VELVET LED lighting – EVO, KOSMOS, Mini and Start series for professional studios

VELVET is a European manufacturer of professional LED luminaires for film, television and streaming, with all products assembled in Barcelona. Since 2008, the company has been run by cinematographers and engineers who focus on robust mechanics, stable color science and long product life. Every fixture in the range follows the same core idea: natural soft light or precise Fresnel control, high efficiency and silent operation for demanding studio and location work.

The brand’s ecosystem revolves around four complementary families: the VELVET EVO RGBWW color panels, the VELVET KOSMOS Fresnel line, compact VELVET Mini soft panels and the cost-effective VELVET Start range. Together they cover corporate studios, broadcast facilities, virtual production volumes, drama sets and live streaming spaces, while sharing common control protocols and mechanical language. All current units rely on long-life mid-power LEDs, passive aluminum heatsinks and IP-rated housings that withstand daily professional use.

Sustainability is a key element of the VELVET approach. Fixtures are manufactured in Europe from low-carbon materials, with modular electronics and easily replaceable accessories. The company publishes photobiological safety statements for its LED panels and Fresnels, confirming compliance with UNE EN/IEC 62471, which reassures broadcasters and rental houses that the lights are safe for long studio days with presenters and crew in close proximity.

VELVET EVO – RGBWW soft panels for color-driven sets

The VELVET EVO series addresses crews that need precise color control while maintaining the familiar wrap of a large soft panel. The most widely used model, the VELVET EVO 2, is a 2×1 feet panel (approximately 0.61 × 0.30 m) based on a five-channel LED engine: red, green, blue, neutral white and cool white (R+G+B+W+CW). This architecture yields a very wide gamut and a correlated color temperature range roughly from 2500 K up to 10 000 K, with typical TLCI around 96 for accurate reproduction of skin tones and costume colors. A broad 115° beam and the large emitting surface give a soft, even field suitable for keying close-ups, filling interview sets or washing chroma backgrounds.

A hallmark of VELVET EVO 2 is its ability to keep full light output on either AC mains or batteries. The 2×1 ft array draws roughly 200 W yet still reaches close to 8000 lux at 1 m in white mode, while remaining flicker-safe at very high frame rates used in sports and high-speed cinematography. The housing is milled from aluminum, acting as a one-piece heatsink that keeps junction temperatures low and allows completely fanless cooling. With an IP54 rating, the panel withstands rain and airborne dust on location, making it suitable for outdoor magazine shows, sport studio extensions or OB vans.

The control ecosystem behind the EVO series is particularly relevant for modern studio infrastructures. On-board controls offer clear encoders and a display with direct access to CCT, HSI, RGB and gel modes, including green–magenta trimming to match other fixtures. Connectivity includes 5-pin DMX/RDM, wireless CRMX, Art-Net over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth app control. Lighting directors can integrate VELVET EVO units into existing networks, store presets for recurring shows, or synchronise color changes across a bank of panels in real time for music or entertainment formats.

VELVET KOSMOS – color-tunable Fresnel with motorised zoom

While EVO panels handle soft sources, the VELVET KOSMOS series covers situations where a punchy and focusable beam is required. KOSMOS 200 and KOSMOS 400 share a true borosilicate Fresnel lens of roughly 300 mm diameter coupled to a motorised zoom system. The beam can vary from about 15° to 56°, moving smoothly from a tight shaft of light to a wide stage wash. At the narrow setting, the 400 model outputs lux levels comparable to traditional tungsten or HMI heads of similar size, yet with the flexibility of a full RGBWW light engine.

Internally, KOSMOS uses a 5-color LED array similar to EVO, offering white light from roughly 2500 K to 10 000 K plus saturated color modes. Typical CRI and TLCI values around 95 hold across most of the range, giving cinematographers confidence when mixing KOSMOS with other high-end fixtures. A green–magenta axis helps align the fixture with various camera sensors or existing legacy lamps. Dimming from 0 to 100% is extremely smooth, with several selectable curves optimised for theatre, broadcast or live event workflows, and the electronics remain flicker-free well above 12 000 fps.

Connectivity on VELVET KOSMOS 200/400 is extensive: base units offer 5-pin DMX/RDM, Ethernet with Art-Net, wireless CRMX, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The mechanical package includes a robust yoke for junior pins and standard clamps, together with barndoors and accessory holders. In practice, KOSMOS serves as a hard key through diffusion frames, a high-impact backlight for music shows, or a flexible accent source in drama work, where fast motorised zoom and color presets reduce setup time between scenes.

VELVET Mini – compact soft panels for low ceilings

The VELVET Mini series translates the brand’s soft-light philosophy into compact housings aimed at small studios and low-ceiling spaces. Models such as VELVET Mini 1 and VELVET Mini 2 Studio occupy very little volume – the smallest panel is around 385 mm wide, while the 2×½ feet format (approximately 0.61 × 0.15 m) provides a wide panoramic source that hugs the ceiling. These units typically cover a 2700–6500 K bicolor range with 100 K steps and deliver TLCI figures in the high 90s, which is especially useful for skin-tone accuracy in corporate or educational content.

Most VELVET Mini panels carry dustproof IP51 or rain-resistant IP54 ratings and use a deep-fin aluminum chassis as a passive heatsink. This architecture removes the need for fans and keeps noise levels at zero, an advantage on talk shows, podcasts with cameras or music recording rooms. Built-in AC power supplies with PowerCON TRUE1 in/out allow several fixtures to be daisy-chained on a single circuit, and 5-pin DMX/RDM connectivity links them to standard broadcast control systems. Photometric performance is tuned for short and medium distances; for example, Mini 1 Studio reaches roughly 1200 lux at 1 m, enough to key a presenter in a small set while maintaining soft contrast.

Typical applications for VELVET Mini include newsrooms with limited ceiling height, university studios, streaming sets in production agencies and as compact fill sources on larger stages. The slim body can sit very close to the ceiling or wall without generating glare on wide-angle lenses, which simplifies set design and camera placement.

VELVET Start – cost-efficient studio panels

For projects with tight budgets but professional expectations, the VELVET Start family offers a streamlined feature set that keeps the essential DNA of the brand. VELVET Start 1, Start 2 and Start 2×2 are AC-powered bicolor soft panels covering approximately 3000–6000 K. They use the same one-piece aluminum heatsink structure as higher series and employ mid-power LEDs with a typical CRI of at least 95. The fixtures are rated to IP41, sufficient for everyday indoor use in studios, conference centers and houses of worship.

Output levels sit around 2000 lux at 1 m for VELVET Start 1 at 5600 K, with higher figures for the larger 1×2 and 2×2 models. A wide beam and integrated diffusion allow consistent coverage of presenters or classroom boards without multiple overlapping units. Control is straightforward: on-board menus handle CCT and intensity, while 5-pin DMX enables centralised operation from a lighting console. Fanless cooling keeps background noise extremely low, which matters in small voice-over booths or classrooms where microphones work close to the lights.

One ecosystem for broadcast, streaming and cinema

Across EVO, KOSMOS, Mini and Start fixtures, VELVET offers a coherent toolkit for companies that want to standardise on a single LED platform. A broadcaster might use EVO 2 panels and KOSMOS 400 Fresnels on a flagship news set, while equipping regional bureaus with Mini panels and Start units that share similar color behavior and menu logic. Rental houses can supply color-capable EVO and KOSMOS lights for drama or commercials, yet still rely on the same spares stock, rigging hardware and control options.

For video production companies, agencies and streaming studios looking for durable European-built LED lighting, the combination of robust mechanics, consistent photometrics and long-term support makes the VELVET EVO, VELVET KOSMOS, VELVET Mini and VELVET Start series a solid platform around which to build entire studios and mobile kits.