Green Hippo Powers LDI 2026's Battle of the Busk and Brings Estuary Series to Las VegasSeven LED screens, a crowd of people who do this for a living, and a handful of programmers are making their debuts at the pro level. No timecode. No safety net. Just music, Green Hippo Hippotizer, and one place for programmers to prove their skills. That's the Battle of the Busk at LDI 2026 on Monday, December 7, where Green Hippo's Hippotizer Media Servers are powering all the video busking in this year's competition. The teams are comprised of fresh talent, coached in the run-up by live entertainment pros, then turned loose on the media server made for playing live, in the moment, as the audience votes. Under the hood, two Hippotizer MEUSE MX Series Media Servers run in an A/B configuration, so the next team can load in and prepare while the current team performs, and the gaps between sets remain short. Between them, the servers juggle multiple inputs and live camera feeds for image magnification (IMAG) across all seven high-resolution LED screens. As the company notes, "It's a stress test, wearing a party hat." "Busking is about the most honest test there is," says Bob Bonniol, chief innovation officer at ACT Entertainment. "No timecode, no safety net... just a person, the music and a room deciding in real time whether this is a night they'll remember. That's who we build for. I spent a lot of years at front of house wishing the video gear would keep up with me. 'Built for Performance' is the bar we're setting for 2027: the machine should feel like an instrument you play, not a science project you babysit. The performing is yours. Our job is to make it joyful." The Estuary Series, Green Hippo's new media controller and event switcher, is now shipping. Estuary gives operators simple, intuitive control of massive screen spaces and a whole lot of I/O. It speaks DMX and sACN, so the screens can be programmed from the same lighting console as the rest of the show. The company adds it is bringing more surprises to the show, to be announced soon. For those seeking training, Green Hippo: Hippotizer Media Server Essentials is a full-day, hands-on LDI course taking place on Saturday, December 5, from 9:30am to 5:30om in Room W229. Designed for beginners and intermediate users, it covers setup, configuration, media management, visualization, encoding, output, and playback through practical exercises. No prior experience required, just curiosity. The course costs $669, and lunch is included. Details and registration are on LDI's website here. LDI 2026 runs December 6-8, 2026, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, West Hall, with the Green Hippo team at the ACT Entertainment booth (#1111) throughout. . 
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