Who’s buying me one?  Santa, can I append my list?!

From the press release:

Barco, a global leader in Video Lighting Solutions, announces the release of a new High End Systems automated luminaire.

The new version of SHOWGUN, the SHOWGUN 2.5 automated luminaire, begins shipping today. SHOWGUN 2.5 offers 30 percent more photonic output than its predecessor via a new 2500-watt Philips MSR lamp source producing 130,000 lumens of light. High End Systems co-developed the lamp with Philips.

The SHOWGUN 2.5 automated luminaire is a hybrid spot/wash beam combination which provides entertainment lighting design possibilities in three dimensions: first, in the air with hard or soft-edge beams; second, with images projected on the stage surface; and third, at the SHOWGUN fixture itself by using an innovative LED Tracking System. SHOWGUN 2.5 produces a true focused hard-edge (for projecting LithoPattern images) or brilliant soft-edge, without the need for two fixture types.

The LED Tracking System encircles the lens, allowing the user to either match the color of the main output beam or to project a complementary color. The LED tracking system alone provides 5000 lumens of output.

SHOWGUN is being specified on a number of televised awards shows, game shows, sports events and concert stages around the world. SHOWGUN 2.5 was recently unveiled in a sneak preview to the professional lighting industry at the LDI 2008 show in Las Vegas.

Media contact:
Debi Moen, marketing communications specialist
Media & Entertainment Division, Barco Inc.
+1.512.836.2242 x 1204

Did you know about this?  FInland has an “Idol” like show, and they’re using some Showguns and some Showpix in their rig.  From the press release from Barco (thanks, Debi!):

The formula is the same: the wannabe stars sing their hearts out for a chance at being the final winner of the “Idol” title. The TV talent series has its own versions in countries around the world.   Finland’s 2008 “Idols” used 6 High End Systems SHOWGUN automated luminaries throughout the series, adding 10 SHOWPIX pixilation luminaires recently for the final broadcast. Moving Light Oy supplied the HES products.

Lighting operator Mikki Kunttu says, “The SHOWGUN is really the best possible fixture for TV. I love that super high power beam it produces. Also, the strobes (beam and LED) are really amazing on TV. The SHOWGUNs are there for the power they have. They also add an extra dimension to the lighting, giving the stage more depth and more attitude.”

MSNBC has a video of the Showpix in action during a Beyonce outdoor performance.  Check them out!  (and I don’t mean the catsuits…)

Check out the video here.

LDI had a TON of moving light manufacturers and reps this year - while I was surprised a little, I wasn’t shocked.  A good quantity of the moving lighting booths that weren’t Clay Paky, Coemar, Vari*Lite, Martin, High End, PRG, etc, were small-ish companies like Ominsistem out of Washington.  They’ve got a very large selection of fixtures and effects (as well as audio, truss, staging, etc), and their booth was hopping the whole weekend.  Give their selection of products a look-see.

Okay.  If I wanted to make my blog look like a cheap R-rated piece of crap, I would be saying HOLY SH%&, SONOFAB&%$, MOTHERF%$#*&^%^$%, and few other choice phrases about what I just read and saw.  Amazing.  I am so freaking thrilled right now, becauseI have always wanted the kind of lumen magic that a Catalyst provides when hooked into something like a Christie X-10, but then throw it on a yoke.

This is what I read.  It’s the product page on the Barco DML-1200.  It’s a 12,000 lumen digital light.  You have to see the specs:

The DML-1200 is the first moving digital luminaire which can truly be used as both a super bright, moving light source and a high quality video projector.

In light mode, the DML-1200 produces a perfectly circular light beam with a light output equivalent to that of a 1200W hard edged moving light – 12.000 field lumens and the brightest digital light on the market today.

In video mode, the DML-1200 features a fully sealed DLP engine which delivers full color DLP quality video with SXGA+ (1400 x 1050 pixel) resolution. With a light output of 10,000 center lumens, the DML-1200 is the brightest digital light on the market today.

An internal optical dimming mechanism ensures smooth, accurate intensity control from 0 to 100% ensuring that that your fade to black is a true black, not video black (grey).

Being digital, lighting designers are no longer limited to static, pre-selected patterns and colors. Any image, static or animated can be created and projected. All images are generated by the onboard media player, controlled by DMX512 or artnet protocol, from the lighting console.

With its brightness, unlimited image selection and the ability to seamlessly switch between video projection and light mode, cue by cue, the DML-1200 provides designers pure creativity at their fingertips delivering a truly unique show for every event, client and purpose.

The DL2, awesome.  It’s 6500 lumens.  The DL1?  I’ve used it a bunch, not a lot, but it’s 5500 lumens.  We’re talking twice a DL1.  It makes me wonder how all of the concert goer experiences I had in the early part of the 21st century would have been with 10,000 lumens of video.  Wow.

That’s pretty awesome, Barco.  So now my imaginary dream rig has some of these and some Bad Boys.

Go check out some video on this monster.

Behold - a new line in the Show_____ series of High End fixtures - the ShowBeam 2.5 automated wash luminaire.  It’s got the LEDs around the lens.  it’s got the 2500W medium source rare-earth arc lamp (that’s MSR to the non-dorks), beam fx, and just general badassery.

Check out the demo video here.

I took a bunch of pics of the ShowPix at LDI this year.  I have to say, that fixture is B-R-I-G-H-T.  It’s pretty fast (in my humble opinion) and I was impressed with it.  I spoke with a guy from BARCO who told me that they have released a digitizer for ShowPix and StudioPix now, which allows you to spread your fixtures out in the program and send your images and video across your array of fixtures.  Excellent!

FYI:  All of my images are © Jim Hutchison and Alive Lighting.  Please don’t use without my permission.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

High End unveiled the smaller, more compact version of their new LED pixel luminaire, the StudioPix.  Kind of like an LED version of the Studio Color (except much more excellent, as the Studio Color has no 3W LED’s).  From the news release:

Smaller than its predecessor SHOWPIX, StudioPix features a circular array of 61 homogenous 3-watt LEDs on a 13.5-inch diameter head with an output of 11,500 RGB lumens. The pixels offer unlimited possibilities by projecting not just color, but also displaying images and effects that transform the fixture head into a display device.

Looks like the StudioPix is shipping in the early Autumn.  I’m looking forward to seeing this in production!  More news as it develops.

Check out this video about the transition and switch from the beloved Whole Hog II console to the Whole Hog OS - interviews, information, visual goodness!  Thanks, High End!

Whole Hog II to Whole Hog OS Transition Video

High End Systems and Richard Belliveau have developed a pretty interesting new LED fixture - the ShowPIX.  From the official High End release:

SHOWPIX™, a combination high power LED wash light and programmable high intensity graphic image-displaying fixture, represents the first in HES’ new product line of Pixelation Luminaires™.

SHOWPIX is another “radical rethinking” lighting product concept by acclaimed inventor and HES Chief Technology Officer Richard Belliveau and his research and development team.

Showpix has all kinds of good press images, check them out.

Also, check out the video!