Is LED or LCD Better for Outdoor Events?
When you’re planning a fun outdoor event and want to show videos or movies, a big display ensures everyone attending has a great viewing experience. Using portable outdoor digital displays can bring cinema to life. LED and LCD screens are two common standard displays options. Both are popular choices when you’re presenting a visual extravaganza for guests.
In this guide, we’ll discuss all you need to know about LED and LCD screens to help you see which display works best for outdoor events.
What Is LED?
LED stands for light-emitting diode, which is a semiconductor device that emits light anytime an electrical current passes through it. The diodes provide a similar display to the pixels on a screen, including the various colors that give a clear, vibrant image. When you use an LED screen, there are several brightness options to help you see pictures at any time of the day. LEDs are also flexible, so you have design freedom to accommodate the shapes and sizes you need for a display.
What Is LCD?
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a device that applies electric voltage to a layer of liquid crystal between glass to show images. LCD screens use backlights to illuminate displays because liquid crystal doesn’t emit light. You can see this technology in computer monitors, tablets, and commercial-grade indoor displays. While LCD offers high resolution, these screens have less flexibility for shape accommodations.
LED vs. LCD Screens
When you’re planning to host an outdoor event with a video wall or mobile screens, you want to have devices that can withstand environmental elements and provide an enjoyable viewing experience. A significant part of using outdoor displays is being able to see the screens from a distance. LED and LCD screens use pixel pitch to determine the viewing distance necessary to see a clear image on display. Pixel pitch measures the physical space in millimeters between individual pixels on a screen. The smaller the distance between each pixel, the higher the pixel density and image resolution.
While pixel pitch is a common factor between LED and LCD displays, several differences between the two screen types can make one type preferred over the other.
LED Screens
Hosting an outdoor event means you want clear, crisp images on display, whether the weather is sunny or cloudy. LED screens have many features that make them an appropriate option for outdoor screening. Some of the essential features include:
- Brightness: LED screens have multiple brightness options that allow the screen to show clearly during any time of day. If the sun is beating down on an LED screen, you can increase the brightness so the resolution is more vivid.
- Glare-resistant: Due to the LEDs being the light source, you don’t have to worry about glares on screens when the light outside changes.
- Pixel pitch: The pixel pitch on LED screens make the resolution high-quality for up-close and far-distance viewing. You could rent an LED display with 4.1 millimeters pixel pitch, suitable for watching visual content nearby or 10 feet away.
- Weatherproof: LED screens are also weatherproof, making them ideal for outdoor use. At FunFlicks®, our LED video walls and trailers are IP65-rated, ensuring they’re rain and dust-proof.
Multiple sizes: You can rent LED screens in various sizes. Thanks to their flexibility, many companies use LED to create different display shapes and sizes, such as the screens you see at Times Square in New York City.
LCD Screens
Like LED screens, LCD screens also have several features suitable for events. These features include:
- Pixel pitch: The pixel pitch for LCD is typically very small, or the pixels are right up against each other. The small pixel pitch allows for an ultra-high resolution when viewing the screens in close range.
- Brightness: While LCD screens have sufficient brightness options, they work best indoors. If you plan to host outdoor events, their brightness may not be enough to see the screens in daylight.
- Versatility: You can hook up LCD screens using various connections, such as HDMI, VGA, DVI and more, depending on your system.
Backlights: LCD screens rely on backlights for illumination and providing quality images. Due to the backlight system, the sun can cause a glare on the screen when it’s in certain positions. Some outside lighting could also create a mirror effect due to the reflectiveness of LCD screens.
How Does Each Screen Work?
The different mechanisms of LED and LCD screens help them work efficiently, providing crisp, clear and colorful images. LED screens use light-emitting diodes, while LCD screens use electric voltages and backlights to show pictures. But how do the screens work?
Upon closer inspection of LED screens, you may see dots scattered across the screen. Those are the light-emitting diodes that provide dynamic colors and light to create images on the screen. An LED display places the diodes close together to create consistency when the lights are on. LEDs are red, blue and green diodes in a specific pattern. The placement and colors of the diodes combined form pixels. From a certain distance, the differently colored pixels make up the pictures on the screen.
Instead of diodes, LCD screens use liquid crystals to produce images. The liquid crystals are between two glass panels, making up the display screen. Behind the display, a backlight illuminates the liquid crystals, creating pixels and colors. The backlights produce different amounts of electricity, which move through each pixel to change the colors you see on the screen.
Are LED or LCD Screens Better for Outdoor Events?
Now that you know the differences between LED and LCD screens, you can determine which display is better for outdoor events. When you want a clear, vibrant image that guests can easily see during any time of day, an outdoor LED screen is the best option.
Rent Your LED Screen From FunFlicks®
At FunFlicks®, we provide quality LED screen rentals to help you bring excitement to any event. We offer several screen sizes to ensure your event has the best devices for all your guests to enjoy. Whether you’re hosting a drive-in movie, music festival or graduation ceremony, we have you covered. Our experienced event hosts will bring the screen, concert-grade sound system and premium HD projection to set up and run during the event, allowing you to focus on setting up the rest of the event.
When you need LED screens, consider renting them from FunFlicks®. We provide indoor and outdoor screens across the United States. Find a rental location in your state and request an outdoor LED screen quote today!
Audiovisual Event Rentals for Your Community Event
FunFlicks® Inflatable Movie Screen Rentals
FunFlicks® inflatable movie screens are professional quality at an affordable price. There's a size for everyone, whether you're throwing a massive film festival with thousands in attendance or a small birthday with family at your house. To make sure everything runs smoothly, a local FunFlicks® event technician will arrive at your location on time, set up the screen, oversee the technology, and pack it all away at the end of the screening. Booming high-definition sound, crystal-clear laser projection, and a larger-than-life display are all included when you book an event with us.
Backyard 16'
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Premiere 21'
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Blockbuster 26'
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Elite 32'
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Epic 40'
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Xtreme 50'
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FunFlicks® LED Screen Rentals
FunFlicks LED screens are perfect for day or night display in almost any environment. Utilizing electroluminescent technology, our LED screens generate light effectively at any time of day. Each panel is rated IP65, meaning they are both rain and dustproof. Day or night, rain or shine, you get to decide when the magic happens. All of our mobile LED trailers have onboard generators for portable power. Therefore, no power supply is needed. Similar to our inflatable screens, our fleet of LED screens comes in a variety of dimensions for a variety of crowd sizes. Local event technicians across the country are available to bring our LED trailers anywhere for you to enjoy video games, live sports, movies, advertisements, or almost everything else!
8'x5' LED Trailer
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12'x7' LED Trailer
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15'x8' LED Trailer
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17'x10' LED Trailer
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23'x13' LED Trailer
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FunFlicks customers get 10% Off Movie Licensing through Movie Night Ministries!
Movie Night Ministries is a family-oriented organization whose ultimate goal is to provide excellent, newly released movies directly to communities throughout the United States.
