Waves System Eventplayer EVP 380

This product has been on the market for about 2 years under the ID-AL brand and is imported into Australia by ITI-Image Group and Interactive Controls.

The distribution for Asia is in the hand of ITI-Image Group, Sydney and Turnstone Distribution, Korea.

Waves System is a French manufacturer for technology mainly used in museums, theme parks, retail. The ownership of the company has changed in 2019 and in the process the brand name ID-AL will be retired.

Why write about a product which has been on the market for 2 years? The EVP 380 is a fantastic system, which is totally undervalued, since may features need to be experienced, rather than read-about in the brochure.

The EVP 380 shares the platform with the VP 320 and VP330 models. The core is a 4K video player with build-in amplifier and various interactive control capabilities, depending on model.

The box is actually very compact. W140xH43xD136mm. Three units fit onto a 19” rack adapter.

What makes the EVP380 special?  

The letter E in front of the VP for Video Player stands for Event. 

Looking at the EVP 380, the front of the unit is dominated by two XLR connectors and a status LED panel. The rear of the unit is identical to the VP330 and includes line audio out, amplified audio out, 8 combined configurable opto-isolated input contacts plus one separate GIO connector. 8 MOSFET outputs to control external devices, RS232 serial link, 4 power supply outputs and a 5V DC output on a pluggable terminal block.

2 USB connector for playback of media and a microSD card slot. This slot is positioned underneath the HDMI connector, so that the card is not visible and can not easily be removed (stolen). 

The 10/100 Ethernet connection allows access to to the embedded FTP server, TCP/IP server for player control, Art-Net server for player and show control and embedded NTP client to synchronise the clock.

The video playback unit can be ‘scheduled’, using free software.

Contact free show triggers, such as IR Senor Pad, proximity Pad and movement triggers can be implemented, a must on Covid-19 times. 

In fact, all software for show control programming, scheduling and other functions are free of charge. While they are not the most sophisticated in design and user interface, they work well and do the job. 

That description alone already gives a good idea what the unit is capable of. 

But while this all sounds very complex, the unit is amazingly easy to operate. Just insert a microSD card or a USB stick, configured as described in the manual, and the video will play. The unit comes with an IR remote, so start, stop, advance, next show and all this is available on the fingertip.

What is great are are the DMX capabilities. 

• Player stop/play by DMX – this allows a great integration into music shows by control from the lighting desk.
• DMX recording into either build in memory or onto a media carrier, such as the microSD card or USB
• DMX show programming, using the Eventplayer software. Here we can program either the DMX lighting control or the output switches.
• If the video and show control file have the same name, the unit will synchronize both.

The player connects to a lighting desk, DMX dimmer or DMX controlled LED lights. The latter functionality is great for smaller museums, tourist attractions and retail.

There are plenty of on-board menu settings, which allow the player to be configured for even most complex shows.

The range of players comes with a 3-year warranty and is completely manufactured in Nantes in France. Wave Systems has also acquired the license for the Hypersound Pro Audio system and manufactures this at the same location.

The video playback includes: mp4, mkv (Matroska), mov. Pictures in jpg or jepg, png or bmp format can be programmed and the audio side handles wav, mp3, m4a and ogg. Video codecs H.265 and H.264 are supported as are VP9 Profile-2 to 4Kx2K@60fps.

Overall a very powerful and affordable package.