Gearhouse South Africa makes major AV and lighting investments

Gearhouse's new Panther 2K & 5K searchlights in action at Soccer City Stadium, Soweto in readiness for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony.

For those engaging the services of Gearhouse AV and Gearhouse Media on their projects, full HD video production and PPU facilities are now available from the recording right through to playback.

The lighting department has purchased over 200 2K and 5K colour changing searchlights which can be utilized for stadium shows, film premiers and any large scale event needing powerful lightsources as part of an integrated lighting design or as stand-alone special effects.

This rapidly follows another recent purchase - of 120 Vari*Lite moving lights - by Gearhouse Splitbeam, the company's specialist theatre lighting division. This premium brand product is now available as part of Gearhouse's extensive moving light inventory.

Here they join the latest fixtures from Robe lighting following another major investment just 4 months ago in Robe's newest power saving LED fixtures and moving lights, and large quantities of Martin Professional luminaires.

Gearhouse AV is HD

Gearhouse's AV division, headed by Bhans Sheomangal can now offer a fully digital facility from recording right through to playback in HD 16:9 aspect ratio.

This has been party driven by the increased volume of global artists that Gearhouse has been servicing over the last 12 months.

"The fact that we are fully HD means we can offer the best technology to those visiting productions who are expecting a full HD service in SA" says Sheomangal, adding "It also enables all our SA clients across all sectors to benefit from the latest international conferencing trends"

With the recent round of purchases, Gearhouse SA currently holds one of the largest HD projector stockholdings in South Africa.

New projection equipment includes the compact, entry level 6K HD Panasonic PT D 6710 projectors, which are ideal for boardroom and medium sized conference and exhibition applications, giving 1920 x 1080 resolution output and high clarity performance.

Many recent technical improvements include an expected lamp life of 3000 hours (previously around 700 hours) making the machine a highly cost-effective and reliable option. It also enables smaller conferences of, say, 50 people to easily afford and enjoy the same quality visuals as a conference for 300 or more.

For medium sized and larger events, Gearhouse's full HD Christie HD 10K and Panasonic PT DZ 12000 12K HD high performance projectors produce sharp, lifelike, large-screen images and are rock solid reliable. These also have a greatly increased lamp life, and low maintenance sealed light engines have boosted reliability.

Gearhouse AV's new Panasonic P2 HD Cameras allow any event to be recorded in full 1080 HD resolution with the footage stored on a P2 Card, for vastly higher recording quality and an infinitely more affordable and versatile solution than tape.

New Panasonic HS 400 Vision Mixers facilitate the mixing of multiple HD sources and new DigiBroadcast SWIT monitoring allows all feeds to be simultaneously monitored. The latest Christie Vista Spyder 1608 HD Switcher is ideal for multiscreen and widescreen events and presentations, offering a total of 16 inputs and 8 outputs.

Signal/data distribution via DVI fibre and HDSDI drums is now standard for all Gearhouse shows. It is stable and effective, giving consistently clear results free of interference from external sources.

Gearhouse AV still offers the full range of video services, equipment and opportunities to any clients wanting to work in SDI and standard 4:3 format as required.

LIGHTING

Gearhouse SA's Lighting department has expanded rapidly this year, again reflecting an increased volume of work in all sectors.

The latest purchase consists of over 200 Panther 2K P2 Skylights and 5K CM 5000 searchlights, from the Guangzhou, China based manufacturer, Panther Electronic Machinery.

These dramatically bright fixtures are more than just a white searchlight, they have full colour mixing capability with DMX control, plus zoom and shutter effects. They are electronically dimmable with automatic focus and precise full pan and tilt movement, and can be operated via any DMX console.

Their versatility and effect was used with massive impact on the Closing Ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Soccer City Stadium, Soweto, and Gearhouse SA now has the largest stock of high powered searchlights in Africa.