Philips buy Selecon

[NickGale]

As a former UK sales manager for Selecon I can see huge benefits to this deal, I was always surprised at what a company the size of Selecon was capable of doing, certainly in terms of R & D. With the backing of Philips (who, as I understand it are moving away from the commercial luminiare market, so have cash to spend) they will be able to do so much more. Will they screw it up - well I can't imagine Jeremy Collins is going anywhere fast so no they won't, he would never let it happen!

 

And yes it makes so much sense from an R & D point of view, Strands luminaires are out of date and Selecon were out performing them when I worked for them 5 years ago, so you either make a huge investment in R & D or buy a company who already have the range in place...

 

That said Philips do seem to be taking over the world..... Although is this is really a sign of the maturity of the stage lighting industry, big multinationals buying up successful smaller companies, e.g. Cooper Controls buys Pollaron (Zero88)?

 

Personally I think they should be called Selecon Strand but hey I'm biased!

[gareth]

The console might have been a dog to start with, but have you taken a look at the latest version. I have. With the latest BETA version - if I were ETC I would be worried.

No point closing the stable door after the horse has legged it, though, is there? A hell of a lot of Strand console 'strongholds' have already been lost to ETC (major hire companies, production companies, venues, etc.) - and consoles aren't something that people replace every few months, so once Strand lose a customer to another console manufacturer that's pretty much it.

 

And even if the software is suddenly brilliant, the hardware is still inferior. But that's another story :).

[dougmorgan743]

I was privileged to see a rough sand casting of the SL MK III at PLASA 07. It has been in development ever since. Not sure if it is still on the cards. But from what I saw it looked good. The guys at Vari*Light reckoned the SL was under performing by a staggering 40%.

 

Easy change axial lamp similar to the type on a Mac TW1, main body of the lamp more enclosed to prevent dust and light leaks. Manufacturing narrower degrees and potentially a brighter lamp compared to the GKV600.

 

Possibly a new Fresnel range to replace Cantata and Alto.

 

Anyone know any more?

[tokm]

Possibly a new Fresnel range to replace Cantata and Alto.

Well, now all this has come about.. I believe they're called Rama and Arena's .

 

The HP versions really do blow away the strand 'equivalents' IMO. Ok not quite as much as acclaims vs the quartet & SL gear, but I still can't see much of a reason for strand/selecon/phillips/whoever, to carry on producing an inferior product..

 

T

[Aussie_DrG]

No point closing the stable door after the horse has legged it, though, is there?

 

Well actually there is - and it has a lot to do with hardware that ALL consoles are built on. When the 500 was invented, the computer components that underlied the designed were engineered (by the computer industry) to last a longer time. The computer equipment of today is built to increasing tight tollerances with a focus on getting the most GRUNT, not LONGEVITY out of the hardware. Previously we saw console swap out rates of about every 10years. This fact alone will affect the turn-around time - and maybe half it.

 

Second point, if you bought brand "X", and two years later, it became generally agreed that brand "Y" is far better, what will happen is that shows that can afford the better gear will start to demand it, and ultimately production companies and then venues will have no choice but to invest. This is the business model of our industry, and that ain't going to change.

 

I do agree that the hardware needs major work. You know what, so does Strand. Gee, I wonder if they have access to R&D dollars to solve this?

- Of course they do.

Well, why aren't they doing anything about it?

- Strand is not like GrandMA, and telling everyone 18months before it is "ready to sell" that a new uber console is coming. It destroys sales like nothing else. I wonder how many GramdMA v1s were actually sold after their announcement.

 

All that said, I think this is a different ball game for them, and I hope Strand are going to make some announcements soon about what they are up to.

[gareth]

The latest copy of the "Entertainment Technology" freebie magazine that dropped through the door this morning contains a prime example of how Strand have lost their grip on the UK theatre lighting console market. The National Theatre has been a Strand venue since ... well, forever. The original Light Palette was developed specifically for them, for crying out loud! And what have they just bought? Five ETC Eos, four ETC Ion and four rackmount backup processors, with another three Eos on the way at some point in the future.

[Simmo]

The National Theatre has been a Strand venue since ... well, forever. The original Light Palette was developed specifically for them, for crying out loud! And what have they just bought? Five ETC Eos, four ETC Ion and four rackmount backup processors, with another three Eos on the way at some point in the future.

 

Apart from one show, the Nationals two largest theatres (Olivier and Lyttelton) have been running on the Eos platform since September 2007. War Horse the first show in the Olivier programmed on an Eos has just opened in the West End and this is the third time the show has been programmed and run on an Eos, or Ion in the case of the current West End version (the West End version was programmed on an Eos).

[Bruff]

The National Theatre has been a Strand venue since ... well, forever. The original Light Palette was developed specifically for them, for crying out loud! And what have they just bought? Five ETC Eos, four ETC Ion and four rackmount backup processors, with another three Eos on the way at some point in the future.

 

Was the Light Palette really designed for the NT? If so, they never bought one. The new building on the South Bank opened with Strand TCS Lightboards in the Olivier and Lyttelton. (I can't remember what the one in the Cottesloe was called, but I can picture it clearly). These were followed by Galaxies.

[Guest lightnix]

It was the Lightboard, spec'd by R. Pilbrow himself, that Strand developed for the National Theatre; this behemoth eventually became the Galaxy. IIRC from my college days, the Light Palette was basically a "Lightboard Lite", originally developed for use in the Cottesloe; at a time when 1,000 channels would have been OTT and 500 was more than enough for anyone.

 

Veering back on topic for a mo... ;)

 

It's good to see that Philips remain commited to the entertainment lighting business; not only with this announcement, but also the release of the VLX (on show in "almost final" form at Prolight & Sound last week). There was a worry last year (expressed somewhere in this thread, I think) that Philips might flog the entertainment brands to the Far East and it's a Good Thing that this doesn't appear to be the case, IMO

[Aussie_DrG]

...how Strand have lost their grip on the UK theatre lighting console market...

 

This actually says to me - Strand have to pedle HARD to catch up. Market forces. Strand Win, then ETC win, then who knows what comes next. In the end, the user will be the winner while there are companies are willing to fight to the death to create better gear. As soon as there is a monopoly, their is compacency.

 

The Selecon purchase is simply indicative of things to come.

[gareth]

Re. the NT's control history - you're all quite right, it's Lightboard I was thinking of, rather than Light Palette. Anyway, the point was that the NT, a venue which might arguably be considered the UK's "flagship" theatre, had a whole new control system developed for them by Strand and has been a Strand house ever since. Until now, because Strand don't have a product that's up to the job.

[NickGale]

Having moved from the theatre lighting world into home and building automation when I left Selecon four and a half years ago I do sometimes miss it, like this thread - it started off talking about a multinational company buying a very successful luminiare manufacturer and we're now talking about Lightboard 1's.....!

[Bruff]

It was the Lightboard, spec'd by R. Pilbrow himself, that Strand developed for the National Theatre; this behemoth eventually became the Galaxy. IIRC from my college days, the Light Palette was basically a "Lightboard Lite", originally developed for use in the Cottesloe; at a time when 1,000 channels would have been OTT and 500 was more than enough for anyone.

 

The Cottesloe was originally equipped with a Compact 120. I think this was derived from the MMS - it certainly had that feel about it. Light Palettes were popular in the US, and had a different operating philosophy (command line entry etc) to the boards we know (and love?) as "Strand".

 

Steve.

[Guest lightnix]

TBH, I could well be mistaken about the origins of the Light Palette - thanks for the memory jog, Bruff

[jamesholt]

I was privileged to see a rough sand casting of the SL MK III at PLASA 07. It has been in development ever since. Not sure if it is still on the cards. But from what I saw it looked good. The guys at Vari*Light reckoned the SL was under performing by a staggering 40%.

 

Easy change axial lamp similar to the type on a Mac TW1, main body of the lamp more enclosed to prevent dust and light leaks. Manufacturing narrower degrees and potentially a brighter lamp compared to the GKV600.

 

Possibly a new Fresnel range to replace Cantata and Alto.

 

Anyone know any more?

I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion on here about the "new SL"... the Bytecraft guys had a 23/50o prototype for a couple of weeks back in February, and let's just say that this thing blows the Pacific out of the water. Stunning optics that produce a ridiculously sharp (or perfectly soft) beam, with all the usual SL features. I believe the lamp was a 800/230 FastFit (800w)... can't post any photos unfortunately. I heard it was heading towards the UK shortly after its tour down here.

 

With this in mind I find the acquisition of Selecon somewhat curious - big things were said about Strand harnessing Vari*Lite's R&D power to design a new range of lanterns, but it appears that Philips took the easier route of acquiring Selecon instead (whose products are great, don't get me wrong). The irony in all this being that Selecon's early days were spent distributing CCT gear...!