The recent Mediatech Africa Advanced Technology Trade Fair held at Johannesburg’s Coca-Cola Dome drew record crowds. Here Screen Africa highlights some of the state-of-the-art broadcast, film and audio equipment that was on show.
CEO of Pro-Sales, Arne Sack spoke to Screen Africa at Mediatech Africa and was very upbeat about the exhibition.
“Our stand is much bigger than it has ever been before,’ said Sack. “This has allowed us to exhibit a much larger variety of products, which in turn attracted the desired customers. One gets the feeling though that there is less money available, so the products that attract more attention are suited to budget minded productions.
“3D is a definite trend at this year’s show but 3D is very expensive and I think it will still be a while before it takes off properly. However, Pro-Sales is prepared and has brought in 3D products.’
One such product is the Genus Hurricane 3D rig. Sack explained: “This rig is aimed at the guys who want to start doing 3D productions but who can’t afford products in the five digit price range. The rig takes two cameras and is not camera specific, so it covers a very flexible budget range.’
Another product showcased on the stand was the Newtek TriCaster. Sack described the product as: “An eight-camera OB truck in one box. It’s a virtual studio – the most affordable system of its kind – which consists of a green screen, built in CG, and virtual sets with a preset of sets. It utilises hard drive recording and is SD and HD switchable.
“The terms “systems integration’, “solutions provider’ and many others have become cliches that everybody likes to use these days. Because of the way our business is configured, we are able to do all of these things. We are not bound by the limitations of a few products – we will give the customer what truly works for him, even though the product sold might not be in our “official’ portfolio. What we cannot get from local suppliers we import directly and this more often than not gives us an edge in terms of product, service and fluency in supply over other operations,’ concluded Sack.
