Why Video Walls?

Image brightness and quality aren’t the only selling points…

For many houses of worship, looking to upgrade from SD to HD or

beyond is becoming more feasible thanks to LED walls. As LED

wall technology continues to improve, and as the walls themselves

become more and more affordable, LED wall technology becomes a

viable choice.

If your house of worship is looking to upgrade and considering video

walls, there are a few things you need to be aware of: viewing distance, pixel

pitch, and NITS are all aspects of the technology you need to understand.

The first two – viewing distance and pixel pitch, work hand in glove.

Pixel Pitch

You need to know the minimum and maximum distance your

congregation will be seated from the LED screen to determine the correct

pixel pitch you will need. Pixel pitch is both the vertical and horizontal

spacing in millimeters between each LED light in the screen. The closer the

pixel pitch, the ‘tighter’ the image and the closer your minimum viewing

distance will be.

While many houses of worship view a smaller pixel pitch as better, this

isn’t always the case. If you are going to have congregants sitting right

up against the screen, of course you want a small pixel pitch to avoid

having the displayed image look to pixelated; however, this is often not

the case. Determine where you are going to hang the screens and have a

measurement in meters to the nearest seat or front row. Common thought

is that every meter of distance is the equivalent of one pixel pitch. Therefore,

if your front row is six meters from the screen, your pixel pitch should be

six millimeters. Remember, you pay more per panel for a smaller pixel

pitch, so make sure you know your measurements!

Buying a screen with a pixel pitch of four millimeters when your front

row is nine meters from the screen is overkill – and it will take a significant

chunk out of your budget which could be used elsewhere.

NITS

The NITS measurement determines the brightness of the LED screen,

and this is also extremely important. You need to factor in the ambient light

in the room where the screens will be placed, what type of lighting and

haze/ fog might be in play, etc. The darker the room, the lower the NITS

measurement can be. For example, the average TV is about 300 NITS, while

LED screens used outside should be a minimum of 4,000 NITS or more.

Most LED screens used indoors average between 1200- 2500 NITS, and

depending on your sanctuary might not need to be run at 100% intensity to

allow the images to be seen clearly.

As with pixel pitch, the brighter the screen/higher the NITS rating,

the more you will pay, so choose wisely. It is always better to speak with a

manufacturer or work with an integrator that can make sure you are getting

exactly what you need, without over buying on NITS or pixel pitch.

LED walls, by their very nature, are bright. Many houses of worship

don’t need to run the screens at full intensity for the image to be crisp and

clear, and this means the screen itself will last longer. If an LED screen has a

lifetime rating of 50,000 hours for example, this means the screen itself will

be half as bright as it was when purchased after 50,000 hours of use running

at 100% brightness. If a house of worship is only running their screen at

70% brightness, the lifetime of the screen increases.

Consider the hours per week that your LED screen will be in use– let’s

say 12 hours on average. Times that by 52 weeks a year, and you are only –

ON AVERAGE – using your screen 624 hours a year. Now divide that into

50,000 hours: it would take your facility 80 years running at full brightness

to meet the lifetime rating of the screen!

Of course, we’re exaggerating here: computers, cameras, and any other

piece of image-supply technology that you run through your screen will

improve and change over the years, but there is absolutely no reason why

a screen you purchase for your house of worship in 2017 won’t still be

running in your sanctuary 15-20 years from now.

Less Money to Run

Other benefits to LED walls are that they cost less money to run, and

you won’t need to be replacing bulbs or other typical maintenance that

you would have for a projection system, which will also save money. LED

screens are also very quiet and don’t require the interior fans that projectors

do to keep them cool. Another benefit to LED screens is that they are

scalable because they are modular, which means that as your needs change

over the lifespan of your screen, the way the screen itself is configured

and used can change too. As well, because your LED screen is made of

individual panels if you do have problems with one panel it can easily be

removed and fixed or replaced as needed without having to replace the

entire screen. Although purchasing an LED screen might be more expensive

than purchasing a projection system in the short term, in the long term they

could save your facility money.