LED has already presented itself as the leading display technology in the past year. The technology is in high demand and constantly evolving. There was a great variety of suppliers and products to marvel at at ISE 2023. Everyone is making LED. Demand is high, but customer expectations are also rising. We have summarised the biggest current trends and innovations for you.
LED is used in many areas
Whether small LED screens, impressive video walls or huge outdoor surfaces: flexible LED solutions attract attention and impress with their images. The spectrum of applications ranges from corporate solutions in the area of meetings, conferencing and collaboration in the course of New Work, to retail, in customer centres and showrooms for the presentation of companies and products all the way to digital education. LEDs have long played a major role in advertising and digital signage, for example as digital shop windows in shopping centres or eye-catching outdoor installations on building facades. For outdoor applications and events, certain types of LEDs such as DIP (Dual In-Line Package) are particularly popular due to their high luminosity and weather resistance. A relatively new use case for LEDs are studio applications and the use for virtual production. In film, television or theatre productions, LED walls are increasingly replacing green screens as immersive backgrounds. This can reduce post-production time and overall costs. Those involved on set also get an idea of how the scene will look.
Smaller, more sustainable and with more power
The ongoing development of mass-market, cost-effective products makes LED an attractive alternative to other display solutions such as LCD. LED has long since ceased to be a special solution. A major advantage is the modular design, which can be easily adapted to the corresponding need. Compared to traditional displays, LEDs are usually the longer-lasting solution and, depending on the situation, may also be the more energy-efficient choice. Improvement with regard to sustainability issues is generally an ever-greater topic. In particular, work is being done to achieve ever smaller pixel pitches. The pixel pitch describes the distance between two LEDs. The smaller the pixel pitch, the higher the pixel density and thus the image resolution that can be achieved for sharp image quality. This is also made possible by the new production technology Chip on Board (COB) instead of the most common type so far Surface-Mount-Device (SMD). Here, the light-emitting semiconductors are mounted directly on the circuit board without a housing around it. This allows for a denser assembly and improves heat dissipation. A variant of COB production technology is Micro-LED. This is basically the same technology, but in an even smaller format and slightly different arrangement. Micro-LEDs are more or less the synthetic successor to the popular OLEDs. Instead of organic carbon compounds, they consist of indium gallium nitride. As a result, micro-LEDs have a longer life and higher luminance than OLEDs. Moreover, there is no danger of burn-in. In addition to their durability, the new LED versions impress with rich blacks and high colour contrasts. The range of functions is also expanding: interactive elements such as touch, voice or gesture control are increasingly in demand. In addition, more and more products are being offered with 8K resolution. Manufacturers are also increasingly experimenting with new materials to make even more flexible adaptations to special environments, for example curved or foldable displays. A special eye-catcher that could also be marvelled at at the relevant trade fairs: transparent LED screens to look through for an extraordinary visual experience that can be embedded in the environment in a special way. The often complex installation of LED solutions should also become easier. All-in-one solutions with larger modules are to reduce set-up times to one to two hours. Formats are increasingly being adapted to other monitor formats, especially the popular 16:9 format. This should also make it easier to change or exchange traditional displays to LED. In addition, there is improved software for control and maintenance.
Which LED solution is the right one?
With the abundance of offers, choosing the right solution is not easy. Our experts will be happy to advise you independently of manufacturers and according to your needs. The intended use is decisive when choosing your display. Where should the display be placed, what should be shown on it? Parameters such as viewing distances, resolution, brightness and, of course, budget must all be taken into account to achieve the best possible result. Get in touch with us.
Author: Felix Niedrich, Editor macom GmbH