Protec boosts digital projection capabilities

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Protec supplied digital projection equipment for soul singer Diana Ross’ recent performance in Dubai.

Dubai-based production rental company Production Technology (Protec), has invested US$2 million in new Christie digital projection technology.

"We were always well stocked with lighting, sound and rigging, but one weakness that we did have, was video," said Protec MD Steve Lakin. "Historically we have worked with high brightness LEDs rather than our 10k projectors."

When Protec was asked to supply high brightness displays for Aerosmith's landmark gig in Dubai earlier this year, the company turned to XL Video UK, which contracted out two Christie Roadster S+20K 3-chip DLP projectors.

Lakin had also earlier met with Dale Miller, head of Christie Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), and Simon Smith, Christie EMEA's Dubai-based sales director, during this year's PALME Middle East exhibition to discuss making a significant investment in Christie's projector range.

"We were pleased with the performance of the equipment at the Aerosmith gig and I was impressed with what I saw on their stand. We decided to invest heavily in upgrading our own projector inventory," said Lakin.

Protec's purchasing began over the summer. The total inventory now includes S+20K, S+16K, S+12K, and S+8K 3-chip SXGA+ DLP projectors, as well as several LX55 LCD projectors, a complete set of lenses from the company's DLP range, six Warp cards and four HD18K high definition projectors.

Christie also provided full product training to four Protec engineers, who have passed on the knowledge acquired to other Protec staff.

The new hardware was put into action at a Diana Ross concert for dignitaries at the Dubai Airshow last month. Protec used four HD18K projectors for a central screen, with a further four S+20K projectors operating the side screens. A single PC with ChristieTWIST Pro software was used to combine and output the images for each projector.

"We are seeing new applications for using high-power video with media servers all the time," said Lakin. "Video is no longer just [a medium for projecting] images. With the use of media servers we can programme all our special FX including gas flames, CO2 and pyro, to sync with the video."

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