LED Video Walls or Projection Screens?
What is a LED Video Wall? An LED Video Walls are similar to a TV or Projection screen, but where they differ is the most important. Unlike a TV, your typical LED Walls are hundreds of assembled panels with thousands of thousands of small light-emitting-diodes (LEDs), which are essentially small individual LED lights. Projectors on the other hand, are a single source bulb projecting an image on the front or rear of a large projection screen. Either hung or mounted on a structure, a projector is a simple way to get content on a large screen.
It’s technology like this that allows Repertoire to build out temporary LED Video Walls and Projection Screens 10, 20 or 30ft wide or more. With screens of this size, it’s incredibly difficult not to stop and stare. Each with their own pros and cons, there is much to consider when deciding between LED Video Walls or Projection for your next live event.
Pros & Cons When Planning LED Video Walls
Weight | Power | Resolution
1st note would be weight. How much does this LED Video Wall weigh? This is important to discuss with your venue manager in the early planning stages. Truss, Motors, Pannels, and Cables add up to a lot of weight. Our screens have weighed more than 800KG. A certified rigger is recommended.
Note 2 is power consumption. There are quite a few LEDs, though power efficient, there’s a lot of them. A 66-panel wall draws on average 2,000 watts. To lower your overall amp usage, we recommend 210v and/or 3 phase power. Our system consists of a custom power distro that distributes CamLock Power-Con from a 9 pin breakout. Knowing how your LED Wall is powered will help you keep it on.
The 3rd note would be the resolution. When making LED Walls of various custom sizes for clients, it’s almost impossible to stick to a 16:9 aspect ratio, let alone 1920×1080. You’ll want to find out the number of pixels in a single panel and do the math. Our LED panels are 192×192 pixels, so a 10×5 panel LED Video Wall would have a resolution of 1920×960 and an aspect ratio of 2:1.
The LED Wall at E3 2019
LED Video Walls on the road! Repertoire Productions had the pleasure again this year to get the opportunity to produce the audio and visual elements for GameSpot’s booth and Livestream, from the show floor of E3 2019, down in Los Angeles, CA.
An exciting challenge we were presented this year from GameSpot, adding a 20ft LED Video Wall to this year’s E3 booth. Something we’d talked about in years past, this year was looking feasible. We were ready for the opportunity knowing it was going to be a challenge.
LED Video Walls are incredible pieces of technology with unique drawbacks, but a multitude of bonuses. Brighter screens for use in bright spaces, LED walls are quite bright, allowing for the lighting team work without much restriction or fear they’ll compromise screen content. Presenter blocking projection is eliminated, while LED Walls supplement backlight. Additionally, creative sizes and shapes allow for unique more backdrop designs than projection mapping, plus saving natural resources over scenic fabrication.
Projection Pros & Cons
There’s also a lot to look at when considering projection at your next live event. If cost isn’t too much of an issue, there is definitely a few more cons to projectors vs LED Video Walls. Projection has the drawbacks of needing a dark space for deep contrast, possibly casing shadows on presenters and limitations on size and shape. The brighter the room the more expensive and powerful projector you’ll need for your event production.
Projection is by no means cheap, cheaper than an LED Video Wall in most circumstances when larger screen sizes are needed the cost differences to a LED Video Wall are negligible.
LED Walls, Video Walls, Projectors & Screens Summarized
LED Video Walls, are they worth it? Hell yes, they are. LED Video Walls are brighter and richer than projectors, don’t cast shadows, and can be built to incredible sizes. If there is one way to take your live event to the next level, you can’t go wrong with an LED Screen. Ultimately it comes down to cost and practicality, is it possible to deploy this LED Video Wall. Concerts, Sporting Events, and Live Shows all sport LED Video Walls for their most important content let us do the same for yours. Repertoire takes pride in being an example San Francisco LED Video Wall Company. Shoot us a line!
