Lighting News Field Notes 2026

Quarterly insights covering ARRI, Light + Building, LPS, DMX protocols, gear trends, and AI/wireless lighting in 2026 so lighting teams keep reliability, protocol hygiene, and channel planning aligned with real-world needs.

Industry landscape: ARRI doubles down on lighting R&D

After 2025 facility reshuffles, ARRI reoriented lighting R&D in Munich. Their 2026 roadmap launches new LED engines, console partnerships, and expanded fixture ecosystems designed for deterministic control—great news for teams tracking reliability over Art-Net, sACN, or ALPINE as their transport of choice.

Events & exhibitions

Light + Building 2026 (Frankfurt, March 8–13): sustainable lighting, smart networking, and new control hardware dominated the halls. Manufacturers emphasized modular luminaires, embedded networking, and purpose-built systems for architectural and live-art scenarios.

Live Production Summit 2026: ACT Entertainment and partners demoed integrated workflows mixing lighting, sound, and media. Sessions stressed workflow hygiene, multi-system triggers, and shareable DMX channel planning best practices.

Protocol & network trends

2026 DMX real-world changes are visible: crews prefer documented channel plans, immaculate cable work, and verified timing (see DMX Timing & Refresh Rate). Ethernet protocols—Art-Net, sACN, and ALPINE—are standard on touring rigs, especially when large LED arrays require per-slot priority (E1.31-1) and IGMP-aware switches.

Standards updates: DMX512-A gets refreshed

DMX didn’t "die" — it got maintained. ANSI E1.11-2024 is a revised DMX512-A standard, and that matters because the biggest DMX failures in the real world are still interoperability and physical-layer mistakes, not "lack of features."

RDM gets a 2025 revision (and it’s more relevant than most "new protocols")

ANSI E1.20-2025 (RDM) continues to formalize bi-directional device discovery, remote addressing, and status/fault reporting over DMX512. If you’re still doing addressing and troubleshooting purely by manual patch notes, you’re leaving reliability on the table.

Networked DMX isn’t "done" — sACN work continues

The Control Protocols working group lists E1.31 (sACN) and E1.31-1 (per-slot priority extension) as open for revision, alongside other network-transport work. Translation: the "IP side" of lighting control continues to mature, and your network practices matter more every year.

The physical layer is still where shows fail

ESTA standards work includes updates around control cabling for both permanently installed runs and portable setups. If your lighting news never mentions cable quality, termination, and wiring, it’s missing the #1 root cause of flicker and mystery faults.

The real 2026 workflow upgrade: fewer "rebuild it twice" data handoffs

MVR/GDTF continues to get more practical: Lightwright added MVR support, grandMA3 improved MVR-xchange compatibility, and Capture refined MVR export/import behavior around GDTF selection. If your patch, fixture data, and previsualization don’t share a common truth, you’ll keep paying the "manual re-entry tax."

“Learn networking” is now mainstream lighting advice

LDI 2025 programming explicitly pushes IP fundamentals (addressing, subnetting, switching/routing) in the context of Art-Net and sACN. That’s a cultural shift: competent networking is no longer “nice to have”—it’s part of being a lighting tech in 2026.

The hardware market is responding: more emphasis on resilient distribution

At LDI 2025, Luminex highlighted new nodes and switches aimed at reliability and distribution in demanding environments. You don’t need these everywhere—but it’s a signal that “network robustness” is now a product category, not a footnote.

Field takeaways

What to fix today: Run the DMX Channel Planning Best Practices checklist, test your fades and pans with the DMX Timing & Refresh Rate guide, double-check universes in DMX Universe Explained, and validate totals with the DMX Address Capacity Calculator.

• Confirm universes with the DMX Address Capacity Calculator before system rehearsals.
• Routine timing checks prevent jitter—pair the DMX Timing & Refresh Rate notes with actual fades and pan sweeps.
• Document protocol choices (DMX512-A, Art-Net, sACN, ALPINE) and enforce channel planning discipline with DMX Channel Planning Best Practices.
• Keep cabling, terminations, and splits tidy with guidance from DMX Cables in Practice and DMX Splitters & Opto Isolation.
• Watch the evolving standards, workflow, and hardware signals we call out above so you can preempt the next reliability problem before it shows up on stage.

References: DMX Lighting News 2026, DMX Channel Planning Best Practices, DMX Addressing Chart, DMX Universe Explained, and the tools above.