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“The video wall is doing everything we ever could have asked of it." -- Jestin Quiett, City Church, New Orleans. Photos courtesy of Chauvet
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New screens at Sagebrush Community Church in Albuquerque, N.M., are built from 100 Elation EPV762 video panels with 7.62-pixel pitch.
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City Church recently installed an LED wall consisting of 64 Chauvet PVP S7 Panels.
There is a revolution going on in the church technology market. Okay, it's really more of an attempted coup. The reigning monarchy of projectors is being challenged by the latest and greatest in LED video wall technology. Just a few years ago LED panels were not the right answer for most churches. Between the latency in processing and initial cost, they just didn't make sense.
Lately, it seems like most of the techs from the larger churches I talk to are at least considering LED panels as part of any video system upgrade.
So what's causing this potential coup d'etat? In short, a huge influx of manufacturers—most from China—have pushed prices down to the point that LED is now in the price range of many churches, not just the big ones.
So the obvious question is, why? What are the contributing factors to churches moving to LED screens over projectors? What are the benefits? What are the downsides? What do you as the consumer need to know?
Notable Differences in Technology
One of the first things to note is that not all LEDs are created equal. Different types of LEDs are used in video walls. The two main types are: SMD and DIP. SMD (surface mounted) uses an encapsulated diode, and these end up looking more like flat computer chips than lights. DIP (dual in-line package) gets soldered on the trailing end of the diode, and these end up looking like small rounded bulbs. The difference is that you can get smaller pixel pitch with SMD than with DIP, which enhances the resolution of the final image. SMD is also what most manufacturers would recommend for indoor use, while DIP is usually listed for outdoor use. Part of the reason for this is that if you are outdoors, you will be farther away from the actual LEDs, so the larger-pixel-pitch DIP looks fine.
In the past, cost was enough to keep most churches from investing in LED screens, and while the upfront cost is still higher than projectors, looking at the total cost of ownership over the life of the product brings the figures closer together. For instance, LED life is measured in tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of hours. Projector lamps are measured in hundreds or thousands of hours. Projector lamps are also very expensive, so you can expect a pretty high yearly cost associated with owning a projector, as well as the upfront cost. All of this needs to be considered and amortized over the life of the projector to get an accurate cost comparison. LEDs are going to have less yearly maintenance cost and should amortize over a much longer life, bringing the yearly cost over life for the two products closer together.
In addition, power requirements are very different. Larger, installation-grade projectors may need a single, dedicated, high-amperage circuit. LEDs are much more power efficient, but a 10x20-foot LED wall is going to require as many as 50 panels. So the power requirements will still be demanding, despite the power efficiency of the individual panels. Keep in mind that you can only run a certain number of panels on each 20-amp circuit. So a 20-foot wall is going to take multiple dedicated breakers.
Going with the Techno Flow
Ease-of-use and flexibility are also factors. Jestin Quiett from City Church in New Orleans worked with lighting supplier RZI Lighting New Orleans to install 64 Chauvet PVP S7 Panels; a 7.8-mm pixel pitch SMD panel that uses tri-color SMD 3528 LEDs. Quiett was very pleased with how easy it was to install the Chauvet LED panels, received this past February. “Attach them together and plug them in, that's it,” he says. In Quiett's case, the ease-of-use actually ties into the flexibility. Because they are so easy to install, it is possible to add more panels as needed, giving him the option of changing layout and expanding the size of the screen as budget becomes available. “The video wall is doing everything we ever could have asked of it,” Quiett adds. “At this point it looks like we'll be buying more panels to create an even bigger wall.”
A huge influx of manufacturers have caused prices to drop to the point that LED walls are in the price range of many churches, not just the big ones.
One of the exciting features about LED technology is the flexibility. Unlike video screens that are permanently hung, LED screens can be reconfigured into any number of shapes and sizes. Because you can lay out the screens in a format that has nothing to do with standard video aspect ratio, there may be the need or want to create content in a format that is non-standard. This level of content creation might have been difficult once, but churches have edge-blended, shaped, mapped and masked projectors for many years. As a result, many are already familiar with how to handle odd aspect ratios when it comes to content creation. Depending on the software interface to the panels, however, getting live video to an odd resolution display might still present a little difficulty.
More Matters of Content …
Another factor to consider about content is that the software for most panels functions as a built-in media server, so it could technically add another source and another destination to your video flow. This could add to the system's flexibility. Being able to source the panels for content by adding an internal media server opens up new possibilities for playing content.
Stephen MacArthur from Vast Technologies Inc. in Albuquerque, N.M., recently handled an installation at local Sagebrush Community Church that featured 100 Elation EPV762 video panels with 7.62-pixel pitch, three-in-one 3528 SMD LEDs. He says this about getting content to the Elation Panels: “Video content is mapped to the LED displays using a front end consisting of a main video server outfitted with Black Magic's Decklink Extreme 3D capture cards and Yellow Brick HD-SDI converters. Media is processed, mixed and mapped using Media-Masters-Pro software. Video content is created and managed by the highly talented video department at Sagebrush Community Church, led by Marc Campanozzi (production director) and supported by Chris Lively and the entire creative team.
Content can then be triggered from either a member of the production team or triggered directly by the church's lighting designer, Moses Almanza, from the ChamSys MagicQ300 Lighting Desk. MIDI control options are installed in the audio, video and lighting consoles and are also distributed throughout both the production and stage areas. Midi-Time-Code and Midi-Machine-Code are also utilized in tying audio, video and lighting together for tightly managed, sequenced productions.
Bright and Brighter
In the battle for brightness, LED screens will win every time. Most installed screens have to be run at just 20%-30% brightness. With projection, brightness is important, but one of the factors in measuring a projector's perceived brightness is the surface upon which you are projecting. Some higher-end projection screens actually give you a gain on the brightness coming out of the projector by focusing the direction of the light reflection. However, the advantage for LED screens is that you are looking directly at the light source, as opposed to looking at a reflected image when viewing a projection screen. Almanza says, “The Elation panels have made the job easier for our production team because, as a light source, they're very brilliant and the colors are amazing.”
One contributing factor to the brightness of LED screens is the contrast ratio: the difference between the blackest blacks and the whitest whites. With a projector, the darkest part of the image can only be as black as the color of the screen. Projection screens are usually white or gray. With LED, black is represented by “off” so the contrast ratio can be significantly higher when compared to projection. Contrast ratio plays a huge part in perceived brightness, which is to say: the higher the ratio, the brighter the image seems. This brightness advantage has significant benefits for getting video images on a stage that has lots of light. Stage lighting can easily wash out traditional projector screens. However, that brightness can cut both ways, and it's important to find the balance. As Almanza reports, “We are still using [projection for] IMAG on our side screens, so when we turned on the video wall and projectors there was a huge contrast between the two. We had to turn down the brightness on the LED video wall to bring it closer to the projectors. We also discovered because the wall is a powerful light source, the first time content was used with a white background the whole stage was overpowered by the wall.”
So while it's important to consider the effect LED panels will have on your current projection surfaces—especially if you are going to have a mix of both LED and projection—it's also important to know how it will affect your lighting.
Parting Wisdom
LED life is measured in tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of hours. Projector lamps in hundreds of thousands of hours.
One factor most churches looking to install LED panels note is the temptation to purchase them directly from overseas to lower the up-front cost. In the end, no one we talked to went this route. Choosing to have a manufacturer or integrator available to help was worth the extra cost. While the installation is not necessarily difficult, as with most large-scale projects, especially ones that require proper rigging, the money spent on a certified installer/integrator can help you make wise decisions.
Based on what MacArthur says, there are a lot of parts to consider, and having someone who understands all facets of the project could save you from costly mistakes. If you are thinking of installing LED panels in your church, be sure to take into consideration the budget requirements for up-front cost, the cost to power the panels, and the potentially added cost for custom content creation. That said, if you can get over those hurdles, the super bright, high-resolution results from LED can be spectacular.
Side-bar: Buying Video Panels? Why More Isn't Always Better.
Video walls add depth, imagery and extra messaging to worship services, which is why more churches are using them every day. However, along with creating exciting design opportunities, video walls (like all new technologies) also raise new questions, which can leave church lighting, video and production directors confused about how to make the right product choices.
Too often, this confusion has led churches to “over-buy” video wall products. It isn't that the products selected are deficient; it's simply that they offer performance levels that aren't needed at most churches. Since these extra features are costly, many churches wind up spending more than necessary on video walls.
Considerations for smart purchasing
The most common source of over-buying is in the area of pixel pitch. The smaller the pixel pitch, the closer your minimum viewing distance. If you're too close to a video panel based on its minimum viewing distance, the images will look pixelated. You should allow one meter of viewing distance for every millimeter of pixel pitch. So, if the pixel pitch is 5.2 millimeters, the optimal/minimum viewing distance is 5.2 meters, or approximately 15 feet.
Buying a panel that's designed for a minimum viewing distance that's closer than you actually need will drive up the cost of a video wall without providing added benefits. For example, if the closest congregation member at your church sits 50 feet from your video wall, you can use video panels with a 15- (instead of 5-) millimeter pixel pitch and save money without compromising the viewing experience.
Brightness is another area where churches often over-buy video panels. A panel for outdoor use needs a higher NIT rating (the measuring unit of brightness) than one used indoors. In fact, buying panels that are too bright for indoor church use can overwhelm your congregation. If you're using video panels in outdoor services, a 4,000 NITS product is appropriate. However, if your panels are dedicated to indoor services, 1,200 to 2,500 NITS is sufficient.
Evaluating pixel pitch and brightness by standards that make sense for your specific application will not only enrich your worship services, it will save your church money in the process.
