Truck Expo

The Mid-America Trucking Show, the largest truck-buying event in the nation, was held in Louisville, Ky., March 25 to 27 and featured more than 400,000 square feet of exhibit space. For the Volvo truck exhibit, designed and produced by Santa Monica, Calif.-based Ken Robbins Productions, Impact Video (Burbank, Calif.) provided a widescreen LED system.

The 5.9'× 26.5' Barco ILite 8mm LED screen was strategically set 14ft. above the floor in a four tile high by eighteen tile wide configuration. The Barco ILite was specifically chosen for its 12-bit digital processing and Level II Uniformity. The screen displayed both a widescreen presentation and was also split into three 4:3 aspect ratio screens. The widescreen presentation was fed in 16:9 to six Pioneer PDP-501CMX 50in. plasma displays.

Technical director Michael Mann designed the video playback and switching and source control. Source inputs included three channels of digital video recorders for playback of Volvo's promotional videos, a Sony D35 broadcast camera for image magnification of live interviews, and a laptop computer for PowerPoint presentations. Tempe, Ariz.- based Video West provided audio support for the booth in addition to 50in. Pioneer plasma screens and Sony D35 camera equipment.