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Green Hippo’s fascinating 3D Mapping
demonstration
WOW! WHAT A SHOW!
MEDIATECH AFRICA 2013
by Abrie du Plooy (NEC & GALAXY Product Manager)
One thing that cannot be taken away
from the audiovisual industry is our
flashy side. When we show off, we really
show off. And at Mediatech 2013 we
remained true to our reputation.
“At Mediatech 2013 we decided to showcase
Electrosonic SA as a whole: not as separate lighting
and systems divisions. Our stand combined all
these aspects as there is a cross-pollination of
our products with our clients. So from that point
alone we regard Mediatech 2013 as a particularly
successful event. We decided to set up a separate
area to showcase Martin Professional’s Viper
range of fixtures in a dedicated space designed
to bring out the best in the fixtures' optics. We
were also privileged to have both Tom Etra from
Green Hippo (UK) and Andre Bragard-De Naeyer
from ADB (Belgium) on the stand. A captivating
3D Mapping demonstration was set up in the
Green Hippo breakaway room. This was definitely
a stand-out feature of Mediatech 2013. The
quality of Mediatech 2013 was world class and
completely on par with European shows like
PLASA and Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt. I am
sure visitors to the Expo left with lots of valuable
information”, said Bruce.
It was as if all the exhibitors secretly decided to
go extra ‘Wow’ this year. A friend of mine paid a
visit to see ‘what it is you really do’. As she stared in
awe at the smoke-filled Coca Cola Dome, ablaze
with light beams, laser lights and LED displays,
she gasped: “Wow, this is not the type of expo
I am used to”. That’s exactly how it was - it was
WOW! The general sense of this year’s expo was
a markedly bigger presence by the staging &
events industry, as well as by the display industry.
It was not overpowered by broadcasting folk who
seemed to monopolize the attention in previous
years. It felt more balanced and all round, every
participant played an important role in the overall
extravaganza.
Opposite the Lighting desks, our AV Systems
The team at Electrosonic SA didn’t stand back division made its mark with Kramer Electronics
either and put on its boxing gloves for this bout. and Sierra Video products filling an entire 6 metre
The Entertainment Lighting and AV Systems demonstration area. Jason Johnstone, the Kramer
divisions teamed up and the planning started as Product Manager had this to say about the show:
early as February. Everything was done properly “Mediatech is always a great way to network with
dealers and showcase some of the latest Kramer
with 3D stand designs and many custom ideas for
products. I think one of the biggest benefits
the big 3 show days in July. The joint effort won
is making cross-border contact into Southern
Electrosonic SA a Silver Mediatech Stand Award.
Africa. This year we were able to showcase Kramer
Across our stand we accentuated a collection Electronics' wireless HDMI products which have
of technologies pertaining to various sectors of been in demand lately. We also had our popular
the audio-visual industry. Our Lighting division, SID family on show; a product which won and
headed by Bruce Schwartz, filled its section of award for Kramer at InfoComm. In addition to
the stand – as well as every single empty spot that, Kramer Electronics increased their HDBaseT
other than their own – with the latest lighting range of products, as many screen / projector
innovations, and showed why they are so manufacturers are now adding HDBaseT as a
standard on their equipment. Sierra Video, a sister
respected in the industry.
4
PROMAG – third quarter 2013
Renier Smit (left) and Tom Etra (right) with
Christopher Bolton (Keystone Productions)
company of Kramer Electronics also had space on
our shelves; their products included Multiviewers
and routers which are aimed at the broadcast
market”.
On the display side of things, we demonstrated
both our Galaxy Video Wall processors and
numerous NEC displays. The baby Galaxy - the
X4 - created a very attractive image, spread over a
‘smarty box’of displays. The X4 allows users to scale,
move and rotate separate quadrants of an image
across four individual displays to create a sexy
video wall. We utilized 2 x NEC X461S', a 29" dual
desktop monitor and a 23" NEC display , in concert
to form a very eye-catching display feature, aimed
at retail environments. The Galaxy Pro lived up
to its name and delivered leading functionality
with input and signal management as well as
scaling to present a multi-window configuration
across four narrow bezel NEC X463UN 46” video
wall displays, which in turn had many mouths
Andre Bragard-De Naeyer from ADB (Belgium) with
Bruce Genricks (Electrosonic SA)