All About microLED Technology

MicroLED: The Latest Trending Display Technology You Need to Know

First, there was the plasma screen, with concerns of image burn-in, high energy consumption and a heavy weight. Then LED-backlit LCDs came onto the scene, with brighter pictures, improved energy efficiency and a streamlined design. Then OLEDs and QLEDs provided even more enhanced picture quality, better response time and enhanced brightness.

Meanwhile, large-form direct-view LED screens persisted in applications requiring bright light for outdoor viewing conditions and extra-large displays (think sports stadiums and Times Square). But there's a new kid in town that's poised to give traditional direct-view LEDs and even OLEDs a run for their money in commercial applications for customers willing to invest in the technology: microLED.

What is microLED?

“The microLED is basically a refinement of direct-view LED, which has been around a long time,” ADI's senior inside sales associate, Andrew Costelle, says. You'll see these screens primarily in outdoor applications with high ambient light and long viewing distances. “If you get too close, you can see the matrix and it's not a smooth, enjoyable image,” he says.

On the other hand, microLED screens are made up of tens of millions of tiny pixels to form an image with 4K resolution. They also share the same advantage as direct-view LEDs, providing superior off-angle viewing compared to LED-backlit LCD screens. “Wide-angle viewing is better on LED-backlit LCDs today than they were in the early days,” Costelle says. “But still, if you get far enough off, you're going to lose that light, since it's shining through a window, so to speak, which limits the dispersion.” With LEDs, the pixel provides the light so you can achieve wide viewing angles of 180 degrees. Likewise, microLED displays offer wide viewing angles and high brightness at a much higher resolution.

It's important not to confuse miniLED with microLED. “miniLEDs are simply much smaller LED light sources that still shine through a very fine LCD matrix to produce the image on the screen,” Costelle says. microLED, on the other hand, combines the benefits of 4K, high-resolution miniLEDs and OLED screens, offering smooth, clear images at close distances, with the brightness of direct-view LEDs for high-ambient light environments and superior off-angle viewing. “There are a lot of advantages to microLED technology,” Costelle says.

A brief history of microLED

In 2012, Sony introduced the Crystal LED, which uses similar technology as microLED, to the commercial market. Another industry leader, Samsung, showcased The Wall, a 110-inch Micro LED at CES 2018. This modular product groups microLEDs together in a videowall, offering the capability to display four images at one time, two images or one cohesive image.

Although Samsung advertises a 110-inch microLED for home use, complete with a nearly invisible bezel, AI processing and Dolby sound, the technology is still cost-prohibitive for most home consumers.

Types of customers choosing microLED

As the price drops, microLED technology may someday replace traditional LED and OLED technology in many commercial applications. But it isn't likely to replace LED as it applies to billboards, massive digital signage displays in Times Square or sports stadium screens.

“It's about how close or how far away you are from the screen,” ADI's technical sales support/project registration supervisor, Jason Harbst, says. “In a stadium, there's not a lot of demand for microLEDs or the higher resolution they offer. You might see one on the concourse of a stadium, where people are viewing the images up-close.”

Other applications include high-end sports bars, hotel lobbies and museums. “You might see it in a bar or club on the Las Vegas strip,” Harbst points out. “In a sports bar, conference room, where you're going to be closer, you want that.”

The ADI team says they are also beginning to see giant microLED screens embraced in corporate headquarters, high-end retail locations and other “close-quarters” applications where resolution really matters and clients may not want visitors to see bezels that break up the images. In addition to a sharper, brighter picture quality, microLED also offers the advantage of bevel-free screens for a seamless view and better viewing from all angles.

“A Fortune 500 company would put this in their lobby to project that image of success to visitors,” Harbst says. “That would be worth the expense for them. You put them in a place that as a lot of visibility, someplace where you want to make a statement.”

That statement, of course, is that your client has a lot of money to drop on display screen technology and wants to “wow” visitors with an impressive, immersive experience that is better than anything they would see at home. High-end customers, for whom quality is a bigger concern than budget, are the primary candidates for microLED installations right now.

MicroLED by 2030

In the commercial audio/video industry, microLED is already taking off for high-end applications. As the price drops, you may see microLED technology replacing projection technology, multi-monitor videowalls or OLEDs in your local sports bar and conference rooms, museums, retail establishments or lobbies of smaller businesses, too.

“Instead of using traditional, multi-monitor videowalls, they might be using this big, microLED display to show the Super Bowl, the big game on the wall,” Harbst says. “And then it can also be processed to show multiple smaller games as well, just like a traditional videowall.” Because microLED may be poised to replace videowalls and projections systems in the next decade, it pays to get familiar with this technology now, the experts at ADI Global say.

Why you should get in on the microLED trend now

From an integrator's perspective, specifying microLED screens makes financial sense. These are big-ticket items that require little intervention or work from the integrator.

Like direct-view LED displays, Costelle points out, microLED technology requires expert installation and calibration — typically services provided by the manufacturer. That means commercial integrators can sell the technology and rely on the manufacturer to install and service it.

Essentially, you can leverage your client relationships to sell the screens, while the manufacturer installs, calibrates and services them. That's where microLED becomes exceptionally profitable, either as a standalone upgrade or as part of a larger new installation project or a retrofit. In essence, if you have a client looking to make a single change or upgrade to their facility, a multiscreen microLED videowall can offer a dramatic facelift. “They are very impressive displays when they're set up,” Harbst says. “When you see them at shows, of course, they're displaying the most dramatic images, and they look really good.”

MicroLED or regular LED-backlit LCD?

Harbst and Costelle make it clear that it's easy to distinguish projects requiring traditional direct-view LED versus microLED. In most cases, the determining factor is how far viewers will be from the screen.

But it's tougher to determine if a project may call for traditional LED-backlit LCD or even higher-end 4K UHD OLEDs in a matrix configuration instead of a pricey microLED videowall. Budget is the primary factor; if a client can afford to go all-out with microLED, the picture quality and “wow” factor makes it worthwhile to design a project that's virtually futureproof.

The size of the display also makes a big difference. For applications under 110 inches, you can often find a suitable OLED at an affordable price. But if you're looking at videowalls over 110 inches, microLED may be a better choice.

Also, microLED videowalls, compared to a single screen, offer image processing capabilities to display a single image or multiple images, adding flexibility that's needed for many entertainment or corporate applications. You may also want to consider ambient light and viewing angles. microLED will provide a superior picture in virtually every circumstance and the bezel-less design creates a seamless image.

How to choose the right microLED for any project

High-end microLED videowalls can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. A few factors determine the price, including the color accuracy, gamut and brightness, which are determined by the number of pixels. Size, of course, also comes into play. Larger displays require more infrastructure as well as more panels to install. Any custom features beyond a flat, rectangular or square wall design may also cost more.

Finally, as with so many things in AV, remember that you are also paying for the brand's name and reputation. Major players in the game include Samsung, LG, Sony with its Crystal LED and Planar. When you're reviewing options with clients, you'll want to consider the purpose of the display. For example, which of the following will it be used in?

These are all potential applications. So, discuss the purpose of the videowall — whether that's for digital signage, wayfinding, advertising, image magnification, branding or other purposes. Find out how many sources they will have and the means of controlling the sources and screens. That's where full-scale AV design comes into play. It's also worth determining if a new videowall requires a sound system upgrade to match the quality of the video systems.

When you work with a firm like ADI as your distributor partner, it can help you spec the perfect videowall for any project and assist with systems design.