Video Walls Supply and Installation Solutions

Video Walls

The term ‘video wall’ can encompass a range of technologies, including screens and projectors. The two types that Pixelution focus on are LCD screens and direct view (DV) LED displays. The differences between the two can be summed up as follows:

LCD Video Walls

LCD video wall utilize thin-bezel LCD monitors that are tiled together to create a large high resolution display. The combined width of bezels between two screens can be a little as 0.8mm but will still result in lines across the display. LCD video walls have been around since the late nineties and find application in many areas – control rooms, retail shops, board rooms etc. The two most common screen sizes used currently are 49″ and 55″ screens, although some are available up to 65″. The overall size of the display will always be a multiple of the screen size chosen in either direction.

Early LCD video walls required expensive video wall controllers to send the appropriate content to each screen. These days, if just a single input (HDMI or Display Port) is required over the whole display the screens themselves daisy chain the incoming signal and each screen displays the part of the signal corresponding to its position on the wall. Separate video wall controllers are still used to achieve higher resolution and where multiple inputs need to be managed.

For most applications direct view LED is a superior solution. Until fairly recently its considerably higher cost ruled it out of many projects. With increasing sales volumes costs have now come down, and whilst generally still more expensive than LCD, we are seeing more and more clients going for LED. The advantages of LED can be summed up as follows:

1. Seamlessness – LED panels tile together to produce one seamless surface with no bezel lines or gaps providing a more immersive viewing experience

2. Better brightness, colour and contrast – LED displays typically have higher brightness levels than LCD, better contrast and a wider colour gamut (i.e. they can display a larger range of colours from the visible spectrum than LCD displays). This can make images appear more dynamic and visually striking, creating a sense of depth and ‘pop’.

3. Viewing angle – LED displays typically offer a wider viewing angle ensuring images remain clear and vibrant even when viewed from off-centre positions.

4. Durability – LED panels are more durable than LCD screens. They are less susceptible to damage from impact or vibration. This makes them ideal for high-traffic areas or public spaces.

5. Flexibility – The modular size of an LED cabinet is typically much smaller than an LCD screen, meaning they can match a given size requirement more closely. They are also typically less than half the depth from the wall of an LCD installation.

6. Longer life – typically rated at 100,000 hours compared to 50-70,000 hours for LCD screens. 100k hours is around 11 years of 24×7 use.

7. Easier maintenance – when a failure does occur it is a lot easier to simply remove an LED module  and replace it is than to de-mount a heavy LCD screen.

8. Energy Efficiency – LED displays tend to be more efficient than LCD screens. The energy consumption is closely related to the brightness and pixel pitch of the screen. Many LED screens are run well below full brightness to save energy without affecting the visual impact of the screen.