NEW YORK – MTV’s New Year’s Eve celebration overlooking Times Square featured a set design by NYC-based AWB Design and Elation Professional’s EPV762 MH moving head LED video panels, supplied by LMG Nashville. Production designer Anthony Bishop of AWB collaborated with LMG’s Ken Gay to create the environment that worked for the live audience as well as for the cameras.

NEW CASTLE, DE - Video equipment rental company Pete’s Big TVs was profiled by national business magazine Inc. for its involvement in Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band’s 2012 tour. The article, entitled “The Entrepreneurs Behind Bruce Springsteen,” features a quick history on Pete’s Big TVs and the video equipment and crew they provided for the US, UK and European tour in 2012. The article in the December/January issue is still on some newsstands. The article capped off Pete’s Big TVs busiest year in its 25-year history.

TAMPA, FL and COLUMBUS, OH — Daktronics (Brookings, SD) has provided new integrated video, scoring and audio systems for hockey venues this season, including one of the largest HD center-hung display configurations at the Tampa Bay Times Forum for the Tampa Bay Lightning (pictured left) and a significant upgrade to Nationwide Arena for the Columbus Blue Jackets (pictured below).

WASHINGTON, DC – For the third time, GoVision LED screens provided visual support for a presidential inauguration ceremony. For the public ceremony staged Jan. 21, five mobile LED screens – including a high-definition mobile LED unit – were positioned on both sides of the U.S. Capitol’s steps, and at the head of the National Mall. CNN also contracted with GoVision to construct a 10 by 17 foot modular LED screen for its broadcast set, pictured here.

LONDON - In the week the movie was nominated for five Oscars, the UK premiere of director Quentin Tarantino’s latest film Django Unchained took place in London’s Leicester Square. XL Events supplied the visual elements for the ‘red-carpet’ arrivals including Tarantino and stars Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson.

LOS ANGELES – Vista Systems’ Spyders are at the core of a Fox Sports Media Group studio in Century City, CA, where the NFL on Fox, UFC on Fox, College Football Saturday and soccer coverage are produced.  The Spyders feed seven different monitor walls and are used to route images to the appropriate wall.  The network needs to easily create different presets and scaling and the Spyders facilitate changing presets in the middle of a live show.

COLOGNE, Germany - More than 220 AV professionals from more than 20 countries gathered in Cologne for the second coolux connect conference, held Jan. 8-9 at the KOMED in Cologne's MediaPark.  During the conference, coolux CEO Jan Huewel presented a sneak peek at future developments in the world of coolux Pandoras Box.

IOWA CITY, IA — The University of Iowa theatre department recently turned to PixelFLEX and its flexible and portable LED Curtain systems to enhance the school’s live productions. The department recently installed a PixelFLEX 30mm LED Curtain to provide video and graphic elements to the three distinctive venues on campus.

LAS VEGAS - Chaos Visual Productions celebrated the New Year with shows on both ends of the Las Vegas Strip. Performances from The Killers and Red Hot Chili Peppers entertained at The Chelsea Ballroom in The Cosmopolitan Hotel, while Beyonce rang in the New Year at The Wynn Hotel. Dick Clark Productions' Rockin' New Year's Eve was also on the calendar of Chaos.

LAS VEGAS - Blue Man Group are putting a lightweight screen, digiTHIN, to use when they appear to materialize from a video projection in their latest production. The screens, developed by displayLED under its digiLED brand, are worn by the artists who perform rigorous routines animated by visual effects. Says BMG show director Bill Swartz, the effects illustrate the group’s creative idea that a hybrid space exists between real life and the technical world of phones and texts. “We call it 2.5D space,” he says.