Plasa

[smalljoshua]

I'm quite disappointed that I couldn't make it up this year, unfortunately work on the America's Cup (and packing for Derby) had to come first.

 

From the pictures I've seen, that LED "Vault" looks horrible though. I'm sure it had a load of good products in it, only the stand design was a little too abstract.

 

Josh

[jonhole]

The good... BlackTrax. I think this has the potential to be something bigger and better than it is now. When it gets tied into BlackBox in the next couple years it could become very interesting.

 

The bad... RIP FROG... it was time to say goodbye, but it's sad none the less!!!

 

The ugly... the LED cave thing. That said, it was a lot more ugly in fit-up before they put the plastic covers over it

 

The good: The moving heads on the Lightfactor stand that turn continueously in one direction - it may have solved a problem that didnt really exist, but I thought it was a good idea. Until, just to satisfy curiosity, we asked how they work. I had assumed the answer would be slip rings, but instead we were told "With cogs and motors".

 

The technology they call 'FAR' which is 'Free Axis Rotation'. The continuous spin may be great for clubs etc, but I can see the technology coming into theater to solve the odd problem. There is a 'smart' setting, which automatically takes the shortest route between two DMX signals, so if you 'run out' of the usual 540 approx degrees on the PAN, it doesn't matter at all.

[ianl]

 

 

bad:

source 4 fresnel, everything was just designed to be dificult and both of the demo ones were broken

 

I saw one of those at PLASA Focus (that worked!) and I quite liked it!

 

 

the gate at the top of the gel frame /barn door slot had 2 catches and was dificult to do both catches up and presumably more so when at height. one of them both catches would not do up atall

 

one barn door was so stiff it would not rotate

 

the lever to lock the focus nob was extremely stiff and was either on or off with no middle ground. once undone the focus moved extremely easily (in fact jumped)down hill but with dificulty uphill. subtle focus changes would be very dificult

 

the focus nob and lever got very hot, I tried focusing one half an hour after the show opened and had ridges in my thumb from the hot nob for the rest of the show, and failed to focus it before having to let go

 

changing the lamp will involve leaving it to cool for a very long time as the lamp base is a heatsink. and I found it fidley to fit back in on the cold one. and I seem to remember involved changing the focus to do so

 

all in alll I was expecting something a lot better :(

[Young Johnstone]

The good-

Working plasa and expenses,

Seeing alot of old and new friends!

The amount of alcoholic liquids involved and fine food every night!

 

The bad- getting up at 8 the next day to turn several stands on!

 

The ugly-

Disco designer and blasting music way before the show opened. They were told a lot to turn it down!

[the kid]

How did I miss the s4 fresnel? Maybe by the time I had got to ETC I had reached my grump factor, got lost in the shag, remembered I did the same last year and went off in a huff.

[indyld]

The Short Version:

 

Good: Meeting up with a load of new contacts and old chums, some from nearly 20 years ago including one of my mentors.

 

Bad: Finding four days of walking on thinly carpeted concrete hard on the back - brief respite on the shag pile at ETC. Did anyone say "mobility scooter"?

 

Ugly: The Prism ReVeal that might have been bright and crisp but looked like something from the XXXL section of the Ann Summers catalogue.

 

The Long Version:

 

PLASA 2011 Show Report - On Stage Lighting

[bigclive]

The Good. The delightfully lurid Disco Designer stand with it's thumping bass and vac-form LED panels. Yes I can understand that theatre luvvies might not "get it", but for the European club scene it's ideal. Remember that it was a display of EVERYTHING they do en-masse. Their club installs generally just have a selection of those components. I did get the feeling that they strobed the display too much though. And I wonder just how fire retarding the plastics they use are..... The Summerland disaster came to mind.

 

The refreshing. I passed by the Avolites stand and raised a slight technical issue I'd had with some well-toured PRG racks. It turned out that there were not only VERY technical dudes on the Avolites stand, but they took my comments seriously and engaged in a good deep technical discussion.

 

The bewildering. Someone thought these were great. But seriously... I thought they were useless other than for brief novelty value. Worse still was that Thomas thought making an LED Par-Can with individually addressable LEDs was a good idea too. WTF? :huh:

 

The plagiarised. Oh well, it looks like the LED frying pan in a yoke is now being manufactured by EVERYONE. Very useful as a wash light, so at least it's going to bring the price down. I got violent with the one on Chauvets stand and it did its duty and returned to position no matter which way I shoved it.

 

The ugly. Everything, but in a good and financially useful way.

[LeeStoddart]

bad:

source 4 fresnel, everything was just designed to be dificult and both of the demo ones were broken

 

hmmm - the S4 Fres was certainly one of my "goods". The person who demoed it to me did say that the gel frame cover (with the twin thumb screws) would probably be changed to the simple one-handed operation clip we are used to on other S4 lanterns.

 

Another good for me was the Reveal LED Profiles and Fres - although their price point is very high and the bulk of the back end is currently too large for my space, the light output and quality is great.

 

Annoying - not being approached by anyone while hovering and obvioulsy wanting to discuss something - having to go to the reception desk to ask for help is not what I expect.

 

Overall - a very useful day.

[peter]

The good... getting hypnotised at the Zero 88 party, then dinner, then the hotel bar, then... I don't even remember

The bad... the hangover the next day

The ugly... some very ropey implementations of RDM which need to be sorted out

[boardingbob]

I had a great PLASA, saw loads of really useful stuff but there was one big Ugly - no babies or children in pushchairs allowed. I may be in the minority, being an actual female technician with a family, but I for one can see no acceptable reason why they'd introduce this ban. Of course no sensible person would want to unleash a toddler or a tweenie on a giant room full of expensive and dangerous equipment, but a pre-walker is a pretty imobile object. Last year I came, whilst on maternity leave, to decide on a new lighting desk. If I hadn't been able to bring my infant with me I simply could not have come. It's a bloody nonsense.

 

Right, rant over..

 

Good - the Mac Aura, the LED shootout, those quick release cloth ties, helpful bods on the ETC stand sorting out my training question and seeing some good mates.

[TeeJay]

I had a great PLASA, saw loads of really useful stuff but there was one big Ugly - no babies or children in pushchairs allowed. I may be in the minority, being an actual female technician with a family, but I for one can see no acceptable reason why they'd introduce this ban. Of course no sensible person would want to unleash a toddler or a tweenie on a giant room full of expensive and dangerous equipment, but a pre-walker is a pretty imobile object. Last year I came, whilst on maternity leave, to decide on a new lighting desk. If I hadn't been able to bring my infant with me I simply could not have come. It's a bloody nonsense.

 

As a male tech with daughter I do agree with this.

 

My particular issue was that, like you, myself and wife came along last year with small child in push chair but that this year they brought in the trade show enforcement.

Particularly as that notice wasn't published to the plasashowDOTcom website until after July 24th at least (thanks to the wayback machine for helping me check) and no real attempt was made to publicise this new decision (someone please correct me if I am wrong)

 

Have to say the the show on the whole just seemed to be somewhat tedious - lots of LEDs and black boxes and not a huge amount of innovation. And the layout just is not helpful if you are looking at product groups - I would much rather that all sound was over here, all lights over there, all staging across the way and so on.