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Chauvet Earns An A+ At New England College Commencements

Posted on June 17, 2015
Colby College

WATERVILLE, MAINE – Colby College is a long way from Hollywood (3,165.4 miles to be exact), but that didn’t keep film legend Robert Redford from journeying to the historic Maine school to address its 483 graduates and other guests at the 2015 commencement ceremony held outdoors on its picturesque campus. As befits a New England college graduation ceremony, the sun was shining very brightly that day. Still, visitors who couldn’t get a good view of the movie star on stage were able to see him clearly on the two large video walls that flanked the stage, thanks to the brightness of the MVP Ta8 Curve video panel from CHAUVET Professional.

“Kevin Gary of K Systems invited us on board to do the video walls for the baccalaureate and commencement ceremonies at Colby College,” said Darren Lussier, president of Image Production Services. “We selected the MVP Ta8 Curve because its output is bright enough (4,800 NITS) to battle the strong sunlight of a late spring day in New England and win. The intense brightness of these panels is amazing, plus we get contrast from the blackface SMD LEDs. Beyond that, the colors are very true so the crowd doesn’t feel like they’re settling for a compromise image when they look at the panels instead of the stage.”

Image Production Services, which is located in Worcester, Massachusetts, has used the CHAUVET Professional LED video panels at a long list of commencement ceremonies at colleges up and down New England. “Typically the panels are fed images by a school’s media team using HDSDI, and it’s worked out very well,” said Lussier. “We’ll show video of the speakers and the students receiving diplomas, text and graphical images on the tiles. The tight pixel pitch of the tiles really results in nice crisp images at a wide range of viewing distances.”

The MVP Ta8 Curve panel’s ability to show well over long distances was very much in evidence at Clark University graduation ceremonies, where some 1,200 students from 64 nations received their diplomas. “We used 32 of the Chauvet tiles at the commencement there, and they were flawless,” said Lussier.

In addition to their performance capabilities, the MVP Ta8 Curve panels feature innovative rigging hardware, as well as easy installation and connectivity using Neutrik powerCON and etherCON connectors. Working together, these features make setup and tear down much easier and faster, a quality that is deeply appreciated by the Image Production Services team.

“There are a lot of colleges in New England, so it can get very hectic during the commencement season,” said Lussier. “So we’ve got to have a panel that’s easy to work with if we want to keep up with our production schedule – and yes, the Chauvet gear makes the grade.”