LED Screen Viewing Angles

Have you ever found yourself walking past an electronic LED display, only to find the picture quality change depending on where you stand? An LED display screen can look crystal clear when you're in front of it, but switch to angle viewing off to the side, and suddenly the screen shows nothing but darkness.

This all comes down to the viewing angle of the screen, which impacts its maximum viewing angle and viewing distance. It is important for anyone setting up an LED display to take the ideal viewing angle of their LED display into account.

Viewing Angles and LCD Screen Diodes

So why do some screens become compromised depending on the viewing angle? And what allows one screen to have better viewing angles than another?

It all comes down to the screen's diodes, which are the tiny light bulb components that emit colored light on a led screen. Depending on the kind of diodes used, your screen will have a different viewing angle range. 

When planning to install and use LED displays, engineers will take into account the type of traffic and the distance the intended viewer will have from the screen. They also have to consider the viewing angle of the screen, and the amount of time the audience is expected to be receiving the displayed messages.

This will lead a manufacturer to choose between a narrow angle LED diode or a wide angle LED diode. Narrow angle diodes are ideal for signs that have a long, head-on viewing distance. For example, billboards on the side of the highway, that are seen from a fixed, straight distance.

In contrast, signs that will be viewed at a wide viewing angle, with the viewer approaching the sign from different angles, will benefit from a wide angle diode. These diodes are ideal for signs in places like street viewing signs, or a drive thru. These signs will have a wider viewing angle, so the viewer can still see the sign clearly even at a right angle.

Selecting the right kind of diode is essential for any company that makes LED screens, to ensure the most audience exposure and reading time with the brightest and most accurate color quality. Ultravision LED Solutions uses wide angle diodes in its signs, displays, and LED video scoreboards with higher than industry standards and recommendations.

Tip: Be Cautious of “Brighter” LED Screens

When selecting and purchasing the correct electronic display for your use, it is important to understand the actual make-up of the diodes and the design and manufacturing of the display that you are choosing.

Some screen manufacturers may boast that they have 8,000NIT brightness, for example, but they are likely just overloading a cheaper made diode while halving its life. In this case, you’re investing in a screen with half its typical life span, and it still may be unable to produce images at wider angles.

Luckily for Ultravision LED Solutions customers, the higher quality diodes used (specifically from the same batch-manufacturing runs and tested for precision) are all built into the high-quality LED displays it sells. The company finds it is less expensive to only use the best quality diodes with concentrated density, and builds its signs and displays for the greatest light output at the widest possible angles. This ensures many more years of trouble-free life and a display that outperforms the rest.