LED vs LCD; the digital signage revolution
LED vs LCD seems to be the question on most people’s lips when they begin to consider digital signage. Digital displays have become increasingly popular over the past few years with almost all businesses incorporating them into their physical spaces. Whether it’s an indoor wayfinding system for staff and visitors or an outdoor LED advertising space, digital signage has fully adapted into a mix of environments.
Digital signage is seen each day by over 70% of the world’s population. When it comes to choosing the right digital signage many people get stuck. There are now so many manufacturers offering so many different products. Whether its LED or LCD, there is a lot on the market with each product having varying specifications.
The two main types of digital signage are LED and LCD but which one will suit your situation best tis completely dependent on a variety of factors;
LED vs LDC? what to consider…
- Resolution
- Pixel pitch
- Image size
- Ambient light
- Outdoor vs Indoor
- Installation
- Servicing
- Budget
LCD – what is it?
If you’re looking for a piece of signage that your users are going to be viewing from a close distance, or physically interacting with, LCD is probably the option for you. LCD comes in a variety of options, ranging in size and shape. Liquid Crystal Displays (LED) are flat panel displays, and are commonly found in banks, supermarkets, wayfinding totems, department stores and shopping centres.
LCD displays are known to be pre-set in terms of shape and size depending on the manufacturer’s design. LCD screens also offer a more interactive nature with the capabilities of the screens allowing for touch screen and touch free displays.
LED – what is it?
Looking for an outdoor solution? Or a bold statement piece that can be viewed from a fair distance away? Light Emitting Diode (LED) is the best option. LED is one of the most popular choices for digital displays, given its high-visibility and adaptability to suit all projects of any magnitude. LED solutions are available in a range of sizes and pixel pitches. This means LED is more effective from a distance, usually in a large scale display format to deliver effective, eye catching content.
75% of the leading brands admit that their success is by the mercy of Digital Display.
LED varies in size – our solutions weigh just 5kg per cabinet and at only 43mm thick. We offer the lightest and thinnest LED on the market – available in right angle or curved options. Our LED is flexible in size and easy to swap.
Brightness and Display Quality
When it comes to brightness, LCD has slightly less capability compared to LED. Whilst LED has the capability to operate in high brightness settings both inside and outside, LCD will struggle to compete with bright light rendering the content unviewable.
LCD sometimes holds the ‘memory’ of an image in the screen, which leaves behind a residual imprint referred to as “image persistence”. Image persistence is caused when an image has been left on a screen for too long with colours often becoming stuck on the screen. LED displays never have this issue as it is caused by the crystal in the LCD display, a component which is not present in an LED display.
LED resolution depends on the pixel pitch of each screen. Pixel pitch refers to how close together each pixel is. The closer together the pixel, the higher the resolution of the screen – therefore the smaller the pixel pitch, the closer the viewing. This means if your signage is going to be viewed at a shorter distance, it should be a closer pixel pitch but if it’s going to be viewed at a further away distance it should be a further apart pixel pitch to provide a lower resolution for long distance viewing.
Cost
In terms of cost the solution you buy depends not only on your budget but also on your plans for future digital signage. The upfront cost usually puts LED above LCD as the most expensive display. However, over a long period of time LED is more cost effective due to its durability and ease of upgrade. If one part of an LED display becomes faulty it can easily be replaced, however if a part of an LCD display becomes faulty it usually requires the entire screen to be replaced.
Size and Shape
LED displays can be quite literally any size, and also quite a few different shapes. Given the nature of how LEDs are built together to form one larger screen there doesn’t tend to be a limit on how big it can be built. LED also comes in curved, concave, or convex shapes meaning it can often be built into a certain shape such as a curved wall or into a whole 360º effect. LCD on the other hand is not as flexible in size and shape and is usually set in standard by the manufacturer making it much less agile.
There are a lot of different things to consider when choosing the right digital signage, as we’ve covered. To determine the best display for a digital signage project, it’s critical to understand exactly how each display type will perform and why one is better than the other in a given situation, and how costs might affect your choice. As you can tell from reading this post – there is no right or wrong digital signage. The choice simply depends on your situation and how your digital signage is going to be used.
