Here’s a simple explanation of the difference between LED & LCD as not everyone knows what it is.
The Science Part
You probably use an LCD screen every day; your mobile phone is one, you might even be reading this blog on it now…. LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. It’s basically a sandwich of polarised glass with a liquid crystal filling which flows just like a liquid, but has molecules that can be oriented like crystals. When electric current is applied to those crystals, they move and let light through which creates the image. How clever is that!
LED, short for Light Emitting Diodes works in a completely different way. Hundreds of tiny LEDs are mounted onto a panel. Each one is like a tiny light bulb giving off a coloured light when a particular voltage is applied to it. Clusters of these are used in red, green and blue and in turn these create the full colour pixels required to produce an image.
Display Wall Solutions
You will have seen LED video walls, anywhere where a large single static or moving picture is needed for example at a concert or sporting venue.
LED screens have been used at these types of venues for years; they are ideal solutions for showing large images in large spaces. LED screens are IP rated, preventing the ingress of foreign bodies and moisture, so more favourable for outdoor locations. It’s only fairly recently that LED technology has been enhanced for smaller scale indoor use. Indoor LED technology has consistently improved and no doubt will continue to do so. Indoor LED tech has moved on from containing block text and difficult to interpret graphics. LED’s have become more affordable with better resolution delivery (as little as 0.7 pixel pitch) and include features from manufacturers making mounting and connectivity simpler.
LCD screens have been the preferred indoor video wall option since indoor video walls became a thing. LCD video walls offer ultra high definition, the ability to display single large format display or multiple feeds of different information, images and video. The only drawback being that because the display is made up of a number of screens there isn’t an uninterrupted image, there are always screen bezels to contend with, though it has to be said these have significantly reduce of late to as little as 1.8mm, after a while you don’t even really notice them. To use an LCD wall in an outdoor location would require an enclosure as they aren’t IP rated.
Choosing the Right Solution
This decision tree table within our blog post might help you understand more about the options and the decisions you’ll need to take:-
https://www.quadvision.co.uk/video-display-walls-is-lcd-or-led-the-right-choice-for-you
Next Steps
If you have a requirement for a display wall indoors or outdoors and are unsure about your options, the team at Quad Vision are very happy to discuss what’s available. Please just give them a call on 01202 862325 or email enquiries@quadvision.co.uk