Rhythm & Alps Festival closes 2020 with Hippotizer Karst posted: 01/03/2021
TomTom Productions provided three Hippotizer Karst Media Servers, one for each of the Rhythm & Alps Festivals performance stages.
It's a comfort to know that somewhere in the world, 2020 ended with a music festival. That's what happened in the shadow of New Zealand's Southern Alps, where the Rhythm & Alps Festival saw off the year with a celebratory vibe enhanced by TomTom Productions, whose Hippotizer Media Servers from Green Hippo delivered the visuals for three separate stages.
Rhythm & Alps, which has become South Island's biggest New Year's Eve party, was also celebrating its 10th anniversary with this event, which was held over the last three days of December. TomTom, based in nearby Queenstown, is the festival's regular provider of full production design and supply services. This year, their contributions included the provision of Hippotizer Karst Media Servers to meet the varying playback requirements of all three performance stages: the Alpine Arena main stage, the Where The Wild Things Are stage and the Log Cabin DJ stage.
TomTom Productions provided three Hippotizer Karst Media Servers, one for each of the Rhythm & Alps Festivals performance stages.
For the Alpine Arena, we had a standard upstage LED wall, complemented by 156m of Martin VDO Sceptron strips, says TomTom's Hamish Roberge. These covered the side walls, ceiling and part of the rear wall, allowing us to extend the LED wall content out, or run separate content for contrast.
He continues, Hippotizer control was via the lighting console over Art-Net, and the Media Servers were at FOH, which gave the LDs a direct GUI-view of what they were playing back. The Hippotizer integrates directly with the Martin P3 PC, which maps and controls the VDO Sceptron, both for control as a DMX fixture and also as a video screen.
On the Where The Wild Things Are stage, another Hippotizer Karst Media Server fed custom visual content projected from two stacked Christie HD14K-M projectors onto the large, carved Buddha face that formed the stage's central setpiece. A third Karst unit served the smallest stage, the Log Cabin, where TomTom hung SGM LB-100 LED bead strings from the ceiling. It's a product that Roberge and his colleagues at TomTom love for the flexibility it gives them when designing and mapping complex pixelmap shapes, using the Hippotizer's PixelMapper feature to overlay video onto the beads via Art-Net.
TomTom Productions provided three Hippotizer Karst Media Servers, one for each of the Rhythm & Alps Festivals performance stages.
Hippotizer's Art-Net integration, allowing control via the lighting console, is the biggest single feature for me, says Roberge. The layout is intuitive for lighting designers, so they can get the most out of the Media Server. This is especially so with the Martin VDO Sceptron being a hybrid video and lighting product. When you factor in Hippotizer's Martin P3 software integration, it's the perfect playback device.
TomTom Productions provided three Hippotizer Karst Media Servers, one for each of the Rhythm & Alps Festivals performance stages.
All in all, this was a faultless operation for TomTom. The Hippotizer is our go-to Media Server solution, says Roberge. We design our shows with the knowledge of what the Hippos can do for us. From the setup in the shop - where we created the Sceptron map - through the patching with both the Martin P3 and Art-Net for the console control, everything worked seamlessly.
Roberge concludes, My thoughts go out to our industry around the world at the moment. I think every day about how lucky we are to be running events almost as normal, when almost everywhere else is faced with either no gigs or heavily restricted events. We wish you all better times ahead.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
02/07/2026
Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables
Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026
0 Comments
An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...
02/07/2026
Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...
02/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might thin...
02/07/2026
Summer is heating up - and GeForce NOW is taking players along for the ride.
Start the month with Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains, bringing a galaxy fa...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
Rhythm & Alps Festival closes 2020 with Hippotizer Karst posted: 01/03/2021 
