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Chroma-Q Color Block 2 is a Winner for HSL at World Series of Poker Europe

Chroma-Q Color Block 2 is a Winner for HSL at World Series of Poker Europe

November 5, 2009 05:21

Blackburn based rental company HSL has supplied over 250 Chroma-Q® Color Block 2™ LED fixtures to US lighting design specialists, Innovative Show Design, to provide set lighting for the World Series of Poker Europe 2009 (WSOPE). Attracting the best players from around the world, WSOPE presented by Betfair is one of the most prestigious events to take place outside of the US and compliments the WSOP event, which is held annually in Las Vegas. WSOPE 2009 was held at The Casino at The Empire, Leicester Square and broadcast in the UK on sports television channel ESPN (UK).

For the second year running, Innovative Show Design’s President, Christopher Runnells, was hired by Nevada based POKER PROductions and ESPN (UK) to design the television and scenic lighting for the event. The Casino at The Empire is a very challenging space, with low ceilings, limited power and the need to get lighting into a lot of different areas to properly cover over 20 tables in addition to two main feature tables. Last year, Christopher used low wattage Fresnels to light the multiple table areas, but ran into a big issue with heat build up from the incandescent fixtures, the tight space and large participation of players for this event; during the tournament, the Casino can accommodate up to 250 players at any one time.

For this year’s event, he was keen to find a fixture that could provide the quality of light needed for TV coverage, yet without all of the heat build up. Whilst LED fixtures were an obvious choice to address the heat issue, Christopher needed a fixture that would not produce a multi coloured shadow and would give him the ability to mix the proper colour temperature of white light. He approached HSL Project Manager, Mike Oates, to suggest a suitable LED fixture. After considering different options, Mike proposed the latest generation Color Block 2 fixture from Chroma-Q.

Christopher initially had concerns about using an RGBA LED fixture. He commented: “I have not had much luck getting the correct quality or colour temperature of light out of these types of fixtures in the past and have always had the problem of multi coloured shadows. However, we did some testing of the fixture and it seemed to be the right fit for my needs. It was a big gamble to take, but I was pleased with the results of the tests that Mike did at HSL.”

Christopher found the Color Block 2 fixture’s compact design was ideal for the venue’s limited ceiling height, which restricted him to using two-metre lengths of vertical truss on bases for the lighting positions in many of the Tournament areas. He was able to place the units inside the bases of the truss, giving him the ability to highlight the trusses with just the right shade of lavender he was trying to achieve.

He was also very impressed with the ability of the Color Block 2 to address the shortcomings he had found using previous RGBA LED fixtures, commenting:

“I must say that I was very impressed with the Color Block 2 and extremely pleased with the results I achieved with them. I was surprised by the unit’s ability to produce such an even blend of white light using its single cell RGBA colour mixing. This resulted in the perfect colour temperature of white light and a very even wash over areas, with no multi coloured shadows. The Color Block 2 was an excellent choice for what I needed for our television coverage of this event. I received many complements from all parties involved in the production. I would highly recommend the Color Block 2 as my LED fixture of choice. It is a very vestal fixture and should be a part of any designer’s inventory.”

HSL’s Mike Oates commented: “When Christopher asked for an LED Fixture that had no colour separation and would give a nice 3200K colour temperature, I knew the Color Block 2 would deliver. HSL has always been keen to be the market leader in the provision of LED technology and when we saw a demo of the Color Block 2’s capabilities from A.C. Entertainment Technologies, we knew that it was the next logical step for our LED rental stock. It does what is says on the tin; bright and versatile.”

The Color Block 2 stock is available for hire alongside HSL’s extensive inventory of the original modular LED fixture, which has been used for numerous tours, shows and events. The new model has been designed for use alongside its predecessor, enabling rental companies to continue to make the maximum return on their original Color Block investment.

All Chroma-Q LED products are licensed by Color Kinetics. Chroma-Q, Color Block and Color Block 2 are trademarks of A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. The rights and ownership of all trademarks are recognised. The information contained herein is correct at the time of printing, however as we are constantly refining our product range we reserve the right to change the specification without notice. E&OE.