High End Systems Launches Hog4 Family at LDI 2012

	The Hog4 main console

High End Systems announced the Hog4 family at the LDI 2012 trade show this past weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new range of control products includes four platforms, all running a brand new Hog4 operating system (Hog4 OS). A playback wing and a master wing complete the lineup.

The Hog4 flagship console is joined by the all new Full Boar 4, Road Hog4, Nano Hog4, and Hog4PC, creating a broad range of control products suitable for any size show. All products are immediately available for order with Hog4, Full Boar4, Nano Hog4, and Playback Wing4, all shipping in November 2012. Road Hog4 and master Wing4 will be available for shipment in January 2013.

All of the consoles feature wide screen displays, solid state hard drives, all new user keys, a unified Hog4OS, and extremely fast boot and show load times. There are 43 new features currently shipping at launch time. Even Hog4 PC has had additional value added in the ability to output Art-Net and sACN protocols directly from a computer running Hog4 PC when a DMX widget is attached.

The new Road Hog4 comes standard with a 22" multitouch wide screen display and is High End's most competitively priced Hog in history. Having listened to customer feedback, this console is able to network, expand, and grow with users' needs.

Compatibility is a key of this launch. Hog3 OS shows will load into Hog4 OS platforms seamlessly, and all current Hog3 peripherals are compatible with the Hog4 family of products. "The loyal Hog user base have been waiting patiently for this announcement," said Bill Morris, CEO of High End Systems/Barco Lighting Systems.

"The industry knew that we were working on a Hog4product, but we decided to launch the entire range of products together. That added several months to our launch schedule but also gave us more time to beta test the new operating system and feature sets. The most important feature of controllers is stability, and we have taken the time to make sure that the Hog4 family launched fully functional, and ready to run any show right-out-of-the box."

Chris Ferrante, Hog product manager added, "Our focus with this launch was to provide a range of products that can fit the needs of a wide variety of customers. The entire family runs on the same operating system, enabling show files to be portable across all platforms. Our long-time users will immediately notice a 100% increase in performance responsiveness. The console boot up process takes about 23 seconds and show loads are virtually instantaneous. In addition, we have added features like 'user kinds,' which will give operators extreme flexibility controlling complex fixtures and significantly reduce show programming steps and time."

Robbie Bruce, long time HES and console veteran, lead the development team and said in closing, "The software features we have added just touch the surface of what we will be able to do with this new hardware platform. An aggressive software release schedule is in place, and the next major version of software will include media integration alongside an enhanced FX engine."

See High End Systems at PLASA Focus: Stamford, November 12-13.