Commonwealth Games opening ceremony visually boosted by large number of Barco projectors

New Delhi, India, 04 October 2010 – From 3 until 14 October, India has the honor of hosting the Commonwealth Games (CWG), a four-yearly multi-sports event featuring athletes from 54 members of the Commonwealth of Nations. The opening ceremony, traditionally a visually impressive spectacle, relied heavily on Barco technology. No less than 32 ultra-bright FLM R22+ projectors lighted up the event, making it an unforgettable experience. In total, 50 of these projectors will be in use during the Games.

The Commonwealth Games are being organized for the 19th time this year – and for the first time ever in India. During the event, thousands of athletes from the members of the Commonwealth of Nations compete against one another in 17 sports and four parasports, i.e. sports for athletes with a disability. Besides common Olympic sports, a number of typical Commonwealth sports are also included, like lawn bowls, netball and rugby sevens. The opening ceremony on 3 October at the newly refurbished Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex in New Delhi was an ideal opportunity for India to showcase its great civilization, history, cultural diversity, varied art forms, music and dance.

At the start of the ceremony, a huge helium balloon lifted up from the center of the jam-packed stadium with colorful puppets dangling from it to welcome the spectators. The aerostat, which is said to be the biggest helium balloon in the world (40 x 80 x 12 m), has a 360-degree projection surface. The lighting on the field of play was reflected on its underbelly. To ensure the best projection quality in the large stadium (60,000 spectators), under challenging lighting conditions, the show's audio-visual solutions provider Creative Technology Group chose 32 Barco FLM R22+ projectors, based on their outstanding performance, high-quality images and reliability.

Barco's FLM R22+ is a durable DLP projector that's perfectly suited for large venues. With a brightness of 22,000 lumens, it is powerful enough to project clear, high-contrast and crisp images in luminous environments. It is, in other words, the ideal equipment for a large-scale event like this opening ceremony. Furthermore, the liquid cooling system allows the FLM R22+ to operate at a very low noise level, making it an unobtrusive ally for any venue. To ensure ultimate reliability, the projector also features a sealed optical engine.

“We are honored and pleased to be part of the Commonwealth Games,” says Nalin Advani, Managing Director for Barco India. “With 50 of our projectors present, Barco will contribute significantly to the visual success of this event. The 32 FLM R22+'s used during the opening ceremony will definitely leave their mark. We see this event as an opportunity to show our capabilities to a large audience and hope the CWG will serve as an impressive reference for future projects. We look forward to lighting up more events in India in the future.”


About Barco
Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops visualization products for a variety of selected professional markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with about 3,300 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of euro 638 million in 2009.

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