4 consoles and integrated wireless control make anything possible
November 2, 2011
With an impressive debut by the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, the new Katara Theaters opened in Doha, Qatar on September 23rd. Dubbed simply Theaters A and B, the new Katara Theaters are world class venues regarding their lighting and control systems. LD George Tellos of Lighting Art based in Greece and Germany designed and specified the permanent lighting control and fixtures. The entire installation consists of 4 Road Hog Full Boar consoles, each with a Road Hog Playback Wing, 2 DP8000s, and 2 Hog 3PC systems running on Tablet PCs.
“My goal was to design a venue which will be able to host shows such as theatre, dance, opera, lectures, music and television events,” explained Tellos. “Also my needs were to remote control the consoles from any place on the stage and auditorium with wireless access. The flexibility of the Wholehog OS made it the natural choice.”
With the same setup in each theatre, Tellos and his team installed a Road Hog Full Boar with playback wing as a server console and an additional Road Hog Full Boar with wing as a backup client console. Both were networked to a DP8000 and make use of the new Wholehog network tracking backup. Additionally they specified and installed a wireless network specifically for use with a capacitive touchscreen tablet running Hog 3PC.
“The tablet enables real time wireless interaction with the console,” stated Tellos. “We also incorporated custom firmware in order to prevent it from losing connection when the show is running. In addition, we are using low frequencies to minimize interference from other equipment.”
With the elaborate lighting control in place, Tellos is very happy with the installation. Alpha Systems from Italy installed all of the stage systems automation as well as provided the battens and custom lighting constructions that Tellos specified.
Venue : Katara Theater A and Katara Theater B. Doha, Qatar
Project : Lighting Design and Installation
Lighting Designer : George Tellos (www.georgetellos.com Lighting Art, Greece/Germany)
Lighting Programer : Panos Tsevrenis (www.georgetellos.com Lighting Art, Greece/Germany)
Network Setup : Costas Sarantos. (Satecom , Greece)
System Engineer : Henry Dasilva (Lumatron, Qatar)
Equipment Supplier : One for All (Italy)
Stage Systems : Alpha Systems, (Italy)
Theater Installation Contractor : Lumatron, Qatar