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Sherlock Holmes | Geffen Playhouse

Sherlock Holmes | Geffen Playhouse

by | Sep 12, 2019 | News

When it was time for the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles to mount their production of the drama ‘Mysterious Circumstances,’ which explores the death of the world’s foremost Sherlock Holmes expert — and includes Holmes himself — they turned to equipment from RC4 Wireless. “I have personally been working with RC4 products for 5 years now, but the theatre has been working with the gear much longer.  We actually have an RC4 Wireless Series 2 transceiver packed away,” notes Ramine Ameli, Lighting and Projection Supervisor.

‘Mysterious Circumstances’ was chock full of action. “There ended up being a scene change every three minutes or so. So, having lots of different set pieces that could move around freely without wires really established every location,” notes Ameli.

As for the plot, “The show revolved around a box of unpublished Sherlock Holmes manuscripts, so we had three identical boxes equipped with different gags. All three boxes used an RC4 Wireless DMX2dim. The first box appeared to be floating during pre-show, and as the show began, the keyhole light-up -LED tape in a mold- and the box appeared to get sucked into the keyhole. The second version of the box had a glowing keyhole but did not open up. This was to have the audience associate this box with the one they saw in the beginning. The third version of the box had LED tape inside it to light up someone’s face as they looked into it,’ Ameli explains.

Read the full story of RC4 Wireless and Geffen Playhouse here.

Robbie Williams Live In Vegas

Robbie Williams Live In Vegas

by | Jul 17, 2019 | News

In Europe, Robbie Williams is a legend; he regularly fills stadiums and his productions are some of the most anticipated on the continent. One of his dreams was to do a Vegas show, and to make every detail of Williams’ show perfect, Production and Lighting Designer Sean Burke, principal at Holes in the Dark, needed reliable wireless DMX technology. “When the wireless stuff came up, I did a bit of research on it, looked around, and saw that Baz [Halpin, of Silent House Productions] used RC4 Wireless products on the last Katy Perry tour. I know the crew chief, and he said they didn’t have any problems with it,” confides Burke. That was enough for him to entrust RC4 Wireless with the job for Williams’ “Live in Las Vegas” show. Matt Bakken, the Master Electrician on the show, adds: “When a lot of people in the touring industry use wireless, they use equipment from RC4; to me, if your wireless is working in a stadium with 25,000 plus people with cell phones, that’s good enough for me.”

For the Williams’ production, the team built their system around an RC4Magic Series 3 DMXio-HG Transceiver with External Antenna; working along with the DMXio are six RC4Magic Series 3 DMX4dim 4-Channel Wireless Dimmers. “Addressing was easy and very straight forward; pairing the receivers with the transceivers was simple as well. The system was exactly what I wanted and it just worked,” reports Bakken.

There are several props using the RC4 Wireless DMX4dims; specifically, two giant Martini glasses and four stylized box frames, called Gogo frames. “The Gogo frames are open aluminum frames that the dancers push around and dance inside. The Gogo frames and the Martini glasses have wireless receivers on board and battery packs, so they are completely wireless,” explains Burke. In terms of batteries, Bakken adds, “The batteries are lasting pretty much forever on them, and sometimes they forget to plug them in to charge them.” Both the Gogo frames and the Martini glasses were manufactured by ShowFX, who also handled the Katy Perry props.

Read the full story of RC4 Wireless and Robbie Williams here.

Wireless Dimmers, El Wire and Touring, Oh My!

Wireless Dimmers, El Wire and Touring, Oh My!

by | Apr 19, 2019 | News

 

When it was time for Lightwire Theater — home to touring productions of The Ugly Duckling, Dino-Light, Moon Mouse and more — to step up their technical game, they turned to RC4 Wireless for wireless dimming and DMX needs. Their first foray into wireless was with a cheap key chain remote for dimming; after that experience, they turned to the professionals at RC4.  “We use RC4Magic Series 3 [2.4GHz] transceivers with four and two channel dimmers; we wire into 12V inverters for EL [electroluminescent] wire. The [RC4] products are as low tech as you want or as high tech. I’m not even scratching the surface of what RC4 products can do, and it’s changed the way we can make shows,” notes Ian Carney, co-founder and performer at Lightwire.

The RC4Magic 2.4GHz Series 3 line of products are the firm’s most popular units, and has been a staple in theaters, theme parks and on concert tours. “My objective with RC4Magic, and all our Series 3 wireless dimmers, is power control for anything a props master or show electrician might need to manage. Along with LEDs, lamps, motors, and more, RC4 dimmers can drive electroluminescent materials, like EL wire.  Ian and Lightwire have done a spectacular job of putting this functionality to use. Their award-winning work is beautiful and amazing to see. I love it,” says James David Smith, President and Chief Product Designer at RC4 Wireless.

RC4 Wireless is more than just a wireless vendor to the team at Lightwire.  “In terms of money, for a relatively small investment you are in a very solid world with RC4; they have great tech support and are an organization who is going to be a partner with you. The quality, the service, and the flexibility is there for a company like ours. RC4 Wireless is not just for the big businesses,” says Carney.

Read the full story of RC4 Wireless and Lightwire Theater here.

RC4 Wireless Granted A Pixel Control Patent

RC4 Wireless Granted A Pixel Control Patent

by | Jun 13, 2018 | Articles

RC4 Pixel Products

 

RC4 Wireless, a privately held firm based in Raleigh, NC, announced the issue of patent US9924584B2 by the US Patent Office. The patent covers a method of pixel control — keyframing and RC4 Custom Pixel Profiles (CPP) — which reduces the number of DMX control channels required for generation of artistic pixel patterns displayed on a large number of pixel LEDs. “I’m particularly proud of this IP because of the control it provides to lighting designers and programmers,” explains James David Smith, Chief Product Designer at RC4 Wireless. This is the firm’s second patent.

Keyframing is an integral part of three RC4 Wireless pixel-driver products: the RC4Magic DMXpix Dual Pixel String Driver in both 2.4GHz and 900MHz and the LumenDimPIX for LumenRadio CRMX; the latter operates on the Lumen Radio wireless platform. “Unlike any other pixel control technology for reducing channel count, RC4’s technology combines pixel-by-pixel control with parametric manipulation to display truly original real-time content on hundreds or even thousands of pixels,” Smith adds.

Lighting Designer Jason Lyons, of Jason Lyons Design, has used the DMXpix numerous times since its commercial release; this summer, he plans on using it on the pre-Broadway run in Boston on a new musical called Born For This. “The DMXpix allows us the ease of laying out all of the DMX control, while also allowing us to set up custom grouping to choose our resolution for ease of programming. It does all of this while keeping a very small format, so it can easily be tucked into scenery or props. It is an amazingly powerful product that is backed up by RC4’s unmatched customer service,” explains Lyons.

RC4’s keyframe technology is also available for licensing. “Since being granted this patent we have fielded a number of inquiries about licensing, both within and outside of the entertainment industry. This is the same technology that won us our second PLASA Award for Innovation in 2015. We’re pleased that patent examiners agree: this is truly new and unique technology with real value for users,” explains Sean Dane, Product Applications Specialist at RC4 Wireless.

RC4 Wireless clients include Disney, Cirque du Soleil, Harrah’s properties, numerous Broadway houses and a wide variety of large concert tours. The concept of keyframing was also discussed in an article that Smith authored in the Spring 2018 issue of Protocol, the Journal of ESTA. “That article is about the current state-of-the-art in pixel control in general; keyframing is just one programming option, and keyframing isn’t ideal for every application. That being said, the ability to control 1000 pixels from a device the size of a matchbox is fantastic for costumes and props, with all the power and control needed to create beautiful effects on a broadcast news desk or a theatre proscenium arch,” Smith concludes.

Winning at LDI with RC4 Wireless and EASS

Winning at LDI with RC4 Wireless and EASS

by | Jan 18, 2018 | Articles, Press Release

 

Winning can sometimes be expected; one of two teams will always win the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup or the World Series. Occasionally, winning can be completely unexpected. The latter was the case for RC4 Wireless, headquartered in Raleigh, NC, with the firm’s RC5 EASS, a winner of a PLSN Gold Star Award. “Winning this award was a stunning surprise, truly a shock.  Our RC5 family of products has been evolving for over 10 years, going all the way back to the first incarnation for Harrah’s Casinos around 2007, and the second version for Disneyland park-wide in 2008.  After all this hard work, a PLSN Gold Star Award really makes an impact on me, and on all of us at RC4 Wireless; we appreciate the recognition immensely.  Many thanks to PLSN for noticing the special things we do for our customers every day,” says James David Smith, President and Chief Developer at RC4 Wireless.

PLSN’s Lead Editor Richard “Nook” Schoenfeld was the one who made the final decision on the EASS Gold Star Award; the product itself wasn’t the only part of the winning equation.  “I have never heard one single person ever say your gear let them down. Not once. That’s pretty incredible in this day and age,” Schoenfeld notes.

EASS—which stands for Extended Area Super Secure— provides virtually hack-proof security for theme parks, ski resorts, arenas, convention centers, casinos, and other public areas via three different security protocols. EASS uses 256-bit AES encryption, RC4 Private System IDs and user-selectable FHSS frequency-hopping provide wireless DMX protection on multiple levels, keeping wireless lighting super secure and worry-free.

EASS also proved to be a winner in terms of operation at LDI. A model wearing a fetching pixel infused, 486 channel dress controlled via EASS, strolled the floor and beyond without incident. “Everyone knows that the Las Vegas Convention Center, and all trade show floors, are the most challenging wireless environments on the planet. Outside of the house WIFI system, nearly every booth on the floor is operating a wireless router, so that’s hundreds of networks in the 2.4GHz spectrum in the same room. At LDI, you can then add at least 30 companies that have wireless DMX integrated products on display,” explains Sean Dane, RC4 Wireless Sales Director/Application Specialist. Not only did EASS meet all the expectations on the show floor, it exceeded them. Dane adds: “Using a standard antenna with the transmitter located in our booth, we were able to cover not only the entire show floor but throughout the North Hall and into the parking lot that housed the Live Outside Exhibits. EASS operated flawlessly in an incredibly busy, and some might even say, hostile wireless environment.“

For more information, or to purchase EASS, please contact RC4 Wireless Toll-Free at 1-866-258-4577 or email at moreinfo@theatrewireless.com.

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