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.

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 we 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.

The team at Electrosonic SA didn't stand back either and put on its boxing gloves for this bout. The Entertainment Lighting and AV Systems divisions teamed up and the planning started as early as February. Everything was done properly with 3D stand designs and many custom ideas for the big 3 show days in July. The joint effort won Electrosonic SA a Silver Mediatech Stand Award.

Across our stand we accentuated a collection of technologies pertaining to various sectors of the audio-visual industry. Our Lighting division, headed by Bruce Schwartz, filled their section of the stand – as well as every single empty spot other than their own – with the latest lighting innovations, and showed why they are so respected in the industry.

"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. Because we represent them, Green Hippo also allowed us to set up a captivating 3D Mapping demonstration 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.

Opposite the Lighting desks, our AV Systems division, made their mark with Kramer Electronics and Sierra Video products filling an entire 6 metre demonstration area. Jason Johnstone, the Kramer Product Manager had this to say about the show: "Mediatech is always a great way to network with dealers and showcase some of the latest Kramer products. I think one of the biggest benefits is making cross-border contact into Southern Africa. This year we were able to showcase Kramer Electronics' wireless HDMI products which have been in demand lately. We also had our popular SID family on show; a product which won and award for Kramer at InfoComm. In addition to that, Kramer Electronics increased their HDBaseT range of products, as many screen / projector manufacturers are now adding HDBaseT as a standard on their equipment. Sierra Video, a sister 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 watering with the crisp Full HD images and high contrast delivered by a full array backlit LED light source. Both products offer 24/7 warranties and built-in redundancy to create an ideal solution for mission critical control rooms and public display requirements. An added Crestron touch panel and processor created a graphic dashboard for the user to orchestrate the required demands.

As far as projectors are concerned, we demonstrated NEC's Full HD PA500U with 5000 ANSI lumens, the PX750U, with its beastlike 7500 ANSI lumens and a smaller UM280Wi ultra-short throw projector with the eBeam add-on to turn any surface into an interactive display, which sparked much interest from representatives from schools and universities.

As we all know, no projector can fully deliver a quality image without a projection screen at the other end, and Elite Screens, one of the quality products in our arsenal, does just that. Elite Screens accommodate various screen requirements, with a pricing structure to cater for all. The Elite Product Manager, Joel Davies and Linda Swart (Sales & Support) handled the division's area on the stand. "The Elite Screens portion of the Electrosonic SA stand was well attended from far and wide by all sectors of the Mediatech visitor spectrum: Broadcasters, Entertainment & Events companies, and Educational facilities. With our new clients on board, Elite Screens will soon be conquering the wider African markets though visibility and availability. Of the items on display were the line of staging screens, which enjoyed the most attention as well as the various material options across the range of fixed frame and motorised screens," said Linda.

The rest of the expo floor was covered with demos from many old friends, as well as the odd foe, as competitive industries must have. Mediatech 2013 had much to offer the thousands of industry focused visitors, many of who had travelled across the globe to participate. One of the highlights was 'The Museum', where one could view audiovisual equipment from many moons ago, without which we would not have been where we are today.

Mediatech 2013 was an overall success and the Electrosonic SA team is very happy with its efforts, and the orders which started rolling in very soon afterwards. Eugene Coetzee, one of the captains of our ship, gave his opinion, "Electrosonic SA's booth at Mediatech 2013 was more than double the size of our booth in 2011. This gave us the opportunity to show off more products and solutions than before. One of the very important design goals of our booth was that it should be easy for visitors to flow through our booth, and we achieved this. Our booth was divided into 3 parts, with an aisle in the middle so we had visitor access from three aisles! I think this really worked well. Our booth was well attended by both existing and prospective clients. It was also a great opportunity to see so many of our clients and integrators in the space of three days. Something that stood out for me in particular when looking at the show as a whole was that exhibitors put in a great effort with the design of their booths. It was on international standard!"

Electrosonic SA would like to use this opportunity to thank each and every one of our stakeholders who contributed and visited our stand. We thank you for your input that resulted in our success, as well as to congratulate the organisers for an event that was well put together. We cannot wait for 2015.