FAQ about LED screens

To guarantee the maximum lifespan of LED screens (100,000 hours or 11 years), manufacturers clearly indicate two basic conditions that must be met: internal temperature and power intensity. These conditions have different values, depending on the type of LEDs, but in a general comparison we can say that: the internal temperature should not be higher than 120 ° C, and the limiting current should be below 20 mA. If both of these conditions are met, the manufacturer guarantees that after 100,000 hours, the LED brightness will be reduced by 50% of the initial value.

From a general point of view, the street LED screen and the internal LED screen differ in the following: No. 1 - lower resolution of the street screen: outdoors, the screen is usually viewed from a greater distance, so they do not need very high resolution. The cost of a larger screen is thus offset by the lower resolution necessary to ensure good image quality. No. 2 - weather protection (IP protection class 65) and cooling systems: outdoor screens have a high class of protection against moisture and dust, which guarantees excellent resistance to "intrusions" characteristic of outdoor use. In addition, a special forced ventilation system ensures that the temperature inside the screen is kept constant and never exceeds critical levels. No. 3 - high brightness: for outdoor use, high brightness LEDs are required so that it is visible when exposed to direct sunlight.

The LED screen is like a giant TV, but with one fundamental difference: instead of the image transmitted from the cathode ray tube, it is created by pixels, each of which consists of tiny LEDs. Each pixel on the LED screen has a red, green, and blue LED that lights up to create the right color. If you look closely, you will see a lot of very bright lights on the LED screen, but if you move on, the picture will become clear.

On many LED screens, a technology known as the "virtual pixel pitch" is applied. Its essence is that it separates the LEDs between the pixels, resulting in a giant LED screen, it seems, with a higher resolution. Therefore, when someone talks about a virtual pixel pitch of 10 mm, the screen most likely has a pixel pitch of 20 mm. It is important to know that the “virtual pixel pitch" of an LED screen will not make the image really high-quality. For example, a screen with a “virtual pitch” of 10 mm will never look as good as the actual pitch of a 10 mm screen, so it’s always better to get the smallest real pitch you can afford.

The largest and smallest viewing distances of the LED screen varies depending on a pair of basic parameters: pixel pitch and screen dimensions. The greatest distance is calculated by converting the pixel pitch to meters. For example, a screen with a pixel pitch of 10 mm (P10) has an optimal viewing distance of 10 meters, a P20 screen of 20 meters, etc. The greatest distance depends on the size of the screen, and it can also be calculated by multiplying by 10 and converting the screen area to meters. For example, a screen with dimensions of 4x3 m and, accordingly, an area of ​​12 m2 is optimally viewed from a maximum of 120 meters. Speaking of the maximum distance, it is necessary to clarify that there are two concepts: "readability" and "visibility". "Readability" is determined by the distance within which you can read the text broadcast on the screen. “Visibility” defines the distance within which an image can be distinguished, even if not quite clearly. The visibility distance, as a rule, is twice the readability distance (for example, if the readability is 120 meters, then visibility will be 240 meters). As for written texts, readability of course also depends on the size of the fonts. As a rule, each centimeter of the font can be read from a 5-meter distance. For example, a font 10 cm high can be read from 50 meters.

The resolution of an LED screen is the number of pixels contained in 1 m2 of the screen. It is inversely proportional to the pixel pitch: the smaller the distance between the pixels, the higher the resolution (because there are more LEDs on the screen surface). For example, a screen with a pitch of 20 mm has a resolution of 2304 pixels: this value is obtained by dividing the total length of one cabinet (975 mm) by the pixel pitch (in this case 20 mm), resulting in the number of pixels in one line: 975: 20 = 48 pcs. Multiplying the number of pixels contained in one line by the number of lines that can be calculated in the same way, we get 48 x 48 = 2304 pixels in total. Given this formula, it can be calculated that the screen in steps of 30 mm has a resolution of 1024 pixels per cabinet, and the screen in steps of 10 mm has a resolution of 9216 pixels per cabinet.

LED screens using 8-bit technology can visualize 256 colors for each of the three primary colors. This means that they can display 256 x 256 x 256 = 16.8 million colors in total. LED screens using 16-bit technology reproduce 65,000 shades for each of the three primary colors, so together we get 65,000 x 65,000 x 65,000 = 280 trillion colors in total.