show off their latest wizardry. (LED zoom?)Have a look at the VaryLED A7 from JB Lighting. Got to see a demo of one recently and the spec's aren't lying...It's an impressive unit for sure, although the zoom mechanism reminds me very much of the one on the VL2416 - maybe that's what the VLX will use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 >>at half power (because of limitations of the off the shelf power supplies)<< Will borrow Ynot`s trademarked Hmmmm for that one, `it will be twice as bright when we get the PSU fixed........` >>same body shape and size of the current VL500 fixture with close to the same weight, 43 lbs. (19.5kg)<< Thats an awful lot of focussing optics or heatsink if it weighs the same as three big rounds of motorised twisting glass. >>VL2500 wash unit with an output of about 13,000 lumens<< When we get the PSU , and probably couple of other bits, fixed.... >>does not use Color Kinetics or Philips brand LEDs<< George and Ihor, founders of Color Kinetics, never made an LED in their lives, what they did do was a Patent `land grab`and then profitably sold the rights to Philips, very few consider CK innovators of any sort, Philips now wholly own CK and Lumileds , makers of the Luxeon line of LEDs and Philips Solid State Lighting is the umbrella group. Would probably look at Lamina who are now ultimately under control of the ex head of Philips North America lighting and whose arrays are used in I-Pix and LDR fixtures. The VaryLed A7 uses Lumleds LEDs, I beleive, and is a genuinely impressive unit , like a GLP Impression but much more versatile. What want to hear more of is the Ocean Optics, of Seachanger fame, LiFi plasma lamp unit rumored to be in the works...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isquint Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 What want to hear more of is the Ocean Optics, of Seachanger fame, LiFi plasma lamp unit rumored to be in the works...... Hi musht, What you are looking for is the NEMO from Seachanger. Here is a link to their site...http://seachangeronline.com/nemo.htmlHope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musht Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 That does indeed help. Thankyou. Do you know of any actually installed yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prolightdesigner Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Has anybody seen one of these yet? http://www.irradianthq.com/index.php?optio...s&Itemid=63 Maybe this is a cheap knock-off of what Vari-lite is working on, or an American DJ X-move on steroids! I found this a few days ago. It looks nothing like a VL500, probably because this isn't a wash light! If rumors are true, I would have to imagine the VLX would blow this away, even if it deosn't have gobos! -Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isquint Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 That does indeed help. Thankyou. Do you know of any actually installed yet? You are more then welcome. I hope to do a review of the unit as soon as I get my hands on one. I talked to some people and they are just finalizing it now and hope to have it out on the US side within the month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lightnix Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 I think I might have seen a VLX, yesterday :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pisquee Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 May have seen the VLX at PLASA (which was a prototype, not the final version, it was in a VL500 housing, cause that's what they put it in.) Was also told, that at the time, it was the only one in existance. The final product may not stay in the VL500 style housing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam2 Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 If it "does what it says on the box" it will indeed be very impressive, but "working at half power due to the limitations of the power supply" makes me very suspicous indeed. The very best LEDs are now around 100lumens per watt, the claimed output of 13,000 lumens therefore suggests a requirement for about 130/150 watts. So whats the problem ? they cant find a 150 watt power supply! These are available off the shelf from RS, Farnell and many others in a vast choice of voltages. Custom manufacture would be relativly easy compared to the rest of the project. I suspect that getting such a large LED array to work reliably at such high power levels was the problem. Few LEDs exceed about 5 watts, any number may be mounted together for larger wattages, but cooling is then a challenge. Also LEDs are best not run in parralel since they may not share the current correctly. If run in series then an open circuit puts the whole string out, and the voltages are higher leading to more risks of short circuits. LEDs are already suited to many low power applications and will no doubt eventualy replace high wattage halogen and discharge sources. I suspect though that the product refered to wont appear just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isquint Posted March 6, 2009 Author Share Posted March 6, 2009 I have an update on the VLX. We were at the SETC show in Alabama and they had an ad out for it. So not only is it real, but it sounds like they might be releasing it soon!Here the image of the ad.http://isquint.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/vari_ligte_vlx_poster_isq-225x300.png Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokm Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Well.. haven't I got egg on my face! Had this turn up in my inbox>>http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c196/tokm2k/vlx.jpg Looking at the picture in the ad' it seems they're going with a whole new case design. Wonder if they'll have anything ready for ABTT. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke-Woods Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Where has this info and picture come from as it looks like the end of a LED Maglite rip off? Has anyone actually found a LED moving head that works well? or indeed a LED fixture of any description that works well? A lot more research to be done before the real world starts using anything with LEDs in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niclights Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Has anyone actually found a LED moving head that works well? or indeed a LED fixture of any description that works well? A lot more research to be done before the real world starts using anything with LEDs in.Yes. I have been using a couple of years now with great success. In fact I'd readily replace any metal halide source wash with LED. The only problem is with pure white. Currently probably the leader is GLP Impression, but I, along with many others, would be very interested to see what Varilite achieve in this area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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