Screen gap

In many cases, content in television studios is spread over the complete backdrop. Gaps between the individual panels, creating a black raster pattern, is therefore undesirable. LED is the absolute champion in this field, as this technology is completely seamless. Content can be spread over a large backdrop canvas without any interruption, making LED a preferred technology for many television studios.

INGSCREEN have a thin gap between individual cubes, creating a thin raster which is visible when the camera is filming in close to the backdrop. Most LCD video walls have a bezel surrounding each panel to keep the electronics in place, which creates a larger inter-screen gap. Barco UniSee, however, was developed to work without a real bezel, making it the LCD video wall with the smallest inter-screen gap in the market (see image).

Viewing angle

Another important parameter is the angle under which the backdrop is shot. For news programs, there are a limited number of static angles which are typically quite frontal. Other shows use mobile camera positions that can film the backdrop from a sharp angle. This makes the viewing angle an essential part of the consideration. LCD video walls have an exceptional performance in this field. Both horizontal and vertical viewing angles are very good, which gives the camera crew close to total positioning freedom. Direct view LED gains high scores as well, especially for horizontal viewing angles (which is in many cases the most important direction), and retains its brightness best of all technologies. Rear-projection cubes are best used for static setups, mainly for news studios.

Reflections

In television studios, lighting is of key importance and a lot of time and effort are spent to get it just right. Avoiding light reflections in the backdrop is a main element in this exercise. However, there is a big difference between the different technologies when it comes to reflections.

The glass display surface of LCD acts a bit like a mirror when a bright light shines upon it. The reflected light should never be directly in line with a filming camera. A clever studio setup will fix this. Direct view LED light reflection is more dependent of the total amount of ambient light than on the position of the lighting sources, since it scatters the light in all directions. This means that the position of the light point is only of minor importance. Less light in a studio therefore means better contrast.

Rear-projection cubes perform best when it comes to reflection, as the projection screen tends to absorb most of the lighting.

Flexibility for creative setups

The broadcast market is creative by nature, which means the backdrop needs to enable this creativity. Every technology has some unique features in this area. Let’s have a look. Direct view LED tiles are compact, and easy to handle. They are therefore perfect to create a curved set-up and allow for more creative, non-rectangular shapes. This highly expands the possibilities of studio set designers, allowing them to think out of the (rectangular) box.

LCD, on the other hand, is the technology which is most easily equipped with a touch kit. It is thus perfect for use as an interactive wall, which is becoming increasingly popular in many news broadcasts and television shows.

Post time:Jun-24-2021