Vari-Lite

Vari-Lite is a brand of automated, variable-colour stage lighting systems. Their intelligent lighting fixtures are commonly used in theatre, concerts, television, film and corporate events.

History

Pre-history

The origins of Vari-Lite date to the late 1960s, when college friends Jack Calmes and Rusty Brutsché played together in a Texas-based blues band. They built a sound system for their shows that attracted the attention of other acts, who asked to rent it from them.

In March 1970, Calmes and Brutsché, together with sound engineer Jack Maxson, incorporated Showco, with the intention of supplying sound systems to regional rock concerts. The company initially operated two sound systems and two trucks from Maxson's garage. The company quickly grew, both in size and reputation, and added lighting equipment to its inventory in 1972.

By the end of the 1970s, Showco's lighting equipment was becoming outdated, and the company could not afford to replace it.

Invention

In 1980, Showco engineer Jim Bornhorst discovered that twisting dichroic filters alters the frequencies of light filtered, resulting in an apparent color change. The company exploited this discovery by constructing a fixture equipped with two motors to move the light. An initial prototype of a fully automated lighting system, featuring a General Electric Marc 350 projector, was built in twelve weeks.

Showco representatives demonstrated the prototype—known today as the VL-Zero—to members of the British band Genesis,https://www.vari-lite.com/global/about, see 1980/1981, retrieved at 1 February 2021. having programmed it to enact two simple cues. Genesis, already a regular Showco client, immediately invested $1 million in the new technology, although a working model, later known as the VL1, would not be available until the band embarked on its '' Abacab'' tour. Showco used the capital to develop the control console, power distribution, and digital data transmission equipment required to implement the system.

Growth and expansion

The company subsequently incorporated as Vari-Lite Inc. and struck distribution deals to introduce the product into international markets.

The Series 200 system launched in 1987, featuring the Artisan Control Console and two new luminaires: the VL2—a direct descendant of the VL1—and the VL3, based on the VL-Zero. This was followed by the VL4, a more compact and brighter version of the VL3, and two upgrades of the original VL2: the VL2B and the VL2C. A smaller backup console was also launched, called the Mini-Artisan.

In 1994, Vari-lite set up Irideon Inc. to manufacture automated lighting products for the architectural lighting market, selling it off to Electronic Theatre Controls four years later.

In 1997 the company floated on Nasdaq (NASDAQ:LITE), selling two million shares, in a move which allowed the company to retire almost half its debt. Forty-seven percent of the company remained in the hands of Genesis and Vari-Lite management. The company then began to buy back the franchises it had created in previous years in favor of establishing new rental offices that offered conventional third-party lighting equipment alongside its own products.

In 2002, the VARI*LITE luminaire manufacturing and sales divisions were sold to the Genlyte Group. The rental division, retaining the console division, and continued to develop the Virtuoso product line, eventually merging with the Production Resource Group (PRG) in 2004. In early 2008, the Genlyte Group was bought by Royal Philips Lighting. Under Philips ownership, the VLX wash, a high-intensity LED luminaire, was developed.Philips Vari*lite VLX Wash data sheet 2009 (PDF), retrieved 2 February 2021

Having separated from its parent company Royal Philips, Philips Lighting rebrands as Signify in 2019. Vari-Lite and stablemate Strand regain their stand-alone brand status, with a renewed commitment from the business to innovate and support the visions of creative artists worldwide.

Accolades

The company has won three Primetime Emmy Awards for technical achievement: in 1991, for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering, in the development of the Series 200 system; in 1994, for the development of the VL5; and in 2001 for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering for the Virtuoso console.

Patent infringement lawsuits

In 1989 Vari-Lite sued Syncrolite, Inc. and founder, former Showco president Jack Calmes, over alleged patent infringements. Calmes countersued, claiming that his former business partners had kept the development of the Vari-Lite system from him at the time of his departure, causing him to lose money when he sold his Showco stock. The case was resolved in Vari-Lite's favour.

In August 1995 Vari-lite sued High End Systems, seeking unspecified damages and an injunction against the manufacture of the Status Cue system, including the Cyberlight and Studio Color luminaires. The matter was eventually resolved out of court.

In 1999, Vari-lite obtained a preliminary injunction against Danish firm Martin Gruppen A/S, which barred the import, sale and lease of several lighting products within the United States. Martin responded by releasing updated products that lay outside the scope of Vari-Lite's patents.

Control systems

From the very start, Vari*Lite consoles were computerised, transmitting digital multiplexed signals to the luminaires.

Series 100

Originally known simply as ''The Vari-lite System'', Series 100 used a patented protocol based on RS-422, which sent positional, beam and colour information, via a rack-mounted computer, to up to 32 individual Vari-lite luminaires (later known as VL1s), at up to 30 times a second. Up to three computers could be linked together under the control of a single console, giving a maximum system size of 96 luminaires.

The transmissions were unidirectional, and the error checking was quite rudimentary, checking each transmission bit 5 times and applying the majority result. As the information was retransmitted multiple times each second, the result was no noticeable errors by the luminaires. However, the refresh rate of a full 96 channel system was visibly noticeable if, the low-numbered channels were rigged close to high-numbered channels (in Vari*Lite jargon, a "channel" referred to a whole device, regardless of how many parameters it had).

In order to distribute both power and data, 6 channel "dumb" repeater boxes were used. The cables carried both data and power. In order to meet safety standards, the data cable was rated at 600 v, to allow it to be used in 3 phase power applications. The channel number (also known as an address) was set with three thumbwheel switches on each lite and a common practical joke on the part of non-Vari-lite crew, would be to renumber random "lites" (this became a common way of referring to a Vari*Lite unit on both sides of the Atlantic).

The designation ''Series 100'' was not applied until 1987, upon the release of the Series 200 system.

Series 200

By contrast, the Series 200 system was designed to employ a proprietary

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