04/02/2020
An Overview
One of the most important aspects of any LED screen is it’s brightness. Anyone who’s tried to see what’s on the screen in the bright sunlight understands what does it mean. Therefore higher brightness is especially crucial for outdoor displays. Before you invest in any of them, it’s important to understand what the different aspects of display brightness are and how they work.
Nits, lumen and brightness
Luckily the sign industry has settled on a standard measurement that will help us to understand and compare different LED screens. This measurement is the nit, also known as candelas per square meter (c/m2). A nit is a unit of measurement for the total brightness over one square meter of an LED screen. This value takes into account all of the contributing factors to brightness, such as the number of LEDs per pixel, the pixel pitch and the brightness of individual LEDs. The nit is different than what is typically used for single light source such as projectors and flashlights, which are measured in lumens. The nit measurement assumes that all of the LEDs within the square meter are on at their full brightness as allowed by the screen software and hardware configuration. A special measurement device is used to deliver the nit rating of the screen. Outdoor LED screens can reach up to 10,000 nits or even higher. In comparison, an indoor LED screen range from 500 to 2500 nits.
There are two important things to consider related to LED screen brightness. How well and how long it competes with the sun. The brighter your display, the better it is able to compete with the sun. In addition to that, LEDs do not burn out but instead become dimmer over the time. The dimmer an individual LED becomes, the less effective the screen will be at competing with the sun. Also keep in mind that different location requires different level of brightness or nit to make the content visible and vivid for the viewer.
Location matters
If you plan to install your outdoor LED display in places that are shadowed, consider 1,000 – 2,500 nits to be enough for the brightness. For example it can be in a protected location, under an eave or somewhere where the screen would only face the morning sun.
If your installation location is in the bright outdoor places, consider 2,500 – 5,000 nits to be the target brightness, to ensure a clear and vivid images. Hence, if you’re planning to install your LED display somewhere facing west direction, then this would serve you with enough brightness.
Finally, when you pan to instll you LED display in the direct sunlight, you’ll need a display that has the brightness level of 5,000 – 10,000 nits, to make the content more visible.
If you have a clear understanding of the level and working of an LED screen brightness, you can make use of your display in a better and more efficient way.
