Panasonic Debuts Hive Media Players at Prague's Signal Festival
2026-10-23 · via invidis
Panasonic used this year's Signal Festival in Prague to give a public debut to media player technology it picked up through acquisition earlier this year, pairing its projectors with Hive Media Control hardware for the first time in front of a live audience.
Panasonic served as projection partner for the festival for the second consecutive year. The 14th edition ran from 15 to 18 October and included 21 installations across the city. Among the new elements this year were the PT-RQ45 4K laser projector and Beeblade Pluto media players, the latter built by Hive Media Control, a UK-based media player and control systems company that Panasonic acquired in May.
The PT-RQ45 units projected onto the facade of the Archdiocesan Seminary in the Dejvice district, a location new to the festival. One of the works shown there was "Missing Interval" by German artist Felix Frank. Panasonic says the 3-chip DLP laser projector outputs 42,000 lumens at a resolution of 3,840 x 2,400 pixels, and that despite the higher brightness it is close in size to the existing PT-RQ35 series.
Integrated Players, Not Rack Boxes
The notable departure from standard practice here is physical integration: the Hive players sit inside the projector housing rather than in a separate 19-inch rack enclosure, which is how most facade-mapping and large-venue installations handle media playback today. Seven Beeblade Pluto players fed content into three of the festival's installations, with Hive's Beesync software handling synchronization across multiple projectors.
For anyone running multi-projector mapping jobs, in-housing the player removes a rack unit, a set of cables, and a separate point of failure from the signal chain, at least in theory. The announcement does not say how this affects servicing, firmware updates, or whether the integrated approach limits player swapping compared to a rack-mounted setup. It also does not say whether the PT-RQ45 ships with the player built in as standard or whether this was a bespoke configuration for the festival.
Julius Štefan of Signal Festival is quoted saying the team's prior experience with Panasonic gave organizers confidence to deploy both the new projector and the new player technology live, rather than testing them in a lower-stakes environment first.
The acquisition of Hive Media Control in May signaled that Panasonic wanted a stronger media player and control software stack of its own, rather than relying solely on third-party playback systems alongside its projection hardware. Prague is the first large-scale showcase of that integration strategy in practice. Projection integrators and rental houses working on facade mapping or large-format event projects will want to watch whether Panasonic brings the combined projector-player package to market more broadly, and what it costs compared to buying projector and playback systems separately.
The announcement in full
Reproduced from invidis for reference. Digital Signage Magazine did not write the text below.
Four days, 21 installations, and an array of historic facades: Panasonic provided the projection technology for the Signal Festival in Prague, bringing Hive players along for the first time.
For the second year in a row, Panasonic served as the projection partner for the Signal Festival in Prague. Running from 15 to 18 October for its 14th edition, the festival featured 21 installations. New additions included the PT-RQ45 4K laser projector and Beeblade Pluto media players. These media players are manufactured by Hive Media Control, a British media player and control system specialist, which Panasonic acquired in May .
The PT-RQ45 projectors displayed images on the facade of the Archdiocesan Seminary in the Dejvice district. This historic location was another first-time inclusion for the festival. Among the highlights shown at this site was “Missing Interval” by German artist Felix Frank. According to Panasonic, the 3-chip DLP laser projector delivers 42,000 lumens and has a resolution of 3,840 × 2,400 pixels. Although it is brighter, it has nearly the same dimensions as the PT-RQ35 series.
The Hive players are housed directly inside the projector rather than in a separate 19-inch rack, as with many standard media players. Seven Beeblade Pluto players supplied content to three installations while the Beesync software synchronized playback across multiple projectors. “Both technologies are new to our festival, but our experience with Panasonic has given us the confidence to use them in front of a live audience,” says Julius Štefan of the Signal Festival.