LED, LCD

Over there in Las Vegas they have The Sphere, a theater that’s a hollow moon coated with LEDs, inside and out. It cost well over $2 billion to make, and it’s awesome, even though nobody knows what “LED” stands for.

Can’t tell LED from LCD? You’re not alone. We’re all pretending. The IT folks made the acronyms similar so we’ll be confused and accept the price tag.

Just kidding, IT friends!

[Clears throat nervously.]

LED:
Light Emitting Diode (LED) displays are zillions of teensy little light bulbs. Tiles of these get built like bricks into walls — and spheres. Think of the “E” in LED as “Enormous.”

LCD:
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) means glass screens, like in a laptop. Think of the “C” in LCD as “Computer screen.” LCDs can be grouped into media walls, but you’ll see grid lines between the monitors.

Why use LED?

They do make LCDs as big as the bed of a pickup truck. But if you need something bigger, you have three choices:

1. Projectors (you’ll need a dark space and somewhere to hide projectors)
2. LCD grid (you’ll see grid lines)
3. LED

Here’s the thing:
Need a truly huge moving image, don’t have a dark space or a place to hide projectors, and don’t want grid lines? You’ll need LED.

Otherwise, you might not. So do consider all the possibilities.

Warmly,
Jonathan

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MtM Word of the Day:
Market analysis. For a proposed museum or large exhibition project, a market analysis is research done to predict feasibility, demand, attendance, competition, and revenue. It is (hopefully) conducted before significant design or investment decisions are made.