1. Viewing Distance
Pixel pitch — the distance between adjacent LED lights — has been a focus of a lot of the marketing done by manufacturers in a hyper-competitive market, but the increasingly miniscule gap may not even be relevant to many digital signage projects that use direct-view LED.
In simple terms, the finer the pitch, the closer viewers can be without seeing the individual LED lights. A common guideline is that a comfortable viewing distance equates to 10 feet for every millimeter of pitch. So a 1mm pixel pitch display looks good as close as 10 feet away, whereas a 2.5mm LED display is best seen from 25 feet or further back. When viewers are closer than the optimal minimum viewing distance, our eyes start to see the individual LED lights and the viewing experience is degraded.
2. Desired Resolution
No direct-view LED project should get underway until there is a clear sense of the type of content to be shown, and what that means in terms of resolution. While 4K is top of mind for many or most consumers these days, a 4K display using LEDs is very different from a 4K LCD display.
Think of it this way. If a direct-view LED module has 200 horizontal light pixels, it will take 20 of those modules lined up side by side to get to 4,000 pixels. If each LED module is 18 inches wide, the resulting width of the 4K LED wall would be 30 feet. The finer the pitch, the narrower that wall will be.
3. Customer Support and Supply
In choosing an LED supplier, buying on price alone is seductive, but very risky. Here’s why: when there are problems,they should provide some years warranty as assurance to quality, It must have sales offices staffed by technical experts who can provide help at any hour of day.
4. Serviceability
In most commercial installations, space is at a premium because of the cost per square foot. Setting up an LED video wall that requires access from the rear to get at the electronics and connectors requires the video wall to be bumped out a foot or two from a structural wall, so technicians can do the initial installation and servicing. That space is no longer usable for anything else.
If a rear-serviced wall is built and then pushed in to adjoin with a structural wall, that video wall will need to be partially or fully dismantled to get at the electronics whenever problems arise — causing lengthy outages and substantial disruption to the environment.
By comparison, front-serviceable displays allow the individual LED modules to be removed using a magnetic tool that pops them out individually, in a matter of seconds, with no disruption. Front-serviced displays also minimize the necessary footprint of a direct-view wall, with just enough clearance required in the rear to allow air flow for cooling.