since this list is such a great resource for me I figured I’d ask here:
I am increasingly interested in the LED industry, esp. the appearance of
LED walls, that aren’t custom-built and cost a million.

Since I know that some of you have done work with these walls in the past;

What are the price-ranges for these things? Where should one source
them? All I can find by googling are Shanghai factories (an option I
haven’t ruled out, by the way!) Any specific websites/manufacturers to
seek out/avoid?

Do all of them use VGA/DVI interfaces or at least some converter-boxes,
so that writing to them is easy?

What are the potential pitfalls by going the LED route instead of buying
really really expensive projectors?

I really like the idea of having a visual rig that is somewhere
inbetween fancy lighting and video, and I think a small LED system would
be soooo rad.

Cheers – and thanks for your input!
Andreas.

The real innovator and in my mind new leader of the field is Element
Labs
http://elementlabs.com/
the design of their systems is so much more elegent than previous
generations … lightweight, & easy to handle.

Usually led screens are leased not purchased. The only people that
buy them are the rental houses, or as part of construction.
I can’t speak much about actual pricing, but will soon as I am
pricing a large display out for a client, but fairly certain that
costs are getting lower steadily. Its still more expensive than
projection but its starting to compete quite strongly. lighting
designers seem to favor them over projection these days.

The real downside of LED video is resolution, typically 1 pixel per
inch (and that is considered ‘high resolution!” so building a ‘small
one’ as you describe means you might be working with thumbnail size
video on your screen – ‘full resolution’ requires alot of real estate
- but thats really the point – to go big and bright. of course who
says you have to do video. I saw a beautiful installation today that
used element labs ‘versatubes’ and had a generative color pattern
design. Think Dan Flavin on steroids. this would indicate to me
that if this particular artist made it happen, than it is an
attainable goal.

–deKam

> Hi all,
>
> since this list is such a great resource for me I figured I’d ask
> here:
> I am increasingly interested in the LED industry, esp. the
> appearance of LED walls, that aren’t custom-built and cost a million.
>
> Since I know that some of you have done work with these walls in
> the past;
>
> What are the price-ranges for these things? Where should one source
> them? All I can find by googling are Shanghai factories (an option
> I haven’t ruled out, by the way!) Any specific websites/
> manufacturers to seek out/avoid?
>
> Do all of them use VGA/DVI interfaces or at least some converter-
> boxes, so that writing to them is easy?
>
> What are the potential pitfalls by going the LED route instead of
> buying really really expensive projectors?
>
> I really like the idea of having a visual rig that is somewhere
> inbetween fancy lighting and video, and I think a small LED system
> would be soooo rad.
>
> Cheers – and thanks for your input!
> Andreas.
>
>

dekam skrev:
> LED video is really going the way of modular
>
> The real innovator and in my mind new leader of the field is Element Labs
> http://elementlabs.com/
> the design of their systems is so much more elegent than previous
> generations … lightweight, & easy to handle.
Very slick stuff in that website – thanks for the link!
>
> Usually led screens are leased not purchased. The only people that
> buy them are the rental houses, or as part of construction.
> I can’t speak much about actual pricing, but will soon as I am pricing
> a large display out for a client, but fairly certain that costs are
> getting lower steadily. Its still more expensive than projection but
> its starting to compete quite strongly. lighting designers seem to
> favor them over projection these days.
>
> The real downside of LED video is resolution, typically 1 pixel per
> inch (and that is considered ‘high resolution!” so building a ‘small
> one’ as you describe means you might be working with thumbnail size
> video on your screen – ‘full resolution’ requires alot of real estate
> – but thats really the point – to go big and bright.
I am starting to find links to manufacturers building displays with a
pitch of between 12mm and 3.1mm – making the LED wall thing a lot more
classy at smaller scales.
> of course who says you have to do video. I saw a beautiful
> installation today that used element labs ‘versatubes’ and had a
> generative color pattern design. Think Dan Flavin on steroids. this
> would indicate to me that if this particular artist made it happen,
> than it is an attainable goal.
Absolutely! The Speed of Light video for Coldplay was an excellent
example of the VersaTube technology in a very large array. For our
needs, and indeed for the work I hope to be doing with such a system it
would be very small scale – I am thinking of panels that are 3×1 meter.
That could still give me a resolution of roughly 270.000 pixels
(300×900), which is plenty to go beyond the “Atari-art” stage – I would
need that, since a specific solution such as a VersaTube rig will not be
all that useful for *every* event you do.

Cheers,
Andreas.

Joost Rekveld skrev:
> Hi Andreas,
>
> good questions: i started researching these things for a project two
> years ago and I was quickly stopped by the first price quotes; the
> prices I found at the time ranged around 4K euro’s per book-sized tile.
> At the time I alsof found transparent led-tiles (leds in glass,
> transparent when off, super cool) but that was about 2K euro’s per
> tile RENTAL.
> I was amazed…
You will be pleased to hear that the world of anything-LED has changed
*dramatically* in the last few years! Not 3-4 years ago an ultrabright
5mm white LED would cost you a fortune. Now they stick them in any old
toy gizmo.
>
> I guess a mayor pitfall is weight: these things are heavy like a brick
> wall !
>
> for instance Barco makes them but i suppose the Shanghai route could
> be cheaper…
I would reckon so, yes! The size/weight issue is helped a lot by the
fact that the systems are indeed modular, typically 320*160 mm from what
I’ve read, and can even be supplied in flightcases, and since the price
has gone down the use has spread to advertising, requiring both
low-profile constructions for wall-mounting, and lower weight, in order
to facilitate use in displays for boothes at fairs and so on.
> perhaps things changed or perhaps I didn’t look in the right place:
> i’m curious to hear other’s responses…
> What you describe would be great indeed, especially since these
> led-walls are so bright !
>
Right on. Even a small LED segment for a low stage placement combined
with video projection will be a radical addition to any visual rig. They
could even replace the lovely old favourite, the floodlights.
Andreas.

I dont mean to be pompous… my recording facility was 4 years ahead
of the LED craze with color kinetic’s MR16 lamps….. but now I’m
almost ashamed of them.

just wondering. I’m getting kind of sick of soft architecture.

-matt

I dont mind neon, lazers, or glow in the dark junk, if its done
nicely, is well thought out. With the right person designing, you can
turn anything into complete shit.

Ive tried, it works! :)

On Jan 20, 2007, at 9:05 PM, matthew aidekman wrote:

> Artistically, does anyone else forsee RGB-LEDs going the way of
> neon,black light, plasma lamps, glow in the dark junk etc, laser
> light shows? just something that becomes so common place that it
> almost becomes ugly?
>
> I dont mean to be pompous… my recording facility was 4 years
> ahead of the LED craze with color kinetic’s MR16 lamps….. but
> now I’m almost ashamed of them.
>
> just wondering. I’m getting kind of sick of soft architecture.
>
> -matt

v a d e //

http://www.vade.info
abstrakt.vade.info

> I really like the idea of having a visual rig that is somewhere
> inbetween fancy lighting and video, and I think a small LED system would
> be soooo rad.
—————————————————-

Hi,

actually this is what I’m doing, even if my system goes way more into the “fancy lighting” direction than into video.

I use 6 of these fixtures in a matrix configuration:
http://www.alkalite.com/main/product/html/product_intro2.php?main_cid=&cid=16&pid=29&type=
(same: Showtec Led Pixel Wash)

Using these I have a Rig that is highly transportable (fits into two large Trolleys), very affordable (compared to the common LED Videoscreen Solutions available this is beneath Low-Cost), and very BRIGHT.
These lamps ARE bright, you can seriously blind the audience and they can illuminate the whole venue (uo to 500-1000 people)
All six draw only 700W max, which is ridiculous when you compare it to what you get with 700W out of ONE Par64!

Having a total Resolution of either 8×6 or 12×4 Pixels this is not “Video” but it’s at least “graphical” and it looks gorgeous. At least People tend to react quite impressed…

Here’s a short clip, showing only 3 of 6 Panels in a 4×6 Pixel configuration:
http://www.klub-el-paradiso.de/videos/spektrakufa.mov
(ignore the music!)

best
Lars

I did find this:
http://www.americandj.com/product.asp?ProductIDNumber=1634&cat=L.E.D.
, which looks nice and portable, but not neccesarily all that high-end.

The search continues – I hope it doesn’t end in Shanghai…
Andreas.