TCI light products of the year. (eight lighting products for theater and other entertainment applications)

See anything exciting on the show floor?"is probably the question I am most often asked at LDI. The following products are ones that have caught my eye. This year, we've also invited two members of the industry to help us make our product picks: lighting designer/theatre consultant Richard Pilbrow and theatrical lighting consultant Lawrence Kellerman. One cautionary note: these awards are based on a first look on the trade floor; they are not based on use, and do not constitute endorsements as such. Nevertheless, they constitute a fairly interesting group of products.

Karl G. Ruling

The Altman PAR-Plus

The PAR-Plus replaces the sealed-beam PAR lamp in a PAR can with a lamp/reflector unit. The idea is not new; I saw my first lamp/reflector system for PAR cans over 13 years ago, and there are other systems newly introduced to the market. But all of these have the fault I see in the regular PAR can: inflexibility. Either they have one fixed beam spread, or the user has a choice of up to four beam spreads by changing lenses. Popping lenses in and out is easier than changing PAR lamps, but it is still more work than I'd like.

The PAR-Plus eliminates a lot of lamp- and lens-changing by making …