# What is a "Century Display" and where might one find one?



## derekleffew (Aug 17, 2022)

No, it has nothing to do with Joseph Levy (and brothers) or Edward Kook and their company. 

Students only for one week, please.


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## ScottT (Aug 17, 2022)

Oh this is my kind of question!


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## MRW Lights (Aug 18, 2022)




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## RonaldBeal (Aug 18, 2022)

derekleffew said:


> No, it has nothing to do with Joseph Levy (and brothers) or Edward Kook and their company.



Well, in a round about, six degrees of separation kind of way, it does. 
Or more specifically , the origin of the century display, and the results of Kook and Levy's work have converged to exist in the same current entity.

(Hope this is vague enough to obfuscate the answer, but make the connection for those that know!)


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## SteveB (Aug 18, 2022)

What Derek sees when he looks in the mirror ?


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## brucek (Aug 19, 2022)

Does this count?

(or is this a display of century.....?)


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## SteveB (Aug 19, 2022)

brucek said:


> Does this count?View attachment 23351
> (or is this a display of century.....?)



No. Derek stated it has nothing to do with Levy and Kook, (Le-Ko) the founders of Century Lighting.


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## derekleffew (Aug 24, 2022)

It's been a week. The ban on professionals is hereby lifted.

ScottT said:


> Oh this is my kind of question!


Let's see if you have our kind of answer!


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## TimMc (Aug 24, 2022)

Century implies "100" of something...


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## MRW Lights (Aug 25, 2022)

TimMc said:


> Century implies "100" of something...


 I ride 100 miles on my bicycle! .... are we talking about bicylces?


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## ScottT (Aug 25, 2022)

derekleffew said:


> Let's see if you have our kind of answer!


To me a century display is a 4x25 channel display on a lighting console. Here's a screenshot from an Eos:



I've also used _Century Panels_, which is a physical channel selection tool on the 676 (and the Virtuoso, but I have never used a Virt)


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## derekleffew (Aug 25, 2022)

ScottT said:


> To me a century display is a 4x25 channel display on a lighting console. Here's a screenshot from an Eos:


Note that the Broadway standard was 5x20: Original Light Palette, Obsession, Obs2

ScottT said:


> I've also used _Century Panels_, which is a physical channel selection tool on the 676 (and the Virtuoso, but I have never used a Virt)


This is actually the answer I was looking for. Century Panel, Century Display, Century Array--all the same thing. And it goes back one more generation beyond the Virtuoso to the Artisan.

Upper left panel. While it may seem today to be an odd way of selecting fixtures, remember this was before touchscreens, and with a skilled operator, was actually faster than typing in numbers.


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## derekleffew (Aug 25, 2022)

RonaldBeal said:


> Well, in a round about, six degrees of separation kind of way, it does.
> Or more specifically , the origin of the century display, and the results of Kook and Levy's work have converged to exist in the same current entity.
> 
> (Hope this is vague enough to obfuscate the answer, but make the connection for those that know!)


Why does the phrase "I've obfuscated bigger shows than this" come to mind? Please expound on the six degrees of separation thing. Is it my imagination, or did Strand not make a version of the new Light Palette VL that had a Century Display?


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## ScottT (Aug 25, 2022)

derekleffew said:


> And it goes back beyond the Virtuoso to the Artisan.


As most things do. Though that was a bit before me, so I'll take this as a win.


derekleffew said:


> Upper left panel. While it may seem today to be an odd way of selecting fixtures, remember this was before touchscreens, and with a skilled operator, was actually faster than typing in numbers.


I find the 676's century panel to be a _very_ quick way of dealing with fixture selection.

Bonus question: What is a "Millennium Button"? Potentially related to a "Millennial Button", though I consider that a typo in the naming of the feature in a currently shipping desk.


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## RonaldBeal (Aug 25, 2022)

derekleffew said:


> Why does the phrase "I've obfuscated bigger shows than this" come to mind? Please expound on the six degrees of separation thing. Is it my imagination, or did Strand not make a version of the new Light Palette VL that had a Century Display?


Vari-Lite Artisan, then Artisan plus, then Virtuoso, then Virtuoso DX2, then V676 all had century panels. VL was acquired by Genlyte in 2004. 
Kook and Levy's company was acquired by Rank Strand in 1969 and became Century Strand in the U.S. Strand was bought by Genlyte in 2006, putting both companies under one corporate roof.
Philips bought Genlyte in 2008, and spun their entertainment lighting companies off as Signify in 2018.

So... "the origin of the century display, (VL), and the results of Kook and Levy's work, (Century), have converged to exist in the same current entity, (Signify)."


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## RonaldBeal (Aug 25, 2022)

As an aside, the century panel was an incredibly efficient way of selecting fixtures. A double tap on one channel would de-select all other fixtures. Holding down the first fixture in your selection, and then pressing the last fixture in your desired selection would also select all fixtures in between, so instead of "[1] [thru] [8] [0] [enter]". you could just press [1] and [80] and all were selected.
Since the VL systems had full feedback you could also see the status of fixtures and see which lights were online, and which had been lamped on.

Finally, the original Artisan did have a touchscreen.... Orange monochrome resistive touch in the center panel. Because it was early 1980's technology it wasn't the greatest user experience, and the century panel was far better for selecting and status, it was replaced with a storage panel when VL upgraded Artisans to Artisan Plusses.


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