After 30 years in the business, Clear Systems has grown to have one of the most diverse hire inventories in Australia. Involved in corporate, community and other events, the company’s far-reaching expertise in audio, lighting, staging and rigging allow it to offer an incredibly experienced team for hire, service and installation of complex AV projects.
One of the company’s latest projects, a theatre show based in Mount Martha, demanded a media server that was capable of turning an ordinary school hall into a medieval village, for the school’s annual theatre production. For this, Clear Systems turned to Australian distributor, Show Technology.
Show Technology is the leading distributor for Australia and New Zealand, with 25 years of experience under its belt, the company’s extensive knowledge and expansive portfolio has established it as a go-to distributor for AV solutions for commercial, entertainment and architectural projects. Over the course of their 15-year partnership, Clear Systems and Show Technology have built a long-standing alliance at the forefront of entertainment technology with customer support at the core.
For the project, Show Technology provided Clear Systems with two of award-winning Austrian manufacturer AV Stumpfl’s PIXERA media server mini with two outputs. The company also provided an AV Stumpfl PIXERA director USB Dongle.
“We needed media servers that could provide advanced mapping and content feed throughs, and AV Stumpfl’s PIXERA minis were the perfect solution,” said Daniel Bowen, Clear Systems’s hire manager.
AV Stumpfl’s PIXERA is a multi-award-winning media server system, for real time media processing, compositing and management. Designed to be flexible, powerful and ultra-high in performance, the PIXERA media servers have been built around the key theme of usability. From specialists to beginners, the product is designed so all users can operate the system and smoothly progress in their skillset.
One PIXERA mini server managed the content for six projector screens, which were projected by two Panasonic RZ-970 laser projectors. While the other mini server was used to stitch together two short throw laser projectors for a single cyclorama wide banner image at the rear wall of the stage, creating the location and themes of the show - an impressive experience for the audience.
"The great thing about the PIXERA product family is that there is a hardware/software solution for any size of project and any budget,” said Show Technology’s Branden Butler. “So, whether you are looking for a versatile system for a small live event, or a large-scale solution for a massive museum installation, PIXERA will be the perfect fit in both cases."
Bowen explained: “Both servers were linked with the PIXERA director dongle which was controlled via the lighting console for perfect timing of every cue. The lighting system was created with Martin Professional MAC Auras and ShowPRO Tri Pars, ShowPRO Fusion Bars and ShowPRO Pharos."
Clear Systems also supplied a Global Truss performer stage to extend the existing stage in the hall including their curved sections to draw the audience closer to the stage, for full immersivity.
“The implementation of the project was a lot easier than envisaged thanks to the expertise and support from Branden Butler at Show Technology, who shared his wealth of knowledge from the very beginning,” said Bowen. “Show Technology’s guidance provided us with the best method of set up at the start, so any alternations made through rehearsals were handled without any issues and prevented any challenges from cropping up later in the process.”
The entire project was a success, with the final result exceeding the school’s expectations and delivering the brief in full – transforming a school into the medieval era. “It was truly a great result, one that Clear Systems were proud to have been a part of,” concluded Bowen.
Photo credit: Clear Systems